I Just Needed Someone to Hate - Episode 2.2

The creaking sound grew rougher for a moment, and as Vivianne took a step forward, the yellow sunlight streaming through the curtains brilliantly embroidered the floor. Her fiancé was engrossed in ‘that act,’ even though he knew she was coming.

Thick saliva dripped down from the fingers he had inserted into the mouth of an unknown woman.

“Is that woman prettier than me, uhn…”

“What’s so pretty about a girl who’s barely twenty?”

“She’s twenty-two, almost.”

At Vivianne’s words, the man’s gaze, which had been gleaming sadistically, turned towards her. Vivianne avoided his eyes. She was always overwhelmed, even though she didn’t want to be.

For a moment, the air felt cold. Or maybe she had forgotten it was winter and was just now remembering. Vivianne sat down on the sofa at a distance, trying to appear calm.

“I just realized, today is the two-year anniversary of when the engagement was first seriously discussed.”

Vivianne tried to count the number of women her fiancé had replaced during that time but gave up. He was said to be a smart man, but she, who only repeatedly signed the ledgers he read, seemed better at calculating numbers.

How long could she be happy as his ‘twenty-year-old girl’?

Vivianne briefly questioned her life, which she had taken for granted.

“Right, it’s also the day your brother’s two-year probationary period ends. I think he was said to have topped the promotion exam?”

There was a swoosh as the man rose and straightened himself. He was fully dressed, so it was quick for him to approach her.

The hand that had just been touching another woman’s body grabbed her chin.

“If you don’t want an unfortunate accident to keep him off the fast-track promotion list, you better behave.”

He looked at the ground, smiled, and then said,

“I’m late.”

“I thought I’d only be a hindrance.”

Words that would provoke him, like ‘Wasn’t it consideration?’ didn’t come out of her mouth. The comfortable life that had tamed her had prevented many things. One of them was going against the temper of the man before her.

“No, I was adjusting to the Mergoville heiress’s schedule.”

No one in the empire pronounced ‘Mergoville heiress’ so dismissively.

“You always arrive as late as a head of state, so shouldn’t I give you this much courtesy?”

His voice was so even, except for a slight cynicism, that one wouldn’t even think he was being sarcastic.

“I’d like you to send that woman out. Then we can talk.”

“Why? Is the humping I do with you so noble?”

Vivianne hated her fiancé for saying such things so casually. She felt suffocated when he was around.

“If you’re going to give me that look, go give it to your father, who’s all prim and proper but still pushed you in here.”

He moved to sit next to her and lightly brushed her lips. Vivianne’s eyes widened at the sudden action.

Her body reflexively leaned back. He didn’t care and forcefully sucked on Vivianne’s lower lip. Her heart sank at the sound between her lips that had never been made before.

Only the first meeting had been cautious; nothing had happened at the mechanically continued arranged meetings.

So she had grown accustomed to the fact that nothing would happen here, and she had become numb.

“Did you know that the condition for me receiving the Mergoville family title was for my child to be conceived in this womb?”

Vivianne leaned back and ended up falling onto the sofa. As the man positioned himself between her legs, her heart raced with fear.

“There was no condition that we had to marry. Well, even I can see it, not just your esteemed Marquis. What age is it? It would be natural to assume that a bastard couldn’t create a child exactly like himself.”

There were almost no social restrictions stemming from his being a bastard. So, his statement that ‘a bastard wouldn’t give birth to a bastard’ was the idea of an old-fashioned nobleman.

‘Because in today’s Daatro Empire, with enough backing and money, you can raise a child well regardless of lineage.’

So, his cynicism meant that she shouldn’t expect him to go to the trouble of marrying her to prevent a child like himself, a bastard.

It was far from the nobleman father’s thought that ‘If he makes a child according to the contract, he’ll definitely try to marry my daughter’ and looked down on his future son-in-law.

Ludwig seemed intent on giving her father a bastard grandchild as a reward.

That alone would prevent Ludwig from seeing his childhood in his child. Rather, it would only leave a stain on her father’s family tree.

From Ludwig’s perspective, who had lived well as a bastard, it was a ridiculous provocation that only served to provoke him by challenging his lineage, rather than harming him.

‘He should have just told me to get married.’

Her father needlessly insisted on his stubbornness and twisted his words in a noble way. The target of her fiancé’s well-refined anger was always her.

Vivianne struggled with all her might and turned her body, but it was useless. He grabbed her waist with one hand and pressed his feverish body against her.

“If you’re almost twenty-two, you’ll be able to get pregnant soon.”

He leaned over Vivianne’s back and breathed into her ear. The shadow of the man cast beside her grew darker.

“You’re the Mergoville heiress who will give your so-called father the bastard grandchild he’s been longing for, so can’t you at least wait that long?”

Vivianne raised her head and looked at the bed in the distance. Her fiancé’s blonde mistress, whom she didn’t know how many times had been changed, was covering her body with a blanket and looking down at her. If you only looked at the picture, it looked like she was the mistress and the other was the fiancé.

“Didn’t you learn how to know your place and bark from your esteemed tutors? I’m sorry, I only know how to make you cry.”

Vivianne struggled to break free from the unfamiliar grip. When he released her waist with a thud, her body collapsed onto the sofa.

“It must have felt good for two bitches to greet each other. I’ll introduce you to more in the future, so let’s stop here for today.”

It was clear that he was talking about his mistress and her. The cigarette smoke he nonchalantly blew out was toxic.

“I think you need this more than I do.”

It was a contraceptive pill that his mistress dropped on Vivianne’s stomach. If she was giving her this when nothing had happened today, her intention was vile. Only when she turned her back on her fiancé did the woman’s mouth twist arrogantly. Competitiveness.

Conceit. And superiority.

Expressions sometimes spoke a hundred words.

“If you arrange an engagement and then present such conditions, he will be the first to try to get married. Or he’ll break the contract first.”

She remembered what her father had once said to her mother.

‘No. There must have been some misunderstanding.’

Vivianne slowly straightened herself and stood up.

‘There will be reporters stationed outside.’

The thought that she had to prevent her fiancé from going outside with his mistress made her move her feet with difficulty. The instinct to always look perfect overwhelmed her fear.

It was the worst, considering her birthday was four days away.

“This way, heiress.”

Vivianne felt nauseous when she heard that the two of them had not gone outside but had moved to another room. This was an official meeting between her and her fiancé, but in the end, only the dirty feeling that she was the one who had intruded remained.

‘Bastard…’

Vivianne muttered inwardly towards the closed door. She still didn’t have the courage to go back into that room. Her fiancé was a man who also used violence against women.

Suddenly, she even felt sorry for herself for having endured two years by his side. She could confidently say that she had never been even slightly charmed by her fiancé’s appearance, but when moments like this came, she felt unnecessarily pathetic.

It was as if she had become a worthless person.

Vivianne headed towards the terrace railing with an indifferent expression. The wind was so cold it felt like it would cut her skin, but the sunlight was dazzlingly bright.

‘I only have a fiancé that no one would want even if you gave him away.’

Her legs gave way, and Vivianne had no choice but to curl up and sit down. She told herself that she had endured well enough and looked at the long, straight black hair falling down her shoulders.

She remembered the compliments she had heard at social gatherings.

“As expected, Heiress Vivianne speaks so eloquently. I told you, she would get married well someday.”

“To tame such a dangerous man, I thought you were docile, but you’re substantial, Heiress Vivianne.”

“It’s proven here that my judgment in bringing the heiress to this social gathering was not wrong.”

She didn’t feel any better at all.

She was pathetic for chasing after his back even at this moment, as if proving how good she was with her fiancé was the most important thing in the world.

‘I always thought of this life as a privilege.’

When her childhood friend Madison went to school and she was left in the mansion with tutors, she never resented the walls surrounding the mansion. Because the people living outside those walls were pitiful.

People called her a noble lady, a noble like the ones who lived in that classic mansion. The mansion she lived in was where her family had lived since her great-great-grandfather’s time, and it became a topic of conversation everywhere, making her shine.

She didn’t learn a job, didn’t know more than adults needed to know, didn’t have much interest in the world outside the mansion, and kept men at a thorough distance.

“Thanks to Heiress Vivianne, my brother is doing well, and my father will soon be a member of parliament again, so how happy must you be.”

Her parents said that the comfort she could enjoy inside the mansion was a protection and a privilege, and Vivianne did not doubt that truth.

She worried about her fiancé’s violence, but she didn’t worry about going hungry. She didn’t have to work fifteen hours or breathe in the toxic fumes of the factory.

She didn’t have to be beaten to death by corrupt police or have her money extorted by underworld forces disguised as protection money. News of the war outside the continent was not her concern.

What could be better than being surrounded by the most beautiful things and growing up in the most noble way?

“Did you know that the condition for me receiving the Mergoville family title was for my child to be conceived in this womb?”

But what was it all for?

If her fiancé belittled her as a worthless woman, she would become such a person in the eyes of the world.

“He’ll change when you get married. Childhood friends are bound to leave to find their own way someday, but a husband… is a lifelong friend.”

She pondered her mother’s words, but they were of no help. It was just a voice that sternly scolded her for being sulky, as if she had been deprived of a toy, when she was depressed because Madison didn’t come back.

She had once had such expectations. The man who would become her fiancé would not abandon her like Madison. If he would just do that, Vivianne had no reason not to treat him as her man.

That was until she knew what kind of person he was.

She thought it would be a tiara made of fool’s gold, but it was a crown of thorns that gnawed at her reputation.

‘He told me to deliver this.’

Vivianne took out the New Year’s invitation in the small pochette and looked at it. This must be the real reason her father sent her here.

The letters, clearly highlighted in the sunlight, contained her fiancé’s name.

Ludwig Rex.

And, Vivianne Mergoville.

Her parents must have been planning to hold a lavish New Year’s party again this year, invite people, and flaunt the two families’ planned union.

‘The day after the New Year’s party is my birthday.’

The promise from 22 years ago.

One revision to that content.

Then, the serious engagement talks began two years ago.

There was no way that Rex, who had replaced the prospective son-in-law, could say anything bad to the head of the family. They knew that and left it as it was. If they taught her that the life of a noble lady was the answer, then her life had to shine without rest.

But she was tired of this puppet show. The beast who took her perfect life hostage and gloated was not needed in her life at all.

Vivianne stood up from her seat almost at the same time as someone entered the terrace.

“…”

Vivianne stepped back for a moment and looked at the other person with wary eyes. This was the top floor of the place being managed by her fiancé, Ludwig Rex, so outsiders could not enter.

The man had a handsome face that she seemed to have seen somewhere, whether in a newspaper or a tabloid. He was also the owner of a face that could never be forgotten once seen.

Without being told, he had the scent of a ruler.

Sophisticated but at the same time shadowed face. His eyes scanned her and then curved politely.

“Excuse me. I was going to smoke this, but I didn’t know anyone was here.”

The man, who was holding a cigar and rummaging through his jacket pocket, pointed the end of the cigar at her once. Vivianne instinctively chuckled softly and then realized that it was a huge rudeness.

She was trying to leave as quickly as possible, but she scanned other places and then mustered the courage to meet the man’s eyes. She thought that an apology that avoided eye contact might seem insincere.

The man’s eyes were a strange blue color, and it was amazing that they looked a clear green when they were covered by the shadows she made.

His black hair, styled with pomade, and his overall attire were no less than those of the upper-class nobles she had seen from afar, but…

“No, I’m more sorry. Just now… it’s just that you seemed like someone who wasn’t used to using such elegant language. I mean, polite language and language that elevates the other person.”

“…”

Vivianne didn’t know what kind of face he was making because she had avoided his gaze since no answer came from the man.

Was he displeased? Did he think he was being insulted?

Whether it was due to her fiancé’s influence or a problem with her upbringing, Vivianne was not used to dealing with men. This situation was also awkward. But still, her mouth continued to spew out excuses that were not excuses.

“That’s not to say you’re a noble or a political figure…”

The people in the underworld, that is, the people in Mirabolta Street, had a bit of an accent. It was a subtle degree that no one would notice, but Vivianne, a perfect noble lady, could hear it well.

‘But is it polite to point this out?’

As far as she knew, it was a great rudeness. It was a mistake she wouldn’t normally make.

“Not a noble or a political figure, what’s next?”

Vivianne looked at the man again. She realized anew that she was talking to this dangerous-looking man.

“I don’t think I’ve seen your… face before.”

Vivianne was barely able to find suitable words and piece together the conversation.

“I know all the faces of the people around my father or my fiancé.”

“Is that so.”

The man pulled up one corner of his mouth and smiled, and Vivianne couldn’t take her eyes off him even though she knew that the smile wasn’t entirely friendly.

She knew that she should avoid sharing the same space with someone who had the accent of Mirabolta Street, but she hesitated.

Maybe this place would become a crime scene later. Vivianne’s fingertips turned cold at the heterogeneous atmosphere she felt from him.

“I’ll apologize again if you felt bad. I’ll also vacate the seat so you can take care of your business on the terrace. I was about to leave anyway.”

Was he going to take out a pistol from his pocket and shoot her the moment she showed her back? In the horror or noir genre, people who are unnecessarily quick-witted die early at the hands of villains.

Vivianne didn’t want to die until she handed her fiancé the divorce papers. She also refused to die like a trivial supporting character in a silent movie.

It was an overreaction, but Vivianne believed in her intuition and the notoriety of Mirabolta Street. To laugh with someone who could kill her right away. She was careless.

Just then, the wind blew. It was also cold, so Vivianne tried to not look too hasty as she headed towards the terrace exit.

“My fiancé doesn’t like me being with other men either.”

A lie. Her face flushed as she used a lie that would have been falsely revealed to the press in a few days as a shield.

“It seems so.”

Vivianne’s shoulders flinched at those words. It seemed so? As if reading her mind, the man said.

“Lips.”

When she turned her head, the man tapped his lips and said.

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