Chapter : 02
The First Meeting.
Having lived twenty years as someone who had never dated anyone, Raeliana did not know anything about the beauty of breaking up, nor did she think he was a man worthy of being treated with courtesy.
So she went straight to the point.
“Let’s break up.”
At that, French laughed exaggeratedly and pointed to one side.
A crow sitting on top of a streetlamp was looking down at the two of them with a nasty expression while pooping.
“Ahahaha! Did you just see that?”
“See what? No, did you hear what I said?”
“What did you say?”
“Let’s break up, Sir Brooks.”
“Ahahaha!! Look at that, Raeliana.”
“Excuse me, I said let’s break up.”
Only after saying “let’s break up” about seventeen more times did Raeliana realize that this man was not interested in the crow doing its business.
He was simply pretending not to hear her.
The day after their first date ended, Raeliana ran straight to a bookstore.
The bookstore owner pulled out a book titled How to Break Up with Your Boyfriend from behind the counter with an uninterested expression.
Raeliana read the entire book through the night.
Indeed, books were truly a treasure trove of knowledge.
The Second Meeting.
After studying and preparing herself for the breakup, Raeliana headed to a members-only restaurant with him.
And just ten minutes after arriving at the restaurant, she poured a total of five kinds of liquids, including water and various wines, over French Brooks’ head and groin.
At first, French Brooks tried to maintain his gentlemanly appearance, but by the third time, his thick lips began twitching.
By the fourth time, he let out a deep sigh and became restless.
And when, for the fifth time, she deliberately focused on pouring wine onto his groin, veins appeared on his temples and his hands trembled.
“Oh my, I spilled it again. I’m sorry.”
Raeliana apologized with an expression that showed she was not sorry at all, then pointed toward the piano in the center of the restaurant.
“Sir Brooks, I would like to hear you play.”
French Brooks approached the piano, probably hoping to calm himself down.
As the melody of the piano began to fill the room, Raeliana called over a waiter and started praising everything.
She praised how wonderful the scent of the wine was, how cozy the atmosphere of the restaurant felt, and how skilled the chef was.
French Brooks glanced at her several times, but her compliments did not stop.
When Raeliana showed no intention of listening to his performance at all, French Brooks decided he needed to get her attention.
“Beautiful Raeliana…”
He began.
But Raeliana walked straight into the bathroom without even turning around.
She only came out after the sound of the piano had completely stopped.
When it was time to leave, Raeliana looked at French Brooks’ groin, which had turned white and stiff as if he had wet himself, and frowned.
Then, trembling as if she was truly embarrassed, she got into a carriage alone and rushed home.
Raeliana was extremely satisfied.
‘At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before he curses at me. No, he might even hit me, saying he’s never seen such a crazy woman before.’
She had held onto such expectations, but in the end, no insulting letter from French Brooks arrived.
It was disappointing.
The Third Meeting.
It took quite some time before their third date.
French Brooks seemed to need time to heal his fragile heart.
When the date was finally decided, the two of them agreed to go hunting.
French Brooks might have intended to reinforce his position as a “noble gentleman with a long history” through hunting.
However, Raeliana was skilled enough to proudly call herself the “queen of hunting.”
Her father, Jondein, had enjoyed hunting as a hobby for decades, and Raeliana had followed him ever since she was old enough to walk.
Although her soul might have changed, the memories of her body remained.
Because of that, she was extremely skilled with firearms.
However, French Brooks proudly showed off his own limited skills, saying things like he would teach her how to hunt and explaining how she should hold a gun.
He was acting like a beginner trying to lecture an expert.
Raeliana narrowed her eyes while watching his performance.
To meet his expectations, she acted like a young lady who was hunting for the first time, a clumsy girl who kept making mistakes.
And then—
She made a bullet graze past French Brooks’ temple.
“Oh my, I made a mistake.”
He must have been terrified.
Afterward, Raeliana skillfully disassembled the gun and handed it to the servant.
“Sir Brooks seems to need to change his clothes. Please prepare something for him.”
By this point, anyone else would have thrown a punch.
But that man valued money more than his pride.
And yesterday, French Brooks came to the McMillan mansion without any notice.
Raeliana, who had been taking a walk in front of the mansion, greeted him with a stiff expression.
“Sir Brooks, what brings you here so suddenly? I wasn’t told that you would be coming today.”
“Oh, Raeliana. Aren’t we engaged?”
He smiled warmly, creating those wrinkled lines around his eyes.
‘Ugh. That gives me chills.’
“The closer people are, the more they should respect each other’s boundaries. Please leave.”
Raeliana rubbed her arm, which had broken out in goosebumps, and turned around to leave.
But French Brooks grabbed her wrist.
“Raeliana, I cannot understand why you are suddenly acting this way toward me.”
“No, what are you doing right now?”
“Although this is a political marriage, I believed that deeper feelings were growing between us. Was I the only one who thought so?”
His voice sounded desperate.
Unlike Park Eunha’s feelings, Raeliana’s heart sank.
The original owner of this body, Raeliana, had loved French.
Although their family fortune had temporarily declined because of the head of the family’s obsession with failed businesses, the Brooks family had once been a prestigious noble family that would never have looked twice at a nouveau riche family like the McMillans.
French Brooks was the eldest son of that family, and outwardly, he was a very handsome man.
Even though he prepared poison behind the scenes, he acted kindly in front of her.
So it was not strange that Raeliana, who dreamed of a peaceful love inside a greenhouse-like world, had fallen for him.
That was why the McMillan family had also welcomed the union with the Brooks family with open arms.
‘Did the original owner’s feelings still remain?’
She smiled bitterly.
But now, the owner of this body was herself.
French Brooks would use his hidden black intentions to destroy Raeliana’s body and heart.
And in the end, it would be poisoned black tea waiting for her.
“It is only your misunderstanding.”
Instead of causing a scene, Raeliana spoke calmly.
The power behind those small lips made him flinch.
“Let go.”
He realized it instinctively.
This was not the Raeliana he knew.
The timid girl who would blush when she tried to speak first and whisper so quietly that he could barely hear her was gone.
After postponing their meetings for a while under the excuse that she was ill, she had suddenly appeared before him as if she were a completely different person.
French Brooks clenched his teeth.
He had tried to persuade her with sweet words.
But when she tried to pull her hand away and leave, he grabbed her shoulder firmly.
“Raeliana, listen to what I have to say before you go.”
Raeliana raised her eyebrows.
“I don’t know how expensive you intend to make yourself, but it won’t work.”
“What do you mean all of a sudden?”
“It means the game is over. What the McMillan family needs most is the reputation of the Marquis Brooks family. Do you really think a family of nouveau riches that only has money can find a better marriage partner? We will be getting married soon. Before that happens, you would do well to properly learn how to serve your future husband.”
His eyes shone like a rat’s.
Raeliana clenched her fist until her nails dug into her skin and drew blood.
