My Fiancee Was the Villainess of This World

35 – Shade to rest

The golden weekend has arrived.

And then Priscilla’s father, Earl Arvest, who was not expecting much, knocked on the door of the Dragon Hall.

“It’s been a lot of fun, Your Highness.”

“Yes. Welcome, Count Arbest.”

My evaluation of Count Arbest was already rocking out, but even with such a prejudice, he was a man who gave off a fairly sound impression.

Contrary to his impression of being a goddamn brat, he was quite tidy.

The grayish-white hair that gives off a rough impression was neatly trimmed with hair oil, and the beard was grown in such a way that it didn’t feel messy.

But the neat impression was just there.

It is a place to meet the crown prince who will be the next emperor.

So, whether you are an aristocrat or a commoner, it means a place where you come wearing the most sophisticated and expensive clothes you have.

However, he came wearing clothes with yellowed sleeves.

The shoes were also polished, but if you look closely, you can see that they are quite worn.

It was as if he was emphasizing his poverty with his whole body.

When I saw such Count Arbest, I licked my lips with regret.

If I had just been a stupid aristocrat with my prejudice, I would have been able to go on a rampage just because the honor of the royal family was tarnished….

“Have a seat, Count.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Unlike the other nobles in the system, Count Arbest showed a very plain reaction.

It was common to say a metaphor related to the sun in front of the royal family and say thanks for the grace.

‘It’s blatant.’

Didn’t even Priscilla use a metaphor related to the sun in front of me?

There’s no way that Countess Arbest, who raised her like that, doesn’t know that.

I sat there acting as if being hated by me was my goal.

Are you thinking of taking advantage of my past, when I was called a fool?

I decided to observe him a little longer.

Dalgak.

The lady-in-waiting who escorted Count Arbest to her drawing room came out and served tea in front of the Count.

“I will lift it.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

While drinking tea, all my nerves were directed towards the count.

It was to figure out the intention that could be read from his trivial actions.

But the more I did, the more my doubts only deepened.

‘… What the heck was that poor man’s mansion?’

The Count was indeed a complete nobleman himself, except for a slight rudeness in his first meeting.

Behavior, posture, and the occasional gaze.

He was a perfect aristocrat with no flaws whatsoever.

That’s why it was even more questionable.

What on earth was the mess of the rich man’s mansion and the gossip of its servants?

“At the villa, our servants committed great disrespect. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

… He is an unpredictable man.

As soon as you think you’re a noble without any flaws, you’re using such a straight-forward way of speaking that nobles don’t normally use.

“For some reason, Count.”

That’s why I decided to ask him directly without trying to figure him out anymore.

I looked at the count’s eyes, who showed a slight puzzlement, and opened his mouth again.

“Are you provoking me?”

Duke Trista told me, ‘Don’t worry about Count Arvest’.

It is a story that he will take care of the count’s convenience as far as he can reach.

Even though it passed through the hand of the duke who was so determined, he came to Biryonggwan wearing such old clothes.

Even in front of the royal family, called the family of the sun, he did not hand over a greeting containing the sun.

He violated the aristocratic writing style, which had to be followed unless it was extremely urgent, and directly brought up the main topic.

It was a series of actions that could only be considered provocation.

“Sorry, Your Highness.”

The Count slowly bowed his head to me and spoke the words of apology.

“I was born and raised in a rural area and am an ignorant and oblivious aristocrat who does not even know the warm grace of the sun. Please forgive me generously with warmth like the sun.”

He clearly understands the rudeness he has committed.

I could only think of this as a protest with a purpose.

So I sent the maid who served our tea outside.

“I hate useless ostentation too, Count.”

As if he hadn’t expected me to come out here, the count opened his eyes a little wide and slowly lowered his head.

“I apologize for the incident at the villa. It’s all because of my lack. Just-“

The Count raised his bowed head and stared straight into my eyes.

“The education of children is solely at the discretion of the parents.”

I apologize for the rudeness at the villa.

However, the problem with Priscilla is the problem of ‘my family’.

Although they are engaged, they are not married, so what right do you have to meddle in our family’s problems since you are still close to someone else in reality?

The count seemed so eager to ask.

It was a theory.

For this reason, I also brought Priscilla to the Viryonggwan, citing the servant’s disrespect.

“I am not old enough to be called a child anymore.”

“I didn’t have a coming-of-age ceremony.”

That was also the theory.

“Tell me what you want.”

The Arvest family is a family far away from the islands.

For that reason, I knew very little about Count Arbest.

If I go round and round and talk, I will never be able to take the initiative in the conversation in my favor.

He is a fiancé, but he is still a stranger.

In the end, I couldn’t come up with a way to beat that simple theory.

“Money, Your Highness.”

“… What?”

“The Countess Arbest needs money, Your Highness.”

What did this man just say?

So-

“… Is she going to sell Priscilla for her money?”

“I think you can interpret it that way, Your Highness.”

Quang!

I glared at the trash in front of me, just as I had hit the table.

“Do you know what you are talking about?”

“It’s rather fortunate, isn’t it? Now that I can stay by the side of someone who loves me so much.”

“Count!”

It was only in this situation that I could barely notice.

The fact that Count Arbest never once mentioned ‘Priscilla’ after entering this drawing room.

“It all started with Your Highness.”

The count glared at me as if scolding me.

“I wouldn’t have come this far if Your Highness hadn’t mentioned that that day, he wanted the child to be his wife.”

In Count Arbest’s eyes, there was hatred close to madness.

It was a hate so intense that even I, who thought I was used to the moderate amount of stares, was momentarily speechless.

“The time has come, take me with you. How long do I have to look after the cuckoo chick?”

The count’s eyes were full of conviction after he said the word “Cuckoo chick.”

So I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut without saying anything.

It was only then that things that felt awkward were coming together like a puzzle.

‘… Was it something like that?’

No matter how much he was kicked out of his family, it was unacceptable for him to show such disrespect even to the visit of an outsider, the crown prince.

At first, I thought that Count Arbest was just a nerd, so he taught servants in a really low-level way, but now I understand.

As soon as he heard the news that my relationship with Priscilla had changed, he must have given instructions to the servants of the villa.

If Priscilla’s relationship with me has undergone a dramatic change as rumored, he must have seen this as an opportunity to get rid of the annoying lump.

Now that I think about it, it is doubtful that a man with such a frugal atmosphere even built such a villa for a rich man.

Perhaps, when Priscilla and I were engaged, I thought the luxurious items sent by the aristocrats as a congratulatory message were hung there by Jung-gu Heating.

‘It must have been sarcastic toward me.’

If I hadn’t been engaged to Priscilla, Priscilla would have been kicked out of the family right away.

“This is the child her beloved wife gave her life for. She loved I loved her as much as I did with my life.”

“… It became.”

“No, please listen, Your Highness. Your Highness, who made me this miserable, must listen.”

The Count continued his words, glaring at me with his mad eyes.

“I did my best. We put a lot of effort into the child so that His Highness could take it anytime.”

Priscilla’s talent, which was evaluated as her talent, was a flower that bloomed from hatred, not greed.

“Because of my personal feelings, you can’t ruin Count Arbest, which has been going on for hundreds of years, with these hands, can you? I endured and endured.”

“… Count.”

“I would drive myself crazy every time I saw that child becoming more and more like her wife as she got older… !”

Priscilla’s beautiful appearance, which I thought was magical, was just a nightmare to him.

“Whoop, whoop…. It’s all over. It is really over now.”

The count smiled brightly with a very refreshing expression, like a person who had just woken up from a nightmare.

“… Let me ask you one last thing. Does Priscilla know about this?”

“She is her last mercy as her father, who once loved the child. That’s a secret that Her Highness and I will carry to the grave.”

“That’s it. Write here and go. I will accommodate you as much as I can afford.”

“The grace of the sun is very warm, Your Highness.”

With a really bright expression on his face, the count wrote the amount he wanted on the piece of paper I held out and left the room.

I closed my eyes, staring at the absurd amount of money the Count had put down.

‘I bet you had no place to be, Priscilla.’

Is that why you waited and waited for the promise you hadn’t looked at for six years, the promise that even I forgot?

She fell out of sight of her parents without even knowing why, and she must have assumed that it was because she had been abandoned by me, her fiancé.

─ A liar. Even though I said I’d come to meet you soon….

It must have been difficult.

You must have been desperate.

‘And have I lost your trust?’

There is an event CG that definitely appears in the game The Gardener of Thorns.

This is an event CG that always appears through any route, so it is a scene that I also remember from my previous life as I read through her story as if I were skipping it, just for the purpose of bullying her younger sister.

That’s a story called the breakup event, and it was a CG shot of me declaring my breakup with Priscilla.

Here, if the heroine is by her side, it is the reason that she has found true love.

Abandoned by me, Priscilla would probably be kicked out of the family sooner or later.

Perhaps it was for this reason that Priscilla invoked the shadow of her demise.

That doesn’t explain the black hair found on her head yet—

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Priscilla.

Even if you become a witch someday for some reason.

For now, for now—

I will be your shade to rest.

Even if you don’t like it, accept it.

Because I became the ‘master’ who bought you from the count for an outrageous amount.

With a wry smile on my face, I put the paper with the amount the Count had written down into my bosom.