I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 42

Bertina blinked her eyes, taking a moment to process the words spoken to her. When she finally grasped their meaning, she shot Argent a look of utter disbelief.

“Me? A duke? When there’s a male heir, how could a woman like me possibly become a duke?”

“There’s no law prohibiting women from inheriting titles in this country, is there? Let’s make a bet. I think Bertina will become the duke.”

“Even if my brother is foolish, if he just cools his head.”

“There’s a saying that love is blind. Given your brother’s nature, he’ll probably demand that the duke let him marry Clarissa.”

“No way!”

Though she wanted to deny it, the likelihood of that prediction becoming reality was far greater. Even when Argent told her she should become the duke, she had never considered it.

She had assumed Bianco would inherit the dukedom, while she would have her engagement broken off and live with Argent in some unknown land.

They ended their conversation there for the day.

Just before evening, word came that her father had returned from the castle. When she went to the entrance hall to greet him, he looked far more exhausted than when he had left. The steward accompanying him did too.

Bertina braced herself, assuming his discussion with the king had gone poorly.

“Welcome home, Father.”

“I’m back.”

“You look pale. Was it about His Majesty…?”

“No, I visited Bianco on the way back.”

The talk with the king had concluded without incident. The content was that while the execution of the Moldio couple wasn’t formally decided, it was practically certain. When asked what should be done with their daughter Clarissa, her father had suggested entrusting her to the Moldio relatives, but was told that every family was refusing to take her in. Regarding Luigi’s younger brother, Count Lolo, while he was currently managing the Moldio household in the absence of the lord and lady, he too had refused to take in his niece.

“Given the circumstances, everyone is afraid that Clarissa possesses the same power as Agnes. Even with the High Priest of the cathedral’s assurance, they’re still frightened.”

“Father, what do you intend to do with Clarissa?”

“…Even if she was manipulated by Agnes, she’s still my niece. I plan to make a large donation to a convent and have them take care of her.”

“I see.”

Bertina had no intention of commenting further on the matter of Clarissa. If her father had said he would take her in, she thought they could house her in a separate wing with a few servants, ensuring they’d rarely cross paths.

“The problem was Lord Bianco.”

The steward, sounding weary, let this slip. Bertina, having an inkling of what he meant, cautiously asked for details.

“When the master informed Lord Bianco of his intention to send Lady Clarissa to a convent, despite his severe injuries, he became violent. He insisted he would marry Lady Clarissa and wouldn’t listen to reason.”

Hearing the expected news, Bertina was disheartened and, at the same time, felt an unprecedented disappointment in her brother.

Their sibling relationship was poor, and while Bianco was the worst brother in Bertina’s eyes, she had thought his current agitation was due to his hospitalization. Yet, Bianco’s true nature proved even more disappointing than she had anticipated.

Marriages between relatives were not uncommon, especially in lineages that prized bloodlines.

Surely Bianco would understand that taking as a wife a daughter whose parents were both convicted of grave crimes was impossible. Was it, as Argent said, that love is blind?

“Even if, by some stretch, she was a mistress, it might be possible.”

“I thought so too, and the master said as much to Lord Bianco… but it was like adding oil to fire.”

“I can imagine.”

She could vividly picture her brother shouting, “Do you intend to make dear Clarissa an outcast?!” and working himself into a frenzy. She now understood why her father and the steward had returned looking so drained.

“Our upbringing must have been flawed. In hindsight, when we told Bianco that the engagement with Clarissa was impossible, we should have arranged another fiancée for him then.”

“Master, in that case, the fiancée would have been the one to suffer, so it’s better that there wasn’t one.”

Bianco prioritized his cousin in everything and would absolutely refuse any fiancée who tried to win his affection. If that was how he treated his sister, a fiancée from a noble family would fare even worse.

“It seems less about upbringing and more a problem with his own character.”

“…I hope that’s the case.”

Her father heaved a deep sigh and suddenly fixed his gaze on Bertina. She waited, sensing he had something to say.

“Bertina.”

“Yes?”

“…No… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about Bianco. Once he cools his head, he’ll likely return to his usual self.”

Without saying what he wanted, her father changed the subject and, supported by the steward, went to his room.

As she watched him leave, she pondered what he had intended to say.

She recalled Argent’s words from yesterday.

“…”

—Time flowed on. Soon, a month had passed.

The Moldio couple were sentenced to execution following deliberations. Agnes, deemed a wicked woman of rare caliber for using the unknown power of ‘Charm’ to rob the Duke and Duchess of Annaloro of their will, and further attempting to use it on the king to impose her own desires, was executed publicly. Her husband Luigi, in light of his past achievements, was granted the poison cup instead of public execution.

Bertina was currently summoned by Riet and was having tea in the royal castle gardens.

“I heard from Father that the Duke visited Lady Moldio the day before her execution. Was that alright?”

“Yes. The steward accompanied him, and as a precaution, we asked Lady Inanna to join as well.”

Wanting to bring closure himself at the very end, her father had pushed through the opposition and met with Agnes, who was confined in the nobles’ prison. Being a duchess and due to Inanna’s interrogation, she was held in a relatively decent room.

When Bertina heard a concise account of the interrogation from Inanna, she felt faint. Agnes had said she wanted them to ‘share the same pain,’ but this was beyond expectation. The reason the target was a male prostitute was apparently ‘for viewing pleasure.’ Regarding this, Alistair had a distant look in his eyes. He must have been forced to attend.

“The steward told me that Father apologized to Auntie.”

“Apologized? Why? The Duke is the victim.”

“He said, ‘If only I had pushed her away more and been less kind, perhaps Auntie wouldn’t have harbored strange expectations and could have been happy with Uncle Luigi, who loved her for who she truly was.'”

“…”

In essence, he had thrown in her face that even with the power of Charm, she could not win the heart of the brother she loved. Weary of his parents’ lectures and punishments, and fearing the condemnation of those around him, he had played the role of the brother Agnes desired. That result had led to catastrophe.

It might have been better if he had shown anger.

The steward, with a somber expression, said that Agnes’s frenzy upon realizing anew that she was unloved and faced only execution was indescribable. Having served the young lady for many years, it was a shock to him as well.

“Duke Moldio also bears responsibility.”

“Your Highness?”

“If he truly loved his wife, he should have had countless ways to stop her. Far from stopping her, his crime of assisting her and encouraging her arrogance is grave.”

“They say love is blind, don’t they? He probably wanted to fulfill the wishes of the person he loved.”

To make Agnes, who loved only her real brother, turn towards him, he likely tried to impress upon her his cooperativeness, aiming to gain her complete trust and obtain something other than love. No one had imagined such a tragic future. Luigi continued to scream Agnes’s name until the very moment he was granted the poison cup. Luigi received the poison cup the day after Agnes’s public execution. They had forcibly made Luigi attend the public execution as well. Upon seeing his wife beheaded, he shrieked. He kept screaming Agnes’s name like a madman. If Luigi, with sound mind, had guided Agnes, perhaps the future would have been different.

The Moldio house was stripped of its title, and all its wealth and lands were confiscated. A large sum of compensation was paid to the Annaloro ducal house from the confiscated assets. The lands were placed under royal custody. It seems Duke Spade made quite a fuss about the lands during the deliberations, but the king, having heard of the Duke’s weakness from Inanna, grabbed him by the hair.

“Eh? He was wearing a wig?”

“Ah, yes.”

Riet, also surprised, blinked repeatedly. It was unclear how he procured a wig mixed with white hair, but underneath, there was only a faint remnant of hair around the sides, and the top was so bald it was dazzling.

Exposed regarding his wig, Duke Spade turned bright red and thereafter made himself small and remained quiet.

As her father had said, the Spade ducal house itself suffered no damage; only the Duke himself received an enormous blow. The nobles in attendance were either desperately holding back laughter or looking on with sympathy, among other reactions. When Inanna heard this story, she laughed uncontrollably from start to finish.

“To become so docile just from having his wig exposed. Duke Spade was unexpectedly thin-skinned, wasn’t he?”

“Perhaps so.”

That obnoxious man… Just as Bertina began to think this, Riet asked her about Bianco and Clarissa. He knew Bianco had been discharged from the hospital, and when Bertina hesitated to speak about what happened afterward, he looked at her with concern.

“I heard his injuries were fully healed. Did his condition take a sudden turn?”

“No! He has no aftereffects and is very energetic. Energetic, but…”

“But?”

“…I sent my brother, along with Clarissa, away to the territories. The four of them—my brother, Clarissa, and my grandparents will live together from now on.”

“Eh? But, Lord Bianco is…”

Judging that it would be alright to discuss this with Riet, Bertina began to recount what happened after Bianco’s discharge.