#47

“…eni.”

“……”

“Roeni.”

I lifted my head at Leticia’s call, suddenly coming back to my senses. She was looking at me with a puzzled expression. Only then did I remember that we were at a tea house in the city.

“What’s on your mind?”

Perhaps noticing my troubled expression, Leticia asked me with concern written on her face. I couldn’t bring myself to answer honestly while looking at her genuine worry. I couldn’t tell her about my worries regarding the curse or my drained energy. More importantly, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that yesterday, I almost ran into the room where he was sleeping.

Even though I swallowed my sigh, Leticia seemed to notice and offered me a strawberry shortcake.

“They say sweets are best when you’re feeling down.”

She seemed to know that I had some sort of problem that I couldn’t talk about, but she didn’t pry and instead changed the topic. I gratefully picked up my fork as we chatted about trivial things.

As we were chatting, Leticia suddenly seemed to remember something and her lips slightly parted.

“Roeni, excuse me for asking a rather impolite question, but may I ask?”

“Yes, please feel free to ask me anything.”

With my permission, Leticia carefully asked me.

“Are you divorcing Duke Wheaton as planned?”

I was so surprised by the unexpected question that I couldn’t answer right away. Leticia immediately apologized for her mistake when she saw my surprised expression.

“I’m sorry. That was too personal of a question.”

“No, it’s okay. I was just surprised by the sudden question. But why do you ask all of a sudden?”

Leticia, relieved to hear that nothing seemed to have happened, continued speaking.

“Well, yesterday my father gave permission for your divorce. By now, they must have sent the divorce papers to the temple. Since it has been approved by the emperor and your husband is Duke Wheaton, they will process it as soon as they receive permission from your family.”

“It’s progressing faster than I thought.”

It usually takes at least six months for a divorce to be finalized, but it seems to be processed much faster than I expected. This is what power is all about.

“You have to hurry if you want to stop it.”

Leticia’s eyes sparkled, but I couldn’t understand what she meant and just stared at her with a blank expression.

“Stop it?”

Leticia’s playful expression suddenly turned bewildered.

“When we last met, you were definitely…”

Her words trailed off, and Leticia smiled, as if she had swallowed something she wanted to say.

“No, it’s nothing. You must have your reasons.”

Although I felt uneasy about something she had left unsaid, I didn’t press her further. I didn’t want to dwell on it too deeply, especially since I had been troubled by Diart lately.

I picked up a strawberry from the cake on the fork and savored the sweet taste spreading in my mouth.

‘I guess now my divorce with Diart is just around the corner.’

It was a long-awaited moment, but I didn’t feel entirely happy. If only I hadn’t had any contact with Diart until the divorce, how much more joyful Leticia’s words would have been.

It felt like weighing the most important decision of my life. Should I divorce Diart while carrying the curse that could potentially kill me? Or should I cling to him, determined to break the curse and risk being struck by Diart’s sword?

It was equally dreadful either way. After days of contemplation, I concluded that it was better to proceed with the divorce. Perhaps I would simply live uncomfortably for the rest of my life, or maybe the strange energy I felt from Diart was just a matter of compatibility between him and me.

But even after making a choice, I found myself changing my mind several times a day, causing confusion and turmoil.

“Oh, Roeni. My younger brother will stop by later. Is that okay?”

In response to the slightly subdued atmosphere, Leticia asked with a brighter voice.

“If it’s your brother…”

I raised my head in surprise.

“Edgar, you saw him once at last year’s imperial ball, right?”

I covered my open mouth with my hand. Having been stood up twice already, I even had foolish thoughts that he might not be a real person. It was an unexpected chance to meet him.

“He said he’s coming with me to a community service project later.”

“How wonderful.”

So Edgar is as kind and gentle as he appears in the original work.

“When will he arrive?”

“He should be here soon.”

Leticia checked her pocket watch and replied. The thought of being able to see my favorite character made my heart flutter. But soon enough, that excitement shattered into pieces.

“Ah, there’s a familiar face.”

I looked up at Crown Prince Jarvis with no sign of delight.

“It seems you’re not pleased to see me.”

Jarvis smirked mischievously. It seemed that Edgar was undoubtedly a figment of my imagination. I sighed softly, gazing helplessly at Jarvis sitting in front of me.

“How is my brother here? What about Edgar?”

“He’s not feeling well.”

“So, did you come instead of him? You’re not interested in volunteer activities.”

“That’s just an excuse.”

Jarvis shrugged nonchalantly, causing Leticia to turn her head, unable to hide her disgusted expression.

‘Sitting side by side, you two really look alike.’

Although Leticia, who was serious yet girlish, and the carefree and playful Jarvis had opposite personalities, their faces were undeniably similar. Watching the bickering siblings in front of me felt like witnessing the real-life version of the characters I had only seen in videos.

‘If they can argue like that without any ill will, it must mean they have a good relationship.’

If their relationship was truly bad, they wouldn’t argue like that. Suddenly, I remembered the family in my past life who had only schemed to take my money. Throughout my life, I have suffered so much. The happiest moment after possessing this body was that I no longer had to deal with those people. Surely, it must have been because of them that I fell ill.

I didn’t know what happened to my previous life’s body, but if I had died as it was, they would have received a hefty insurance payout as I hoped. Well, even if they did, they would have quickly squandered it on gambling anyway. Let it all go to ruin. I will live here as a rich lady, spending money lavishly.

In my mind, I raised my middle finger towards them and tried to suppress the urge to curse them out.

‘Come to think of it, it seems Roeni doesn’t have a good relationship with her family either.’

Contrary to my expectation that it would be just a distant relationship, Roeni seemed to have been abandoned by her father, who was her only family. Even at her debutante ball, the most significant event for a noble young lady, she had to attend alone and had been the subject of ridicule by other noble ladies.

As Leticia mentioned before, when nobles divorced, the permission of both families was required. That’s why I sent a letter to Duke Feischer before and received a reply a few days ago.

The neat handwriting with no unnecessary words simply conveyed that he would soon come to the capital.

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

I lifted my head as Leticia’s voice snapped me out of my reverie. Suddenly, Leticia and Jarvis, who had stopped arguing, were looking at me.

“Ah, sorry. You two looked so good together that I was imagining what it would be like if I had a sibling too.”

Unlike Leticia, whose expression twisted at my compliment, Jarvis retorted playfully, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

“Well, where else would you find such a great older brother like me?”

“Get your hand off my shoulder right now.”

Leticia firmly pushed his hand away and smiled at me.

“Roeni, please refrain from saying such terrible words.”

Her voice was so sincere that I obediently nodded my head.

* * *

“It was a great time today. I really want to stay with you until dinner, but I can’t help it because my volunteer time is up.”

Leticia held my hand and expressed her regret. Listening to her chatter for hours had made my ears a little sore, but it had also given me some relief from my complicated thoughts for a few days.

After making a promise to meet again soon, I parted ways with Leticia and set foot on the street. I planned to buy a few books at the bookstore before returning to the townhouse. I decided to walk instead of taking a carriage to aid digestion. However, the person following me from behind was bothering me too much. Eventually, I couldn’t stand it any longer and turned around.

“Why do you keep following me, Your Highness the Crown Prince?”