I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 2

That day, Bertina did a mental victory pose. She wanted to shout “I did it!!” at the top of her lungs and dance, but her current location was her fiancé Crown Prince Riet’s room. Seated before her were her fiancé Crown Prince Riet and her cousin Clarissa.

“Just now, what did you say?”

“You didn’t hear? I’m ordering the annulment of our engagement.”

“I’m sorry, Lady Bertina.”

Bertina Annaloro, the duke’s daughter, had been engaged to the kingdom’s Crown Prince Riet Clyden since she was eight years old. The kingdom had two princes: Riet, the legitimate son of the queen, and Acressio, his half-brother born from the king’s affair with a maid.

The queen’s family was a count house. Originally, the king had another fiancée, but he insisted he had found true love and forcibly married the current queen. That other fiancée was from a powerful duke family within the kingdom. The reason Bertina of the Annaloro dukedom became Riet’s fiancée was to suppress the resentment the scorned duke family held towards the royal family.

They had first met when they were eight.

From their very first meeting, Riet radiated an aura of intense dislike towards Bertina. It seemed he had a first love. Rumor was it was a girl who saved him from nearly drowning in a lake not far from the royal capital. Even though it was clear the girl was a noble, her family remained unknown. For Riet, who had been searching for her ever since, being forced into a political marriage with Bertina was utterly detestable.

Although Bertina initially had a good impression of the beautiful boy with the royal family’s distinctive, lustrous black hair and the queen’s violet eyes, his consistently cold attitude from the start made her realize seeking love from him was foolish. She never grew to like him.

“You lack Clarissa’s cuteness and Bianco’s excellence. I’m utterly sick of you.”

You never had any affection for me to begin with! she screamed internally, but on the surface, she remained calm pasting on an ambiguous smile.

“I see… Are His Majesty and Her Majesty the Queen aware?”

“Yes.”

“Understood. Please inform the Annaloro dukedom yourself, Your Highness. My father wouldn’t listen to a single word from me.”

“…You really are unlovable. No wonder even the duke is sick of you.”

Bertina’s father, Duke Annaloro, was only interested in her excellent older brother, Bianco, the heir. He continually treated Bertina coldly, as she fell short of Bianco no matter what she did. Her mother was the same. While she showered Bianco with affection, she was strict with Bertina, using her future role as queen as an excuse. Bertina had realized there was no love there a long time ago.

“Your Highness, I’m so happy!”

“Me too, Clarissa. I can finally be engaged to my cute you.”

The one who had been sitting next to Riet was her cousin Clarissa. A lovely beauty with platinum blonde hair and large aqua-blue eyes, she was doted on by her parents and Bianco. Bertina had lost count of how many times she’d been told they wished Clarissa was their daughter.

Having long since abandoned any affection for her parents or brother, Bertina remained unperturbed, watching her now-former fiancé Riet and her cousin Clarissa flirt right in front of her.

Even when Clarissa, after being kissed on the forehead by Riet, looked over at Bertina with eyes full of superiority, Bertina took advantage of Riet not looking her way and feigned a yawn, as if it didn’t matter. Ignoring the stunned Clarissa, she drank the served tea, wondering when her escort would arrive.

Given the location was the royal palace, the tea was delicious. As she pondered whether it would be acceptable to ask a friendly maid who worked there what kind of tea leaves they used, a knock sounded simultaneously with the door opening and a voice saying, “Pardon me.”

The man who appeared had silver hair that deepened to blue at the tips. After giving an exaggerated bow, he smiled at Bertina.

“I have come to escort you, Lady Bertina.”

“Thank you, Argent. Well then, Your Highness, I shall take my leave. I wish you every happiness.”

Her final words were neither a face-saving remark nor anything of the sort; they were words she genuinely felt from the bottom of her heart. His strangely colored purple and gold eyes were looking only at her. An indescribable joy made her heart leap, a slight hint of which showed on her face without her realizing it.

Riet, who had been staring wide-eyed, immediately glared at her with hatred. Only when glared at did Bertina notice. Suppressing a sigh, she took Argent’s offered hand and left the crown prince’s room.

The two left the palace in silence and boarded the carriage. As soon as the carriage started moving, Bertina energetically threw her arms around Argent.

Held securely in Argent’s embrace, her joy swelled immensely.

“I did it…! I finally did it! My engagement was annulled by His Highness!”

“That’s great~, Bertina.”

“It really is!”

Argent, his tone returning to its usual casualness, called her by name without honorifics in a drawn-out voice and rubbed his cheek against her golden hair.

“You should praise me for holding back the urge to throw my hands up in joy! I was so fed up with it all.”

“Haha. What a hated fellow that prince is.”

“It seems he believed I was in love with him, but I never liked him, not even once.”

For the first few years, she had repeatedly tried to get along, taking the initiative to reach out. But every time they met, he radiated an aura telling her to stay away. Even at a tea party the queen hosted out of pity, he remained silent the entire time. No matter what Bertina said, silence. If the queen, who was also present, said something, he’d end it in a word or two. The queen apologized to Bertina so much that it made Bertina feel sorry for her; she had wished he would at least be polite in front of his parents.

“Well then, the real battle begins once we’re back at the mansion. Once Father hears about the annulment, I’ll probably receive every insult he can think of, so let’s pack our things immediately upon returning.”

“I’m coming too, right?”

“Argent, you’re coming with me, of course.”

Argent, who served as Bertina’s guard and attendant, was an orphan (tentatively) that Bertina had picked up on the street before she met Riet.

When she found him, he was in a box with a sign that read ‘Please take me in.’ His clean appearance suggested he might be from a noble family somewhere, which made the commoners find him creepy and avoid him. Bertina, who had coincidentally finished shopping and stepped outside, found Argent in the box and told her maid she would take him as a pet, bringing him home.

Her father, who had not a shred of interest or affection for Bertina since childhood, refused to pay him a salary. Her mother and brother also made Argent, picked up as a ‘pet,’ a target of ridicule, further increasing their sarcastic remarks towards Bertina.

Argent had been Bertina’s guard and attendant for over ten years without pay. When Bertina first suggested paying him from her allowance, he refused, saying he didn’t need to worry about money and that having proper food, clothing, and shelter was enough.

“Let’s get married.”

“Sure, why not? It’d probably result in me either being disowned or married off as a troublesome noble’s second wife. Hehe, if Argent is with me, I feel like I could go anywhere.”

“Did you never, even once, want to marry the prince?”

“If His Highness had shown me even the bare minimum respect as his fiancée, I would have tried to fulfill the role given to me.”

“So, you would have married him?”

“Maybe.”

If she had married him, she couldn’t help but feel that a life akin to hell would have awaited her.

“…I see… I’m glad it didn’t happen.”

As Argent held Bertina tight, his purple and gold eyes took on a deeply, murky hue.