Chapter 19
Kalis Haneton seemed to have run out of patience. When he found Lesche, his face hardened.
"Why are you here? Is it because of the Saint? Why is she here again?"
"...I don't know about that either."
Thinking about the missing Saint, Lesche felt tired. He had not received any report from the priest that the bothersome saint had snuck into his abode, but she had nothing to do with Seria.
Lesche tried to run inside. He would have if Kalis's words hadn't caught him.
"Duke, when are you going to divorce Seria?"
At that moment, a laugh burst out. Lesche looked back with raised eyebrows. His red eyes looked at Kalis with disgust.
"Divorce?"
"Seria is my fiancée."
"Whatever Lady Stern was in the past doesn't matter, she is my wife now."
"Your Highness!" Kalis shouted. "Wasn't this engagement officially approved by the Imperial family? Since it has been officiated under imperial law, Seria is still Seria Stern, not the Grand Duchess of Berg. I thank you for saving her life, but the name of Haneton is enough for her, your highness. I will marry her."
"You are funny. Why would you want to replace Lady Seria's treasure?" Lesche asked sarcastically. "You and Seria have nothing between you anymore, right? So there's no reason to acknowledge you."
Kalis's face stiffened when he heard that there was nothing between him and Seria anymore. He clenched his fists. Lesche was only annoyed, his eyes darkened with anger.
"Do you want to have a duel here? I won't hold back or pretend."
"I am going to divorce Saint Lina. I am also the only one here who has obtained permission from Marquis Kellyden to marry Seria. I am amazed, but has Your Highness contacted the Marquis?"
When those words came out of Kalis's mouth, Lesche's opinion of the man fell even further.
Considering that Kalis broke his promise first to save his own life, wasn't he the reason everything became so twisted like this? Wasn't he the one who got distracted by the Saint and even made a pact with her?
"You only lived because you decided to leave your fiancée's life in the mud."
"Before the anti...!"
Kalis's angry words did not last. This was because the star marks on his body began to act up. There were only two things in Seria's building that could make them react like this.
Seria or Lina. The two men entered the building without saying anything to each other.
"No matter how pretty you are, your biological mother was a humble actress, right?"
Only one line is mentioned in the original novel. A young noble was caught gossiping about Seria's biological mother at a ball. The original Seria had a bad temper and was particularly sensitive to that topic.
No, scratch that. She was more than furious and hit like a mad colt. Even rabid dogs would have been easier to deal with than her.
When caught gossiping behind Seria... The young man ended up with wine in his face.
This event described that they were not only sprayed with wine, but their whole head was soaked as if they fell into a freshly picked oak barrel. Since then, they felt disheartened and could never set foot in the monastic world again. So, who was it?
Even though it was instinct for the original Seria, she could not control her anger when she met people who spoke ill of her biological mother, or when she met people who gossiped after the name Kellyden was mentioned.
Her whole body trembled as if she was suffering from a control disorder. At that moment, she felt she had become the real Seria.
She came to the Berg estate for a wedding that never happened. The plan was that after becoming the Marquise of Haneton, people would finally stop talking about her origins, and she would no longer be bullied all her life.
"Seria, I like Seria's origins! And what if your mother was a commoner? If you think about it, my mother is also a commoner... because I'm from a world without nobles or royalty..." Lina murmured.
"So we can say we are of the same origin! So, Seria? What is it? Why do you look so scary...?"
.....
Her body began to tremble. Lina, who received Seria's gaze head-on, grimaced. It was very late.
Seria's hand had already risen against her will and cast a shadow over Lina's face.
Lina closed her eyes tightly.
Seria's hand seemed to fall on Lina's flushed cheek.
However, Seria ended up slapping her own cheek.
.....
Silence filled the room. She exhaled for a long time, recalling the impact of the stars shining in front of her eyes, and her cheek, which she hit with all her strength, hurt a lot.
"Lina?"
"Yes? Yes!"
"You say your master told you that story?"
It was her master, Baron Aison. At that moment, whether she felt the ominousness in Seria's words or not, Lina bit her lip firmly. Clear tears filled her large eyes.
"I guess he forgot to tell you that what I hate most is hearing that story."
"No, no! Don't be mad at the master. Please, focus on me because I made a mistake, Seria..."
Lina's crying appearance was pathetic and naive. On the contrary, Seria's appearance matched that of a villain.
Just a few days ago, she would have avoided this because she wanted to avoid confrontation, but now she was not so sure.
‘How long do I have to bow and submit?’
"The heroine and the second male lead constantly mess with me, but if I can't endure it...".
‘Shouldn't it be illegal at this point for me, the villain, to get angry?’
"Lina. You prefer that I get mad at you, right?"
"Yes? Right... You're upset with me, Seria. I'm so sorry. My master has nothing to do with it..."
"Yes, then." said Seria, touching her cheek, which had begun to swell.
"I'm going to the Marquis of Haneton now. Then to the priests, and then to the Grand Duke of Berg."
"What? Why them..."
"I have to tell them that Lina insulted me."
"Insult? What do you mean?"
"It's a great insult to touch the sensitive family history among nobles, didn't that pompous master teach you? Oh, or perhaps you want me to fight my knight? I am willing to accept it. That is, if you don't mind if my knight kills him."
As if her last words sounded too intense, shock spread through Lina's eyes. Her hands trembled as she held them together.
"The master is not to blame. Only, only because I didn't know...!"
"Because you didn't know?"
She looked directly at Lina.
"Lina, no matter how Kalis says it's temporary, you are now the Marquise of Haneton, the Saint, and a Stern like me. Don't you still know that one wrong word from a person of your position could ruin someone and make them a laughing stock?"
"Seria, I..."
"Lina, you are not a three-year-old. Isn't it time for you to realize the position you are in now?"
"....!"
Aside from situations where she couldn't bear dealing with Lina, Seria managed to understand her on a superficial level. Being suddenly transported to another world, it was natural to be confused while trying to learn a new system.
But for an important public figure like Lina, who would dare to treat her like a villain except me?
In this perfect world, even the man who was my fiancée would be wrapped around her fingers. The heroine's innocent words were like swords ready to stab me. How could I stay still?
Lina needed to be aware of her position and the weight of her speech.
For now, she ended up slapping herself on the cheek with the last of her patience, but next time she might really slap Lina. Seria really wanted to refrain from being in these situations where she was so angry that she lost control over her body.
"Would you like to go to the Marquis of Haneton and repeat those words, Lina?"
Tears formed in Lina's eyes. She trembled and finally started to scream. "I didn't know. I'm sorry..."
And then she ran out of the room.
"Oh my God. You don't want to be responsible for what you have done. Have you grown to be selfish...?"
Seria came back to her senses belatedly when Begonia's voice sounded loud.
Begonia hated losing her elegant dignity more than anyone, while Seria seemed furious and acted like a wild beast.
Her anger did not subside, but she took a deep breath and calmed down. She fixed her disheveled hair and was about to apologize to Begonia when she felt something cold on her cheek.
"There is a snow crystal in this sack. It is a semiprecious stone that emits a cold temperature like ice, so it is useful in cases like this."
"Do you have something like this, Begonia?"
Begonia spoke after confirming with a laugh.
She said.
"If you are a client who will wear the main piece of this Begonia Hall, you must not have a swollen face, whether you are a man or a woman. It is a kind of emergency medicine."
"Is my cheek that swollen?"
Begonia said after affirming with a smile.
"If you follow my example from now on, you will be fine at the ball until the last minute."
"What do I have to do?"
Begonia, holding a pouch of snow crystals on Seria's cheek, shrugged.
"Now, keep this on your cheek for an hour. The rest can be covered with small tricks and makeup."
Putting on a hood that covered her face up to the tip of her nose, Seria walked out the door. The knights who were outside naturally looked away.
They shouldn't have noticed the commotion that happened inside the room, but she still didn't want to risk them noticing her swollen cheek.
She walked through the long hallway of the outer building while looking at the ground. After a while, she looked up and let out a sigh. It was then that she realized she had taken the wrong path.
With her head confused by boiling fury, she walked as far as her feet could take her and ended up in a deserted place.
The building given to her in the Berg estate was so large that a group of wealthy merchants could have used it as a villa. Since the entrances were divided into several hallways and locations, it was possible for her to take a wrong turn and end up here.
With a sigh, she turned around and prepared to walk back. However, when she passed by a bookshelf, she bumped into someone's hard chest. She stumbled a bit and suddenly, a strong hand grabbed her arm.
"...Who is it?"
"What are you doing?"
Seria looked up and panicked.
"Your Highness?"
Did I just bump into Lesche's body?
He was looking at her with a strange expression.
