episode_0003

Lizley de Gracia found this situation extremely embarrassing right now.

This was because her fiancé, Ras, was acting in an unprecedentedly bizarre manner.

His wobbly steps, as if walking on water, were utterly incomprehensible.

What’s more, his academy uniform looked crumpled, as if he’d put on yesterday’s clothes again.

‘Well, well…? Is he perhaps even flirting with those girls now?’

Ras, in his ridiculous dance and sloppy attire, was completely self-absorbed as he flirted with the girls, a sight so absurd it made her let out a hollow laugh.

‘Is he perhaps staging a protest against me? Was there something that upset him?’

Shaking her head, Lizley dismissed the thought.

Ras Etgard was too much of a true pushover to stage any silent protest, so that possibility was almost nonexistent.

It would be more believable if he had eaten something bad and had a stomachache.

Ras Etgard, the son and heir of a nouveau riche family that ran a merchant guild.

Though he was handsome and showed decent talent at the academy, to her, Ras was ultimately just a young master from a low-born family who couldn’t become a noble.

Normally, he was the kind of man who wouldn’t even dare to covet someone as beautiful, kind, charming, and noble as herself.

It was a relationship where, if it weren’t for a family matter, she would never have even considered the ‘e’ in engagement.

Frustrated by Ras’s slow, dawdling approach, she put away the book she was pretending to read and walked towards him.

After all, she had no reason to calmly endure such a disgraceful sight.

“Ras…? What are you doing? And what’s with your attire…?”

Lizley uttered a few words to Ras, laden with ellipses.

It was her habitual way of speaking, which unfailingly appeared whenever she encountered a situation she disliked.

This tone, a unique semi-verbal communication style of many noble young ladies, by tradition signifies displeasure.

These ellipses were, in fact, melted blood and tears of the men who had them as fiancées or girlfriends.

From Lizley’s perspective, Ras, who had grown up in a straightforward and vulgar commoner family, initially couldn’t understand this ‘noble’ way of speaking.

She had gone to great pains to train him out of the commoners’ terribly intuitive and simple world, where meaning was determined solely by the words themselves.

Not long after their engagement, this tactless commoner fiancé lacked the sincerity to understand his precious fiancée, and often upset her.

These days, having been re-socialized through several ‘lessons,’ he was doing things perfectly on his own….

But today, Ras was different.

He no longer had the feel of a foolishly naive and dim-witted commoner, but seeing him like that still made anger inexplicably surge within her.

Though Lizley, a delicately raised and artificial noble young lady, had never encountered such a sight, it was simply the look of a street thug from the back alleys.

To call him a dissolute noble young master would be wrong, as there wasn’t a speck of nobility left in Ras.

In any case, what was clear was that Ras seemed to have no intention of appeasing her, despite her quiet anger and slightly crumpled demeanor.

“Hello, Lizley?”

Ras’s smirking smile as he spoke was extremely unpleasant.

“I asked what you’re doing.”

With slightly lowered eyes and voice, Lizley growled.

Normally, Ras would have timidly glanced around, wondering what he had done wrong.

Even if she subtly hinted at a gift or an item she desired, treating him this way was effective when he obliviously missed the hint.

No… in fact, the usual Ras would have been too anxious over Lizley’s every reaction to have done something like this in the first place.

“What do you mean, ‘what am I doing?’ I came to meet you. We were going to see the flowers.”

Ras casually shrugged his shoulders and spoke nonchalantly.

“Dancing strangely and embarrassingly, with your clothes and hair a mess…. And you came to meet me like that?”

“Well, some days are like that. It’s not like I’m having an audience with His Imperial Majesty… Can’t we be this relaxed with each other?”

From his snickering retort, Lizley felt a sense of bewilderment that surpassed anger.

‘With each other…?’

It was an engagement she constantly recited like a mantra, asserting that there was an insurmountable wall of social status between them.

Lizley believed that no matter how much her family had fallen, she, a noble, and Ras, merely the son of a merchant family with some money, were fundamentally different.

However, contrary to her self-deception, Lizley was not really the one in power in their engagement, and in fact, she knew that deep down.

Lizley was a wicked woman, but she wasn’t completely brainless.

If the two of them were to break off their engagement right now?

The Gracia Count family would have to immediately repay the massive debt they owed to the Etgard Merchant Guild, without any reduction.

From the Gracia family’s perspective, whose very roots were shaking, they could never be the superior to Etgard.

Nevertheless, the reason Lizley could subtly exert power in their relationship was simply because Ras was an utter pushover.

To put it harshly, he was a pushover and an idiot; in truth, he was simply a kind person.

A young master with abundant wealth, yet so innocent he’d never even attempted to use it to assert power.

Ras was a man of such amiable character that he was endlessly gentle and unreserved even with his own servants.

If he was like that even with his servants, how could he possibly assert power over his fiancée, especially a woman he had fallen for at first sight?

Knowing this, she relentlessly wielded the whip of training to completely tame and control Ras.

She would crack the whip, then occasionally throw him a carrot, like light physical affection or aegyo, as rarely as beans sprouting in a drought.

She had been convinced that she had tamed him well, but the sudden rebellion Ras showed her today was utterly new and terrifying to her.

It was an absurd and frustrating situation to be engaged to a low-born commoner, and now she even saw a future where she might have to live subserviently, constantly reading his mood.

Lizley already felt her life was terribly miserable and harsh, especially when compared to the successful noble young ladies of her age.

She was more beautiful, more refined, and even more capable than them, yet…

Thinking that she had fallen into such a miserable fate simply because of her father’s failed investment and several untimely disasters her family faced simultaneously, she felt so wronged that tears welled up.

“You… you shouldn’t be like this, Ras. If you were upset with me or had a complaint, you should just say it, shouldn’t you? Why are you being so mean like this?”

Lizley bit her lip and pressed Ras.

More overtly than before, conveying her anger.

But Ras countered her anger with a look and tone that seemed to say, ‘So what?’

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why you’re being so sharp with me right now. You were the one who was embarrassed by me putting too much effort into my clothes and hair. Suddenly dancing? Yeah… I guess I’m sorry about that. I was just really excited thinking about going to see the flowers with you.”

It was a flimsy excuse, but his tone was so brazen that she couldn’t detect any flimsiness at all.

What followed immediately was openly sarcastic.

“Someone told me that saying everything directly… isn’t very noble. I’m all grown up now, so I shouldn’t act immature, right?”

Lizley already knew who that ‘someone’ was.

It was a remark she herself had subtly thrown at Ras when he was flustered, asking her to tell him why she was sulking.

She had meant that if he wanted to know why she was sulking, he shouldn’t ask, but should figure it out for himself through effort.

In truth, it was merely her wicked intention, packaged as consideration, that he should grovel and figure it out himself, because stating the reason with her own mouth would make her look petty and hurt her pride….

Now that she was on the receiving end of ‘Do you know why I’m angry?’, Lizley felt her anger surge in real-time.

This was natural, as she had little understanding of empathy.

‘Ha, so he was petty enough to hold onto every single one of those things in his heart, was he?’

It was unclear where Ras had heard what to make him act in ways he never had before, but Lizley had her suspicions.

It could be that his father told him to assert himself, or that the impertinent maid who stuck to Ras had been manipulating him.

She had a lingering image of that maid subtly whispering sly advice on how to handle women to her foolishly naive master.

That damned maid girl, who had attended Ras since childhood, often revealed intense emotions she couldn’t hide when looking at her young master.

That sight was utterly unbecoming and laughable, but also unpleasant, which is why Lizley would display especially affectionate warmth towards Ras whenever the maid was present.

It was immensely enjoyable to see the maid, even while maintaining a seemingly cool expression, unable to completely conceal her defeat and sense of loss reflected in her eyes.

In truth, Ras’s maid had done nothing that would be detrimental to Lizley, but Lizley had already unilaterally reached her own conclusions in her mind.

Lizley, thinking she needed to deal with that impertinent girl somehow soon, began to rack her brain on how to handle the current situation first.

“I got all ready to have a fun date with you after such a long time… How could you do this? Fine… How can we date in this kind of atmosphere? I’m sorry for upsetting you. I’ll just go inside first.”

Tears dripped down, precisely controlled to fall one drop per second.

It was a spectacle that would make any man who didn’t know her feel compelled to apologize….

“Oh? Okay, goodbye then. Don’t feel too bad. I didn’t say that to make you feel sorry, okay? See you at school!”

Ras, who was unusually strange today, as if he’d suffered from severe heatstroke, turned around in a cool and casual manner, waved his hand, and walked away.

The onlookers, who had been idly watching this frigid lovers’ spat, promptly fled the scene as if fearing collateral damage.

“What is wrong with him…? What happened?”

Confused, Lizley gripped her forehead, trying to steady her dizzy head.

Her forehead, warm like a heated stone from embarrassment and shame, irritated her.

Beep- beep-

Her communication magic tool vibrated.

It was the communication device Ras Etgard had bought for her, grinning all the while.

She wanted to throw it and smash it right then, but she couldn’t.

The caller was not someone who would forgive her daring not to answer or replying late.

Sigh….

She pulled out the magic tool and replied ‘alright’ to her affair partner’s notification that they would meet in the evening.

In a way, it might be for the better, as she could relax until evening.

Thinking she would somehow plan how to deal with those Etgard riffraff, she turned around.

Though it was spring, the meeting plaza felt like winter in that moment.

*

“The bitch who’d been secretly backstabbing me is now sniffling and acting pitiful.”

I chuckled, turning on my heel.

Seeing Lizley ‘from that era’ was utterly nauseating, but at least watching the wicked woman snivel pitifully in front of me was satisfying.

Though I, in my current state, knew those tears were crocodile tears.

Anyway, even while doing that, she’d probably go prepare to meet her ‘noble’ affair partner in the evening.

It was obvious she’d think it was a relief to get some good rest without having to bother appeasing some commoner bastard, and then go have her elegant affair.

When I thought about it, she really was a funny woman.

Especially when considering what happened between the stupid young master I was back then and that bitch, on this very day, April 7th, ten years ago.

Lizley, who had received an expensive bracelet, concluded she’d eventually marry me, and believed she had tamed me well, had originally given me a kiss that afternoon, as if doing me a favor.

Beneath the blessings of a pink, cherry-blossom-filled spring, we shared a very sacrilegious kiss.

The long, deep kiss, where she enthusiastically ‘sucked and bit,’ which seemed to make her feel good too, was itself a massive lie.

A kiss filled with the scent of deceit, where one was deceived and the other was deceiving.

With those lips that had just passionately ‘rubbed and pressed,’ she immediately went and secretly met another man that very night… Tsk!

Even when having an affair, isn’t there something called common decency?

Well… in truth, Lizley was born into a foolish family that lacked both common decency and any concept of superiors, and was practically sold off into an engagement with me, so I don’t even expect common decency from her.

Anyway, from my perspective in this second life, a kiss with that woman, no matter how pretty she is, is no longer something I’d accept.

Even the day itself, being a spring day filled with pink, made it even more repulsive.

Because pink was the color that held the most poignant memories for me, and I didn’t want to defile that poignancy with a sordid kiss.

In truth, the event that would plunge my life completely into ruin has not yet happened, and I am still in danger.

Teasing Lizley just now was, in fact, merely a light amusement, and it would not have any significant impact on the future.

Let’s briefly summarize what happened back then, ten years ago.

Lizley de Gracia cheated on me, I witnessed it myself, and my life was ruined thereafter.

This isn’t some trivial romance story about a naive young man becoming a fallen prodigal son due to heartbreak.

Rather, it’s more accurate to say that the wicked woman’s desperate struggle to conceal her flaws, combined with entirely unforeseen factors, descended upon me as an irresistible disaster.

False accusations and slanders poured down from all directions.

When one sets foot in the utterly filthy society of nobles, if one becomes the target of false accusations and slander, one could die a wrongful death without even a single cry.

A bitter page recounting how both I and the Etgard family were helplessly swept away in the cruel currents of the era.

This time, I’m certainly refusing such an end.

“Should I go grab some food first? That restaurant I reserved back then was really good…”

I hummed a tune as I walked towards the restaurant I had reserved beforehand.

A person can achieve anything as long as they eat and sleep well first.

It seemed best to leisurely and slowly think about many things, including my future direction, while eating.

It was then, as I was heading towards that restaurant whose taste had been quite impressive and still remained vividly in my memory, that…

…someone very familiar entered my sight.

“Hmm?? She’s been wandering around here?”

One of the very individuals who had ruined my life ten years ago was wandering around the streets with a pitiable and hungry expression.

She had a rather tall stature for a woman, a rough navy ponytail, pale skin, and hollow eyes.

She was the one who often roamed the school with fierce eyes like a starving seagull.

“Irha Livingston. What are you doing here by yourself?”

“Oh… ohhh…. Ras. It’s just… the festival… so I came out to enjoy it….”

What was felt in the ellipses filling the gaps between her words was not the annoying displeasure that emanated from Lizley.

What strongly emanated from them was only poverty, hunger, and wretchedness.

Indeed, the meaning and intention of the same words differ depending on who says them.

And that was no exception, even for ellipses instead of actual words.