ICSF 03

CHAPTER 03

In the end, our meeting that day was canceled.

When I collapsed from dizziness inside the carriage, Ena, who had been riding with me, was so startled that she immediately ordered the carriage to turn back toward the Count’s estate.

I sent Pedro a letter apologizing for being unable to keep our appointment because I wasn’t feeling well, but he didn’t even bother to reply with a simple “Take care of yourself.”

‘He’s been cheating on me for two years?’

The panel floating before my eyes seemed as though it wouldn’t disappear until I had checked everything written on it. Even after quite some time had passed, it continued floating beside me. Only after I finished reading the final conversation did it finally vanish.

After calming myself down and carefully reading through everything, piecing together the information left behind by the gods, I discovered that Pedro had been cheating on me since he was fifteen.

Coincidentally, that was when he had first started hiding his hostility toward me.

“Hahahaha……”

I let out a hollow laugh and buried my face in my palms. But no tears came.

It wasn’t because it didn’t feel real. It was simply because I had already passed the stage of despair.

Now, I was at the stage where I was supposed to be angry.

“Pedro…… Jwo-Paedro……”

I suppose the gods really were gods, because they even named him perfectly. I couldn’t stand his betrayal without wanting to beat the crap out of him.

The Estarotte family might have been wealthy and powerful, but we weren’t tyrants who could force someone into an engagement against their will. Although the engagement had come about because I had desperately clung to him, the Sachsen family could have refused at any time.

I skimmed through the documents I had received from my father’s aide. They detailed all the benefits the Sachsen family had gained because of my engagement.

“Thank goodness we aren’t married yet, so no dowry has actually changed hands.”

If we had married, quite a substantial amount of property would have been handed over as my dowry.

Two diamond mines and one gold mine. Three villas located in different regions, as well as an island I owned in the south. There was also a townhouse in my name that the Sachsen family used whenever they came to the Imperial Capital.

And if you counted the value of all the wedding gifts that would have been given, the total exceeded one hundred million gold.

As for the townhouse, I could simply kick them out of it, so I hadn’t actually suffered any loss there.

As for the benefits the Sachsen family had gained during our seven-year engagement, there were the business profits they had made by leeching off the Estarotte family’s businesses.

Whenever the Count’s family recommended a business that was virtually guaranteed to succeed, they would put in a tiny investment and receive several times their investment back in dividends.

They had taken at least five to ten times what they invested…… Even though the Count’s family had no need for such paltry investments, we had allowed them to participate simply to preserve my dignity.

‘And on top of that, we gave the entire Sachsen family lavish birthday presents every year.’

For Pedro’s birthday this year, I had been planning to give him a fine warhorse from South Selvia.

Because it was a military breed that was rarely allowed to leave the country, I had gone out of my way to acquire one at a premium price simply because Pedro wanted it……

“What an ungrateful bastard……”

Even a donkey was too good for Jwo-Paedro. Since the horse had already been acquired and was on its way, I couldn’t exactly cancel it now. I would accept it when it arrived, but there was no way it would ever end up in Jwo-Paedro’s hands.

“Ha……”

Going through everything one by one made me realize all over again just how blindly foolish I had been.

Come to think of it, Pedro was handsome enough, but he wasn’t exactly the god of beauty.

When we were young, he had been cute because he still had his baby fat. And since I had always lived such an easy life, he was the first person who had ever treated me so harshly, which probably made me even more desperate for his attention.

But now that the rose-colored glasses had come off, all I could see was an idiot who thought his face was enough to get by and had absolutely no idea of his own place.

‘It’s not as though he knows I’ve been spying on him. Surely the gods wouldn’t make false prophecies just to toy with me.’

They had said there would be five by the year 225.

Then how many were there now, in the current year of 220?

I was curious, but as an ordinary noble young lady without any personal network of informants, there was no way for me to find out.

The panel showing the gods’ conversations hadn’t given any more specific details, either……

“So this is the only way after all.”

I rose from my desk and left the study. I wondered who might be home right now.

‘Mother and Father won’t do. By the time I finish beating the hell out of Pedro, everything will already be over. The youngest won’t work either. He’s still too young.’

After eliminating them one by one, only two people remained.

I was wondering which of the two would be better when—

“Lovey.”

“Ugh, go away.”

Despite my refusal, I was suddenly lifted into the air, and kisses were showered all over my face.

The person who had picked me up was our family’s idiot second son.

I wasn’t particularly small myself, but perhaps because my idiot second brother worked in a physically demanding profession, he was twice my size and could easily hoist me up like a paper doll.

I didn’t dislike this sort of affection, but I was going to become an adult next year. Being treated like a little kid was becoming slightly problematic.

‘Ah……’

The moment I remembered that I was becoming an adult, my mood soured again.

If it weren’t for the prophecy, wouldn’t I have married Jwo-Paedro next spring?

The gods really had watched over me.

Though my second brother was an idiot, he was remarkably perceptive when it came to me. He quickly noticed that my mood had changed.

“Our cutie, is something wrong?”

The corners of his eyes immediately drooped as he studied my expression. Considering that I had recently collapsed while out and had to be carried home, he seemed extremely worried about me.

I wrapped both arms around my brother’s neck.

He leaned backward so that I could rest against him more comfortably, and I whispered into his ear.

“Oppa. I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor? What is it?”

“If you promise not to get angry, I’ll tell you.”

“Why would I ever get angry at something our cutie says?”

His grin looked harmless despite his enormous size. But I knew perfectly well that if I brought up Pedro after he had said that, he would definitely get furious, so I warned him again.

“You can’t tell anyone about what I’m going to ask, okay?”

“No one? Not even our parents or our older brother?”

“Yeah. It’s our secret.”

At the words our secret, my second brother’s face lit up.

He happily promised, and I suggested that we go somewhere quiet where there was no one around.

He had promised not to get angry, but I was sure he was going to start shouting.

Thankfully, the spacious rear garden we reached was empty.

My second brother looked at me with shining eyes, as if urging me to hurry up and tell him.

I whispered,

“I want to borrow some people.”

“People? What are you going to use them for?”

“I want to investigate Jwo— I mean, Pedro.”

My words left my second brother utterly stunned.

He looked as though his precious little sister had become so blinded by love that she was now trying to learn every little thing her fiancé did.

As he stared at me with trembling eyes, apparently wondering how he should convince me otherwise, I whispered again.

“I think Pedro has a child.”

“What?!”

So much for not getting angry. He immediately shouted, looking thoroughly enraged.

I knew that his anger wasn’t directed at me, but I didn’t want to make a huge fuss before I had solid evidence. So I hurriedly covered his mouth with my hand.

He couldn’t even bring himself to brush my hand away. He simply stood there, breathing heavily with a face flushed red from anger.

But soon, his expression became calm.

He lowered me to the ground, turned around, and started walking somewhere.

“Where are you going?”

“To kill him.”

He said it in such an ordinary tone, as though he were saying, “I’m going for a walk.”

But there was clearly something very wrong with his eyes.

Our second brother might have been somewhat of an idiot and surprisingly mild-tempered for a man of his size, but when he decided to do something, he followed through.

So I hurriedly grabbed him.

“It’s not even confirmed!”

“With your personality, you wouldn’t suddenly come up with something like this and make up a story for no reason. Something must have happened that made you suspicious.”

“That’s…… true, but still!”

“Our cutie. You don’t need to get your hands dirty with something like this. I’ll erase him so completely it’ll be as if he never existed in this world.”

“No! Wait!”

I clung to his forearm with all my strength, and the body being dragged forward finally came to a halt.

My second brother looked down at me, his face twisting as though he were dumbfounded—or perhaps unable to believe what he was seeing.

“Don’t tell me…… the reason you’re stopping me is because you’re planning to let that bastard off the hook?”

Maybe I would have done exactly that before I learned about the gods’ conversations.

Because I was his actual fiancée.

Because surely the woman was nothing more than someone who had passed through his life, someone he didn’t share any deep feelings with.

I would have convinced myself of that and endured it.

I wouldn’t have wanted to admit to my family that the engagement I had forced through so stubbornly had failed.

And because I still had affection and guilt toward Pedro, I probably would have told myself it was fine and simply let it go.

But once I realized that he had been deceiving me for years, intended to continue doing so, and that the reason he had treated me well wasn’t because my affection had touched his heart but because he wanted to hide his own wrongdoing, all my feelings for him vanished in an instant.

Now, all I wanted was to take back everything they had gained and benefited from because of me.

‘That alone will be enough to bring them down.’

I wouldn’t even need to lift a finger myself.

The townhouse the Sachsen family currently used as a villa belonged to me, and even Pedro’s position in the Knights had been secured entirely through my family.

If they had never possessed those things in the first place, perhaps losing them wouldn’t have hurt so much.

But the loss of something you had received—and then had taken away—would inevitably lead to despair.

Especially when every single one of those things was far beyond what they could have obtained through their own abilities……

“That’s my prey.”

I looked straight at my second brother as I spoke.

Whatever else happened, I was going to drag Pedro through the mud with my own hands.

My second brother was someone who loved his family dearly, but I couldn’t give up the chance to take revenge myself.

My second brother studied my face.

When he saw no lingering attachment to Pedro in my expression, he seemed to understand.

Still apparently furious about Pedro’s infidelity, he bit his lip, roughly scratched his head over and over, then let out a deep sigh.

“Whew. I don’t want to make our cutie do something so unpleasant…… but I suppose it can’t be helped. Fine.”

In the end, my second brother raised both hands in surrender.

I smiled brightly and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? This big brother would bring you the moon and stars, or even that bastard’s head, if it were for our cutie.”

“I don’t particularly want that guy’s head…… But if you give it to me, I guess I’ll have to accept it……”

My second brother and I giggled together, trading jokes.

A few days later, one of the people under my second brother’s command came to me carrying information.

The bastard Jwo-Paedro was unequivocally guilty.