How to Escape from My Possessive Fiancé - Chapter 57

Then, something else happened.

When Sophia returned to the palace, the princess told her not to attend the ball that was part of the victory celebration.

“Why not?”

Sophia looked at the princess with a challenging gaze and asked again. No matter what, this order made no sense. Yulicias might be powerful, but she was still just a princess. The emperor had already said that all nobles must attend the ball, so she couldn’t just leave Sophia out. Whatever the princess said here, it would clearly be just an excuse.

“Why?”

At Sophia’s resistance, Yulicias stood up like she had been playing with a cat and now got serious. She was taller than Sophia and always used that height to her advantage. Tilting her head slightly as she looked down, her expression was like a warning, clearly saying who was above and who was below here.

“Because I have to dance with the duke. If you’re there, won’t he end up dancing with you? Even if it’s just in name, you are his fiancée.”

Sophia opened her mouth in disbelief at how confidently Yulicias said that.

“But…”

“But what excuse would I have to let you go there?”

Yulicias interrupted before Sophia could even finish. She wrinkled her nose like a mischievous child, grinned, and brought her face close to Sophia’s. Then she pointed to her eye with a thin finger.

“See? It’s red. I cried a lot in front of my father. I said, ‘My Basilicia broke her leg. I’m so scared because we still don’t know who hurt her. My dear friend Sophia has to stay and protect her.’”

Then she clapped her hands like she was proud of her clever idea. Sophia let out a breathless laugh in disbelief.

Basilicia was the white cat curled up on the cushion over there. Yulicias hadn’t exactly lied to the emperor. The cat really had a broken leg, and the attacker was still unknown. But…

‘You crazy woman, you’re the one who broke the cat’s leg.’

Sophia looked at Yulicias with wide, shocked eyes.

She clearly remembered the day the cat got hurt. It was just a few days ago. A sharp cry came from Yulicias’s room, then the doctor was called. The poor cat had scratched the doctor’s hand badly before finally getting its leg wrapped in bandages. Ever since then, the cat had hissed and shown fear whenever anyone came near.

During that time, Yulicias spread the story that a stranger must have broken the cat’s leg, throwing the whole palace into chaos.

‘Keep looking! Is there really no one?’

But the maids had all been working at the time, and even after many searches, there was no sign that anyone had broken in. Plus, claiming that someone sneaked in only to break the cat’s leg without touching anything else sounded like a very poor excuse.

In the end, rumors spread that the princess herself had broken the cat’s leg. After all, the once-loving cat now feared Yulicias’s touch more than anyone else’s.

‘Wait, did she really do it on purpose?’

Sophia rubbed her arms at the creepy thought. She had thought it was just an accident that Yulicias had stepped on the cat by mistake. At the time, she had wondered why the princess didn’t just admit it and instead blamed a mysterious intruder. But now, it seemed the whole thing was a setup to stop Sophia from attending the ball.

‘Did she really break her own cat’s leg for that?’

She had always known Yulicias had a bad temper and was reckless, but she never imagined she could go this far.

Shaking her head, Sophia said,

“No matter what, you can’t stop a noble like me from attending an event as important as the victory celebration.”

“Who said you can’t attend the celebration? Watch it all. Watch my cursed second brother come in with the knights. Throw flower petals too. I’m only talking about the ball at night—when who knows, the attacker might come back. Poor Yulicias is very scared of the dark.”

“If you’re worried, you can just increase security. There’s no reason I, a lady-in-waiting, have to stay behind…”

“Sophia Hilden. Why do you want to go to the ball so badly?”

“What?”

Sophia asked in disbelief. It felt like their positions were reversed. Shouldn’t Sophia be the one asking “why”? But Yulicias blinked at her with genuine curiosity.

“You’ve gone to plenty of balls before. This one’s not special except maybe for who your partner will be. Oh, I get it. Is it because you want to stand next to the duke?”

Sophia bit her lip and slowly answered,

“Of course. The duke is my fiancé…”

But even as she said it, she felt unsure. Did she really want to be with the duke? No, what she wanted was to see Solid. But the duke kept appearing in her mind, the way he passed by her like she was a stranger. Did he really not recognize her?

‘What if… what if the duke really wants Yulicias to be his wife?’

That weak and scared voice filled her thoughts. And maybe Yulicias noticed that crack in her heart. She whispered softly, almost seductively.

“Sophia. If you give up, I’d be so happy. And then, no matter what happens at the hunting competition, I’d help you and Solid make up.”

“Stop trying to use that against me.”

Sophia said sharply. Yulicias shrugged and stepped back.

“Really? I was trying to be nice. Then maybe I’ll use a harsher weapon. Like how the duke never replied to any of your letters. How he never came to visit even though he knows you’re here. You do know he arrived at the palace ten days ago, right? Even for a political marriage, ten days is a long time not to visit. But you two were supposed to be in love when you got engaged, weren’t you?”

It was the perfect weapon.

Sophia could feel it cutting deep into every part of her.

She forced herself to open her eyes wide and asked,

“But how do you know? That the duke didn’t…”

Didn’t reply? Did you steal my letters? Her eyes met Yulicias’s. The princess smiled in disbelief.

“Of course I’d hear about it if he sent letters here. If he had, maybe I would’ve stolen them. But he didn’t. He had no reason to.”

It would’ve hurt less if she’d lied. This kind of honesty only made Sophia feel worse. She tried to lift her head like it didn’t matter, but she was already torn apart inside.

While Yulicias had prepared everything—breaking her own cat’s leg even Sophia had done nothing.

Sensing that Sophia had lost her confidence, Yulicias smiled and lifted her chin to kiss her cheek, like a kind older sister.

“I trust you’ll stay in the palace and watch over the cat. Of course, it’ll be hard to leave. A few knights who always listen to me will be standing guard outside.”

She shrugged casually as she said it.

“Is that really necessary?”

Mentioning knights meant there could be force involved. Sophia couldn’t understand why Yulicias would go that far. She spoke with irritation. Yulicias smiled again.

“Don’t you get it? It’s for you.”

As Sophia frowned, Yulicias personally pushed her out by the shoulder. Left alone in the hallway, Sophia mumbled to herself.

“The duke arrived ten days ago?”

How could he not come even once in ten days? He didn’t even seem that busy. He was just nodding to the finance minister. Had he been so busy nodding that he forgot about her?

Sophia’s lips tightened, and her eyes became wet.

“I—I’m not going to be upset.”

She muttered that to herself as she stormed back to her room. At this point, she almost felt thankful for Yulicias mentioning the knights guarding her door. Even if she did attend the ball—yes, even though there was a ball the duke hadn’t even sent a message. Could she really expect him to stand by her side?

Rather than be abandoned in front of everyone, maybe it was better to stay trapped in the palace and hear about the duke and Yulicias getting along later.

That’s what Sophia thought as she let out a weak sigh.

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