“Duchess Lark, I’ve heard about Lady Aries. To have such a barbaric person in your family, it must’ve been truly difficult.”

“I’m glad nothing happened to you, Duchess Lark. Are you okay?”

In the end, not only did Aries have to vacate her title, she was also sentenced to five years imprisonment. Despite that, she continued to insist that she wasn’t at fault due to being deceived by the countess.

As for the count and his wife, they were forced to return their territories, were demoted in rank from count to baron, and were also sentenced to ten years in prison.

The hired thugs were executed. Since they were commoners and I was a duchess, death was a foregone conclusion.

While it might have seemed unfair that the thugs were executed while Aries—along with the count and his wife, were left unscathed, that was what social class was all about.

Because His Highness Weiss had protected me, I was unharmed. Regardless, I had to actively participate in the social circles, lest malicious rumors spread and tarnish my reputation.

In fact, there were quite a few people who tried to the spread rumor that I was a damaged good.

I smiled towards the gathered nobles.

“As I had lived with her the entire time, I can honestly say that I’m horrified. I was praying that she’d stop at some point. It’s regretful that things turned out like this.”

“I heard that you received the assistance of His Highness Weiss?”

They didn’t care about my safety.

That was their true aim.

His Highness Weiss was the second prince. As such, if something were to happen to the crown prince, he was likely to become the next king.

Once Prince Vitoselk safely ascended to the throne, His Highness Weiss would become his right hand. Therefore, if I were to become his wife, I’d be the second most powerful woman in society after the queen.

Moreover, His Highness Weiss was good-looking. Many ladies were aiming for him. Until recently, he had lived abroad so his character was shrouded in enigma. However, that was but a trifle to the ladies.

“Indeed. Since I couldn’t fight them alone, I asked for his aid.”

“…Well, how kind of His Highness Weiss.”

A young lady spoke in a restrained manner.

‘It’s not because he cares about you. He’s just being kind. Don’t misunderstand.’—was what she was trying to say.

“Yes, he’s truly kind. I also didn’t expect you to be so kind to me, despite this being our first meeting.”

To which I replied with, ‘I hope you’ll help me when I’m in trouble, just like His Highness Weiss did.’

The young lady glared at me.

I wondered how she could afford to choose a man of unknown character as her future spouse just because he was high-ranking. No matter how high his status was, even if she’d be standing above others, if the family environment was hell—it’d mean nothing.

Perhaps, that was because I had a hellish marriage in my previous life.

If I were to marry His Highness Weiss, would I be happy?

His Highness Weiss treated me kindly. That alone left me overjoyed. Nevertheless, that wasn’t enough of a reason to mindlessly accept him. Never again would I allow such a marriage.

As a duchess, I needed a successor. Hence, I thought of adopting a child from a branch family.

“!?”

Suddenly, when I was enjoying the conversation—aka, information gathering, my elbow was forcefully pulled. As a result, I almost fell over.

His Highness Wagner had grabbed me. Impatience and frustration seeped out of him. I knew the cause.

“Sofia! Why did you ignore my letter!?”

As soon as he learned about Aries, His Highness Wagner sent me a letter. He wanted to start over with me. As the reason behind the annulment of our engagement was because he had cheated on me, His Highness Wagner couldn’t propose to me. Thus, he ordered me to propose to him.

The letter didn’t mention anything about Aries. He had cut her off. To fall for someone so low, both Aries and I were idiots.

Due to out dreaming of inexistent things, both the former me and the current Aries fell into an abyss. After my death in my previous life, I didn’t know what kind of life Aries led. I couldn’t imagine being happy with someone like him.

“My deepest apologies, Your Highness, but it’s impossible to renew our engagement. In the first place, isn’t Your Highness still engaged to Aries?”

Once everyone knew that His Highness Wagner had asked for my hand in marriage, they withdrew. They were the same people who accused Aries of being heartless for trying to destroy our engagement as soon as she became a sinner.

“I’ll annul my engagement with Aries right away, so shut up and listen to what I say.”

---

***T/N: Lmao I think the most delusional one is prolly prince wagner.

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