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I rubbed the area around my elbow with my crossed arms.
As I massaged the skin—so smooth it was almost sigh-inducing—the sentences in my head seemed to smooth out as well.
By glancing slightly downward, I couldn't see Raymond's reaction, which made it even easier to continue.
“There are so many things... no, not just the things only the two of us—or rather, House Martyr and the Larsen Ducal Family—know about.”
“....”
“We don't even need to go back to the Academy; just look at the beginning of this year. My image in high society is already completely ruined. Unless they're a country noble who just arrived in the capital or a minor noble who couldn't care less about society, there's no way they wouldn't know.”
However, Duchess Larsen fit neither of those descriptions.
In a ballroom filled with arrogant nobles, how could she possibly mistake ‘Yevgenia’—who boldly splashed wine, grabbed hair, and tore dresses—for someone who would fear bringing shame to the Martyr family?
As I pondered this, a sudden flash of realization hit me.
“Ha, this is unbelievable...”
The air inside the carriage felt a bit colder.
It was likely because I was so infuriated.
Uncrossing my arms, I roughly swept back my slightly disheveled hair and spat out the words.
“Right now, I'm being overlooked because I'm a Young Lady who just became an adult, but after marriage, the other wives won't just stand by.”
“...!”
“To think Duchess Larsen actually said that. She must have been quite worried about you.”
The ‘other wives’ she mentioned would surely include herself, as well as the wives of the same faction.
Until now, no matter how much Yevgenia turned the ballrooms upside down, people merely gave her sidelong glances; it was difficult to openly speak ill of her.
Everything she had done thus far could be sufficiently dismissed with the excuse that she was ‘blinded by childish affection.’
However, after marriage, the same behavior would likely lead to a completely different result.
‘It wouldn't just end with me being crazy with jealousy; I'd be branded as a mistress who cannot properly manage her husband even after marriage.’
A reckless Young Lady and an incompetent mistress were treated very differently.
And if such an incompetent mistress were to report her husband for adultery?
‘That's the fastest and easiest way to be cast out of noble society.’
This was exactly what Duchess Larsen had banked on.
The grand delusion that ‘Evgenia Martir,’ who had been pampered her entire life, would never dare to do such a thing.
To me, who had already canceled the engagement and was searching for a villa to spend the rest of my life in, noble society was irrelevant.
Tsk, tsk. I clicked my tongue loudly enough for Raymond to hear and continued.
“If you trust Duchess Larsen's words that much, then fine, go ahead and try it.”
“What? Try what?”
“See just how far I can go. And see how much I'm willing to throw away.”
Just then, the familiar scenery of Duke Martir's estate appeared outside the window.
As the carriage gradually slowed and came to a complete stop, I stood up first, looked down at Raymond, and spoke.
“You still don't know me for shit, Raymond Larsen.”
Raymond's eyes widened slightly at my coarse tone.
In the meantime, the door opened, and I stepped out of the carriage one step at a time, taking the hand of the coachman waiting beside me.
Only after my feet touched the ground did Raymond snap back to his senses and hurriedly try to follow.
Blocking his path, I whispered a low warning.
“I will make this engagement a non-event by any means necessary, and you won't be allowed to set a single toe in my funeral.”
“...Funeral?”
“The ‘Evgenia Martir’ you can know for the rest of your life ends right here.”
I gave a sharp poke with my index finger to his shoulder, which was halfway out of the carriage.
With that small action, Raymond's body was weakly pushed back.
“Don't cross that line. For your own sake, and for the sake of your love.”
The slightly skewed carriage door looked exactly like the line drawn between Raymond and me.
I liked it so much that the corners of my mouth curled up instinctively.
Turning around without hesitation, I gave a casual wave of my hand.
I didn't know how many more banquets I would have to attend with him, but I intended to put up my own kind of rebellion.
As for how Raymond's expression changed after I left him behind, it was something I would never know for the rest of my life.
* * *
The blatant inner thoughts of Duchess Larsen, which I learned through Raymond, were enough to make me even more urgent.
After letting Raymond into the House of Martyr, her sinister plan was to keep me in check as a mother-in-law and use her faction to bury me if I did anything even slightly out of line.
Since it would be difficult for my father to intervene in matters between women, this was something I would have to endure entirely on my own.
‘I let my guard down because she treated me so well whenever I visited the Larsen estate to see Raymond.’
She had even openly rebuked Raymond for avoiding Yevgenia, forcibly tying the two together.
That was why ‘Yevgenia’ had firmly believed Duchess Larsen was on her side.
In fact, in the original story, Duchess Larsen defended ‘Yevgenia’ until the very end.
But to think that was all just to get her hands on the House of Martyr...
‘I was too naive. If she truly cared for me—for Yevgenia—she would have at least petitioned for leniency when I was dragged to the dungeon.’
My head understood and accepted it all, but the lingering ache in my chest didn't fade easily.
However, I couldn't just wallow in misery.
If I dragged out the engagement talk any longer, I might actually be dragged to the wedding without being able to utter a single word.
‘Erase more of the name? No, no. I've already erased two characters; erasing one more won't change anything. Then what method would be best...’
I chewed on the tips of my well-manicured nails, snap, snap.
I knew it didn't help at all, but I was too anxious to keep my hands still.
What should I do, what should I do?
The engagement between me and Raymond had been established through my strong will, driven by a mad love, and with the approval of both sets of parents.
Because of that, no matter how much I rambled about doing it for Raymond's sake, it wouldn't be easily undone unless the parents changed their minds.
In truth, even among the parents, the most important thing was my father's intention.
If my father pushed strongly, the reclusive Duke Larsen would have no choice but to comply.
‘If that happens, Duchess Larsen is no longer a concern.’
The problem was that my father was too busy suspecting the Imperial Palace regarding the erasure of my name...
A pretty good idea flashed through my frantically racing mind.
I stopped biting my nail and reached out to pull the servant's bell.
When Anna arrived shortly after, I smiled brightly and asked.
“Anna, how do you like the clothes I gave you the other day?”
“Yes, My Lady! The alterations were so clean that it felt like a custom-made dress from the start! And the fabric is so sturdy. I think I can wear it for several years!”
Excited, Anna poured out her impressions as if she had been waiting for me to ask.
Looking at her entranced expression, it seemed she liked Madam's clothes quite a bit.
‘I thought it wouldn't be just any ordinary dress based on the design, but Madam's skill is truly the real deal.’
If she could create such a perfect position, perfect personnel, and even perfect coincidences, she would be the perfect person to help me find someone suited for the plan I had in mind.
‘No wonder she was used like a master key in the original story.’
But unlike the original, the person using that master key in this world was me.
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