CH 1

A chandelier lowered from the ceiling illuminates the empty hall in the center of the room. Surrounded by the glitteringly dressed audience, I stood alone as the defendant in this drama of absolution.

Across from me, standing as if in opposition, a platinum-blonde young man sadly casts his eyes down once he finally confirms that I have not changed my plea.

「…Sorry to hear that, Remy. If you’re that stubborn and won’t admit you are guilty, I can’t cover for you anymore like a stone… Remilia Rose Graupner! …I cannot have the likes of you as my future queen. In the name of Dauplin Williard Ark Klaisen, I break this engagement!」

Wiliard glares at me sharply as he loudly declares that he is severing… the trust he thought we had nurtured and developed for 10 years of engagement. In his noble azure lurked a tinge of contempt. The adorable girl with pale chiffon brown fluffy hair and strawberry pink eyes, who is clinging to his arm, was shaking like a puppy with anxiety on her face earlier, but she has a thin smile on her downcast face as if she was proud of her victory. Far from being a lady, I was probably the only in the front who could see her sneer as she flirted with Williard’s body.

…Ahh, it’s impossible. I worked so hard. Will-sama, my lovely brother-in-law Claude, and David and Stefan, who are also my childhood friends. They stare at me with eyes like they are looking at something horrifying. Everyone, everyone didn’t believe me. No matter how much I pleaded that I had done no such thing and that I did not remember any evidence of it, I was not listened to.

They didn’t believe me until the very end that Remilia would never do such a thing, that it was some kind of mistake. I thought we were building a… solid relationship of trust.

The eyes around me filled with hostility… so many people resented me so much that I was being lied to and accused of crimes? The more they fabricate things that I don’t remember at all, the more…

And I was struck by the fact that the people who set this place were the Williards, who thought I… had a heart to heart with and trusted each other. Not just Will-sama, but Claude, David, Stefan, and, everyone else, who… I…

In despair, my eyes went completely dark, and all the blood in my body quickly drained from my body. With a faint floating sensation, my consciousness ceased to exist.

My consciousness became clear. Ahh, the weight of my body that I haven’t felt in a long time… I see, it was in Emi’s knowledge. This must be what gravity is all about.

I was almost bewildered by the fact that this was the first time in roughly 11 years that my body was moving the way I wanted it to. However, there is no way to show her ineptitude; she was engaged to the crown prince, and the renowned lady「Duchess Remilia Rose Graupner」would not make such a blunder.

I smiled, trying to look sad, but without losing my nobility.

Reason stops me from almost glaring at the woman created this situation, who is now wrapped around Williard’s arm, her face contorted in a sense of superiority. Now is not the time.

A foolish man who did not believe in his own fiancee and was caged by a different woman, a heartless person who forgot the time we spent as a family, they were ungrateful childhood friends who betrayed the one who paid for the darkness in their hearts, and the most horrific woman on earth who hurt「Emi」with lies and deception she created with malice aforethought. Facing them, I straightened my back and looked forward to see the most beautiful「Remila Rose Graupner」that Emi had built up.

I will not forgive all of you. How saddened Emi was by your attitudes. How she was hurt by the unfounded rumors spread by that woman…

For some time now, the woman has been with Williard and his friends at the school, and we have not been able to spend any proper time with each as an engaged couple. Even though Emi was there to protect the “star maiden,” as she was called, her distance and the way she treated her were not listened to even though Emi had expressed her concerns many times.

They had no idea how relieved Emi was to see Williard visiting and escorting… her, even though she was looking forward to this soiree today from the bottom of her heart.

I could do nothing but watch, and my own feelings of inadequacy and anger at the traitors in front of me and the「Star Maiden,」the root of all evil, swirling within my body.