I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 47

“Let’s dance too,” I said, pulling my father’s hand as we moved to the center. When we were engaged, I used to dance with Riet, but it was purely out of obligation. After the first dance, we would usually go our separate ways.

“I remember dancing with Catarina.”

Now that you mention it.

“I never saw you dance with Aunt.”

The question of why my aunt, who loved my father to an abnormal degree, never danced—even if the first dance was impossible—was easily answered by my father.

“Agnes was bad at dancing. When she practiced with me, I remember getting hurt many times from her stepping on my feet.”

“Is that so?”

She only ever danced with Luigi. After the first dance, she never danced again.

Even if one flower of high society withers, another blooms to beautify it.

After the first dance ended, the question became what to do next.

“Miss Bertina, next with me!”

“No, with me!”

As soon as it ended, dance invitations came one after another. They were all sons who wanted to get close to Bertina, who had gone from the Crown Prince’s fiancée to the heir of the next Anna Lolo ducal house. All of them were sons without fiancées.

Already? Bertina let out a small sigh, excused herself from the center saying she had to talk with her father, took juice and wine from a passing servant, and handed the wine to her father.

“You’re not drinking alcohol?”

“Who knows. I haven’t tried it yet, so I don’t know if I can drink.”

“You should try weak alcohol first.”

“Next time, I’ll ask the butler for recommendations.”

…Still.

“The widows and ladies seem to want to dance with you, Father.”

Not just Bertina, but Father too was receiving passionate gazes from widows and ladies aiming to ask him for a dance. Even though he was separated from Mother, they weren’t divorced.

If Bertina was to become head of household, taking a husband was essential.

—A marriage partner, huh…

“Bertina.”

“Your Highness?”

Riet approached Bertina, who was watching the surface of her juice sway as she tilted her glass, and said he wanted to talk.

Bertina excused herself to her father and followed Riet. Their destination was the terrace. Here, at least, they wouldn’t be interrupted.

“I was surprised. That you would abdicate the Crown Prince position.”

“It would be a lie to say I have no regrets. But this is fine. To secure friendly relations with the Vagia Empire and restore relations with the Spade ducal house. I was the one thing that could be let go to achieve those two things. That’s all.”

If Riet was satisfied, Bertina had nothing to say.

“Managing the former Moldio territory will be tough, but your duty is to guide the people to happiness like the former Duke did.”

“Uncle Luigi was quite skilled when it came to managing the territory.”

“That’s exactly why it’s regrettable it ended like that. If only he would reflect on it in the next world…”

“…Yes.”

She nodded with an ambiguous smile, but thanks to the dim lighting, he didn’t notice.

—Aunt and Uncle can’t go to heaven, let alone hell.

Argent said he had damaged the souls of the two who died. The souls of the dead are managed by the god of death, who decides whether they go to heaven or hell. Souls damaged by demons can go to neither heaven nor hell.

When she asked where they go, he ended with “It’s a secret.”

A few days after Luigi’s public execution, Argent took her to show her something—the full-length mirror in Bertina’s room. When he infused the mirror with magic, a different scene was reflected in the mirror that had previously shown only themselves. The power of magic, which surpasses human knowledge, sometimes fascinates people to a frightening degree.

When she asked what scene it was, she was told it was Agnes’s previous life.

A thin black-haired woman lay on a white bed in a white room. She was so thin it was hard to believe she was Agnes’s previous life. Multiple tubes connected her hands to a box that beeped, and she was told it was a world where a completely different culture flourished. Furthermore, the previous life’s Agnes wasn’t dead but was in a vegetative state.

‘She isn’t dead?’

‘Because the previous life’s Madam’s soul left her body, she can’t wake up. Only an empty body with nothing inside remains.’

‘…Aunt can’t return, can she?’

‘She can’t.’

If she had handed her soul to the god of death, perhaps she could have returned to her previous life’s body and restarted her life.

Three people sat on chairs placed around the bed—the previous life Agnes’s family. Her parents and older brother. The cause of Agnes developing genuine romantic feelings for her real brother.

When Argent investigated out of curiosity, he found the root cause lay with the parents.

‘Using busyness as an excuse, they neglected the young previous life Madam and made their son, six years older, act as a parent substitute.’

‘In other words, for her, her brother was the only family she had.’

She eliminated the women around her brother to avoid having that one family taken away, and because she knew that by loving her brother who loved her, she wouldn’t be alone. But when she learned her brother had found someone to marry, she went mad and attempted suicide in front of him.

‘These parents seem to regret it quite a bit.’

‘Of course. If these people had properly watched over the previous life Aunt, surely no one would have been unhappy.’

Neither the previous life Agnes, nor Agnes, nor Father, nor Mother—no one.

Bringing her consciousness back to the present, Bertina was suddenly asked.

“May I ask one thing?”

“Huh? Yes.”

“The Spade Duke seems to have become quite subdued—do you know the reason? Before, after a council meeting ended, I passed by the Duke, but unlike usual when he’d make one or two sarcastic remarks, he said nothing. I haven’t seen the Duke since, and it seems he’s absent from today’s ball due to poor health. When I asked Father, he just closed his mouth.”

“Ah…”

Bertina, who knew the reason, gazed into the distance slightly, but since she knew telling him wouldn’t lead to him spreading it around, she explained. After she finished, Riet blinked repeatedly. She understood how he felt.

“Unexpectedly, he’s not very resilient, huh?”

“That seems to be the case.”

She wasn’t surprised they shared the same opinion.

“So that’s why Father looked so apologetic.”

He never imagined that what he did to make him shut up would break the man’s spirit and drive him to become a recluse. All just from taking off his wig and exposing his baldness.

“Bertina, will you continue receiving head-of-household training under the Duke?”

“Yes. While learning from Father and the butler, I plan to proceed in my own way.”

“I see.”

As she suggested they should return soon and turned toward the venue, Riet suddenly bowed his head to her. This time it was Bertina’s turn to blink repeatedly.

“Your Highness?”

“I’m sorry… for everything until now, Bertina.”

“…”

“I got carried away by others’ voices and didn’t try to see you for who you are. When I learned that you, who I thought had saved me at the lake, were far from my ideal, I despaired on my own, got irritated on my own. Even if I apologize now, it might just be a bother to you, but still I’m sorry.”

“…Please raise your head.”

His slowly raised face was wet with guilt, and she stated that no matter what attitude he showed or what face he made, she had absolutely no intention of forgiving the treatment she had received until now. Riet listened to Bertina without changing his expression.

“It’s the same regarding Father. I have absolutely no intention of forgiving him either.”

Father, too, had no intention of being forgiven.

“Even so I think we can build a relationship from zero.”

Just as Bertina and Father were doing now, it should be possible for her and Riet to build a relationship from zero too.

“Bertina…”

“Regarding Your Highness’s first love, I feel sorry. The rest is up to you.”

“Ah… That’s fine. Thank you.”

“! Oh, yes. I’ll return first.”

Being thanked was unexpected, and though flustered, Bertina lightly bowed her head and returned to the venue.

Even after Bertina left, Riet remained on the terrace for a while.

Being from the same ducal house meant they could be closer than if he were royalty.

“This is fine.”

It would still take time for Riet to sublimate his first love into a memory.