The maids who had been reading my letter from the side were giggling among themselves and causing a ruckus.
“It seems that Marquis Rodrian is deeply in love with Her Highness the Princess!”
“Phew, it felt like my soul was on fire!”
In the end, they even snatched the letter from my hand and passed it around to read among themselves.
“Give it here!”
I reached out to the maids, but they were too excited by the love letter from a strange man to listen to me.
'What should I do?'
A conflict arose. In my original state, I would have been intimidated by the maids' attitude and not even complained.
But now I dared to give them a sharp rebuke.
'What should I do?'
After a brief moment of deliberation, I decided to just leave it as it was.
I thought I had to make Andrea let his guard down.
'If I don't act like I usually do, Andrea will hear about it soon, and he'll think it's weird.'
I had already embarrassed Andrea last time, and if I were to scold the maids this time, he might really start to suspect me.
'By the way, I haven't seen him since that day. I thought he'd come running and give me a hard time for embarrassing him that day.'
They say even a tiger comes when it thinks of it, and just then, Andrea barged in.
“Chloe, I heard the Marquis of Rodrian sent you a gift?”
'Rumors spread quickly.'
As soon as the gift arrived from Callius, it seemed that one of the courtiers ran straight to Andrea.
When Andrea, dressed as extravagantly as a peacock, appeared today, the chattering maids instantly fell silent and lined up politely.
Andrea quickly snatched the letter they were passing around from the maid, who was quick to notice.
“What on earth is he thinking? To my fiancéed sister!”
He quickly scanned the letter and then scoffed, as if he was dumbfounded.
"As for his writing skills. You're not fooled by such sweet talk, are you?"
“That can’t be true.”
“Yeah, only a crazy woman would like such flashy words.”
It was Andrea's claim that he was more enthusiastic than anyone else in seducing noble ladies with his usual sweet words.
"What on earth did you talk about with Marquis Rodrian without me last time, that made him act like this? This older brother is truly unbearable."
“Why?”
"Are you asking because you don't know? Doing something like this means he underestimates you."
The question, "Where on earth?" rose to the tip of my tongue, but I chose to keep my mouth shut.
I too was puzzled as to what on earth Callius had in mind in sending all these flowers and letters, but one thing was certain.
Andrea's words are nonsense.
I gave him a vague nod, as I thought that if I talked too long, it would just be a long series of words covering up leaps of logic and illogicality.
"I see."
Then, Andrea became more elated, perhaps because he thought he had been accepted.
"Chloe, your brother is telling you this out of consideration for you: From now on, if Marquis Rodrian comes, never meet him. He's a very sinister man."
I inwardly contradicted Andrea's words.
"You're thinking of me? Who's the reason I can't sleep right now, and my eyes are bloodshot?"
Andrea chattered away without knowing what I was thinking.
"Honestly, why would he approach you? Because you're easy. You need to behave yourself, Chloe."
“...”
“Don’t just accept something like this.”
“...”
"No, but all he's giving you are flowers? Ha, really, how easy must he have thought of you to try to win your favor with such cheap flowers? Even giving you expensive jewels wouldn't be enough!"
“...”
Even though I ran away because I didn't dare to talk to him face-to-face, I'm still talking when he's not around.
Yeah, up until here, I could at least hold back and listen.
But Andrea's subsequent words were difficult to hear.
"Think of the jewels Viscount Pelsus sent you. It wasn't even that sincere, was it? See, you can see how much Viscount Pelsus cares about you, right?"
Viscount Pelsus. Hearing my ex-husband's name made me feel sick.
Memories of being beaten and humiliated by him flashed through my mind.
The fear from that time came back vividly, and my body trembled.
Andrea looked back at me and frowned, wondering how I had misunderstood him.
“Why? Are you offended by what your brother said?”
“...”
How would my previous self have reacted to Andrea's words?
I probably blamed myself.
I was easily seen as a loser by others because I did not behave properly.
Why am I like this?
Who could like me like this?
What if my brother can't stand it anymore and abandons me because I'm so pathetic?
How much more do I deserve that Viscount Pelsus should marry me?
I have to do my best for him. He's the kind of person who accepts me.
Thinking like this, I would have been belittling myself, feeling intimidated, and cowering like a sinner.
I closed my eyes tightly.
'Of all the thoughts I've had, not a single one was for myself. Why did I only swing the whip at myself?'
I took a step back and looked at myself as if I were a third party, and I felt so sorry for myself.
I consoled my past self, who was cowering in a corner.
'Chloe, it's not your fault.'
Yeah, it wasn't my fault.
The moment I thought that, tears suddenly welled up in my eyes.
I'm not pathetic.
Andrea, you shouldn't talk to me like that.
I'm not someone you can treat carelessly.
Even if I am at fault, that doesn't give others the right to treat me badly.
And whether it's Callius or Viscount Pelsus, it's right for me to judge based on what I see and feel.
There's no need to follow Andrea's thoughts exactly.
Now I will trust my thoughts and my judgment.
Because my life is my own.
'I am not Andrea's doll.'
Suddenly, strength surged from somewhere in my body.
It's so overwhelming and reassuring to have someone on my side.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. They weren't tears of sadness or anger.
There were tears I shed to comfort myself.
“Chloe? Why are you crying all of a sudden?”
“Thanks to you, brother, I gained enlightenment.”
That wasn't entirely wrong. After all, the realization that Andrea had brought about was correct.
Andrea looked smug at my words.
"Yes, yes. Everything your brother says is for your benefit. I'm glad you know that."
It seemed like another long speech was about to begin.
I pretended to agree with Andrea and picked up one of the vases containing the dainty flowers Callius had sent.
"You're right, brother. We need to get all these things out of sight."
"Good idea. Listen, help Chloe throw these worthless things away."
The maids, who had been motionless when I tried to remove the vase myself, began to move busily as soon as Andrea gave the order.
“Your Highness, please give it to me. I will clean it up.”
"Thank you."
I was handing her the vase, but my hand slipped and I dropped it on Andrea.
Clang!
A fallen glass vase shattered on the marble floor, sending shards flying everywhere.
One of them grazed my cheek and left a scar.
“Huh?”
Actually, I was used to seeing blood, so I didn't mind, but Andrea was startled when she saw the blood flowing down my face and screamed as he ran away from me.
“What, what is it?”
Andrea's panicked cries accompanied his knights as they rushed into the drawing room.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
The knights separated me and Andrea.
It was as if they were worried that I, a monster, might stab and kill the fragile Andrea.
'I'm the one who got hurt.'
Instead of asking if it was okay, Andrea shouted from behind the knights.
"There's no need to break it! A girl should know how to be classy. You're being too aggressive right now."
This was the attitude of the person who habitually said he was worried about me.
“Sorry. I need to tidy up a bit.”
The maids came carrying cleaning supplies and moved busily.
As the atmosphere became distracted, Andrea forgot what he had planned to say and turned around, clicking his tongue.
“Anyway, I’m glad you understood, and I’ll be going now.”
Having achieved my goal of chasing Andrea away, I roughly wiped the blood flowing down my cheek with my finger and turned around.
My injured cheek stung, but I didn't care.
I was more than glad that Andrea hadn't let his snake-like tongue gnaw at my soul.
“She's out of her mind. She's absolutely crazy, aren’t she, Mother?”
Andrea paced, rubbing his arms as if he was creeped out.
“Who does she take after to be so radical?”
He had somehow found fault with Chloe and was running straight to Kavala's palace to report it.
Kavala twisted her crimson lips into a seductive smile. It was a malicious smile.
“I guess she takes after her mother. She was such a quirky woman, wasn’t she?”
Kavala was more interested in Marquis Rodrian than in Chloe.
“By the way, Marquis Rodrian has feelings for Chloe?”
Andrea was running wild.
"I don't know what that kid's up to. He wrote the letter as if he was going to take out my liver and gallbladder."
"Yes?"
One of Kabvala's eyebrows rose. Her expression was one of interest.
“What if Viscount Pelsus asks to call off the marriage?”
Kavala thought about something carefully, then elegantly approached Andrea and patted her son's shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Andrea.”
She whispered softly.
“I think it would be better to wait a little longer.”
“You’re just going to leave Marquis Rodrian alone? He’s keeping our secrets...!”
“Easy.”
Kavala cut Andrea off. His eyes were frozen cold. In an instant, the air around him became tense.
“You have to watch your mouth, Andrea.”
Andrea swallowed hard and shut his mouth at her gentle but firm warning.
“Yeah, yeah. That’s good.”
Kavala smiled again. Andrea finally let out the breath he had been holding.
Kavala patted her son's head and returned to the seat opposite him.
"Don't worry. This mother doesn't do business at a loss. For now, let's let Marquis Rodrian do as he pleases."
A meaningful smile appeared on her lips.
'What on earth is the intention?'
I was deeply troubled today as I looked at the letters and flowers that arrived.
Callius had been sending flowers and letters every day for a whole week without fail.
There were even a few times when he seemed to have wandered around my quarters for a while before returning. I can't even begin to tell him how delighted the maids were when they saw him and told me about it.
“I hear that Marquis Rodrian cries out for Her Highness’s name every night.”
“I heard he fell ill from missing Her Highness the Princess?”
“I heard he stopped eating and drinking.”
Suddenly, the maids pretended to be friendly to me and busily asked me about Callius.
They had an interesting toy to play with.
As I listened to them, my confusion only grew.
"Who on earth are these kids hearing these rumors from? More importantly, what on earth is Marquis Rodrian thinking? Could it be that I'm so oblivious that I'm not picking up on some signal he's sending?"
Unable to contact Callius under Andrea's ironclad surveillance, my frustration grew.
'You have to persuade the Emperor and Empress to give you their consent to the marriage. Why are you sending me flowers and letters?'
Should I trust him and just sit back? Shouldn't I do something?
I was getting more and more anxious.
But one night, surprisingly, Empress Kavala called and said out loud:
“Chloe, you need to go to Ronheim.”
“It seems that Marquis Rodrian is deeply in love with Her Highness the Princess!”
“Phew, it felt like my soul was on fire!”
In the end, they even snatched the letter from my hand and passed it around to read among themselves.
“Give it here!”
I reached out to the maids, but they were too excited by the love letter from a strange man to listen to me.
'What should I do?'
A conflict arose. In my original state, I would have been intimidated by the maids' attitude and not even complained.
But now I dared to give them a sharp rebuke.
'What should I do?'
After a brief moment of deliberation, I decided to just leave it as it was.
I thought I had to make Andrea let his guard down.
'If I don't act like I usually do, Andrea will hear about it soon, and he'll think it's weird.'
I had already embarrassed Andrea last time, and if I were to scold the maids this time, he might really start to suspect me.
'By the way, I haven't seen him since that day. I thought he'd come running and give me a hard time for embarrassing him that day.'
They say even a tiger comes when it thinks of it, and just then, Andrea barged in.
“Chloe, I heard the Marquis of Rodrian sent you a gift?”
'Rumors spread quickly.'
As soon as the gift arrived from Callius, it seemed that one of the courtiers ran straight to Andrea.
When Andrea, dressed as extravagantly as a peacock, appeared today, the chattering maids instantly fell silent and lined up politely.
Andrea quickly snatched the letter they were passing around from the maid, who was quick to notice.
“What on earth is he thinking? To my fiancéed sister!”
He quickly scanned the letter and then scoffed, as if he was dumbfounded.
"As for his writing skills. You're not fooled by such sweet talk, are you?"
“That can’t be true.”
“Yeah, only a crazy woman would like such flashy words.”
It was Andrea's claim that he was more enthusiastic than anyone else in seducing noble ladies with his usual sweet words.
"What on earth did you talk about with Marquis Rodrian without me last time, that made him act like this? This older brother is truly unbearable."
“Why?”
"Are you asking because you don't know? Doing something like this means he underestimates you."
The question, "Where on earth?" rose to the tip of my tongue, but I chose to keep my mouth shut.
I too was puzzled as to what on earth Callius had in mind in sending all these flowers and letters, but one thing was certain.
Andrea's words are nonsense.
I gave him a vague nod, as I thought that if I talked too long, it would just be a long series of words covering up leaps of logic and illogicality.
"I see."
Then, Andrea became more elated, perhaps because he thought he had been accepted.
"Chloe, your brother is telling you this out of consideration for you: From now on, if Marquis Rodrian comes, never meet him. He's a very sinister man."
I inwardly contradicted Andrea's words.
"You're thinking of me? Who's the reason I can't sleep right now, and my eyes are bloodshot?"
Andrea chattered away without knowing what I was thinking.
"Honestly, why would he approach you? Because you're easy. You need to behave yourself, Chloe."
“...”
“Don’t just accept something like this.”
“...”
"No, but all he's giving you are flowers? Ha, really, how easy must he have thought of you to try to win your favor with such cheap flowers? Even giving you expensive jewels wouldn't be enough!"
“...”
Even though I ran away because I didn't dare to talk to him face-to-face, I'm still talking when he's not around.
Yeah, up until here, I could at least hold back and listen.
But Andrea's subsequent words were difficult to hear.
"Think of the jewels Viscount Pelsus sent you. It wasn't even that sincere, was it? See, you can see how much Viscount Pelsus cares about you, right?"
Viscount Pelsus. Hearing my ex-husband's name made me feel sick.
Memories of being beaten and humiliated by him flashed through my mind.
The fear from that time came back vividly, and my body trembled.
Andrea looked back at me and frowned, wondering how I had misunderstood him.
“Why? Are you offended by what your brother said?”
“...”
How would my previous self have reacted to Andrea's words?
I probably blamed myself.
I was easily seen as a loser by others because I did not behave properly.
Why am I like this?
Who could like me like this?
What if my brother can't stand it anymore and abandons me because I'm so pathetic?
How much more do I deserve that Viscount Pelsus should marry me?
I have to do my best for him. He's the kind of person who accepts me.
Thinking like this, I would have been belittling myself, feeling intimidated, and cowering like a sinner.
I closed my eyes tightly.
'Of all the thoughts I've had, not a single one was for myself. Why did I only swing the whip at myself?'
I took a step back and looked at myself as if I were a third party, and I felt so sorry for myself.
I consoled my past self, who was cowering in a corner.
'Chloe, it's not your fault.'
Yeah, it wasn't my fault.
The moment I thought that, tears suddenly welled up in my eyes.
I'm not pathetic.
Andrea, you shouldn't talk to me like that.
I'm not someone you can treat carelessly.
Even if I am at fault, that doesn't give others the right to treat me badly.
And whether it's Callius or Viscount Pelsus, it's right for me to judge based on what I see and feel.
There's no need to follow Andrea's thoughts exactly.
Now I will trust my thoughts and my judgment.
Because my life is my own.
'I am not Andrea's doll.'
Suddenly, strength surged from somewhere in my body.
It's so overwhelming and reassuring to have someone on my side.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. They weren't tears of sadness or anger.
There were tears I shed to comfort myself.
“Chloe? Why are you crying all of a sudden?”
“Thanks to you, brother, I gained enlightenment.”
That wasn't entirely wrong. After all, the realization that Andrea had brought about was correct.
Andrea looked smug at my words.
"Yes, yes. Everything your brother says is for your benefit. I'm glad you know that."
It seemed like another long speech was about to begin.
I pretended to agree with Andrea and picked up one of the vases containing the dainty flowers Callius had sent.
"You're right, brother. We need to get all these things out of sight."
"Good idea. Listen, help Chloe throw these worthless things away."
The maids, who had been motionless when I tried to remove the vase myself, began to move busily as soon as Andrea gave the order.
“Your Highness, please give it to me. I will clean it up.”
"Thank you."
I was handing her the vase, but my hand slipped and I dropped it on Andrea.
Clang!
A fallen glass vase shattered on the marble floor, sending shards flying everywhere.
One of them grazed my cheek and left a scar.
“Huh?”
Actually, I was used to seeing blood, so I didn't mind, but Andrea was startled when she saw the blood flowing down my face and screamed as he ran away from me.
“What, what is it?”
Andrea's panicked cries accompanied his knights as they rushed into the drawing room.
“What is it, Your Highness?”
The knights separated me and Andrea.
It was as if they were worried that I, a monster, might stab and kill the fragile Andrea.
'I'm the one who got hurt.'
Instead of asking if it was okay, Andrea shouted from behind the knights.
"There's no need to break it! A girl should know how to be classy. You're being too aggressive right now."
This was the attitude of the person who habitually said he was worried about me.
“Sorry. I need to tidy up a bit.”
The maids came carrying cleaning supplies and moved busily.
As the atmosphere became distracted, Andrea forgot what he had planned to say and turned around, clicking his tongue.
“Anyway, I’m glad you understood, and I’ll be going now.”
Having achieved my goal of chasing Andrea away, I roughly wiped the blood flowing down my cheek with my finger and turned around.
My injured cheek stung, but I didn't care.
I was more than glad that Andrea hadn't let his snake-like tongue gnaw at my soul.
***
“She's out of her mind. She's absolutely crazy, aren’t she, Mother?”
Andrea paced, rubbing his arms as if he was creeped out.
“Who does she take after to be so radical?”
He had somehow found fault with Chloe and was running straight to Kavala's palace to report it.
Kavala twisted her crimson lips into a seductive smile. It was a malicious smile.
“I guess she takes after her mother. She was such a quirky woman, wasn’t she?”
Kavala was more interested in Marquis Rodrian than in Chloe.
“By the way, Marquis Rodrian has feelings for Chloe?”
Andrea was running wild.
"I don't know what that kid's up to. He wrote the letter as if he was going to take out my liver and gallbladder."
"Yes?"
One of Kabvala's eyebrows rose. Her expression was one of interest.
“What if Viscount Pelsus asks to call off the marriage?”
Kavala thought about something carefully, then elegantly approached Andrea and patted her son's shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Andrea.”
She whispered softly.
“I think it would be better to wait a little longer.”
“You’re just going to leave Marquis Rodrian alone? He’s keeping our secrets...!”
“Easy.”
Kavala cut Andrea off. His eyes were frozen cold. In an instant, the air around him became tense.
“You have to watch your mouth, Andrea.”
Andrea swallowed hard and shut his mouth at her gentle but firm warning.
“Yeah, yeah. That’s good.”
Kavala smiled again. Andrea finally let out the breath he had been holding.
Kavala patted her son's head and returned to the seat opposite him.
"Don't worry. This mother doesn't do business at a loss. For now, let's let Marquis Rodrian do as he pleases."
A meaningful smile appeared on her lips.
***
'What on earth is the intention?'
I was deeply troubled today as I looked at the letters and flowers that arrived.
Callius had been sending flowers and letters every day for a whole week without fail.
There were even a few times when he seemed to have wandered around my quarters for a while before returning. I can't even begin to tell him how delighted the maids were when they saw him and told me about it.
“I hear that Marquis Rodrian cries out for Her Highness’s name every night.”
“I heard he fell ill from missing Her Highness the Princess?”
“I heard he stopped eating and drinking.”
Suddenly, the maids pretended to be friendly to me and busily asked me about Callius.
They had an interesting toy to play with.
As I listened to them, my confusion only grew.
"Who on earth are these kids hearing these rumors from? More importantly, what on earth is Marquis Rodrian thinking? Could it be that I'm so oblivious that I'm not picking up on some signal he's sending?"
Unable to contact Callius under Andrea's ironclad surveillance, my frustration grew.
'You have to persuade the Emperor and Empress to give you their consent to the marriage. Why are you sending me flowers and letters?'
Should I trust him and just sit back? Shouldn't I do something?
I was getting more and more anxious.
But one night, surprisingly, Empress Kavala called and said out loud:
“Chloe, you need to go to Ronheim.”
Uh...?
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