I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 21

“Good morning, you’re up early.”

The worshippers who had come to visit watched fearfully as a large number of knights occupied the front of the cathedral, but they sighed in relief when the high priestess appeared with her laid-back tone. At the forefront was the rigid knight captain whom Inanna knew well. He demanded the return of Bertina, who had been brought here without permission.

“Knight Captain, I don’t know what His Majesty told you, but she’s here of her own will. Would you mind leaving?”

“That won’t do. His Majesty wishes for Lady Bertina’s rescue.”

“You make it sound like I dragged her here by force. I’ll speak with His Majesty. Whether we return Lady Annaloro or not can be decided then.”

Standing gracefully before the knight captain, Inanna flashed an alluring smile at the intimidated knights and promptly began walking toward the royal castle. Even when the knight captain called out in surprise, she didn’t stop, forcing him to hurriedly follow.

Riet, who had been secretly watching from inside the building, felt uneasy but quickly returned to the royal castle.

King Ignat, who greeted Inanna as she entered the throne room with her knights in tow, furrowed his brow deeply and looked down at Inanna with displeasure as she smiled fearlessly.

“For the high priestess to come herself, I take it you really don’t want to return Lady Annaloro.”

“Ignat, dear, your forehead’s gotten wider. Balding men aren’t very popular, you know~?”

“That’s irrelevant right now! High Priestess, return Lady Annaloro to the Annaloro family!”

While suppressing laughter at his subtle attempt to hide his forehead by pulling his crown lower, Inanna noticed the queen sitting beside him looking anxiously between them and deliberately addressed the queen instead of Ignat.

“Your Highness, the Queen.”

“!”

“May I ask you something?”

“I’m the one speaking now!”

“Do be quiet. I’m speaking to Her Highness the Queen right now.”

Her voice shifted from its usual laid-back tone to a low, intimidating one that silenced Ignat by force, and she posed her question to the queen.

Of course, her tone returned to normal afterward.

“I heard from Lady Annaloro about the matter of making Lady Clarissa of the Moldio ducal family an adopted daughter of the Annaloro ducal house. His Majesty seems to approve, but I’d like to hear Your Highness’s opinion.”

“…I’m against it. His Majesty was against it at first too. But after the Duchess of Moldio got involved, His Majesty suddenly changed his mind and gave his approval.”

Inanna sighed inwardly, thinking, “As I suspected.”

With normal reasoning, there was no way he’d agree to sending Bertina to a convent and making Clarissa an adopted daughter of the Annaloro family. If Clarissa were the daughter of a lower noble, it might be understandable, but she was the eldest daughter of the Moldio ducal house—the sole heir. Even if it was unclear whether the Moldio couple were providing heir education, she was the only direct descendant. They could simply adopt a child from Duke Louis Moldio’s siblings, but that would only happen if Clarissa was unfit to inherit. If they had no intention of having her marry someone to continue the family line, then from the start, they must have only considered making Clarissa an adopted daughter of the Annaloro ducal house.

And if they were going that far to make Clarissa an adopted daughter, there was only one conceivable reason.

“Your Majesty, why did you approve? Normally, there’s no reason to make Lady Clarissa an adopted daughter of the Annaloro family and send Lady Bertina to a convent.”

“High Priestess, you at the cathedral can say that because you know nothing of politics. By making Lady Clarissa the crown princess, we gain the backing of both the Annaloro and Moldio ducal houses. Furthermore, by pretending to send Lady Bertina to a convent and using her as Lady Clarissa’s shadow—”

“Ah, that’s enough, thank you.”

Cutting off Ignat mid-sentence, Inanna strode before the throne and placed a finger on his forehead as he stared wide-eyed.

“The cloudiness in your eyes is faint, and your consciousness is clear, so…”

Muttering a word or two in a very soft voice, Inanna gently removed her finger from Ignat’s forehead. Ignat, who had been staring, blinked several times and looked back and forth between Inanna and the queen.

“Wh-what in the world…?”

“How do you feel now?”

“What was I…?”

“May I ask one thing? Your Majesty, do you truly approve of sending Lady Annaloro to a convent and making Lady Clarissa an adopted daughter of the Annaloro ducal house?”

“What are you talking about? I was against that from the start!”

Stepping away from Ignat, who looked bewildered as the queen exclaimed in surprise, Inanna reflected that it was fortunate the charm had been applied for a short time and not too strongly, making it easy to break. The rest could be handled by having Bertina and the others provide a sedative for Ignat to take, lest he become mentally unstable upon hearing what he’d done.

Those under long-term charm wouldn’t be so easily freed.

Inanna explained the situation to Ignat and the queen and requested that the Annaloro and Moldio ducal families be summoned by royal decree.

Upon learning the truth, Ignat nodded, saying, “Right away,” and the queen sighed in relief at seeing Ignat returned to the king she knew well.

• ○●○●○

After leaving the café, they went for a walk at Bertina’s suggestion, as she wanted to stroll through the town before visiting the apothecary’s house. Though it was the countryside, there were many people, and many shops were open from early morning. Bertina, who usually never left the royal capital, looked at every shop with great interest, occasionally entering those that caught her eye, picking up items, and buying what she liked.

“Argent, is there nothing you want?”

“Not really, I’m fine. Just enjoy yourself, Bertina.”

“It’s no fun if I’m the only one enjoying it. Ah.”

“Hm?”

Bertina, who had suddenly spoken up, was looking in a certain direction. Curious, Argent turned to look as well. A family of four—parents, a boy and a girl around the same age—were holding hands and entering a café. A couple who had been looking at the sign near the entrance followed them inside.

“Bertina?”

“Eh? Ah, yes, sorry.”

Bertina had been watching the family and the couple with a look of envy and loneliness. They were something she could never obtain, no matter how hard she struggled. Even though Inanna had told her she was cherished as a baby, from the time she became aware of her surroundings, she had been constantly compared to her brilliant older brother and shown her cousin being doted on. Hearing such stories might cause some agitation, but her heart remained unmoved.

“Hey, Argent. If Father and Mother hadn’t been charmed by Auntie, do you think things would be different now?”

“Who knows? Even if they were charmed, would they compare you and your brother that obsessively?”

While Clarissa’s doting and Agnes’s excessive attachment might be due to the charm, the way she was compared to Bianco was unlikely to be influenced by it. In the end, the dynamic of the brilliant eldest son and the failing eldest daughter was a fate that would have unfolded with or without the charm.

“I see,” Bertina sighed and changed her mood.

“Enough about them. Shall we head to the apothecary’s?”

“Are you sure you’re done with the walk?”

“Yes.”

They started walking again, changing their destination to the apothecary’s house.

Argent unexpectedly brought up the topic of Riet’s first love.

“That lake where the crown prince drowned. It’s the same lake we used to play in, right?”

“Yes. You looked so good in drag that I couldn’t help but laugh.”

“That outfit modeled after you, right? I even made the dress color to your liking.”

“The orange dress? I thought it would definitely suit you, Argent.”

Since they were pretending to be twins, she had him match her preferences for the dress too.

They had used magic to allow breathing underwater, and she was moved by the experience of swimming freely while wearing a dress. It was magic that made the impossible possible, a power only he, as a demon, possessed. It wasn’t something she, as a human, could hope for.

“A noble lady around the same age who saved His Highness. Could she have saved him?”

“Who knows… Maybe she was an exceptionally good swimmer?”

“She’s a lady, so she’d normally be wearing a dress, right? Could she swim? In a dress?”

“Hmm.”

The more she thought about it, the harder it was to picture the noble lady who saved Riet. She began to doubt whether the “same-age lady” was Riet’s misconception and if it might actually have been an adult woman.

“Are you curious, Bertina?”

“You’re the one who brought it up. Well, I am curious. Maybe I could find her and make His Highness eat his words.”

The thought of the usually calm Riet being flustered, just imagining it made her feel a sense of superiority, but she snapped out of it and shook her head.

“Forget I said that. I’m sick of getting involved with His Highness too, so let’s drop it.”

“Okay, okay.”