Chapter 3
There was, in truth, a reason things had unfolded this way.
‘No, even if we agreed to persuade them as quickly as possible, did we really want to act this recklessly?’
This wasn’t some child’s pretend wedding using a tablecloth and wildflowers from the garden!
And it wasn’t even as if they were so pressed for time that they had to resort to a last-minute plan like this.
In other words, neither of them had originally thought, “Let’s pull something like this off on the very day of the proposal.”
So—
“Beatrice Hartwell!”
“Ah—huh? Mom? Dad? Why are you both here…? Oh, Uncle and Aunt too! Hello! I heard you were out, but you’re back really early!”
“If it’s you, Beatrice, of course we’d hurry back. Let’s see… you look even prettier than last week.”
At the same time, both families’ parents had gathered together.
And then—
“Bia! How have you been? I was already happy enough to run into you while on a date with him, but I’m even happier to see you here after so long.”
“Your Highness…?”
“‘Your Highness’? That hurts my feelings. I told you to call me sister when we’re in private.”
If only she hadn’t unexpectedly run into her here.
Beatrice’s eyes wavered slightly as she looked up at the woman who had taken her hand so affectionately.
Silver hair symbolizing the imperial family, golden eyes shining beautifully, and an elegant, noble presence.
Elodie Alberose Edvain.
The First Princess of the Empire.
She was also Clyde’s older brother Caelan’s fiancée—and the “that person” they had been talking about.
‘The one who destroyed both my family and Clyde’s… and eventually killed me.’
Like a door being forcibly opened, the final memory flooded back into her mind.
No—more precisely, the last conversation she had ever heard.
‘A child who has already lost her family, relatives, wealth, and even… is still considered a risk…’
‘Lady Elodie.’
‘There’s no need to persuade her. Why hesitate after coming this far? A seed that might become a weed… should be cut out. Arrange the funeral. No need for a separate report.’
Every word was still vivid in her memory.
It must have been an unforgettable moment.
‘…I wonder if they actually held a funeral.’
Shaking off the tension with a pointless thought, Beatrice forced a bright smile.
“Yes, yes… well, since I have two older brothers, I’m a bit awkward with being called ‘sister.’”
She felt Clyde subtly elbow her from the side. He was clearly trying to hide it, but she noticed.
Before she could fix her expression, Princess Elodie smiled sweetly and poked her nose.
“You’re still adorable as ever, Bia!”
“Ahaha…”
“This won’t do. I think I’ll have to stick close to you for a while. If we get used to each other, you’ll feel more comfortable with me too.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean you were making me uncomfortable…”
“Oh, I know! I just want to get closer to you.”
The princess paused, then glanced shyly toward the man beside her.
“After I marry Caelan, I’ll also become part of the ducal family. And Bia is practically family already.”
“Mm…”
“So I want to become as close to you as family, too.”
Well.
‘If it were up to me, I’d like you to give up on that this time around.’
Beatrice had no intention whatsoever of becoming close to Elodie.
And she had no intention of letting her marry Clyde’s older brother, Caelan, either.
Of course, none of the people here knew what she knew from the future, so they looked at the two with warm smiles.
Confirming the pleasant atmosphere, Beatrice recalled Clyde’s elbow jab and forced a sweet tone.
“Wow. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Bia thinks so too? I’m glad!”
At that moment, a tall man with a firm build approached—Caelan, the eldest son of the ducal family.
“Seeing you smile like that, I guess you’re finally at ease. I’ve rehearsed what I wanted to say to Bia many times.”
“Caelan! Y-you didn’t have to say that! What will Bia think of me?”
Elodie protested, her face flushed red.
Beatrice narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched them.
‘No, seriously… they’re way too close. Since when were we like this?’
Even before her regression, they hadn’t been this familiar. Polite, yes—but not this friendly.
Or… wait?
She paused.
Now that she thought about it, there had been a time when Elodie treated her almost like a younger sister.
‘When was that again…? I must’ve brushed it off back then too.’
In any case, it seemed to continue until Elodie married Caelan.
Beatrice lightly rubbed her arm, feeling strangely unsettled.
‘If I keep watching this, my expression is going to crack. Better think about something else.’
For example—why Elodie was acting so friendly.
The answer was obvious.
At first, she likely wanted a good relationship with both families… no, something even closer than that.
But something must have changed later.
‘Wait a second. If that’s the Princess’s current stance…’
Beatrice turned to Clyde and spoke abruptly.
“Hey. What do you think?”
No subject, no context—but Clyde immediately understood.
After narrowing his eyes in thought, he gave a small nod.
“I don’t think it’s bad.”
“Right? Seems like ‘that person’ would support it too.”
“Yeah.”
At Clyde’s agreement, Beatrice’s eyes sharpened.
They had no proper plan at all—but this was, without question, the perfect timing.
The ideal moment to push their marriage forward to their families.
‘For someone like the Princess, who wants close ties with both families, this is basically a gift dropped from the sky. And with both families’ heads and even the fiancés here…’
It was a chance to catch two birds with one stone.
And she had no idea that this decision would later become a chain dragging her down.
‘Damn… I was kind of smart just now. Is this what genius feels like?’
Well, it was technically cheating—regression and all.
But if you considered it the price of surviving, it wasn’t so bad.
As Beatrice surveyed the room, waiting for the right moment—
That moment came.
The duchess, smiling warmly as she looked at the four of them, casually joked while glancing at Clyde.
“Since the Hartwell family and ours are already so close, it would be wonderful if we could truly make Beatrice part of the family someday… though this one here, despite being so well-born, never quite puts that face to use…”
“Oh my, Evelyn. If Clyde were to become Beatrice’s partner, we’d be more than happy. But Beatrice is rather…”
The moment those words were spoken, Beatrice and Clyde locked eyes.
Now.
Like sticky sugar on the floor, they clung together in perfect sync and spoke at once, like merchants advertising a product.
“Mother, we’ll fulfill that wish right now.”
“Mom, don’t worry about it. She’s already mine.”
Ignoring the stunned gazes of their families, Beatrice raised their joined hands.
“We’re getting married!”
“…W-what?”
“Oh, right, Clyde just couldn’t live without me. Said if it weren’t for me, his family, society, and the world would all collapse. So he proposed crying. Right?”
“…Yeah, haha.”
After casually twisting reality into nonsense, they delivered the final blow.
“So, please let us get married. Soon.”
“At least a month would be reasonable for preparation.”
Even in the suffocating silence around them, they stubbornly maintained their ridiculous story.
It was a sudden change of plan—but logic and persuasion were never going to work here anyway.
And sometimes—
‘Sometimes, shamelessness wins over reason.’
In the end, the loudest voice wins.
