~Chapter 6~
What Aveline heard was completely different from what she expected, just as she was about to beg for forgiveness.
“He said his old, dirty, ugly, and disgusting conscience is screaming, so he wants to call off the engagement. The words ‘old, dirty, ugly, and disgusting’ show up five times in his short letter. He starts every sentence with that. He’s more honest than I thought.”
Aveline couldn’t believe it.
“Baron Bertha really wrote that and sent it?”
Count Herald nodded and showed her the part of the letter with the words.
“Yes. Look, it’s written right here. He says, ‘As someone old, dirty, ugly, and disgusting, I’m going to a country monastery to find my inner beauty.’”
“…A monastery?”
Suddenly? Someone who likes alcohol that much wants to go to a place where you have to quit drinking?
‘Could it be… Duke Ribes did something?’
There’s no way Baron Bertha would just run away to a monastery by himself.
Aveline looked at Ares. He seemed to be thinking the same thing, making a strange face.
“Anyway, since he said all that, Marquis Nor doesn’t have anything more to say. The engagement is officially canceled.”
Aveline was already sitting down, but her legs felt weak again. She was quietly happy, trying not to make a sound, when suddenly a hand came toward her.
It was Ares. Understanding, Aveline gave him a high-five.
They solved the problem unexpectedly, but for the first time, Aveline felt like she and her brother had actually teamed up and accomplished something.
Aveline returned to her room feeling light and free. She washed up and lay on her bed, ready to catch up on her favorite stories.
“I had a hard day, so I’ll reread the part where the ex-husband regrets and begs my sister.”
It was her favorite scene from the web novel she liked lately—the one where the cold ex-husband regrets everything and tries to win back the heroine after their arranged marriage falls apart.
Even though some readers wanted to forgive him because he begged so desperately, Aveline had no sympathy. The ex-husband had done too many awful things.
“He should have treated her well from the start. Now he can pay for what he did. My sister is off to find a new, better man.”
Luckily, in the story, the heroine meets a younger and more handsome male lead and starts a new life.
“Walk a road of flowers, sis…”
Aveline forced her tired eyes open to keep reading her favorite parts, but finally, she couldn’t fight the sleepiness and closed her eyes.
“Wife, please think about it one more time.”
‘What’s this?’
Aveline was shocked by a stranger’s voice and looked around. She wasn’t in her own room anymore.
There was a handsome man kneeling at her feet, begging her.
‘What’s going on? I was just in my room. Where am I? Who is this guy?’
No matter how much she looked around, this wasn’t her bedroom. It was full of fancy furniture, totally different from her simple room.
“Wife, please…”
But the strangest thing was the handsome man kneeling by her feet.
“Excuse me… Who are you?”
Aveline was honestly just curious, but the man’s golden eyes shook with shock.
‘What’s wrong with my voice?’
Aveline realized her voice sounded different—more mature and calm than usual.
And she had no idea how to handle a situation like this: a strange man at her feet in a strange place.
“You’re pretending not to know me because you hate me, right?”
The handsome man with ash-gray hair and golden eyes spoke in a low voice.
“Eve, no matter what, I won’t agree to a divorce.”
His voice turned gloomy, and his golden eyes seemed a bit scary for a moment.
‘Wait. Divorce? Eve?’
The names sounded familiar. Aveline called out, just in case.
“Sisyph?”
“Yes, wife.”
He answered right away. Aveline realized with a shock:
‘Wait. This is the book I was just reading!’
Her head spun. Her vision even started to spin.
‘Is this a dream?’
She pinched the back of her hand hard.
“Hmm?”
No matter how hard she pinched, it didn’t hurt. She even slapped her hand but felt nothing. The handsome man looked worried, so she quietly stopped.
‘It’s a dream.’
Her hand was turning red, but there was no pain—this had to be a dream.
‘Nice!’
She was excited. She’d always wanted to dream about her favorite novel, and this was so real!
Now she really looked at the man in front of her. He was just as described in the book—the right hair, the right eyes, even the beauty mark under his right eye.
‘How did I not recognize him sooner?’
If she was Eve, then she was now the story’s main character—a beautiful woman with black hair and mysterious red eyes.
‘I want to see this face for myself.’
She rushed to the mirror on the wall.
“Wow…”
The face in the mirror was beyond beautiful. Pale skin, long black hair, and sparkling red eyes—she looked like a rose blooming at night. All her features were delicate and perfectly arranged.
“So pretty…”
Aveline couldn’t stop staring or touching her face in the mirror.
“…What are you doing?”
The man’s voice behind her sounded more confused than surprised.
‘Yeah, it’s weird for your wife to stare in the mirror and compliment herself.’
Aveline forced herself to leave the mirror and go back to the man.
“Ahem. No, it’s nothing.”
The man stayed kneeling, watching her as she walked back. Aveline sat down and gave him a look to keep talking.
He frowned and continued.
“So, I’m saying I can never divorce you. I’ve already ended things with Selena, so please forgive me…”
Aveline snapped to attention at his words. Selena was the name of his lover in the novel. He was begging his wife not to divorce him, but he mentioned his mistress’s name!
‘This must be the part where he pretends to apologize after finding out about the mine that will go to his wife.’
He lies about breaking up with Selena and meets her secretly in a hidden place—a secret that gets revealed in about ten pages.
Aveline remembered how shameless he was when he got caught and how much the heroine suffered.
But now, she knew what she had to do.
Something the nice main character Eve never said—
“No.”
The man’s face slowly twisted in shock.
“W-What did you say?”
He looked like he hadn’t heard her right.
“I said no. I won’t forgive you.”
Aveline confirmed it again, looking him right in the eye.
“How can you beg for forgiveness while saying your lover’s name in front of your wife? Do you think kneeling once and saying sorry is enough? Your knees aren’t that special.”
“W-What…?”
“Actually, you’ve acted so cheap since we got married that I don’t think your body’s worth much anyway. Ugh, it’s so dusty from being used too much.”
Aveline even brushed her hand through the air as if she was dusting off real dust.
“…”
The man looked completely shocked and froze in place.
