VFAI 05

Chapter 05

The Fiancée’s Unfamiliar Face

July 17, 2022

Adenmir unconsciously furrowed his brows. Perhaps because it was something he had never expected to hear, it didn’t feel real.

Is she serious?

As Adenmir stared at her, trying to read her true intentions, Elodie covered her cheeks with both hands and avoided his gaze.

“I’m embarrassed.”

Her cheeks, unusually flushed, caught his attention.

It was so red that he wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before.

“As someone who already has a fiancé, I can’t allow myself to harbor feelings for someone else.”

It didn’t seem like a lie. The Elodie Ferdia he knew wasn’t someone who could lie—though she could certainly throw tantrums and cause trouble.

A person couldn’t change overnight, so that must mean she was telling the truth…

Yet, for some reason, he felt displeased. Without thinking, Adenmir asked:

“Who is it?”

“Do I really have to tell you that, Your Highness?”

Elodie widened her eyes as she asked back, making Adenmir feel slightly taken aback.

“…No.”

There was no reason for her to reveal who she liked.

Even if the person she was speaking to was her fiancé.

“Anyway, that’s why I can no longer maintain this engagement with you, Your Highness.”

Elodie reached for her teacup but stopped midway and set it back down.

Noticing her trembling fingertips, Adenmir assumed she was nervous.

After all, it wasn’t like the teacup was heavy.

“When do you plan to submit the annulment papers?”

Adenmir quietly stared at Elodie’s lips as she once again brought up breaking off the engagement.

Annulment, annulment…

It wasn’t impossible.

Elodie Ferdia was not fit to become empress, and it had been his burden to figure out what to do about her when he eventually became emperor.

In fact, this worked out well.

If she was willing to step down on her own, there was no reason for him to refuse.

Since she brought up the annulment first, the Duke of Ferdia wouldn’t be able to shift responsibility onto him. Their political relationship could remain intact.

And yet—

Then why don’t I feel like going along with it?

He didn’t want to obediently grant his fiancée’s repeated wish for annulment.

This strange, childish sense of defiance rising within him didn’t feel like his own.

He studied her more closely.

Something felt off.

Her sudden claim of liking someone else, her repeated insistence on breaking the engagement…

No matter how he thought about it, the ambitious Elodie Ferdia was not someone who would give up the position of crown princess.

Adenmir observed her carefully.

Now he began noticing things he hadn’t before.

She seemed to be sweating nervously, as if hiding something.

He already knew from rumors that she had begged the Duke daily to arrange this engagement.

There was no way she would now give it up so easily.

She must still have feelings for him.

Adenmir was convinced.

There was no way someone as greedy as her would give up the future position of empress.

“Lady.”

“Yes, Your Highness…”

Her voice was so small it seemed like it might disappear.

Now that he thought about it, she hadn’t properly lifted her head even once.

Adenmir voiced the question that had been on his mind.

“What exactly are you plotting?”

“…Pardon?”

“If this is some trick to get my attention, you’d better stop.”

“…Pardon?”

Seeing Elodie look up at him with a face that had gone from flushed to pale, Adenmir stood up.

“If it’s what you want, I won’t refuse the annulment. But it’s not something to decide hastily… We should discuss it again later.”

“……”

“As for the emperor’s birthday banquet we discussed before, it would be better to communicate by letter.”

“……”

Despite his words, Elodie said nothing.

She simply held her forehead and lowered her head.

Now she’s pretending to be sick to get attention? Ridiculous.

Adenmir had no intention of falling for such shallow tricks. Not wanting to be played, he headed toward the door.

Then—

Thud.

Hearing the ominous sound behind him, he turned his head and saw Elodie collapsing to the side.

“Lady.”

Was she even faking collapsing now?

Thinking he’d see how far she would go, he crossed his arms and watched her.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize something was wrong.

“…Lady.”

“……”

“Lady?”

No response.

Taking long strides toward her, Adenmir checked her condition.

Her body was burning hot. Her breathing was unstable, and cold sweat covered her forehead.

This wasn’t an act—she had truly fainted.

“Lady!”

He shook her, but she didn’t wake.

“…Damn it.”

Having grown up among knights, he had little experience with physical contact with women.

That included his fiancée, Elodie.

At most, they had only danced together at banquets.

But faced with someone unconscious, hesitation was brief.

He picked her up and strode out of the reception room.

“Anyone there!”

Walking down the hallway, he called for servants, but none were in sight.

The annex where Elodie stayed felt like a ghost house.

Strange.

No matter that she was an illegitimate child, she was still the duke’s only daughter. How could there be so few attendants?

He had rarely visited before, and when he did, he assumed servants were simply avoiding notice.

But that didn’t seem to be the case.

With no other choice, he entered a nearby guest room and laid her down.

“She really does all sorts of things.”

He had only come to discuss the emperor’s birthday banquet and to gauge her intentions, but now he was dealing with something entirely unexpected.

As he sighed and rubbed his forehead, he noticed a maid passing by the open door.

She was Elodie’s personal maid—Martha, if he remembered correctly.

Only the second servant he had seen here.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Your mistress has collapsed.”

The maid glanced into the room and nodded as if it were nothing unusual.

“Ah, she’s collapsed again.”

“What?”

“I’ll go call a physician.”

Watching her calmly step away, Adenmir felt even more dumbfounded.

‘She’s collapsed again,’ she says?

Was that really an appropriate reaction?

Being here made him feel like he was losing his mind.

His fiancée who suddenly demanded annulment…

This incomprehensible situation in the annex…

In any case, he had to wait for the physician.

He pulled a chair over and sat beside Elodie.

Though she looked unwell, she didn’t seem close to death.

Realizing that her trembling and sweating earlier had been due to illness—not nervousness—filled him with shame.

What had he just said to someone who was actually sick?

“Ha…”

As he held his aching head and sighed, something caught his eye.

“This is…”

Hidden beneath her sleeve, her arm was wrapped in bandages.

Poorly wrapped ones, now slightly loosened.

Inside—

A long cut, clearly made by something sharp.

A blade wound.

As someone who trained daily with swords, he recognized it instantly.

It wasn’t deep—but that wasn’t the point.

“No… what is this…?”

An annex with barely any staff.

Servants who reacted indifferently to their mistress collapsing.

And now this injury.

Adenmir’s gaze shifted to Elodie’s face.

For the first time, the face of his once tiresome fiancée looked unfamiliar.

Groaning at a faint headache, I opened my eyes.

“Ugh, my head…”

The lingering poison left my body weak, but after sleeping, I felt much better than before.

As I held my forehead, I felt something strange and pulled my hand away.

Bandages.

While making an antidote, I remembered that using blood could speed up the process—but I slipped and injured my arm instead.

Probably because my condition was poor after ingesting poison.

The bandages I had wrapped myself had been clumsy and loose, but the ones now on my arm were clearly done by a professional.

“That stubborn old physician… Always refusing to treat an illegitimate child, yet he came this time?”

Though not openly, many in the family disliked me for being illegitimate—including the family physician.

Being neglected wasn’t anything new.

“But where am I? Who am I…?”

Only after regaining full awareness did I realize the room was unfamiliar.

It seemed to be a guest room in the annex.

Then I remembered—I had been speaking with the First Prince.

I must have collapsed during our conversation.

Right then, Martha entered.

“You’re awake. Here’s some lukewarm water. Take your medicine too.”

Since I had been collapsing often due to the poison, she didn’t seem particularly alarmed.

I had blamed it on my awakening powers, so she accepted it as such.

“Thanks. But Martha, where is His Highness?”

“He left as soon as the physician arrived.”

As expected.

Well, what can you do?

People collapse sometimes.

I took the medicine casually.

Though it wouldn’t matter—anything entering my body would be purified anyway.

What mattered more was the annulment.

“His Highness left a message for you.”

I read the note she handed me.

[I will visit the residence thirty minutes before the birthday banquet begins. We will speak then.]

“…Huh?”

A strange sound escaped me.

I couldn’t understand.

“Why isn’t he agreeing to annulment?”

“Maybe he’s fallen for you?”

I scoffed and tore the letter in half.

Ridiculous.

He had only maintained the engagement for political reasons.

If I claimed to like someone else, he should have eagerly broken it off.

It would clearly be my fault—perfect for shifting blame while preserving political ties.

Though the First Prince was becoming an obstacle to my independence, I decided to set that aside for now.

It’s fine. I still have time.

Three years until my sister is adopted.

As long as I settle things before then, it’ll be fine.

My preparations for independence were progressing steadily.

For now, I’d just quietly save money.

…Or so I thought.

But a few days later, while walking down the corridor, I encountered an unexpected obstacle.

“My lady, where are you headed?”

A familiar face.

One I had seen often before—but not since regaining my past-life memories.

The moment I saw him, a line from the book surfaced in my mind.

[Who could have known? Hector Arold, the Duke of Ferdia’s loyal aide—like a dog to his master—would one day stab him in the back.]

Hector Arold.

A future traitor.

And in three years, the man who would switch the poison in the Estelle poisoning incident—revealing that I was not of the Ferdia bloodline.