Chapter – 10
After passing the spiral stairs, she soon reached the top floor where the sky garden was located.
As the most carefully decorated place in the count’s mansion, the blue sky meeting the garden created a clear and beautiful scene.
“Where is Cedric…?”
She raised her eyes and quickly looked around.
The Emperor was waiting downstairs, so there was no time to waste.
She had to quickly bring him down and stand before the Emperor to receive permission for the engagement to be broken.
“There he—”
At the far end of the sky garden, Cedric and Elizabeth were leaning against the castle wall that rose up to about waist height. They had hidden themselves well in that quiet corner where people rarely looked.
If she had not looked carefully, she might have simply walked past them.
Seeing them together, Rafine could not continue speaking.
Even from far away, their closeness was obvious. Elizabeth clung tightly to Cedric as if she did not know he was her sister’s fiancé.
Elizabeth blushed shyly and then pressed her lips against Cedric’s.
Cedric quietly accepted the kiss.
“Th… those crazy—”
Seeing the unbelievable scene of the two deeply kissing, Rafine quickly strode toward them.
They were so absorbed in their affection that they did not notice Rafine approaching.
Rafine was about to step closer, but suddenly stopped.
Yes.
In truth, she had known this for a long time.
In the past, because she liked Cedric, she had simply pretended not to see anything.
My guess was right after all.
But when she saw the two of them with her own eyes, her body trembled. An unknown anger seemed to slowly devour her senses.
Yet strangely, despite the anger, her mind became very clear.
It felt as if every question she had until now was finally answered.
Yes… this might actually be better.
All the pain she had felt because the love she gave him was never returned—was it really because of such a trivial reason?
Her chest felt bitter.
In the end, Cedric had never loved Rafine from the beginning.
She had never needed to suffer so much. Thinking about the countless nights she cried quietly made her feel sorry for her past self.
But still…
If that was the case, you should never have been engaged to me. You could have simply been engaged to Elizabeth from the start. Why?
With that doubt in mind, she stepped closer.
After finishing the long kiss, Elizabeth looked at Cedric with pitiful eyes.
“Brother, I like you so much. I want to stay with you forever.”
Elizabeth called him affectionately, even more warmly than Rafine ever had.
The two of them looked so natural together that the word “we” seemed to fit them perfectly.
But unlike the anxious-looking Elizabeth, Cedric remained calm.
“Ha… If it weren’t for your illness…”
As Cedric muttered to himself, Elizabeth quickly responded.
“You said if I stay with you, my illness might get better.”
“Yeah… I did say that…”
What?
Rafine was about to move closer in surprise when they suddenly stopped talking, as if they had sensed someone nearby.
Sometimes Cedric spoke as if he knew things that would happen in the future.
Could this be related to that?
In the past, Rafine had admired him for being wise, because he always seemed prepared for what was to come.
But now that she thought about it, it felt like more than simple prediction.
He had also shown an unusual amount of interest in Elizabeth’s illness.
“Since when has your sister been sick?”
“If I had known your sister was sick… then instead of you— ah, never mind.”
Thinking about those words again, Rafine quietly spoke from right beside them.
“What do you mean by that?”
The man and woman turned around at her voice and were startled, quickly stepping away from each other.
It was a ridiculous sight.
They acted as if they had never been close at all. Rafine barely held back a laugh.
“What were the two of you talking about here?”
Rafine asked calmly.
She had asked because she was truly curious, but they looked like people who had just been caught doing something they absolutely should not.
They stood frozen for a moment without saying a word.
Well, they had to act like that.
After all, Rafine was still Cedric’s fiancée.
Cedric seemed to realize the situation only then and hurried toward her.
“I… I’ll explain everything.”
His voice trembled awkwardly.
“Explain?”
Rafine repeated, dumbfounded.
Explain what, when she had already seen everything?
“H-how much did you hear— I mean, see?”
Cedric, who had always treated Rafine arrogantly, looked unusually flustered today.
The absurd situation was starting to feel almost funny.
Ever since their engagement, Cedric had never once allowed Rafine to get close to him.
Back then she had thought it was fine because she liked him.
She believed that if she spent enough time and effort, one day he would recognize her feelings.
What nonsense.
It had been a foolish thought.
There had never been any possibility for things to change.
“So since when have the two of you been like this?”
Rafine tapped her finger against her lips as she looked at them.
Two people who kissed each other like that.
She was asking since when their relationship had been like this.
She didn’t even bother using polite speech anymore.
Cedric immediately denied it.
“There’s nothing like that.”
“There’s nothing like that?”
Rafine could not hold back her laughter anymore.
She openly mocked him.
“Ha… that’s the funniest thing you’ve ever said.”
The tension between the three of them was intense.
Rafine glanced at Elizabeth, whose face looked like she might burst into tears at any moment.
Rafine deliberately ignored her completely, as if she were not even there.
“Good. Then love each other as much as you want from now on. I have no intention of being part of this filthy love game anymore.”
“Filthy… love game?”
Cedric’s face hardened at Rafine’s words.
“How can you say something like that?”
“And what you did—touching your fiancée’s younger sister like that—is that acceptable?”
Rafine mocked what had just happened.
Cedric’s face turned bright red, as if he knew his actions were shameful.
Still, he waved his hands nervously.
“No, it’s not like that.”
“I’m not interested in your excuses or explanations. Come downstairs. Our engagement—”
Rafine was about to add that His Majesty the Emperor was waiting to approve their broken engagement.
But suddenly Elizabeth shouted, interrupting her.
“S-sister stole Cedric from me! I liked him first!”
“What?”
Rafine had never heard such a thing before. The constant new revelations left her dizzy.
But she quickly steadied herself.
No matter what the truth was, she had already made her decision.
Even if Elizabeth’s words were true, it no longer mattered.
Rafine smiled faintly.
“Yes. But no matter how much you liked him, he was still engaged to me—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Elizabeth suddenly rushed toward her.
Elizabeth pushed Rafine with surprising strength for someone who was supposedly sick and grabbed her by the hair.
“Everything! Everything is your fault!”
“Elizabeth!”
Cedric called out in shock and tried to separate them, but he could not stop them.
Rafine had been caught completely off guard and was shaken violently.
“Let go!”
But she had no intention of just taking it.
Regaining her senses, Rafine quickly forced Elizabeth into a corner.
Elizabeth was simply acting wildly in anger, so it was not difficult to restrain her.
“I-it’s because of you!”
“Ha…”
Rafine pushed Elizabeth all the way to the end of the tower near the castle wall and let out an incredulous laugh.
Elizabeth, realizing she could not win against her sister, breathed heavily with a resentful expression.
“Even if you’re my younger sister, my patience has limits, Beth.”
“It’s because of you!”
“Stop blaming others. If you really liked Cedric, you should have protected him. You stayed silent when I got engaged to him, so why are you acting like this now?”
“Th-that’s because back then—!”
Unable to respond to Rafine’s cold tone, Elizabeth suddenly burst into tears and rushed at her again.
“Beth!”
Just as Rafine tried to step aside, Cedric suddenly stepped between them.
Unfortunately, all three of them moved at the same time.
Cedric tried to grab Elizabeth—
but accidentally pushed Rafine.
It happened in an instant.
Her body suddenly lifted into the air. The strange feeling of nothing touching beneath her feet.
“R-Rafine!”
The last thing she saw was Cedric’s shocked face.
Then the cold wind wrapped around her body.
She was falling from the tower.
Down.
And further down..
