I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 18

—Bertina…

Returning alone to the palace, Riet was approached by a servant who pleaded with him to stop the king and queen from arguing. He headed toward the office where the two were.

In his mind, he saw Bertina, who had spoken sadly of being unable to receive her parents’ love.

When he was eight years old, he nearly drowned in a lake.

With each breath, the oxygen in his body faded, and countless bubbles escaped his mouth. As his consciousness grew murky, he saw a hand firmly grasp his weakly raised one and pull him. For a moment, his fading awareness sharpened. What Riet saw was gold and blue drifting in the water—a young lady from somewhere, wearing a dress with somewhat conspicuous orange frills.

The next thing he knew, a girl with golden hair was peering into his face. Her deep purple eyes widened, and she called out to someone nearby, “—Je—, his eyes—… ah,” before disappearing from his view.

He found it strange that he was breathing.

Strange that it didn’t hurt to breathe.

Strange that he was alive.

At the time, Riet had been visiting a villa owned by the royal family. Despite the queen’s repeated warnings not to enter the lake, he had gone in to catch a fish that only lived there, thinking it would please his half-brother, Alexio. He had slipped past his guards and headed to the lake alone, so there was no one else around. He had been on the verge of drowning, certain his mother would be furious and grief-stricken, his half-brother saddened, and his father disappointed. Just as despair began to set in, a girl he didn’t know had saved his life.

A girl who couldn’t have been much older than him.

Though he was shirtless, it was summer, so he didn’t catch a cold. When he next awoke, he was inside the villa. According to the guard who found him, his hair was wet, but his skin was dry, and a towel had been draped over him. The guard explained that no one else had been there, and the other guards searching for Riet hadn’t seen anyone either.

When Riet mentioned that the girl who saved him had golden hair and deep purple eyes, the queen told him it must be Bertina, the eldest daughter of the Annaloro ducal house. In the kingdom, she was the only young lady with those features. It could have been a commoner, but the dress Riet saw underwater was far too expensive for a commoner to afford. It could have been the daughter of a wealthy merchant, but the most likely candidate was Bertina.

Around that time, Riet heard from his mother that his engagement to Bertina had been arranged and the day for their first meeting was set. Anger welled up in him at having his engagement decided without his consent. He had learned from his tutors that his parents had married for love. He, too, had hoped to one day marry a woman he loved.

When he complained to his mother, she made a complicated face and decided it was acceptable to tell him, since he was usually so diligent in his crown prince studies. She revealed that his father had once had another fiancée, but to pursue his true love with her, he had callously broken off that engagement. As a result, the former fiancée was disowned by her family and now lived in a neighboring country.

Hearing the story of his parents’ relationship, which he had once admired, left him disappointed. At the same time, he vowed never to fall for anyone else. Though he resented having his fiancée chosen for him, he knew there was no use complaining endlessly about what was already decided.

Incidentally, he hadn’t yet been told that Alexio was his half-brother. That would come a bit later.

A few days before the meeting, Riet passed by Duke Spade in the royal castle. As Riet was about to head to the library to prepare for his next lesson after a brief greeting, Duke Spade stopped him. Riet didn’t know how the duke had caught wind of his engagement to Bertina, but Duke Spade spoke to him pityingly.

He said the Annaloro young lady was a terribly spoiled girl, abandoned even by her renowned, excellent older brother and her ducal parents. The king had only chosen her as the crown prince’s fiancée because there were no other suitable young ladies.

Since learning that the girl who saved him was Bertina, Riet had been gathering information about what kind of young lady she was. Duke Spade must have known this and come specifically to tell him. And what he said matched the information Riet had collected. The more he learned, the more disheartened he became. Each time he heard about his life-saving benefactor’s awful, wicked nature, he grew to dislike the engagement more.

On the day of the meeting, even the Annaloro duke said Bertina was terribly spoiled and made her cute cousin cry. Riet thought about telling her, “For someone like you to become the crown prince’s fiancée, you’re quite lucky, aren’t you?” but in the end, he held back.

The meeting with Bertina, for whom he had only the worst impressions, ended without incident, largely because others were present.

However, his determination to never fall for her seemed strongly apparent. He spent the entire time glaring at her, causing her to look down. Though his parents scolded him, Riet had no intention of changing his feelings.

• ○●○●○

“Another country, huh?”

At night, sitting on the steps at the main entrance of the cathedral, Bertina gazed vaguely at the navy-blue sky filled with countless stars. Argent had suggested she go to another country until things settled down. It was an idea Bertina had been considering just before her engagement was about to be annulled. She wanted to go somewhere beyond the reach of the Moldio ducal house perhaps the western kingdom known for its sweets, or a famous confectionery town. Anything to get away from the royal capital.

“Does a brother seem that attractive from a sister’s perspective?”

“I wonder.”

She had muttered it to herself, expecting no answer. But contrary to her expectations, a reply came.

“Argent.”

“You’ll catch a cold.”

Argent draped a blanket over her shoulders and handed her a freshly made café au lait. There were two kinds: Bertina’s special, topped with chocolate cream and chocolate sauce, and Argent’s special, coffee with Irish whiskey. Bertina, who had always been curious about Irish coffee, indicated she wanted to try it, but he flatly refused, saying, “It’s impossible for Bertina.” For Bertina, with her childlike palate, plain coffee without sugar or cream was still a distant prospect.

Giving Argent a sidelong glare, she drank the special hot café au lait she’d been given. As she warmed to the beloved blend of chocolate and café au lait, she voiced something that had been on her mind.

“If Aunt possesses a power of fascination, why didn’t she use it on me or Argent?”

Argent, being a demon, probably wouldn’t be affected, but Bertina was human. It should have worked on her like anyone else.

“Now that you mention it, you’re right. I’ve also wondered why the Moldio duchess never once tried to use fascination on me.”

“Is that so? Or perhaps she couldn’t?”

“No? If she had used it, I would have noticed. But first, we demons don’t normally think humans possess such power.”

“I see.”

If that were the case, did it mean Agnes had realized Argent was a demon? But that didn’t feel right. If she had known he was a demon, she would have stopped Clarissa from wanting him, no matter how much she desired him, and would likely have reported it to the cathedral.

“Personally, I’d like to know why she didn’t use it on Bertina.”

If she had used it on Bertina, she could have easily handed Argent over to Clarissa and manipulated her as she pleased.

“The reason she didn’t use it on me or Argent. For Argent, maybe it’s because Clarissa likes him, so she didn’t want to. But if she wanted to make him obey, using fascination would have been quicker.”

“Yeah.”

“Even though I was suggested to go to another country, I’ve only ended up with more things to worry about.”

She smiled wryly as she savored the hot café au lait.

Bertina unexpectedly brought up Riet’s topic.

“That crown prince…”

“Hmm?”

“Why does His Highness want me to be his crown princess?”

“…Hmm?”

“Because it doesn’t make sense. After all the times he’s hated me, he says things like his relationship with Clarissa was a sham, or the annulment was a lie. It’s all incomprehensible.”

“Bertina, you really haven’t noticed, have you?”

“Noticed what?”

“The crown prince is in love with you.”

……………….

A long silence and an awkward atmosphere enveloped them. Bertina blinked repeatedly, and when she finally understood, she shook her head in disbelief.

“Argent, before we go to another country, let’s have you see a doctor. I’ll ask for a referral to a renowned physician famous even in the royal capital.”

“I’m fine, really.”

“After everything he’s done until now, how could you say he likes me?”

“Well, at first, he couldn’t forget his first love and disliked you, but from the middle onward, he started looking at you longingly. And he was glaring at me with full-blown jealousy for always being by your side.”

“Liar.”

“It’s true.”

Even as she thought back or looked, all she remembered was being glared at.

Recalling her interactions with Riet yielded nothing.

She remembered that around half a year after their engagement was set, Riet had invited her to tea and offered cookies he had previously refused, saying he didn’t want them. But all of it felt too late, and having tea and cookies with Argent was many times more enjoyable, so she declined every time.

When she mentioned this, he pointed out, “Wasn’t it from around then?”

“Hmph, I don’t know. I don’t know what change of heart he had, but I absolutely refuse to have boring tea with His Highness.”

“Haha. Every time you turned him down like that, the crown prince looked like he was about to cry.”

“Don’t say things that aren’t true.”

“They are.”

Bertina had no memory of it.

Argent, always by her side, observed not only Bertina but also the people around her.

Why? —Because humans are interesting to watch.

“I’m sure he was trying to make up for his past behavior by actively inviting you, but by then, your feelings for the crown prince had already vanished. That’s why Bertina can’t notice.”

“Even if you say that…”

No matter how much Argent pointed out the details, she couldn’t remember.

She opened the deep drawers of her memory and searched inside. Now that he mentioned it, there were instances. Though she didn’t remember clearly, there was Riet, glaring intensely while stiffly inviting her to tea or sweets. But it was completely obvious that he was only doing it because the queen or others told him to. Being with Riet was nothing but boring, tedious, and painful, so Bertina simply said, “I refuse,” and either returned to the mansion with Argent or killed time in the queen’s favorite greenhouse.

“But the moment he used Clarissa, I refused him even more.”

“Hahaha! Well, I suppose so. Trying to get your attention by using another woman was the worst possible move.”

And the fact that it was Clarissa made it completely hopeless.

Riet’s stubbornness was probably due to Bertina’s own unyielding attitude, but Argent found it amusing to watch and thought things were just fine as they were, taking a sip of his Irish coffee.

In the high priest’s room. Inanna, clad in a priestess robe that boldly revealed her chest and legs, lay languidly on the sofa. She had drunk too much wine.

Regarding Agnes’s fascination, she would definitely break the king. It was a chance to put the royal family greatly in her debt. She was troubled over what to do about the Annaloro duke and duchess, who had been under long-term fascination. If she released it, given their past treatment of Bertina and their relationship with Agnes, they would surely be left as broken shells. Especially the duke… Inanna had seen him, back when Bertina was a baby, coming to the chapel every day to pray to the goddess Maria.

“Please let Bertina live, for the sake of the other daughter who was born but could not survive.”