Chapter 155

I quickly grabbed Terrence’s arm, thinking I needed to separate the two of them immediately.

“Aren’t we supposed to leave right away? Let’s go.”

“Indeed. Then please excuse us.”

Terrence smiled unusually brightly as he said his farewell to Isaac and Roland.

* * *

“So, what do you think?”

After the two had left, Roland—who remained in the hospital room—looked at his son lying in the bed next to him and asked.

“About what?”

“I mean, do you think there’s a chance things could work out with the baron?”

“Can’t you tell just by looking? She doesn’t seem to have any particular feelings for me in the first place, and besides, the competition is far too strong.”

“…Well, that’s true.”

“Honestly, the baron is a very attractive person. To the point where I sometimes think it would have been nice if I had met her before that guy Leandro did.”

But then Isaac shook his head.

“Still, I’m not the type to stake my life on romance. Father, you should give up too.”

Roland clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Leandro… if he had managed to marry such a good woman, he should have treated her well instead of getting divorced.”

“Well, don’t worry too much about it. Our main objective has already been accomplished.”

Isaac stood up, found an empty wine glass, and handed it to his father.

“Let’s just watch from here. How that girl, Riena—who dared to play with our emotions—falls into ruin.”

He brought the wine bottle and personally filled Roland’s empty glass, smiling faintly.

“To be honest, it’s unfair otherwise. If there were only good people like Brother Edmund who cover up that woman’s mistakes even after knowing them.”

Roland’s lips also loosened into a smile.

“That’s right. For the balance of the world, there also need to be people like us who are willing to destroy someone by any means necessary.”

Clink.

The father and son, who looked strikingly alike, clinked their glasses together and exchanged sinister smiles.

* * *

“Ugh…”

Inside the interrogation room, Riena sobbed miserably.

“Hey, are you just going to keep crying like that?”

The investigation wasn’t progressing because of her, so the investigator complained in irritation. But Riena’s tears wouldn’t stop.

No matter how long she waited, Duke Cassius never returned.

Neither of her two brothers had sent any word either.

At first, she had hoped the duke might regret his decision and change his mind, or that Leandro and Reheim might persuade their father.

But as time passed, that hope gradually faded, and Riena had to face reality.

She had been abandoned by the family she loved.

Once, those people would have raged at anyone who dared lay a hand on her.

Now they had simply left her here.

Her chest hurt unbearably.

It hurt as much as she had loved her family and the Cassius household.

It was a family she had obtained by even betraying Idel, the only friend she had in her previous life.

And yet—disownment.

The word pressed heavily on her heart.

In her previous life, Riena had been disowned once by her adoptive parents simply because she didn’t meet their expectations.

The scholarly couple who adopted her afterward also distanced themselves once they had their own biological child, which was practically the same as being disowned.

So this was her third disownment.

“Riena, my beloved daughter. If there’s anything you want, just say the word. If you wish, the Cassius family—and even the entire continent—will be yours.”

“A little sister is meant to be protected by her big brother! I’ll protect you forever, so don’t worry.”

“No, I’ll protect her, not you! Riena, so don’t ever get married—just live with us forever!”

Thinking it was all over now, the faces of those three people she missed so deeply flickered before her eyes.

Tears streamed endlessly from Riena’s eyes.

“You said those things… You said I saved you. You said you loved me…”

The investigator, who had been watching her mutter to herself with a disgusted expression, finally spoke.

“It seems today’s interrogation won’t go any further. If you want even the slightest reduction in your sentence, you’d better change your attitude and cooperate.”

He ordered his subordinates to move Riena to the room assigned to her.

Standing before the place where she would stay, Riena stared blankly around the room.

“What is this…?”

She had been drowning in sorrow, but when she faced the absurd reality, irritation suddenly surged up.

The facilities were unbelievably poor.

Even though it was the same imperial palace prison, it was incomparable to the noble-only prison she had been held in a few months earlier.

The room was narrow, dirty, and dark.

And since it was winter, it was also cold.

If it had been the Riena from before her regression—who had endured countless hardships at the bottom of society—perhaps she could have tolerated it.

But Riena, who had lived for more than ten years in luxury within the Cassius household, was not suited to such an environment.

The bed even looked filthy.

While she was pacing around the room unable to sit anywhere, the small hatch in the door opened and a tray was pushed in.

“Dinner.”

It was already evening.

Riena’s mouth watered.

Since leaving Isaac’s mansion, the only thing she had eaten was a biscuit given by a guard in the prisoner transport carriage.

She was starving.

But when she hurriedly picked up the tray, she looked stunned.

“What kind of food is this…?”

A small piece of bread as hard as stone and a watery soup with only two pieces of carrot floating in it.

She hadn’t expected a lavish meal, but this was excessive.

Just because she had been disowned by the Cassius family, how could her treatment change so drastically?

Even if she was no longer a duke’s daughter, she was still Prince Mikhail’s beloved woman, and there were still many people outside the palace who called themselves her fans.

At the very least, she expected food as decent as the meals Isaac had given her before she went on her hunger strike.

“Hey! Wait a moment! Come here!”

Riena shouted through the hatch.

“What?”

After a while, the server returned with an indifferent attitude.

“How am I supposed to eat this?”

She pushed the tray back through the hatch.

“Do you know who I am? I’m Riena Cassi—”

She stopped midway and corrected herself.

“I’m the woman dating Prince Mikhail.”

“Ha.”

“I’m not lying. If you bring me better food, His Highness will reward you.”

“If you don’t want it, then don’t eat.”

The server snorted and took the tray away.

It hurt her pride to use polite speech toward such a low-ranking palace worker, but she was the one in need now.

So she swallowed her anger and tried to persuade him.

“It’s true! Go ask at the Crown Prince’s palace. The servants there will all confirm it.”

Mikhail wasn’t the type to abandon his lover just because things had turned bad.

Having witnessed his devoted love for nearly ten years, Riena was confident.

“If His Highness has returned to the palace, he’ll definitely come running because he’s worried about me. I’d bet on it.”

The server left without replying.

That night, Riena waited for him to return—but until morning came, no better meal was brought to her.

“…Please. Go ask at the Crown Prince’s palace. What I said is true.”

The next morning, she spoke weakly to the server who brought breakfast.

She was too hungry to even shout anymore.

“Don’t want it? Then don’t eat.”

“No, no. I’ll eat. Please let me eat.”

Afraid of starving again, Riena had no choice but to beg pitifully for the meal.

An indescribable humiliation washed over her.

As she forced herself to eat food she wouldn’t have fed even to a dog in the past, Riena made a desperate vow.

She wouldn’t let this go.

Once Mikhail returned, she would make sure that insolent server—and everyone who had put her here—paid the price.

Now, more than the sadness of being disowned, anger at betrayal filled her heart.

She resented her father and two brothers almost as much as she resented Idel and Isaac.

‘What? You loved me?’

If they truly loved her, they would never have disowned her.

Just wait and see.

Even if they later cried and begged for forgiveness, she would never go back.

“So, you still have no intention of confessing?”

The investigator she met in the interrogation room after finishing breakfast was different from yesterday’s.

“Isn’t the same person continuing the interrogation?”

The new investigator replied shortly.

“No.”

“Why not?!”

“Does it have to be the same person?”

“No, I was just curious…”

“Riena, the order from above is that multiple investigators will take turns questioning you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. The records are shared anyway, so stop asking useless questions and sit down and answer mine.”

Riena bit her lip and sat down.

Why would such an inefficient order come from above?

The reason was obvious.

Idel.

It was a precaution to prevent Riena from using the Goddess’s Blessing on the investigators.

And the only person who could have suggested such a measure—another blessed individual who understood the blessing well—was Idel.

“Why did you commit investment fraud?”

“How many times do I have to say it wasn’t me? I don’t know. I have nothing more to say.”

“…Do you understand your situation right now?”

“I’m exercising my right to remain silent. If you want me to talk, bring Prince Mikhail here.”

After that, Riena shut her mouth like a clam, and the interrogation stalled again.

However, a few hours later, wonderful news arrived for her like rain in a drought.

“Prince Mikhail has requested a visit.”

Finally, Mikhail had come.

“Mikhail!”

Seeing him enter the interrogation room, Riena ran toward him happily.

“Step back.”

But something was strange.

With a cold expression, Mikhail stopped her from approaching.

Without even listening to what she had to say, he spoke first.

“The reason I came here today is to formally break up with you.”

It was like a bolt from the blue.