HWGD 01

CHAPTER 01

. The Goal Is to Get a Divorce

Even today, the servants unanimously agreed that Duke Sylvester Rigen was handsome.

His neatly slicked-back black hair gleamed with a healthy sheen, while his thick eyebrows and deeply set eyes were more than enough to captivate anyone’s heart.

And what about those blue eyes that added even more color to his appearance?

They gave him a chilly aura, much like the snowy plains of the North, but even that was incredibly attractive.

Sylvester was undeniably handsome.

Unfortunately, he was a married man.

And not just any married man—he was married to Ophelia McGuffin, a woman known as the greatest villainess of the century and an evil witch!

That was such a shame, everyone thought, clicking their tongues in disappointment.

Just then—

“Honey!”

The moment the voice was heard, Ophelia opened the drawing-room door and walked inside.

Without even knocking!

She was truly a woman with not a shred of manners.

Yet today, Ophelia was so beautiful that even her rudeness could be forgiven.

Her silver hair cascaded down to her waist, her skin was as white as the snowy landscape, and her emerald-green eyes sparkled like jewels. She looked as though a fairy from the snow mountains had descended into the mortal world.

Ophelia was breathtakingly beautiful.

But the gaze Sylvester directed at her was utterly devoid of warmth.

“What is it?”

His tone was unbearably cold, and Ophelia drew in a deep breath.

His tightly pressed lips were far too alluring—enough to make anyone gasp in admiration at first sight.

But Ophelia was the infamous villainess, a witch who practiced the forbidden art of black magic.

No one should be captivated by that face.

“I came because I have something to say.”

Everyone in the room focused on her.

“We…”

Ophelia raised her chin.

“Let’s get divorced.”

Gasp!

Everyone in the drawing room made the same sound.

Then, as though united in heart and mind, they clasped their hands together.

Please, Duke, accept her request!

From the duke’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse.

No matter how much Ophelia was the only daughter of the Grand Ducal House of McGuffin, it was a family that had gone bankrupt through gambling.

She was also a married woman who shamelessly followed the Crown Prince around, claiming to love him.

She tormented everyone and constantly caused trouble.

And she was a black magician who had mastered curse magic!

Accepting her demand for a divorce and kicking her out immediately would have been completely justified.

But—

“Ophelia.”

Sylvester tore the divorce papers she had handed him cleanly in half and said,

“Get out.”

“Yes, sir.”

This was already the fourth time he had rejected her request for a divorce.

When would he finally agree?

Ophelia sighed heavily and turned toward the door.

But just before leaving, she suddenly remembered something and turned her head.

“Then… can we get divorced tomorrow?”

“Get out!”

Seriously.

If he didn’t even love her, why wouldn’t he let her go?

Just let me live peacefully on my own!

Ophelia wanted to say that, but she couldn’t.

Sylvester’s gaze was genuinely terrifying.

“I’ll leave quietly…”

And so Ophelia left the drawing room with her tail between her legs.

Ah, getting a divorce is harder than I thought.

She muttered to herself.

It all started when I picked up a book.

Didn’t the title alone reek of melodrama?

As someone who normally loved messy, scandalous dramas, I couldn’t resist it.

The story began when the female protagonist, a countess, rescued a young boy.

She discovered the boy collapsed within her territory and brought him back to her castle, supporting him in every possible way.

But it turned out that the boy was actually the Crown Prince who had disappeared from the Imperial Family sixteen years ago!

After being restored to his position as Crown Prince, the boy proposed to the countess.

Even though she already had a husband.

And thus began a ridiculously dramatic love story.

Is this what people mean by extra-spicy drama?

I excitedly read the book without realizing how quickly the time was passing.

The romance between the protagonists was so dramatic that even Romeo and Juliet seemed tame by comparison, but the villains who appeared throughout the story were absolutely something else.

One of them was particularly outrageous.

Ophelia McGuffin.

She was the only daughter of one of the empire’s two Grand Ducal Houses.

On top of that, she was an unparalleled beauty whose fame had spread even to other countries.

A perfect family.

A perfect appearance.

Having both of those things, Ophelia somehow ended up with a less-than-perfect personality.

Well, I suppose it was inevitable.

After slapping a young noblewoman her own age at her debutante ball, Ophelia’s reputation gradually became even more notorious.

You’d think she’d have learned to be more careful after that, but Ophelia merely scoffed at her bad reputation and proceeded to commit even worse atrocities.

She bullied the servants day after day and even went around beating up young noblewomen from other aristocratic families.

She was basically a thug.

Unable to deal with her any longer, the Grand Duke eventually came up with an idea.

He would marry her off.

And not just to anyone.

To the House of Rigen, which ruled over the North.

Ophelia vehemently opposed the idea.

And for good reason.

The Duke of Rigen was half-human and half-demon!

No matter how much he was the Lord of the Snow Mountains who ruled the North, he was still half demon!

A marriage between a demon and a human?

Ophelia was absolutely against it, but her father, the Grand Duke, wouldn’t listen to her objections.

“An evil woman and a demon. Don’t you think they’re a perfect match?”

The Grand Duke pushed the marriage through.

Naturally, the Grand Ducal House poured its power and money into making the marriage happen.

Duke Rigen didn’t find the proposal particularly bad either.

With the Imperial Family currently trying to expand its influence, forming an alliance with the Grand Ducal House would be highly beneficial.

Besides, there weren’t exactly many suitable marriage prospects for Sylvester Rigen.

After all, he was half demon.

Under these circumstances, the marriage proposal from the Grand Ducal House was more than welcome.

So Sylvester Rigen willingly accepted.

And that was how Ophelia became the wife of Duke Sylvester Rigen.

This is where the trouble starts.

The moment Ophelia got married, the Grand Ducal House’s debts were exposed.

And they weren’t just ordinary debts.

They were her father’s gambling debts!

Fortunately, Ophelia had changed her surname after marriage, allowing her to escape her creditors.

Her father, however, wasn’t so lucky.

Hounded relentlessly by his creditors, the Grand Duke eventually ended his own life.

That was when it happened.

Ophelia began learning black magic.

Because of that, an incident occurred, and afterward, Ophelia and Sylvester became completely estranged.

From then on, they lived as though the other didn’t exist.

Years passed like that.

Then, one day, Ophelia was invited to an Imperial ball.

There, she encountered the male protagonist—the Crown Prince, who had returned to the Imperial Family after sixteen years.

And she fell in love with him at first sight.

What happened after that?

She began cursing and tormenting the female protagonist, the countess whom the Crown Prince loved, at every opportunity.

And the level of harassment wasn’t some subtle bullying or social exclusion practiced by ordinary noblewomen.

Kidnapping.

Imprisonment.

Violence…

Ophelia tormented the female protagonist with acts so atrocious they were almost impossible to describe.

Naturally, the Crown Prince wanted to get rid of Ophelia somehow.

But he couldn’t.

Ophelia was the wife of Sylvester Rigen, the man who held the greatest power in the empire.

Sylvester Rigen.

After the Crown Prince was reinstated, he constantly interfered with and obstructed him at every turn.

That’s right.

Sylvester was also a villain in the novel, no less than Ophelia.

What did the readers call them again?

Oh, right.

The villain couple.

They were both so villainous in everything they did that readers called them the villain couple.

I had called them that too.

Anyway, the Crown Prince, who had been driven to distraction by this villainous couple, eventually came up with a plan.

He decided to take advantage of Ophelia’s obsession with him.

—If you truly love me,

—kill your husband.

Ophelia didn’t hesitate.

Using black magic, she caused Sylvester’s magical power to run wild.

As a result, Sylvester was consumed by his own magic and died.

And what do you think happened to Ophelia?

She was sentenced to death by hanging for murdering her husband.

It was all part of the Crown Prince’s grand scheme to get rid of Ophelia, who had been an eyesore to him.

What a bastard.

While reading the novel, I thought the Crown Prince was truly awful.

No matter what, manipulating someone’s feelings like that was crossing the line!

And I couldn’t understand Ophelia either.

Even if she was madly in love, how could she possibly kill her own husband?

I don’t understand either of them.

Of course, the person I understood the least was the author who had written such an utterly ridiculous novel.

I fell asleep after condemning everyone involved.

And when I opened my eyes—

“This is insane.”

I had possessed Ophelia.

Ophelia, who had been lying unconscious in the pouring rain.

After the maid helped warm my body, which had become completely frozen, my mind finally began to clear.

So I hurriedly figured out when in the story I had arrived.

Fortunately, I had possessed her before she killed her husband.

Unfortunately, everyone already knew that Ophelia was in love with the Crown Prince.

This must be around the time when she’s supposed to be tormenting the female protagonist like crazy.

Oh, heavens.

Why are you doing this to me?

I spent several days wallowing in despair.

But eventually, I realized I couldn’t keep doing this forever.

So I pulled myself together.

And I made a plan.

Let’s get divorced.

If I got divorced, the Crown Prince would have no reason to use me!

I had to escape before I became entangled in his evil scheme.

Surely there was some allowance given to a duchess.

If I saved up that money and whatever else I could get my hands on, then got divorced, I could travel around and live a carefree life.

It sounded perfect.

So I asked my husband one more time.

“Can we get divorced today?”

The answer was exactly the same.

“Get out!”

No, seriously.

Why won’t you let me get divorced?