chapter 54
“Shut your mouth!”
“I’m acting to protect you, and yet it’s so obvious that you have feelings for Melanie Clotilde, Lord Polius!”
“W-What feelings would I have left?!”
“Just a moment ago! You were demanding why you had to intervene when some other young lord was showing interest in Lady Melanie Clotilde!”
Polius flinched, clearly struck in a sensitive spot, and tried to draw a line.
But Josephine didn’t back down—she pressed harder.
“Lord Damian, the Tower Master, actually proposed to Lady Clotilde while only looking at her. But since you couldn’t have her, it looks like you proposed to me instead!”
“Would I act like this if I didn’t like you? Why are you being so sensitive over nonsense?”
Polius reacted more violently because he was guilty somewhere deep inside.
He wanted to believe Melanie still couldn’t forget him.
And yes… it was true that he was shaken by the idea that if he could reconnect with her, maybe all his unease would be solved.
Why did I believe Melanie still had lingering feelings for me? She’s been consistently cold… so why…?
The whispers Clara had sown beside him… he thought he could trust her because she was a woman herself, but she was wrong.
In the end, Melanie grabbed Damian’s hand—even though she supposedly hated him so much…
“I’m trying to get my head straight too, so why are you making this so exhausting?”
“Is talking to me exhausting?”
“Haa… let’s stop.”
“Stop? Stop what!”
Their voices rose, but at that moment, both were thinking the exact same thing:
The person they thought fit them so well was now clashing and grinding in all the wrong ways.
Why was their engagement—this step that should have brought them closer—making the other feel even heavier?
“…We’ll talk later.”
“Polius!”
“We’re both just too tired right now.”
Unlike before, they were now bound by an engagement, and had to see each other far more frequently. Their business was also tied together.
Responsibility. Pressure.
It was impossible now to think only about love.
“Polius Belderth! Are you running away from this?!”
Josephine raised her voice in fluster and anger, but Polius didn’t stop walking.
“Think whatever you want!”
His departing back filled her with resentment.
More than feeling coldness, frustration and disappointment gnawed at her.
Is this engagement… really okay?
Josephine bit her lip, wondering why she ever clung to a man like him.
Clotilde… If not for that damned Clotilde, I’d never have needed that bastard!
If Melanie hadn’t been obsessed with the man, Josephine would never have clung to Polius—even if Melanie had lost or regained an arm or whatever.
She thought taking the man Melanie loved would be her ultimate victory. But why did it feel like she picked up something Melanie discarded?
I don’t like this.
No—forget the process.
The result was what mattered: Polius was her fiancé, just as she originally wanted.
Melanie was with Damian now, so Polius would soon lose any lingering attachment.
Yes—his attitude of putting Melanie first wounded her pride…
But once the Clotilde family fell, today’s humiliation would vanish. Melanie would be someone no one dared even mention.
Just wait. Even if I break off this engagement later, who cares?
Josephine straightened her posture and walked forward firmly.
She would have to review the video stones for the Red Sun project once more.
Love is unnecessary emotion for nobles anyway.
Ignoring the passionate days of the past, Josephine strode on.
Meanwhile, although it also happened impulsively, Melanie and Damian’s engagement was the complete opposite of Polius and Josephine’s. Their atmosphere was warm and pleasant.
“Thank you for agreeing to get engaged.”
Melanie looked up at Damian and smiled softly.
It felt like she was swept into Josephine’s scheme, but in the end? Things turned out well—she ended up engaged to Damian anyway.
Having young noblemen pushed at her was annoying, but the result was her advantage.
Good thing I warned Lady Martis in advance.
Melanie was about to speak again, but at the same time, Damian—who had been hesitating—opened his mouth.
“I-I’m sorry. It’s an engagement, but it’s so unromantic…”
“During the contract engagement period, I’ll try not to burden you. Please take care of me.”
Both spoke at the same time.
They stopped, then stared at each other, equally confused.
“…What?”
“…What?”
Damian froze.
He had imagined that if he ever got engaged, it would be more romantic than this. Not as if he was being pushed into it.
But… Melanie casually mentioned a contract engagement as if it were nothing.
Melanie tilted her head, reconsidering Damian’s words—then laughed brightly.
“It’s fine. It’s not like it’s a real engagement anyway.”
“…Not a real engagement.”
“Yes. I told you. You don’t have to think too deeply.”
Damian clenched his fist.
It was true.
“You looked so serious, so I just wanted to say—you’re proposing an engagement, not asking to spend a lifetime together.”
“…You’re planning ahead for a breakup already?”
“Of course, a broken engagement might seem bad, but neither of us is in a position where it matters, right?”
Yet she used the word contract. He thought she just meant: “Don’t take it too seriously.”
When had he ever intended to get married? After watching his parents’ miserable marriage, he decided he never would.
He would just work with Melanie as business partners—and incidentally crush Polius’s pride. They both hated him anyway.
Right. It’s not like I have feelings for Lady Clotilde.
But… something felt a little disappointing.
Wait. What exactly am I disappointed about?
Time passed, and Josephine and Polius’s video stone business was launched.
Only four months after they announced the founding of the Red Sun project.
“But isn’t this way faster than when Lady Clotilde and Lord Damian tried to launch theirs?”
“Right? Didn’t that take longer?”
“They talked about it in fall—and it’s releasing before the year is even over?”
It was such a short time—just enough for a season to change. People were surprised, but they didn’t complain. The sooner the better.
And unlike when Melanie and Damian tried it, this time many people were excited from the start.
“I’m so excited for The 13th Knight!”
“Right, right. And also… I wonder which one will get more love.”
Indirectly put, but everyone meant the same thing:
Which one will succeed—Black Moon or Red Sun?
A battle between half-brothers.
A battle between the ex-fiancée and the current fiancée.
Newspapers sensationalized it so much that even people who didn’t care about video stones were now paying attention.
Video stones were a strange and unfamiliar concept at first—but with all the noise, now everyone knew what they were.
Melanie and Damian had unintentionally promoted the industry.
“But isn’t the price difference too extreme?”
“I mean, fifteen times more expensive than Black Moon is insane!”
Actually, even fifteen times higher was still a loss for Red Sun.
Unlike Melanie, who used leftover low-grade mana stones to reduce cost, Josephine had to use whole, expensive mana stones.
Not just any stones, but ones she bought from Melanie—at ten times the normal price.
Even though they took absurd early losses hoping to gain market share… public opinion was bad.
“Well, they’re letting us use it for free right now. We can worry about the price when official subscriptions start.”
“I think it was called… the Sun something? I can’t remember.”
“Red Sun. It was clearly named to counter Black Moon—yet you can’t even remember it?”
With trembling anticipation, people took the Red Sun video stones.
And then they tilted their heads in confusion.
“Um… is it just me? Why… can’t I hear anything the actors are saying?”
