Chapter 10

“With this, I declare, in the name of God, that a pact has been made between the two!”

“Wow!”

“Congratulations. Have a long and happy life!”

After a while.

The wedding is over. All participants moved to the reception hall. The party at the rose garden, prepared by the bride’s family, was elegantly held amid abundant food and soothing music.

‘My family will be busy making connections this time as well…’

Then I went straight into the action.

“Cecil, I want to play with other ladies in the garden. Stay in this place, and if my mother asks about me, tell her where I am.”

“Yes, Lady.”

Obviously, somewhere here, there must be Vasago, the main character in the novel I read and the main cause of the catastrophe of my engagement. However, today’s goal was not to meet Vasago.

‘Let’s see. As far as I can remember, this is the place.’

I went through the noisy party hall to the corner of the garden. After a while, a small maze appeared. A maze of bushes carefully nurtured by the gardener. However, the difficulty level is very low, so it is practically impossible to use this as an escape game.

“…”

So, do I need to go into the maze and look for the exit?

“It’s cool because there’s shade around it. It was like that back then too.”

My purpose was not to solve this maze built for children. I immediately sat down at the maze entrance and started waiting for someone. If my memory is correct, I will meet someone at the maze entrance.

‘Conscious of my family, I ended up playing here alone over and over again. It was fun when I was young.’

Before my head was distorted with anger. That person passed by in front of the naive me, who was playing around the maze until I was tired. I didn’t know who he was at that time, but now I could have called the man’s name.

“…It was spacious. But it wasn’t that the Count was pleased with the offer.”

“Shall I contact him again?”

“No, rather than that, I’ll just do it myself…”

Step. Step.

When I heard the sound of someone walking nearby, I stood up and straightened up.

“…!”

Step.

I heard their last step from the grass that was being trampled on. I confirmed their appearance and calmly greeted the two men who stopped. I hated studying etiquette in the past, so my greetings etiquette should be poor, but that doesn’t mean my skill would be poor.

“Greetings.”

I bowed my head slightly, placed one of my hands on my chest, clasped the hem of my skirt with my other hand, greeted gently. It’s the noble etiquette I had been accustomed to until the age of 21 in the society, and now it’s almost perfect.

“Is there a person like this in this place?”

Among the two figures who appeared from the east direction, the young man with dark hair responded similarly to my greeting. But their conversation didn’t end there.

‘As expected, they don’t talk to me.’

Of course, it’s the first time we’ve seen each other at this time, so I can ask for their name because I don’t know who they are.

‘I’m only a daughter of a Count, so I will be ignored if I’m being clumsy.’

Even if I start such a forced conversation, that man will give a short answer and try to leave. In addition, there was a risk of being refused to even have a conversation.

‘Should I try to stimulate the other side so we can talk to each other?’

I wanted him to focus on my story. So I took action regardless of the cost.

“!”

When I finished greeting them, I pretended to leave this place and obviously dropped my handkerchief.

* * *

“Huh. That…”

“The Lady dropped her belongings.”

“That old-fashioned trick.”

A man in a dark blue robe touched the collar of his shirt. He pointed to the handkerchief dropped by the lady with curly black hair they had just met.

“Pick it up, sort it out somewhere, or burn it on the stove.”

“Aren’t you going to return it to its owner?”

“I don’t have time to spend on this lowly trick.”

At his command, the servant, standing next to him, carefully lifted the handkerchief that had fallen on the ground. It’s difficult to make a fire here, so he only can throw it away where people can’t see it.

“Hmm? This…”

A man in a servant’s uniform showed an unexpected reaction when he saw a small piece of cloth in his hand. When the servant observed the handkerchief, the black-haired man also set his eyes on it, wondering what was happening.

At first, he thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, when he found the handkerchief’s handwriting at a glance from a distance, the servant’s owner opened his mouth.

“That, bring it here.”

When the servant came with the handkerchief, he grabbed it and looked at it. The more he looked at it, the more his expression became cold.

“This is amazing. How would the young Lady I met for the first time know this?”

The white handkerchief had only one sentence drawn in black ink.

[Dear Duke Rose Jalier.]

There is something completely wrong with this sentence. Recognizing this, the man began to laugh bitterly.

“…Find out which family she’s from. Right now.”

His current emotions were anger and curiosity.

“Dear Duke Rose Jalier?”

The man had hazy, amber eyes. It was distorted in half, and soon an aggressive smile settled on his face.

“It’s not enough to touch the Duke’s name recklessly, to attach the title to my younger brother, not me. What do you think this means?”

“It’s disrespectful… but there is room for it to be taken as a declaration of war against the young master, the successor of the family.”

“But, to make this crazy provocation?”

Looking at the handkerchief lightly waving from his hand, he ordered his servant to find the lady who dropped it. Since the reception was still in full swing, finding the Celcius family in the garden wasn’t difficult.

“I need to hear her intention of this.”

Upon hearing the news that he had found her, the man gladly began to move.

“Whether or not to be beheaded for insulting the little Duke, I can decide after we have talked about it at least once.”

* * *

4. I Came to See You.

15 minutes later.

‘They come quickly.’

The news I had been waiting for came unexpectedly sooner than expected.

“We’re meeting again. Isn’t today our first meeting? I like to introduce myself. I’m Aloken from the Duke Jalier family… What about Lady?”

“I’m Vanora Celcius.”

“Aha. You are the daughter of Count Celcius.”

I heard the call of the tall servant I had seen earlier and came out to the corner of the party that was most out of sight. There, a black-haired man I met at the entrance to the maze was waiting.

‘This is Duke Aloken Jalier 6 years ago.’

I didn’t look closer at him earlier because I only greeted him from a distance, but I could see him clearly now.

Duke Aloken Jalier.

He was a man who would be at the top of the Kingdom’s power structure in the future.

‘I thought he would be quite young six years ago.’

Unlike my expectation, he is a young man with neatly cut black hair that looked sharp because it was close to the achromatic color. Aloken’s life has always been more than a rumor, whether it was for nothing but the mouths of the nobles. Almond-shaped eyes, a high nose bridge, and a tightly closed soft mouth. I could tell that he had an attractive appearance even from a distance.

‘He was a handsome man back then too.’

However, I was not interested in his appearance. I’m not interested in anything other than my revenge, but I didn’t really like his eyes. Perhaps because of the shape of his eyelids or Aloken’s eyes didn’t have much shimmer, so those shaded eyes somehow made me feel uncomfortable.

“I think you dropped this handkerchief, so I came to return it to you as a gentleman.”

“Thank you.”

“One thing before that.”

The man who introduced himself as Aloken said, correctly opening the handkerchief in my hand.

“Everywhere I look on this handkerchief, it looks like the name of someone from my family. But… to blatantly blaspheme me.”

“…”

“Are you saying that you don’t know that I’m the successor of the family because I’m not a northerner?”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It depends on the person who accepts it.”

Aloken Jalier reacted sharply to me. He said that I tried to challenge the authentic successor of the Duke and sternly said that I could pay the price for blaspheming his family.

‘That’s good. Shall press his family matter more?’

I thought for a moment but put it aside and focused on the conversation.

‘Let’s get serious for now. I shouldn’t look like an ordinary 15-year-old in front of him. Or else every word I say will sound light to him.’

Because this meeting was an important opportunity for me.

“I will explain everything to you. I apologize if I offended you before.”

“Keep talking.”

“But I needed a chance to talk to the little Duke even if I had to do that.”

“You tried to provoke me to create this opportunity?”

“Yes. There was something I wanted to say.”

“It would be expensive for a single conversation.”

I spoke as politely and softly as possible, but the reply he returned was harsh. Aloken acted as if he was going to take any action at any moment.

“Do you know what could happen to the Count’s child for blasphemy to the Duke’s success-”

“But you’re about to lose your successor’s position, right? Just like the sentence written on the handkerchief!”

However, at my words that followed, Aloken shut his mouth and looked at me like what nonsense I was saying. I brought up the next word without hesitation, even after seeing his attitude. It was finally time to take the risk and show the true value of enticing this man.

“Lord Aloken Jalier, in fact, isn’t the current head of the family appointing your younger brother as his successor? The will has already been written, and in the end, the second son becomes the new Duke…”

“Where did you hear such groundless stories?”

“It’s not without evidence.”

“If you spread gossip-”

“I have heard what Duke Jalier himself said.”

“Are you this foolish until the end? Have you ever met my father in the first place? Are you going to say that you even saw him at the fox hunt in the autumn moon? It doesn’t seem like you’re old enough to pursue hunting already.”

“No. I once passed by him, who had come down to attend the spring moon council. I heard it right then!”

But it’s already expected that he wouldn’t believe it. Aloken only responded like this story was futile.

‘If he had shown a look of surprise, it would have proved the truth.’

However, all the stories that I brought out here were true. In fact, not long after this time, Duke Jalier will die of an illness, and the successor of the Duke will go to his second son, not Aloken, following his will. Also, why do I, who is from the central region, know the family history of Northern Duke? It was simple. This is because the succession issue has developed into a famous topic in the capital.