<CHAPTER 5>
“Give me back all the money I’ve spent on you.”
“Hah!”
Cedric let out a disbelieving scoff.
“I didn’t know you were that materialistic.”
He looked at her with open contempt.
“Materialistic?”
Emilia was speechless for a moment at the absurd accusation.
“Fine. I am materialistic. So give me my money back.”
Emilia stubbornly held out her hand.
“Since it seems you never considered me your fiancée all this time, I think I deserve to be paid for all the work I did in your household.”
Of course, she had never done any of it expecting compensation.
But now that things had come to this, she figured she might as well get some money out of them.
“W-What the hell are you talking about?!”
Cedric huffed angrily at how she refused to back down even a little.
But Emilia had no intention of wasting another word on him.
“If you’re not going to give it to me yourself, then move.”
She picked up her trunk and walked inside.
“Hey!”
Cedric, who had been leaning against the doorway, staggered when the trunk slammed into him and ended up falling over.
Inside stood Reyna, looking utterly bewildered.
Emilia merely glanced at her before walking past her without another word.
She then threw open the doors of an elegant display cabinet and spread her trunk open on the floor.
Crash!
Without much care, Emilia swept the items inside the cabinet into her trunk.
A few of them fell to the floor and rolled away.
Just then, Cedric came storming in after her.
“Hey!”
“I’m busy, so don’t talk to me.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Cedric roughly grabbed Emilia by the arm and yanked her upright.
Crash!
At the same time, something fell to the floor, followed by the sharp sound of breaking glass.
“What’s your problem? You wouldn’t give me anything, so I’m taking it myself.”
Emilia wrenched her arm free from Cedric’s grasp.
Then she looked inside the display cabinet, and a sudden wave of bitterness washed over her.
There were actually plenty of valuable things in this house.
It was just that, even after the family had fallen into ruin, they had refused to sell any of them, treating every precious possession as though it were an heirloom.
Instead, they had found it easier to spend money that wasn’t theirs.
“You’ve really lost your mind! You’re nothing but a damn thief!”
Smack!
Unable to contain his anger, Cedric slapped Emilia hard across the face.
“Ugh!”
Her head snapped to the side, and she collapsed onto the floor.
Soon, Mrs. Romans came rushing out of her room after hearing the commotion.
“What on earth is going on?!”
She stared in horror at the wreckage throughout the house before hurriedly approaching the display cabinet.
“Oh, no! These precious things!”
She stared helplessly at the shattered ornaments.
“Reyna.”
“Y-Yes?”
Reyna, who had been standing there in a daze, suddenly snapped to attention at Emilia’s call.
“Do you think you’ll be all right from now on?”
Emilia looked at her quietly.
“I mean, being married to a man who hits you whenever he gets angry, and having a mother-in-law who doesn’t even care when her own son hits a woman.”
“Th-That…”
“You’ll regret it.”
Reyna’s eyes wavered uneasily at those words.
But Emilia soon looked away from her.
She planted her feet firmly on the ground and pushed herself back up, only to feel a dull throb radiating from her cheek.
He really hit me hard…
She had spoken so boldly, but even Emilia had never imagined Cedric would actually hit her.
They had argued from time to time, but he had never once raised a hand against her.
I’ve learned quite a lot of new things about him these past few days.
Emilia felt strangely bitter.
At that moment, Mrs. Romans abruptly turned around.
Rustle—
The fragments of the broken ornaments crunched beneath her feet.
“Emilia, you! What did you just say?!”
Apparently, she had finally become enraged after hearing Emilia insult both her and her son, Cedric.
But Emilia pretended not to hear her.
Instead, she closed her now-full trunk and locked it.
Click.
“Can’t you hear me?!”
“Yes, I can hear you perfectly well.”
Emilia turned to face her.
“But it seems you heard what I said perfectly well too, so I don’t see why I need to repeat myself.”
“What—what did you just—?!”
Mrs. Romans stomped toward Emilia, fuming, only to suddenly step on the debris and slip.
“Oh, my!”
“Mother!”
“Madam! Are you all right?”
Cedric and Reyna hurried over and helped her to her feet.
Emilia watched the scene with indifference before turning to Reyna.
“It must be difficult taking care of this family while you’re pregnant.”
…And thank you.
For making sure I never became part of a family like this.
“W-What did you say?!”
Mrs. Romans was too stunned by Emilia’s audacity to even gather her thoughts.
Meanwhile, Emilia left the house without a single shred of hesitation.
The wheels of her trunk rattled loudly as they crossed the threshold.
“That insolent girl! What does she think she’s saying?!”
Mrs. Romans screamed, grabbing whatever she could reach and hurling it toward the departing Emilia.
But none of the objects even came close to her feet.
—
After Emilia left—
“Hah! Unbelievable!”
Mrs. Romans whirled around, completely beside herself.
Seeing the state of the house only made her blood boil even more.
“Cedric! Did you hear the way she talked?! How can a girl be so utterly insolent?!”
“I know. She really thinks she’s better than everyone else, right to the very end.”
“I can’t believe I was actually going to bring a girl like that into this family as my daughter-in-law. I must have been out of my mind.”
In truth, Mrs. Romans had been the one who had pushed Emilia toward Cedric.
Ever since Cedric had reached marriageable age, she had been increasingly worried.
Because the family had fallen into ruin, not a single noble lady was willing to marry into their household.
So she had chosen Emilia—the prettiest and cleverest girl in the village—and introduced her to Cedric.
Of course, she had never been particularly fond of her.
Naturally.
No matter how pretty or clever Emilia was, she was still nothing more than a commoner girl with no parents.
What on earth was I thinking?
If she had known Cedric would eventually bring home such a perfect bride himself, she never would have rushed him into an engagement.
Still, I suppose it worked out since she left of her own accord.
Though the fact that the girl had turned the entire household upside down on her way out still infuriated her.
Mrs. Romans cast a subtle glance at Reyna.
As expected of a young lady from a count’s family, she was elegant.
Even simply standing there, she seemed to radiate refinement.
She was fundamentally different from a girl like Emilia.
She’s exactly the right level for my son.
Mrs. Romans wiped the vicious expression from her face and spoke in a gentle voice.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am that a girl like you came to our Cedric. We nearly ended up bringing a wicked girl like that into this household.”
“Yes? Y-Yes…”
“And to think you’ve even blessed us with a child. Such a good girl.”
But Mrs. Romans failed to notice the change in Reyna’s expression.
You’ll regret it.
Reyna’s trembling hands were clutching her clothes tightly.
The sight of the woman walking away, looking almost relieved, continued to linger before her eyes.
And so did those words.
They had sounded far too certain to be nothing more than a curse.
