While new passions simmered and fresh alliances formed in the banquet hall, something swift and merciless was happening to Lady Yui de Linne.
The moment Randel declared the engagement dissolved, Yui’s world did not merely collapse—it exploded, leaving behind only a deafening ringing in her ears and an icy void. She did not remember being escorted from the hall. The Eichenwald butler, a man with a face carved from granite and impeccable manners, materialized beside her as if from thin air.
“Lady Yui, allow me to see you out,” he said, his voice admitting no argument.
She followed him like an automaton, her feet numb beneath her. Her maid, pale as death, was already waiting in her chambers, where trunks had been packed in mere minutes. The Eichenwald servants could not be accused of dawdling.
“My father…” she tried to protest, but her voice cracked. “Duke de Linne…”
“Your father has already been informed,” the butler replied coolly. “The carriage awaits at the side entrance. For your own convenience, to avoid… undue attention.”
“Undue attention.” It meant they were throwing her out like a thief—secretly, in the dark, so her presence would not further tarnish the great House of Eichenwald.
The journey through the corridors felt eternal. Every glance from a servant, every whisper behind her back, struck her like the lash of a whip. Humiliation burned inside her like acid. She did not cry. Tears would come later, when she was alone. For now, only one thought drove her—one name seared into her mind in blazing white letters:
The Guardian.
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She… she took everything. Everything!
Her thoughts raged, furious and powerless.
My place. My title. My future. His… his gaze, which was supposed to belong to me alone!
The carriage lurched into motion, carrying her away from the glittering palace into the night. Only then, in the rattling darkness, did rage give way to soul-chilling fear. What would her father say? Duke de Linne was a proud and ambitious man. He had given his daughter to the Eichenwald heir not out of love, but for alliance. Now that alliance lay trampled—publicly, humiliatingly. She was no longer merely an unfortunate bride. She had become a disgrace to her house. A bargaining chip discarded because someone more valuable had appeared.
She clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms.
They will all pay for this. You will be destroyed. I swear it!
she whispered into the darkness, and for the first time her voice held not hysteria, but steely resolve.
The Eichenwalds… and that golden whore. You will all regret daring to treat Yui de Linne this way.
Yet even through that fury wormed an icy thread of doubt. What if this Guardian truly was something greater? What if her power was real? And the most terrifying question of all: what if Randel… had never truly loved her?
That thought hurt more than any humiliation. And in the end, it was this thought that would decide whether Yui became merely a pitiful exile… or a new, exceedingly dangerous enemy to House Eichenwald and their newfound holy patroness.
She was being carried away into the night, but her story in this saga was far from over.