Chapter 1 - Prologue
*This chapter was so hard to translate. I tried the best I could but it still wasn’t so clear. I apologize in advance.
***
Kalis stared at Seria for a moment and then opened his mouth in a clerical tone.
“You don’t have to give me a handkerchief. Stern.”
“…?”
‘Who said I would give it to him?’
Seria was about to walk away, ignoring Kalis, when Marquis Kellyden, his wife, and the others approached as if they had timed it. The one who led them at the front was none other than the Marquis.
“I see you were talking intimately with the Marquis of Haneton. It’s a good thing that few people want to dance with you at the banquet.”
Seria blinked a few times.
“It would be even better to dance with my father.”
At these words, the Marquis and Marchioness’s faces were stained with bewilderment. Especially the Marquis’s face was spectacular.
It was as if he had heard something he didn’t want to hear at all.
“I’m his daughter, yet I’ve never danced with him. That’s a bit…”
The Marchioness immediately frowned and asked with a smile.
“You want your father to dance with you? Are you going to take away my partner?”
“Or…well…there’s also Nissos.”
“Keck!”
Nissos coughed. Seria couldn’t say that she could dance with Cassius. Because her body began to tremble just as he approached and stood near her. Besides, if she mentioned Cassius, his fiancé would probably say something about it again.
“He’s too old…dancing with him will make you look like a child. It’s a good thing that the Marquis of Haneton is here. Why don’t you dance with him?”
‘With Kalis?’
This was another completely unexpected recommendation.
“It’s alright. I have Sir Alliot.”
“Is he the Knight Commander of Berg?”
“Yes.”
Alliot would not be bad. As a Knight Commander of the Berg, he was not inferior to any lady. He was also tall and good looking. Seria was just worried that he didn’t bring any suit for the dance.
‘I’m going to ask the old butler. If he doesn’t provide any clothes, I’m going to blow up the Kellyden Castle.
Is it okay to treat people like this? It’s sad that we’re even family. If Lesche didn’t let Alliot come with me, I might have to stand by the wall until the end of the dance.’
The Marquis seemed to have nothing more to say. He hesitated.
“But you are the highest-ranking guest here today. I’m not feeling good about that. Why don’t you go with Marquis Hanetone?”
Seria answered politely.
“Yes, I will. You’ve taken such great care of me.”
“…. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
After nodding, Seria walked closer to the Marchioness. After she bowed slightly to her, she said in a low voice.
“Marchioness, I understand that you don’t like me.”
The Marchioness’s face hardened.
That’s right. The original Seria would never say something like this because it would hurt her pride.
‘I know very well how sad it is to admit with my own mouth that others dislike me, and sometimes how angry the fact makes me. But I can say this because I’m not Seria.’
“But if you want to do such a dirty thing, you should do it to my father first. I’m not the only one who is sweet.”
“….”
With that, Seria disengaged herself from the Marchioness. The Marchioness did not move for a while. Seria thought back to the conversation the noble ladies had earlier.
“The Marquis of Kellyden had sent out a large number of obituaries.”
“Actually, it came to my husband, and we were puzzled. It seems that it was probably sent to all the nobles in the West.”
It seemed that the Marchioness was more interested in Seria than she thought. It was a fact that all the nobles who were in Berg that day knew that Kalis went to a secret meeting with Lina.
It looked as if they called her there on purpose because they knew about Kalis and Seria’s situation. The Marquis and his wife seemed to have a lot on Seria.
‘I understand the Marchioness doesn’t want to accept Seria because Seria is illegitimate, but she should take it out on her husband first instead of just tormenting Seria.’
“Even if you kill the Marquis, I will understand.”
‘People expected some entertainment from the scandalous Seria, but I can’t do that.’
Seria took her gaze, glancing briefly at Kalis, who was following behind her.
“I didn’t know you were friends with the Marquis of Kellyden, Marquis Haneton.”
“…We are not friends. Seria.”
“No? Can’t you see other people’s eyes?”
The mere presence of Seria and Kalis was drawing keen attention. In particular, some ladies quietly led the way, and just by looking at their experienced gestures and glances, it was clear that they were prominent figures in society.
The leading figure of the western part of the Glick Empire was the Marquis of Kellyden, and the hostess, the Marchioness, held Western society in her grasp. So it was easy to guess. Those ladies must be close friends with them.
Knowing Seria’s character better than anyone else, they should easily predict the fact that Seria would not be nice to her ex-fiancé who betrayed her.
In other words, there was a picture that they expected to see.
A scene that the Marquise of Kellyden would predict. It was that of Seria noisily judging Kalis and leaving.
To break the expectations of others, Seria stared at the noblewomen who stared at her in the same way. Of course, she had to put the maximum amount of strength into her eyes, and after turning about ten faces pale that way, she slowly shifted her gaze towards Kalis.
“Seria…”
Kalis already had his arm out to Seria.
He said in a bittersweet voice.
“Many eyes are on us, you won’t push my arm away, will you?”
Kalis and Seria were engaged for quite some time. Although not as long as Seria, Kalis still seemed to be able to read her expression to some extent. So he knew. He knew that Seria had to choose to go with him for now.
Seria raised her arm as low as possible to reach Kalis. She didn’t need to manage her angry expression but decided to refrain from fussing.
“You’ve become more generous to the Marquis.”
Seria didn’t want to give Kalis a specific reply, and her eyes were still focused on the people around her. After they coughed and avoided her gaze, she finally opened her mouth with a superior smile.
“I just thought a woman who was betrayed by her husband would at least do that much. That’s all. I’ve had first-hand experience of betrayal, so it’s only fair to be generous, right?”
“…”
“Still, I didn’t think it’s necessary to say anything to my father. Yes, you’re probably wondering. Please don’t talk to me anymore.”
That was just the end of it.
‘To tell the truth, it was strange to talk like this about my father, but what can I do? Is this my part-time job?’
“Seria.”
Kalis looked at Seria blankly and bit his lip as if he was holding back something. Seria didn’t give him any response or even a look.
***
It was late at night after the funeral. The outside became dark due to a sudden rain, but the lights of the castle were bright. The atmosphere was also quite noisy. It had turned into a social gathering because all the influential people in the west had gathered there.
Seria was called to the reception room.
She could see that the estate of the deceased Lady Magrus had already been divided into several parts.
As she listened to the explanation given by the person who appeared to be a lawyer, she took a good look around the estate on the table. Aside from everything else, the jewels in the velvet box especially caught her attention.
It was that ruby necklace that Seria was so persistent about in the original story.
She recognized it immediately because of its amazingly large size. There was no particular description in the novel of where it came from, but it was something that was given at this estate gifting ceremony.
“You can pick them out one by one. In particular, this ruby necklace is the one that the deceased treasured the most during her lifetime.”
It was obvious from a quick glance that this was no ordinary object. As Seria was checking the luster of the ruby, she shifted her gaze to the side. To the left of the velvet box was a single land document, but the name of the land written in large letters above it caught her attention.
‘This land…’
It was the land where the Crystal Mine was buried. The very land where, in the original story, Lina discovered a large crystal mine. However, it looked like a land that no one would choose.
Because it was mostly occupied by Magi.
She glanced away and looked at Nissos. He was interested in the coral island in the south.
“I’d like to do this.”
Seria remembered seeing a line in the original story where Nissos tried to invite Lina to his beautiful coral island, but she refused.
And Seria chose this gem, so naturally Cassius chose the remaining one, the land.
‘So Cassius gave that land to Lina.’
Amazing. It’s amazing.
Well, since he knew it was not a great land, he might have given it out to Lina casually. Lina was a saint, so she should have purified its magical energy.
‘I can’t believe that in such an abandoned land, she would discover a precious crystal mine of all places ……’
‘It’s a perk for anyone who is the main character in a romance novel.’
‘I like it.’
Seria raised her head.
“I’ll take the land.”
Then, everyone in the room had a bewildered look on their faces.
Naturally they expected Seria to make a big deal about wanting that beautiful coral island, or the ruby necklace, or that she would fight with Nissos.
Nissos frowned.
***