I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 10

In the room of Duchess Agnes of Moldio, unified with antique-style furniture. Clarissa sat on a single-seater sofa, trembling finely as she gripped her skirt. She timidly looked at her mother Agnes sitting before her. Agnes, crossing her legs and swirling her wine glass, let out a languid sigh.

“Now, Clarissa. Have I ever once told you to become the Crown Princess?”

“N-No, you haven’t.”

“That’s right. You’re cute, but that’s all you have. If a foolish girl like you became Queen, the country would be in trouble. If Bertina were to be Queen and Clarissa were to be the Crown Prince’s mistress or secondary wife, that would be a different story.”

“N-No! I don’t want to be the Crown Prince’s mistress or secondary wife! I have someone I love.”

“But the Crown Prince broke off the engagement, didn’t he?”

“That was part of our plan.”

With a dark expression, Clarissa tightened her grip on the fabric and explained that the engagement annulment was planned because they thought Bertina would cry and cling to him. If Bertina, who had no standing in the household, were to have her engagement broken by Riet, her position would worsen further, and the now-worthless Bertina would only have the options of being disowned by Duke Annaloro or married off as a second wife to a noble with questionable circumstances. They planned that even the strong-willed Bertina would break down and beg Riet to reconsider. However, she maintained her composed attitude, even yawning when Riet wasn’t looking, and when leaving the room, she wished them happiness with a refreshing smile.

“I know who Clarissa loves too. That’s precisely why you can’t have him if Bertina is around. Do you understand?”

“Of course! I’ll do anything to get him!”

“Then make him retract the engagement annulment. Really, that brother of mine, even if he treats Bertina like a pawn, I wish he’d show her a bit more affection.”

While swirling her wine glass, Agnes gazed dreamily at the golden flowers painted on the dark purple nails of her free hand.

“If only that child were a boy.”

“Mother, The Crown Prince loves Bertina, my sister. Yet my sister, who doesn’t return his feelings, is cruel.”

“How foolish. Love that isn’t communicated is meaningless. Love only has value when it’s conveyed.”

After downing her wine in one gulp and having a waiting maid refill it, Agnes rose from the sofa and knelt before Clarissa.

“Clarissa, you understand too, don’t you? The happiness of being loved by someone.”

“Yes…”

“If you say you love the Crown Prince, I’ll help you too, you know?”

Clarissa shook her head vigorously.

“There’s only one person I love. Besides the Crown Prince doesn’t love me. He told me from the start that while he would be kind, he would never love me.”

“Fufu, don’t you think it’s cruel that he dotes on you so much yet doesn’t love you?”

“Because the Crown Prince loves my sister Bertina. I understand well the desire to have the person you love notice you. To make that happen, Bertina is in the way.”

The image of her beloved man surfaced in her mind. If he were to whisper love in that voice, gaze at her with those eyes, touch her. She would be immersed in supreme happiness.

She wanted to have the man she loved, but Bertina was in the way. While worrying about what to do, Clarissa saw it: Riet watching Bertina, who was always paying attention to Argent, with pained, jealous eyes. She had always thought he disliked Bertina, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

When she consulted Agnes, her mother said she would cooperate if their interests aligned, so Clarissa approached Riet as advised. At first, he was wary and wouldn’t listen, but when she persuaded him that if the person she wanted left Bertina, then Bertina would start looking at Riet, he agreed to cooperate.

Just like with the Annaloro ducal family, if Riet doted on Clarissa in front of Bertina, eventually Bertina would feel threatened about the engagement being broken or dissolved. But all results were failures, no matter how much Riet doted on Clarissa or how much Clarissa acted sweet toward Riet, Bertina showed absolutely no sign of caring. Growing desperate, the two came up with the engagement annulment plan, but it ended in failure.

“You becoming Crown Princess would be troublesome for both you and me. Even if we made you an adopted daughter of the Annaloro house, I have absolutely no intention of making you Crown Princess.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s think about it. I’ll handle most of it, so Clarissa, please don’t see His Highness for a while.”

“Understood.”

Agnes moved away from Clarissa and returned to her original position. She drank half her wine, swirling it gently.

—Ah, what an infuriating, beloved child. To resemble my brother the most and be so strong-willed…

I wish Bianco resembled my brother. Or my daughter Clarissa. Clarissa is the spitting image of me. Of course she’s cute, but she has no resemblance to my brother at all. My husband, the Duke of Moldio, adores Clarissa who looks exactly like his wife Agnes. That’s fine in its own way, but from Agnes’s perspective, she wanted a child who resembled her brother.

—I wish I could have borne one for you.

A chill ran down Bertina’s spine, and she shuddered on the spot, nearly dropping the book she was holding. When Argent moved to catch it, she shook her head saying she was fine, but felt an unpleasant premonition.

“What’s wrong?”

“An ill omen, perhaps.”

“Ominous.”

Having quickly finished the oppressively heavy dinner and escaped to her room, Bertina had pulled a book from the shelf to relax with, and this was it.

During dinner, her parents ate awkwardly while sending glances her way, and Bianco with his tear-swollen eyes kept stealing looks at her—it was tiresome. Surprisingly, her father was different. He only watched her without his usual sarcasm. Just his gaze was annoying. As for her mother, she looked at Bertina with worried eyes, but it was too late now and just as tiresome.

“Argent.”

“What is it?”

“Besides Maria’s Beloved that Lady Inanna spoke of, is there such a thing as power to charm others?”

“There is.”

“There is?”

“Though it’s not the sacred power the High Priest spoke of. It’s more like powers belonging to us demons.”

Argent, who appears no different from a human, belongs to the highest rank of demons among devils. Below them are vampires, succubi, incubi, and others. These three races that prey on humans are said to possess particularly outstanding abilities regarding techniques to charm others.

“Argent, you were a prince in your homeland, right?”

“That’s right. But well, they’d be fine without me. I have two excellent older brothers who are stronger than me.”

“Were you neglected?”

“No? My mother died before I met Bertina. They started being overprotective of me, the only one among my brothers who resembles our mother. It was so suffocating that I said I wanted to live in the human world and ran away.”

The day he met Bertina was exactly when he had fled the demon world. The handsome Argent got into a box labeled “Please take me” hoping some curious human might pick him up. A curious human, Bertina found him and took him in.

“Speaking of which, how many hours later did I pick you up that day?”

“Not much time had passed, I think. Many humans saw me, but you were the only one who actually approached and spoke to me.”

Normally people would either find it creepy and not approach, or even if curious, still not approach. The lonely Bertina back then approached Argent in the box both to distract herself from loneliness and because she wanted to know why such a handsome boy wanted to be picked up.

When asked if he had no home to return to, he said no. When asked if he’d been abandoned, he said no. He was just waiting for a human who would provide food, clothing, and shelter.

“Even now, do you want to find someone who’ll let you be lazier than me who works you hard?”

“How cruel. If you pick someone up, you should take care of them to the end, Owner.”

“Fufu, of course.”

Though she declared she would keep the Argent she brought home as a pet, he was actually her important friend, her only understanding companion and ally.

“Argent, is there anything you want?”

“Sudden, aren’t you. Not really.”

“You have no material desires.”

“Neither do you, Bertina.”

Even if she doesn’t desire things, as a daughter of the Annaloro house she’s regularly given expensive jewelry, dresses, books, etc., so she never encounters things she personally wants. Bertina, sitting on the sofa, placed the book she was holding on her lap. The title was ‘Sibling Relationships.’ The closeness between Aunt Agnes and her father Crow was abnormal. Since it was too late to go out today, she decided to first gain knowledge from books and found this in the library.

Among the young ladies and gentlemen Bertina knows, many have siblings. She can’t think of any as close as those two. Everyone seems to maintain an appropriate distance.

When she asked if even demons have siblings who touch each other so intimately, Argent gave a wry smile and shook his head.

“Not to my knowledge, at least. Those two, especially the Duchess of Moldio is abnormal.”

“Now that you mention it, it’s always Aunt who’s clinging, and I’ve never seen Father initiate contact.”

“One thing I can say is that your mother is quite broad-minded. No matter that she’s his sister, to smilingly watch a woman clinging to her husband’s body either she truly doesn’t love the Duke, or there’s another reason.”

“Another reason…”

When he said that, she remembered what Inanna said about Maria’s Beloved. But she was told none had been born since the one forty years ago, and if one were a Beloved, High Priestess Inanna would notice.

“If I could understand the reason for Father and Aunt’s closeness, maybe I could understand a little of this ‘Clarissa is cute’ business.”

“Who knows.”

“Even if I regret knowing, I hate regretting not knowing. I’m going to investigate thoroughly!”

“Okay, okay.”

There was a faint knock at the door, but Bertina, absorbed in her research, didn’t notice, and Argent, not wanting to disturb her concentration, pretended not to hear.