Walking slowly like a bird, she strolled down the path under a rose-covered archway toward the gates of the Romana estate. Beside the path, a narrow waterway flowed, filled with vibrant goldfish that fluttered like petals. Their shadows, small and leaf-like, danced across the streambed before darting away.
At the gate, Lucius, disheveled and restrained by Romana guards, was barely recognizable. Dressed in filthy commoner’s clothes, with a pale face, tangled hair, and a demeanor devoid of his noble bearing, he looked utterly ruined in just one night.
“Let me go! How dare you! I am a noble!” Lucius shouted indignantly.
Coldly, Liliengela responded, “You are mistaken. You’ve been disinherited and stripped of your noble status. Claiming to be a noble now is a crime.”
Liliengela listened to reports from the diligent spies who were still monitoring Lucius from somewhere, and internally, she felt disappointed.
As in the novel, Lucius had been exiled.
“Stripped of wealth, forced to drink a sterilization potion, and left with nothing… resorting to dine-and-dash at a commoner’s food stall before running away… so, what business do you have at my house now?”
Lucius hesitated under the weight of Liliengela’s frosty demeanor, which was entirely unlike her attitude from the day before. Yet, casting aside all pride and shame, he shouted,
“Liliengela! Forget about the annulment—I’ll marry you! You love me, don’t you? That makes you happy, right? So, please mediate with your family and help me return home!”
Liliengela wrinkled her nose in an adorable yet exasperated manner.
“Surely you’re joking. What benefit would marrying you bring to the kingdom or the Romana family? You clearly don’t understand the purpose of noble political marriages.”
Her sharp gaze pierced Lucius.
“And let me make one thing clear so there’s no misunderstanding: I do not love you. I loved you until yesterday only because it was necessary.”
“That’s a lie…!” Lucius protested. “You always cared for me, smiling at me all the time!”
“Our engagement was under constant scrutiny. Maintaining a harmonious image was essential, so, of course, I smiled at you.”
The “free smile campaign” she had maintained as Lucius’s fiancée was officially over. Now, she was cold and indifferent. A cheating ex-fiancé didn’t even warrant her attention. Yesterday’s Liliengela, sweet and naïve, might have pitied him, but today’s Liliengela had not an ounce of mercy for an unfaithful man.
She pondered briefly, her mouth forming an X-shaped pout like a cute bunny.
“Still, this might be for the best…”
There was always the possibility, however slim, that Lucius’s foster brother, serving as his guard, could aid him and Maricia in fleeing together, just as in Maricia’s Happiness. If events unfolded as they did in the novel, the kingdom could spiral into destruction. To ensure the kingdom’s peace and stability, any such possibility had to be eradicated before it could take root.
0 Comments