‘I heard that Count Litension’s daughter has returned to the Empire. The lady of the house will definitely change.’
When I glanced at the maid following behind me, she seemed to agree with their gossip. Bitterness lingered on my tongue.
I had no allies in this mansion. With no belongings or people of my own, I was merely a supporting character who needed to exit the stage.
Still, I decided to trust him until the end. Unless he pushed me away, I planned to stay at the marquis residence regardless of what others thought.
However, that faith proved futile. Early in the afternoon, while I was reviewing documents in the office, an unwelcome visitor arrived at the Borde Marquis Residence.
“Lady Litension has come to call. She wishes to meet with the lady of the house.”
Had it been anyone else, I would have certainly turned them away. Karlien pathologically disliked me receiving guests. But this time was different. Lady Litension was his first fiancée. I felt I needed to hear why she had come looking for me.
“Show her to the drawing room.”
The walk to meet her filled me with some dread, but it was spilled milk—there was no way to undo it. The drawing room door opened, and I greeted Veronica, who had already arrived.
“Lady Litension. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Veronica Litension was a rather lovely young lady with long peach-colored curls and light green eyes. Veronica’s light green eyes sparkled as she offered her greeting.
“This is our first meeting. I’m Veronica Litension.”
Seeing her bright face made me inexplicably sharp-tempered, and my words came out pointed.
“What brings Lady Litension here? Karlien went out earlier.”
“I know. His Grace is at our count’s residence. Today I came to see you.”
She was merely a girl who had just turned eighteen. Yet I couldn’t simply dismiss her because of Veronica’s inexplicable confidence.
“My lady, shall I bring tea?”
“Yes.”
While the maid hurried away, I asked directly:
“What business do you have with me?”
At my question, Veronica asked back with an innocent, untainted face:
“Are you happy?”
I couldn’t bring myself to answer. It had been quite a while since I’d even thought about such things. Taking advantage of my stunned silence, Veronica continued:
“His Grace the Marquis was destined to be my husband from birth. If only it weren’t for some slum orphan who doesn’t know her place.”
‘Some slum orphan who doesn’t know her place.’ I couldn’t even refute that unchanging fact and could only listen to her words.
“His Grace loved me. Of course, I loved him too. I still love His Grace.”
This was something I had expected. I had always kept in mind that Karlien might love another woman instead of me.
But hearing it directly from someone else’s mouth was another matter entirely. Without time to collect myself, Veronica soon delivered the decisive blow in a calm voice.
“Please divorce His Grace the Marquis.”
“…”
Though it was clearly a rude request, I couldn’t react in any way. Even if I got angry and shouted at her to leave, it wouldn’t change Karlien’s heart. After a moment of silence to gather my thoughts, I chose to reason with her.
“You’re still young and don’t understand, but divorce is a matter between husband and wife. It’s not something you can dictate.”
This was the maximum kindness I could muster. At my words, Veronica blinked in apparent incomprehension. When the maid returned with teacups and a teapot, all conversation had ceased.
The time it took for tea to steep—that was all the time I granted Veronica. When she showed no sign of speaking despite my waiting, I decided to issue the order to leave first. A cold voice echoed low through the drawing room.
“If your business is finished, I’d like you to leave now.”
And so Veronica had to leave the marquis residence with a dazed expression.
Inside the drawing room that Veronica had swept through, the unusually humid air seemed to strangle my throat. All I could think about was escaping this place as quickly as possible.
I rose hastily from my seat and took a difficult step outside the drawing room.
Time passed, and late night arrived. A carriage bearing the marquis family crest entered the mansion grounds.
After seeing this from the second-floor terrace, I rushed down to the carriage with anxious steps. When Karlien finally emerged from the carriage, I greeted him as normally as possible.
“You’re back?”
It was an ordinary greeting that family members would naturally share. But even to my greeting, Karlien said nothing. He merely adjusted his clothes a couple of times and walked past me toward the mansion.
Afraid of losing sight of him, I hurried my steps to follow behind him. The first place Karlien headed upon arriving at the mansion was his office. After Karlien entered first, I followed behind him. He still kept his mouth shut. Having no choice, I opened the conversation first.
“I heard you went to Count Litension’s residence.”
“Yes.”
It was always like this. No matter how much I tried to talk to him, only short answers came back, making it impossible for conversations to continue beyond two exchanges. When had we started becoming awkward with each other?
I swallowed my bitterness and tried to continue speaking nonchalantly.
“Lady Litension came by this afternoon.”
At my announcement, Karlien dropped the pen he was holding and showed visible agitation. With this expected reaction, I could continue speaking calmly.
“She said she loves you and asked me to divorce you.”
“Nonsense.”
Karlien dismissed Veronica’s divorce demand as nonsense. But the two of them would end up together anyway, and I would be abandoned. Rather than being abandoned, I should leave first—this thought kept circling in my mind.
Even so, I held onto a slight hope that he might hold me back at least once, and I brought up the words I had kept inside all along.
“Should we get divorced?”
Even until the moment I finished speaking, I couldn’t let go of the hope that he would hold me back. I believed he would at least ask for a reason, but what came back was only a terribly irresponsible answer.
“Do as you wish.”
It meant he wouldn’t hold me back or push me away. At his indifferent attitude, all the emotions I had been suppressing came pouring out.
“Why, why don’t you ask anything? You should at least be curious about why I’m doing this.”
“Such things aren’t important to me.”
“You’re always like that. Because I’m not an important person to you.”
I blamed him without rest. I kept vomiting out my emotions until my twisted insides felt better, and at some point, I wasn’t even aware of what I was saying.
“Veloena.”
A voice mixed with sighs called my name, seemingly telling me to calm down. Veloena. It was the name he had given me. Did he remember that day?
Questions with unknowable answers, or perhaps questions whose answers I might already know, floated around in my head.
When my thoughts reached that point, I felt I couldn’t bear it any longer. The diamond on the wedding ring around my left ring finger had long since lost its luster. Like my love that had sparkled more brilliantly than anything in this world but ultimately failed to bloom.
What followed was easier than I thought. With rough movements, I pulled off my wedding ring and threw it down on the desk.
“Let’s get a divorce.”
“…”
He didn’t hold me back. That sight seemed to prove that I meant nothing to him, and only a bitter laugh escaped through my lips.
‘How foolish…’
I felt pathetic for having held even a shred of hope in him until the end.
“I’ll send the necessary divorce papers by mail.”
At my demand, Karlien spoke mockingly:
“I thought you were smart. Are you really going to give up everything you’ve gained just for some trivial love?”
Some trivial love… If he had properly listened to what I said today, he couldn’t have spoken like that. He really was a selfish person who only thought of himself. I realized this anew.
“It might have been trivial love to you, but it was everything to me. But not anymore.”
Because I finally realized that love had no value. The moment the ring that had been precariously placed on the edge of the desk finally fell to the floor, he declared with a confident tone:
“You’ll end up coming back to my side anyway. Even if you graduated at the top of the Imperial Academy, you’re still just a slum orphan.”
—
T/N: PROVE HIM WRONG QUEEN AND DRAG HIM TO HELL
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kendrahf
Oh, thank gawd we don’t have to wait 60 chapters of him treating her like utter sh*t while she does the “he’s so mean to me” vs. “but I luuuuuurv him” dance until he does something completely unforgivable. We love a Queen who has some basic self-respect.