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No, should I say the villainess debuff was too strong?
"Yevgenia, nothing will change by doing this. When you were crying and making a fuss begging to be engaged, where was all this? Now you say you want to break off the engagement, does that even make sense?"
"No, but, Father! At that time, I didn't know Raymond was such a crazy XX!"
"Tsk! Where did a duke's daughter learn such vulgar language?!"
"...I didn't know he was such a lunatic back then!"
This couldn't be happening.
In the world, where is there a guy who uses the 'other person's dad' card first?
That crazy bastard Raymond, after running away with blood dripping from his head, went and spilled every single detail to Father in the meantime.
Leaving out all his own faults, he packaged it as if I was jealous over nothing!
"Father, I've really come to my senses. I've come to reflect on everything I've done so far!"
"You're saying the exact same words, not a single syllable different from three years ago. The next day, you tore Lady Aer's dress, didn't you?"
"...This time it's really different, Father!"
Despite the voice of Yevgenia, dripping with unfairness, Father didn't even flinch.
Father let out a short sigh and spoke in a serious voice.
"Yevgenia Rose Martyr."
"..."
"Larsen's 'name' has already manifested on your body, and everyone knows that fact."
"..."
"Do you really think breaking off the engagement is possible in that situation?"
No words to refute, no grounds to deny came to mind.
It was because the weight carried by a 'name' in this empire was that heavy.
With a name entangled in the marriage alliance between the only two ducal families, as Father said, breaking off the engagement was practically impossible.
'But, if I don't break off the engagement, your only daughter will die!'
As she looked at Father with that sentiment in her heart, Father also looked at her with an even more serious expression.
"Do you know what the sole weakness of our empire is, Yevgenia."
"Huh? Uh, I don't really know..."
"You must have learned about the history concerning the founding Emperor. Then, what about the founding Empress?"
"Um... Well, the founding Emperor's first love?"
"...Yes. His first love, and also his sister-in-law."
Yevgenia's eyes widened at the story she could never have imagined.
In the classes she had lightly attended as part of her education, that part had been glossed over simply as them being close.
"He started a rebellion to obtain the Empress, and the basis for it was the Emperor's 'name' that had manifested on the Empress's body. It seems the academy didn't teach you this content."
"No, not at all... They just said something like, the two were destined..."
"To grant legitimacy to the founding Emperor's rebellion, the 'name' had to hold a value higher than anything else. Neither law nor human emotions could be considered more important than it."
Father, who had been quietly watching the speechless Yevgenia, spoke.
"Denying a name is akin to denying the imperial family, and furthermore, the current empire. Yevgenia, are you prepared to commit such an act with just the single phrase 'I don't love him anymore'?"
"..."
Yevgenia's face, with her lips tightly sealed, naturally became sullen.
The empire's hidden history was shocking, but more than that, it was frustrating that she couldn't clear the hardships laid out before her.
'Picking a fight with the imperial family over breaking off an engagement is indeed crazy. But Raymond is also a real lunatic...'
Father, who had been quietly watching her, let out a deep sigh.
"Hoo... Well, it was Baron Aer's daughter, wasn't it? Since she's said to be persuaded amicably, the thing you're worried about won't happen. So stop being so stubborn."
"No, Father, that's not what I want...!"
"Go now."
"Father!"
Father waved his hand as if he didn't want to hear any more.
There was no way to explain to Father, who had firmly plugged his ears.
Yevgenia, grinding her teeth, gave a short nod and turned around.
A long sigh from Father followed her back.
"Anna."
"Yes, young lady. Please speak."
"What is a very quiet and perfect way to break off an engagement?"
"...Ah, young lady?"
Yevgenia, who had been gently waving her fingers shining with applied perfume, tilted her head.
"How on earth am I supposed to marry a guy who's been cheating even before the engagement ceremony and doesn't even think of hiding it? Right, Anna?"
"...Th, that is..."
"Both families act like it's no problem at all, and the man himself shamelessly talks about concubines and whatnot... Hoo. Just how blind was I in the past?"
As Yevgenia's lament grew longer, Anna's trembling became more severe.
Carefully putting down the perfume bottle, Anna deeply bowed her head.
It was a very wise response, not rashly interfering in the superiors' love affairs.
Yevgenia, her shoulders trembling, gnashed her teeth and spat out her words.
"He's in the middle of the love of the century right now. I know. I respect it enough."
"Young lady..."
"But why is he so desperate to not include me in that love of the century, that's what I mean!"
Bang!
The anger that had been rising in a gradient finally surged to the top of her head.
I'm stepping aside so they can love each other nicely, I don't know why they're being so clingy.
Moreover, isn't Raymond even sending letters, something he never did in a lifetime?
She roughly shook the letter paper with a few short lines written on it.
The perfume on her hand slowly began to spread over the letter paper.
"Young lady, the letter is getting ruined!"
"It doesn't matter. Goodness, do you know what's written here? He tells me not to act childishly and to learn from Stella. Saying she's a virtuous woman who knows how to humbly accept even the position of a concubine!"
"..."
"No matter how much I think about it, it won't do. I will definitely overturn this engagement. No matter what it takes..."
As Yevgenia muttered ominously, her gaze darkened gloomily.
The original work was filled with Raymond and Stella's damn love story, but there were bits of useful information scattered here and there.
For example...
"Martyr."
"Ray, I love you, my Raymond... My own..."
"Severely broken. A sacred name would be a luxury for a woman like this."
No one blocked the mysterious man who naturally opened the prison door and entered.
The man, twisting his lips into a smile, placed his hand on Yevgenia's collarbone, dusty in places.
As he gripped with a force that seemed about to shatter the clavicle, she screamed and twisted her body.
"Ahhhhhhh! Raymondhhhhh!"
"How noisy."
Under the man's palm, who muttered in an indifferent voice, a faint light emanated.
At that moment, a choking sound burst from Yevgenia's mouth.
It was because an excruciating pain, so severe she couldn't even scream, shot through her entire body.
From her collarbone, where her treasured name had been engraved, no more light was visible.
Instead, only a hideous scar, much like Yevgenia's current situation, remained.
In the original work, the frustration and pain Yevgenia experienced were described in great detail.
Especially the moment her 'name', which she cherished more than her life, was erased, even more effort was put into the description.
After that, Yevgenia, who lost her mind, mutters only Raymond's name and starves to death, but anyway, that's not what's important now.
It's that man.
The mysterious character with the ability to erase names.
If I find that man and have him erase the name?
'Immediate engagement cancellation is possible! It's not something else, the name is gone!'
There wouldn't even be a reason to pick a fight with the imperial family.
As long as they revere names, with an innocent face, saying 'Maybe the gods also knew I don't love him anymore and erased it? Heheh.' would be convincing enough.
Yevgenia didn't exactly have a smart image anyway...
Ahem, anyway.
'The problem is how to meet that man.'
Fortunately, I roughly knew the identity of that mysterious man.
'Nox. I have to find that man.'
The man who rules the darkest place of the empire and Stella's helper.
He always deflected, saying helping Stella was just for fun, but...
'Seeing as he even sought out Yevgenia imprisoned and erased her name, it's clear there's something about him.'
According to later descriptions, erasing a name places a great burden on the possessor's body or something.
'Three years of lifespan per character... Raymond, that bastard, even has a long name, he's no help at all!'
But wouldn't it be better for mental health to live extravagantly as a duke's daughter with a limited lifespan and die early, rather than being imprisoned and starving to death?
Since the name seems likely to be erased anyway, maybe it's better to go find him first and ask him to erase it.
...The problem is whether that man would readily accept Yevgenia's deal.
'His status is high enough or his abilities are outstanding enough to go down to the imperial palace prison and lay hands on a criminal. He reveres names, or he detests Yevgenia...'
At this level, isn't there almost nothing to offer as a bargaining chip?
'Ah, no. Have hope, Yevgenia Rose Martyr! If there isn't, make even a trivial one and trade!'
To do that, I needed a little more, trivial yet detailed information about that man.
Yevgenia, beautifully narrowing her golden eyes, asked.
"Anna, did you say your father works as a mercenary?"
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