I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 34

Without fascination, far from being loved by the one she loved, she was instead viewed as abnormal—feared and despised. Even when told that everything written in the diary was fact, Agnes screamed that she wouldn’t believe it. Though she had used fascination to manipulate Crow as she pleased, her heart gradually became stained by Agnes, and he came to love her.

“My brother and I love each other from the bottom of our hearts! Besides, that diary can’t be used as evidence! There’s no proof my brother wrote it!”

“N-no, I heard from Mother before that Father has written in his diary every day since he was a child. He still continues to write in it to this day.”

It was Bianco who spoke up. After retrieving her mother, who had been shoved aside, she asked the knights who had rushed over to carry her to the infirmary.

Inanna, disguised as Bertina, clapped her hands twice, instantly drawing everyone’s attention to herself.

“Big brother, big brother~ I have some unfortunate news for you, dear Agnes.”

“What is it?!”

“Let’s go back to the beginning. The plan to make Clarissa the Crown Princess and pretend to send Bertina off to a convent, only to make her Clarissa’s ‘shadow.’ Agnes, you used fascination on Ignat, didn’t you? At that time, aside from this matter, Ignat was perfectly normal, as testified by Her Majesty the Queen and the Crown Prince’s son. Moreover, when I went to speak with him directly, there were clear traces of fascination on Ignat.”

“His Majesty wouldn’t listen to me or my brother!!”

“That’s right! From your perspective, it must seem unfair. But using fascination on royalty especially the head of this country are you prepared for the consequences?”

“…………”

If it hadn’t been discovered, Agnes’s crime would have remained unknown, and the King would have remained under her fascination. The crime of brainwashing royalty with an unknown power is punishable by the death penalty. Agnes, who had been excited, breathing heavily with a flushed face, turned deathly pale at these words. With both evidence and testimony in place, and the Queen having witnessed the King immediately after the fascination was lifted, there was no escaping responsibility, especially given Agnes’s own statements here.

Just as the King was about to raise his hand, Agnes, who had shouted “Don’t move!” in an attempt to stop him, moved slightly away from Crow, whom she had been embracing, and placed both hands on his neck.

“Lady Moldio!”

“If you let the knights in, I’ll strangle my brother to death, and I’ll bite my tongue and die too. If you’re fine with that, then go ahead and send them in!”

“Fine, go ahead and die if you want.”

She had reached her limit. She forgot she was pretending to be Inanna, but no one noticed. Relieved inwardly, she approached the stunned Agnes.

Agnes’s small hands were on her father’s neck, holding his life in her grasp. Provoking her in this situation would be foolish, but she could no longer stay silent. Step by step, even as Agnes shouted “Don’t come any closer!”, Bertina didn’t stop.

“If you’re prepared to kill and to commit suicide, then go right ahead. But you know Agnes, it’s not so easy to strangle someone to death. Especially for a delicate woman like you.”

She had no intention of competing to see whether the knights would rush in faster or Agnes would strangle her father first. Taking her words as a signal, Argent instantly moved in front of Agnes. Startled by Alistair’s sudden appearance, Agnes’s wrists were seized as he called out, “Prince Annaloro!”, mobilizing Bianco and successfully retrieving Crow.

As he tightened his grip on Agnes’s resisting wrists, she let out a scream. He intended to tighten it to the limit, but at Luigi’s furious roar of “Don’t touch Agnes!!”, he threw her at Luigi’s feet.

“Agnes!”

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

“Oh, how pitiful, your beautiful skin is turning red. Aren’t you ashamed, as a priest serving the goddess, to use violence against a woman?”

“Unfortunately, I’m on the complete opposite side of the goddess, so it doesn’t matter?”

“Huh?”

As if he no longer cared about hiding his identity, Alistair snapped his fingers, and in an instant, his appearance shifted to that of Argent. At the same time, Bertina, who had been disguised as Inanna, also returned to her original form. Riet, who had been told she would be pretending to be Inanna, was just as wide-eyed as everyone else.

“You say not to raise a hand against a woman, but what that woman did goes way beyond the limit. Since she’s going to be executed anyway, what does it matter what we do to her?”

“Y-you bastard! What in the world and Lady Bertina too…”

“It was the right call not to make me Clarissa’s attendant. I’m a demon, so who knows what I might have done?”

“A demon!?”

See? Even when he turned to her with one eye closed, she was at a loss for words. Even knowing he was a demon, it was Bertina’s decision to keep Argent by her side.

“Only the High Priestess was supposed to be present here, but we’ve obtained evidence that you used someone to seriously injure the High Priestess. Duke Moldio.”

“There’s no way such a thing exists.”

“We used a truth serum on the girl who stabbed the High Priestess and made her talk, and then we looked into her memories. This is the evidence.”

A glowing sphere appeared in his left hand, shining brightly. Then, a scene appeared, complete with sound, showing Luigi ordering a woman to kill Inanna.

“The confession has been properly recorded by the cathedral and has already been submitted to the royal family. If you still want to make excuses after seeing her memories, I’ll listen? Duke Moldio.”

“…”

The smile and composure that had been plastered on Luigi’s face began to crumble away. As his expression turned terrifying, Clarissa let out a small scream and went over to Bianco, who had just handed Crow over to the knights. While comforting the trembling Clarissa, Bianco’s eyes wavered with complex emotions.

“By the way, Uncle Luigi. We only put truth serum in yours and Auntie’s tea.”

The trick with the tea was the truth serum. They waited until they confirmed the two had drunk it before bringing up the topic because they knew they would never speak unless forced to by the serum.

Though the two screamed that it was cowardly, Bertina remained cool and composed.

“Are you saying that, Uncle Luigi, who threatened a low-ranking maid to order the killing of Lady Inanna, and Auntie, who used a cowardly ability like fascination to corner Father? I’ll return the word ‘cowardly’ right back to you.”

Thanks to returning to her original form, the tension was gone, and she could act confidently and openly. As Luigi and Agnes shouted and screamed, they were taken away by the knights who rushed in at the King’s command.

No one spoke until the angry shouts and screams faded away. When it finally grew quiet, Bertina bowed deeply to the members of the royal family.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness the Queen, Your Highness the Crown Prince. I apologize for not informing you in advance and for disguising myself to be present here.”

“Lady Bertina, raise your head.”

When she did as told, the King shook his head.

“There’s a saying: to deceive the enemy, first deceive your allies. It was better that we didn’t know in advance. Besides, I’m sure the High Priestess had a hand in this, right?”

“No… When Lady Inanna was stabbed and couldn’t attend, I offered to take her place. I was certain those two wouldn’t speak the truth if Lady Inanna wasn’t here.”

Also, since only Bertina and Argent were immune to Agnes’s fascination, and Argent would be too resistant to pretend to be Inanna, Bertina declared that she could do it and carried it out.

“I see.”

“And I spoke very disrespectfully to Your Majesty.”

“Don’t worry about it. The High Priestess would have definitely said the same. Thinking about it, your acting skills are impressive.”

“Thank you.”

Why did she feel complicated about being praised?

“Bertina.”

Riet, who had left his seat, approached.

“Your Highness, thank you for maintaining a neutral stance.”

“…I wanted to speak up many times. How is the High Priestess?”

“She’s waiting in another room with Lord Alistair. She said she’d come once it was over, so she should be here soon.”

“What will happen to the Duke and Duchess Annaloro from now on?”

“Probably, they’ll receive treatment, but…”

Given their condition, even if they regain their own will, they’ll only be unhappy. Even if they receive sedatives, the hearts of the two, who were under long-term fascination, will likely never fully recover.

Bertina moved away from Riet and went over to her brother Bianco, who was comforting the crying Clarissa.

“Brother, I need to talk to you about Father and Mother.”