Because I hit him with all my strength, Peredel’s cheek turned bright red.
The audience was horrified, and even Vivian couldn’t react. No one dared to even swallow their saliva, frozen in place.
Peredel, speechless, could only stare at me.
After slapping the man I was supposed to seduce, I moved on to the next part of my performance.
I breathed heavily, as if overwhelmed by emotion, every facial muscle taut with tension. A single tear fell from my eyes, which were glaring at Peredel with rage.
“Peredel Seymour…”
And then I said to the man who was supposed to fall hopelessly in love with me:
“I hate you. I hate you so much I can’t stand it!”
Shouting with passion, I channeled hatred and resentment into my words, unleashing the full force of my fury on him.
“Do you even know how much my sister is suffering because of you?”
It was practically a monologue of rage.
“Even someone like me who just arrived in the capital has heard the rumors spreading across the entire Empire! That Luna Woodville was dumped by Duke Seymour but still clings to him. That she misunderstood being taken to the Imperial Ball once and shamelessly pursues a man who already has a fiancée!”
Peredel lowered his head and bit his tightly shut lips. It was his habit when he had something to say but chose to swallow it.
I had already expected him to stay silent, so I pressed on without hesitation.
“Let me warn you. Don’t you dare come near my sister again. I’ll be the one protecting her.”
His face twisted with guilt.
The rumors about Luna circulating in the Empire had been spread by Vivian, but he still looked deeply remorseful, as if blaming himself for Luna being slandered.
He had always felt guilty, thinking he had dragged Luna to the capital against her will. So I knew my words would trouble him.
But his expression looked sadder than I expected.
I had played cruel roles before, saying harsh words that hurt someone. But this was the first time I had truly hurt someone’s heart.
And the moment I saw his face, my own heart ached.
It must’ve been my guilty conscience.
Even so, I had to stay firm to achieve my goal.
So, without breaking character, I kept up my cold demeanor.
“Let’s just say me slapping you cancels out your fiancée pouring tea over my head.”
With that, I climbed into the carriage and returned to the Woodville estate.
‘The women of the Woodville family really do seem to hate me.’
After calmly reflecting on the incident, Peredel approached Vivian.
He picked up the empty teapot Vivian had used to torment Joyce and slammed it onto the table.
Glass shattered, fragments flying everywhere. The startled noblewomen fell silent, trembling.
Vivian, though startled, kept her composure and looked at him with a calm expression. He leaned close and whispered in a voice only she could hear.
“When you came to me demanding a forced engagement, I believe I made a condition. Don’t touch Luna Woodville again.”
The noblewomen, still hovering awkwardly, exchanged confused glances, unsure of what was happening.
Perhaps humiliated at being scolded in front of women she considered beneath her, Vivian snapped at him.
“So I stayed away from Luna Woodville like you asked. What’s the problem with targeting Joyce Woodville instead?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know damn well the rumors spreading through the Empire are your doing.”
“Ha! Accusing an innocent woman? If you want to blame someone, maybe you should do a proper investigation first?”
“I’m sure you covered your tracks well. Probably used one of these girls here to do it.”
As Peredel glared at the young noblewomen, several of them dropped their gazes in guilty silence.
“I’ll let it go once. But not again. Don’t mess with me.”
Vivian felt a wave of humiliation. Today was supposed to be the day she publicly celebrated her engagement to the man she’d always wanted. Instead, he had just humiliated her.
Even after Peredel left, she stood there fuming, venting her frustration loudly.
“Seems the Duke’s in a foul mood today.”
“He must be very tired,” one girl said, trying to soothe her.
Only the gossiping noblewomen, like flies, clung to her side with weak attempts at comfort.
“If word of what just happened gets out, none of you are safe,” Vivian warned.
At that moment, one of the noble girls hesitantly approached.
“Um… Lady Vivian…”
It was Rayleigh, daughter of Baron Bastian from the poor provinces. She had come to the capital thanks to a stroke of luck but was always dismissed by Vivian for her country bumpkin ways.
“What do you want?”
Eager to finally win Vivian’s favor, she whispered something secretly into her ear.
“I know what that girl Joyce did back in Bria, before she came to the capital…”
“…Really?”
Vivian’s fierce eyes gleamed with dangerous curiosity.
‘Was getting engaged to that woman really the right choice?’
As usual, unable to sleep, Peredel sat in his study with a glass of strong liquor and thought of her.
Luna Woodville. A woman who made his heart flutter inexplicably every time he looked at her.
He had gotten engaged to Vivian for Luna’s sake.
That was a fact. It was an engagement that brought him no benefit whatsoever.
As the Duke of the powerful Seymour family, there was no reason for him to align himself with the daughter of the Boleyn marquis, who stood politically opposed to him.
Vivian had done a thorough background check on Luna to drive a wedge between her and Peredel.
She discovered that children at the orphanage Luna had frequently visited in Peredel’s territory had seen her using magic.
This meant Luna’s supposed first manifestation of divine power at the Imperial Ball had been a lie.
Vivian had then come to Peredel and made him an offer: if he agreed to marry her, she’d bury the truth.
Peredel, who believed it was his fault that Luna was dragged into a place she didn’t want to be, accepted.
But even after the engagement, he couldn’t stop the nasty rumors, and Luna continued to suffer. That tormented him.
The bottle of nearly 40% alcohol was almost empty now.
About to lose consciousness from the drink, his thoughts drifted to earlier that day.
To be specific, to Luna’s sister—the one who had been giving him a headache lately.
‘What a foolish girl. She’s not subtle at all about her hostility.’
He sipped what remained in his glass and mused over her.
‘It’ll be hard for her to survive in the capital acting like that. She really needs to learn how to hide her true feelings.’
He even chuckled at the memory of being slapped with all her strength by such delicate arms. It hadn’t even hurt, like being hit with a cotton ball.
‘What kind of lunatic thinks it’s okay to slap a Duke, no matter how angry they are? She’s lucky it was me.’
He didn’t realize it.
That tonight, for the first time, his mind, usually occupied entirely by Luna Woodville, had made space for someone else—for a red-haired girl he had just met.
And that the last person he thought of before passing out drunk at his desk was Joyce.
