"No!"
“Ouch!”
The woman in Ian's arms let out a shrill scream and collapsed onto the floor. This was because Ian had hurriedly pushed her away and shouted his diasgreement. Lying sprawled on the ground, the woman glared at Ian with a look of disbelief.
However, the Crown Prince, who was known for being kind to ladies, completely ignored her and was just staring at me blankly. His large golden eyes were literally shaking like an earthquake.
"What do you mean it's not happening?"
I frowned and asked back.
"....Th-that....."
Ian mumbled.
I guess what he shouted earlier was almost a reflex.
“A, a broken engagement? My dear, Melissa. What on earth are you talking about all of a sudden?”
However, as soon as he met my sharp gaze, he stammered out an answer.
“What do you mean, ‘suddenly’? Isn’t breaking off the engagement what Your Highness wants? That is why you are showing me this kind of behavior. To make me cut ties and break off the engagement. Surely you didn’t call me here to have a threesome, did you?”
I tilted my head and said in a bewildered tone.
Unless he wants to break off the engagement, isn't there no reason for him to make me go through this? Surely he hasn't fallen in love with that woman instead of the heroine, Yuri.
But suddenly?
"Ah... no! I mean, I didn't want to break off the engagement..."
Ian's face started to turn bright red. He seemed genuinely flustered.
"If you didn't want to break off the engagement, then so what?"
I racked my brain and thought of a reason other than breaking off the engagement.
"So, an affair fetish?"
“What kind of fetish is that!”
"Or are you the type who gets excited only when someone is watching?"
“What on earth are you talking about!”
"Or is it just because you want to torment me?"
“You………!”
Watching Ian, who was speechless and turned bright red like a cooked lobster, I could not hide the sneer of contempt blooming on my face.
Ah, right. So it was because you wanted to torment Melissa?
“Aha. I thought there would be some big reason.”
"I am……."
“Your Highness. This method is certainly ugly, but it is perfect for tormenting me. After all, it is the sight of my beloved fiancé openly cheating on me with another woman. Even I, the villainess of Podebrat, would be hurt.”
I glanced at the woman still slumped on the floor and spoke. She flinched and hurriedly began to pick up her clothes and put them on. For a few seconds, the drawing room was filled only with the rustling sound of her dressing. Ian could not offer a response, and I could not continue speaking as I tried to suppress my anger.
Although they had been somewhat faint before, Melissa's memories and emotions were vividly coming back to life as she met Ian and talked with him. Melissa had been hurt by these scenes, the scandals following Ian, and the accusations that he was running around because his fiancée was vicious.
Come to think of it, even where I lived, there were quite a few strange situations where women were blamed if a man cheated, so imagine how it must be in this novel set in the Middle Ages.
But Melissa was sincere. To Ian, always… … … … … ..
“But! But……………! You were the one who tormented me first! You clung to me begging to be loved, you bothered me, you came looking for me, and so…………… I was tormented too.”
Our Crown Prince had a talent for barking with his mouth.
So the reason you were silent for a moment wasn't because you had nothing to say even if you had ten mouths, but because you were thinking of that 'I'm a victim too' logic.
'Oh my. Look at those eyes that look like they are being treated unfairly.'
I clenched my fist tightly.
“Yes, I certainly did bother Your Highness. To me, you were my fiancée, and I truly loved you. I thought that visiting you, having tea together, and occasionally hugging was what our relationship was all about. If you disliked that, I would like to offer my apologies.”
At my words, that punk Ian sat down, cluelessly nodding with a confident look that seemed to say, "Yeah, as I said!"
I heard the sound of my jaw hitting the floor. [1]
[1] TN - Actual translation (korean version): I heard the sound of someone snatching my senses out of my head. Jingle, jingle.
"Just that doesn't mean you should act like such a hooligan. It's not like this is the first or second time. Is this some kind of annual event? The Crown Prince's secret torment show?"
I gritted my teeth and said.
Up until then, whenever Melissa received an invitation from Ian to come to the Imperial Palace, she would be overjoyed, dress up elaborately, and visit this reception room. And every time—perhaps every single time—the situation was exactly like this.
However, Melissa never refused his invitation. After all, he was a fiancé who wouldn't even properly meet with her unless it was an invitation like that.
“But you didn’t want to break off the engagement? Wait, didn’t you consider that I might want to? From where on earth do you have such confidence?”
At my heated words, Ian said with a look that said, "Of course."
"Because you love me."
For a moment, I was tempted to hit myself on the head with the ashtray on the drawing table.
'Help me, Kant. All the scholars who told me that humans have reason. Please, let me hold onto reason… … … .'
I squeezed both eyes shut.
So, are you saying that no matter how much you tormented your fiancée or how much you cheated on her, it was okay because she loved you? All this time. Being the Crown Prince of an empire.
“Not anymore.”
"What?"
At Ian's counter-question, I opened both eyes wide, glared at him menacingly, and spoke firmly, biting off each syllable stiffly.
Ian looked as if he had just heard that the Earth is heart-shaped. To him, Melissa's love must have been a completely natural fact. After all, for the entirety of his 18 years of life, Melissa had loved him with her whole body and soul.
But I am not Melissa, you punk.
“That can’t be………....”
“Love is inherently fluid and ever-changing. Don’t you know? I thought you knew well because the love Your Highness’s lower body experiences changes every single day. Please just break off the engagement. Exactly what reason is there to keep this relationship going?"
I spat out the words and fanned my face with one hand. I was so furious that I was starting to feel almost exhausted. I was even starting to feel that the very title of "fiancée" was filthy. I was also worried about how much this country would be ruined once Ian ascended the throne.
In short, it means that my interest in the novel's male protagonist, Ian, has dropped significantly.
“No! A broken engagement, anything but a broken engagement....!”
Ian spoke desperately again and shook his head.
He has a really handsome face, but now that he’s starting to look like nothing more than a total piece of junk, I’ve cast aside every shred of mercy. There is a limit to shamelessness.
"This's annoying. Why isn't it working again?"
His voice grew louder involuntarily. Ian flinched and mumbled again.
“Um, uh, that is………….”
Ah, this is raising my blood pressure again. Why on earth is he acting like this?
By then, Ian's woman, whose very existence had been forgotten for a moment, had already tidied up her clothes and was hurrying to leave the drawing room when she struck the drawing room table with her body. The table shook, and the glass ashtray placed on it fell vertically to the floor.
“Kyaaak?”
Clink!
The ashtray was spectacularly shattered.
"Your Highness?"
Just then, the drawing room door suddenly burst open, and two men rushed inside.
What? I blinked briefly in confusion. Did something happen outside?
However, one of them ran to Ian's side, and the other one grabbed my arm tightly.
“Lady Podebrat! How could you cause such a commotion again! There is a limit to how much I can tolerate!”
Hearing such nonsense makes my mind freeze for a moment. Unable to respond, I simply lowered my gaze to the floor. A glass ashtray shattered into pieces around me, as if the villainess had smashed it in a fit of rage. And me, who had just screamed loudly. Ian's woman, now trembling and weeping. The Crown Prince, his face pitiful, clearly showing shock and exhaustion from the suffering caused by the villainess just moments ago. And Melissa, who had been venting her rage in this drawing room, grabbing various women by the hair.
It was only then that I realized the man who was grabbing my arm and now twisting it behind my back to drag me out the door was one of Ian's knights who had been stopping Melissa's rampage until now.
"Um, I think there's a misunderstanding. I really didn't do anything……………."
I tried to calmly explain the situation.
However, Ian's woman was quick.
“Waaah, Iaan, it was so scary!”
“Oh, Linda. I’m really sorry for doing something so scary…………….”
As soon as she grasped the situation, she quickly threw herself into Ian's arms, scattering tears, and before he knew it, Ian was calmly accepting them.
“Ian!”
“Linda!”
Hey. Ian pushed you earlier, you know? Hey. Who was the one saying just a moment ago that they didn't want to break off the engagement?
The whole situation was wrong.
Contempt flickered in the eyes of the knight who had grabbed my arm, and I realized that no excuses would work anymore. They were all in cahoots; what could I do? Everyone was 'making' me into a villainess.
My insides were boiling, yet I felt a sense of futility. Even if I screamed and thrashed around here, it would only hurt my neck and fists.
I quietly let myself be dragged out of the drawing room by the knight. The last glimpse of Ian's golden eyes held a hint of anxiety.
Come to think of it, he never once said sorry.
I really should have smashed his face with an ashtray. Then I wouldn't feel so wronged.
Just before the drawing room door closed, I screamed in the sharp voice of a villainess.
“Fine, Ian, you bastard, you’re going down!”
For some reason, my eyes welled up with tears.