Chapter 11

I honestly don’t even know how I managed to make it back to my room.

An apology, a blessing—just how pitifully naive had I been?

‘I didn’t even need to sort through my thoughts. I shouldn’t have bothered agonizing over it in the first place.’

I swept the few valuables I possessed into my bag. My head was spinning, but even the slightest lingering attachment was completely gone now.

‘How ridiculous I must have looked to them!’

I felt sorry to the Count and Countess Cline, but I didn’t want to spend another second sharing the same space with those two. Once my mind was made up, action came swiftly.

Lastly, I shoved Pepe into the bag. Pepe screamed in protest.

「 Gyagagaga! Yvon! Why are you putting me in here?!」

“We are leaving this house. Please stay inside the bag for just a moment.”

「Wa-Wait a second! Even dolls have human rights… mph!」

Shoving the loudly complaining Pepe into the bag along with my money, I left a short letter behind.

‘I learned that Emile has a woman he truly loves. I’m glad I realized before the engagement ceremony that our engagement was something that never fit us in the first place. I sincerely hope Roseanne and Emile will be happy.’

The reason I bothered writing about Emile and Roseanne in detail as I left was a small act of petty revenge born of my own narrow-mindedness.

‘I hope their relationship is exposed so that the Count and Countess Cline scold Emile severely.’

If they deceived me, then the Count and Countess were deceived as well.

‘If only he had just told me the truth…’

I shook my head to brush off the lingering attachments that clung to me until the very end.

It felt miserable that the only revenge I could exact after being so terribly deceived by the two of them was running away to the capital in silence.

I wanted to pour out a torrent of curses upon them, but I held back out of consideration for Count and Countess Cline. That was the least I could do for the couple who had raised me until now.

‘Goodbye, everyone.’

After finishing the letter, I immediately put on the shabbiest clothes I owned.

Then, finally, I wrapped both arms around the bulging bag containing Pepe.

‘Right, I have Pepe with me. Even if things don’t work out with Miss Rowan, it’s fine. My needlework isn’t half bad, so I’ll at least be able to make a living off sewing fees.’

I was leaving the mansion I had lived in all my life. I was scared, but at the same time, my heart was pounding with excitement.

If I collapsed out of fear of this present moment, I would only end up living the very life I foresaw through magic. But I had decided to walk out.

‘I will grasp happiness with my own hands.’

In this one life I have, I won’t do something so stupid as walking into my own misery.

I took one last look around the room where I had spent over a decade, and then slipped out through the back door I had secretly used at dawn. Compared to the weight of my resolve, stepping outside was laughably easy.

‘Is it just my imagination? The air outside feels different from the estate.’

I took a deep breath. White puffballs of breath bloomed like clouds in the crisp morning air.

I stood tall on the quiet, empty street. Wherever I set foot, that would become my path.

Now, I had to choose my destination myself.

‘Wait… is the tavern even open right now? Where am I supposed to go?’

Having lost my destination, I froze blankly in the middle of the road. It was right at that moment.

“Hey.”

“Gah! You scared me!”

At the sudden low, heavy voice, I quite literally jumped out of my skin.

「What is it? What’s happening?!」

“Shh!”

Pepe thrashing inside the bag at my scream, but fortunately, I hadn’t made a noise loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Clutching the bag tightly, I stared with utmost vigilance in the direction of the voice.

Standing there was the black-haired man I had parted ways with not too long ago.

“W-Why are you here?”

“Dante.”

“Pardon?”

An odd answer came back to my question regarding his presence. As I blinked in confusion, he answered in a gruff tone.

“My name. It’s Dante, not ‘you’.”

“Ah… well, it suits you very well.”

It wasn’t empty flattery; it really was a name that suited his strong, sharp appearance.

‘I was imagining names like James or Caleb.’

It felt stronger than any name I had imagined, a unique name I had never heard around these parts.

He walked over to my side with complete composure and said, “I told you I’d go with you.”

His name, face, and aura were all blunt, yet the words coming out of his mouth were exceedingly gentle.

‘But I refused and said I was fine, didn’t I?’

He was someone I had just met. Why on earth was he extending such kindness to me? Perhaps because it hadn’t been long since I got burned by Emile, but everything felt suspicious. I asked in a doubtful tone.

“So… you were waiting here for me?”

“Then where else would I wait?”

“Did you really wait for me?”

“What do you mean? Should I have been waiting for someone else?”

His stony face told me that he really had been waiting for me.

Still unable to fully believe it, I narrowed my eyes sharply.

“Did you not believe me when I said I was indebted to the Cline family? So you stalked me to see if I was a suspicious woman after all?”

“What do you take me for?”

“I take you for a suspicious person.”

At my reply, Dante let out a dry laugh.

“And here you were calling me a good person earlier.”

“When did I ever…”

As I was about to argue, the conversation from last night—which I had forgotten—flashed through my mind.

<…You’re a good person.>

<I’m not a good person. I’m just waiting because you’re crying so hard we can’t talk.>

<That is being a good person.>

‘Ugh, alcohol really is a terrifying thing. I can’t believe I talked so familiarly to someone I just met for the first time.’

I only vented to him, right? I didn’t do anything else weird, did I?

I grew anxious thinking I might have blabbered something ridiculous without realizing it. But that worry soon faded.

‘Right, I already showed him everything down to my crying, snotty face. What could be more embarrassing than that?’

I lowered my guard and put on an embarrassed expression.

“I’m sorry, I think my nerves were just too frayed. Thank you for coming to get me. I was actually standing here blankly, not knowing where to go.”

“I’ll take the thanks, then.”

Dante nonchalantly accepted my apology. As I stood blinking at his surprisingly warm yet indifferent response, a large hand snatched my bag right out of my grip.

“Ah!”

“Is this all your luggage?”

“Yes! It’s not much, right? I can carry it…”

“Since it’s not much, let someone else carry it.”

Honestly, I was more concerned about Pepe inside than the weight of the bag. Not knowing what to do, I began trotting after Dante, chasing the bag.

As silence fell between us, anxiety filled my mind once more.

‘If Dante keeps holding the bag like this, I won’t be able to run away if something unexpected happens. Should I ask for the bag back just in case?’

It wasn’t so much that I doubted him, but rather that I had realized there was nothing left in this world to trust. I bit my lip.

‘Right, let’s say I’ll carry the bag myself.’

Just as I mustered up the courage and opened my lips, Dante spoke first.

“So, did things get resolved well with your fiancé?”

At the topic of my fiancé, I ended up clenching my fists tightly in sheer anger, completely forgetting about asking for the bag back.

“T-That bastard! When I walked in, he was lying naked with my friend, you know?! Calling her by a pet name I’ve never even heard, like ‘Rosie’…”

I almost bit my tongue trying to spit out curses I wasn’t used to using. Dante, who had been striding forward, suddenly came to a halt. Bumping my forehead lightly against his back in my confusion, I rubbed my forehead with my palm and looked up.

His thick eyebrows were arched upward. He asked in his signature flat, indifferent voice: “Want me to beat him up for you?”

‘Ah, I think I know what kind of person this man is now.’

He only looked intimidating because of his bear-like build, thick arms, and expressionless face. But every word he spoke was gentle and considerate of me.

Just having a complete stranger take my side like this made my heart feel so much lighter. I answered briskly:

“That’s his parents’ job. I’m fine. I’ll just consider it a match that wasn’t meant to be from the start.”

“……”

However, Dante—whom I expected to chime in and say I made the right choice—surprisingly went silent. Shrinking back at the sudden quiet, I felt awkward once again.

‘Was I acting too familiar? Or did I seem too lighthearted about it?’

Running away from a fiancé wasn’t a matter to speak of lightly, after all. As I scratched my cheek, recalling noble etiquette, Dante finally replied in a slow, deliberate tone.

“……You were far too good for him anyway.”

My eyes went wide. Dante snapped his head away as if he regretted saying it, and started striding forward even faster than before.

Watching his back, I realized a beat too late.

‘Ah, he’s shy.’