My Ex-Fiancée Is the Female Lead in the Romance Novel

5 – Breaking Engagement (1)

The next day after the Imperial Palace Ball, Elvern, the capital of the empire, was in a lively atmosphere as if the fever of the previous day was still there. However, today’s atmosphere was different from yesterday’s atmosphere.

Yesterday everyone was excited and chatted without hesitation, but today it looked messy.

“Did you see that?”

“Of course not.”

“Are you talking about the newspaper this morning? If that’s the case, there will be fewer people who haven’t seen it.”

Wherever you go, only the scandals of the 2nd Prince and Lady Argenta are being talked about. To that extent, these two proved that they were people who could influence the imperial society, and at the same time became the subject of controversy among the public.

“Infidelity can never be forgiven.”

“Isn’t there any problem with the ajumma and the aristocrats saying they would like to have free love with each other?”

“But the Lombardy Youngsik truly loved Lady Argenta.”

“Is that so? I guess it was.”

A woman’s words begin to convince people around her. And that phenomenon was happening not only here, but elsewhere.

A servant of the Argenta family, who was mingling with the crowd, was taken aback as the situation was going completely different from the Duke of Argenta’s intention.

Obviously, his master was confident that he had made a perfect plan and instructed him to look at public opinion on the street, but why is it going like this?

Cesar is an informal aristocrat with a high reputation among the citizens, and the fact that he sincerely likes Lady Argenta is famous.

But the fact that Cesar’s fiancée was involved in an adultery scandal would not be a good thing for the duchy.

“For now… It would be better to go back to the mansion.”

Even if the servant of the duke looked around any further, he decided that it would not be easy to find positive public opinion for the duke’s daughter and the second prince, and turned around.

* * *

Morning is the same as usual. Even if the maid didn’t wake her up, it was ingrained in her body to wake up on time, so I went down from her room just in time for breakfast.

However, I sensed an unusually chaotic atmosphere surrounding the house, and I was able to intuit that something had happened. That’s not a good thing either.

As if my prediction was correct, the butler looked at me and handed me the newspaper.

“Boss… I think you should read the newspaper today.”

“Uh. Okay.”

As soon as I opened the newspaper the butler had handed me, an article with colored pictures, which are not often used in newspapers, caught my eye.

In the photo, a woman and a man seemed to be passionately kissing. As soon as I saw it, I thought it was a trivial gossip, so I looked at the photo again and noticed something strange.

“This dress… It’s Leah’s dress…”

When I looked down a bit, the title of the article written in large letters under the photo was naturally exposed to my eyes.

“The 2nd Prince and… Lady Argenta.”

The two made passionate love on the terrace overlooking the imperial garden…

“It can’t be?”

Obviously, Lia and I were in a good mood yesterday. But couldn’t it be like this all of a sudden?

“How could that be?”

“Father…”

“Isis said that she saw the two of them having a tryst on the terrace yesterday. Besides, it is a place visible from the garden of the imperial palace, so there are not one or two witnesses.”

My head gets cold. As if I was reprimanding myself for judging only emotionally until just now, it seems like a cold wave surges in my heart.

I trusted Leah. Until now, I pretended not to know that Leah was dating another man. She didn’t show any signs of going deep with the men, and she usually only met them for a day or so and never saw them again.

But this case is different. The opponent is the second prince, not an opponent I can easily deal with. And she said that if Ria, who had never given her lips to me, would give her lips, then she wouldn’t be dating for a day or two.

As I continued to think about it, an unbearable pain was inflicted on my heart.

The adultery of the woman I loved more than anyone else, and since the other person is a person with a higher status than I do, it is impossible to recover it through force or power.

Those things are just fine. The most shocking thing is that Leah betrayed me. I betrayed her trust I gave her, I betrayed her affection.

She smiles warmly at her despite her seemingly endless coldness, but she begins to look pathetic. And she hated herself for mistaking that she still had her affection for me because she smiled a little and danced a little sweetly.

“We will proceed with the divorce procedure. This is a decision as the family head. You have no right to say no.”

The result of unrequited love ended in the worst form of betrayal. Then the person who will handle the back part of the story must be me.

“No. I will take responsibility for everything.”

In the end, I brought it upon myself. If we had broken off the marriage long ago, we could have ended it in a quiet atmosphere, but things have already become too big.

It’s a matter that even the royal family intervened. It’s never going to end easily.

I have to take responsibility. The time has come for me to take responsibility for her stubbornness and her trust in her.

* * *

Seria is in a bit of a nervous state right now. She always wakes up at 7 o’clock, but she hasn’t heard anything from her until after 12 o’clock.

Apparently, Cesar thought that she would come to ask him about his relationship with the second prince. However, contrary to her expectations, Cesar, who had not sent a letter or contacted her, started to feel a little anxious.

“Cesar… What if he’s really mad…?” Seria, she thought about going to the writer after Lombardi herself, but she couldn’t make that choice.

“Still, I’m a bit afraid to go first, but…”

Because she had never visited Cesar before. It was natural because César always came to visit her.

While Seria had an unfounded belief that Cesar would come to find her first this time, her brother, Ludria, came to her room.

When Seria was at a loss for what to do with his somewhat angry expression, Ludria called her with her somewhat subdued voice.

“Seria.”

“Yes, brother.”

“The family and the imperial family have just received a letter of dissolution of engagement from the Lombardy family.”

“Yes…? It can’t be… Isn’t it?”

Cesar must be in love with him.

Cesar has endured a lot of cold treatment until now. That such a César abandoned himself for being fooled by such a crude photograph?

Ah yes, this is his complaint. He is complaining in the sense of asking you to pay more attention to yourself and not dating other men.

With that thought, Seria told Ludria her thoughts in a confident voice.

“Perhaps Cesar is angry, so he’s only doing it temporarily for now, and after a while, when the anger subsides, he’ll cancel the engagement.”

“Seria… Do you really think so?”

Ludria wondered if Seria really meant this. It is absolutely not normal for her to see that César would still cling to her even though she had openly cheated on her.

If the marriage is broken now, it will inevitably affect the prestige of the family. What a shame for the young lady of the duke who cheated on her and was dumped by her fiancé.

Of course, his father, the Duke of Argenta, thinks that even if the marriage is broken off, it is enough to be engaged to the second prince, but if that happens, the Argenta family will be taken by the second prince.

“I know Cesar best. Brother. He will never abandon me.”

Emotions are fleeting sparks. Seria didn’t seem to know that even a person she hated, if she got close to her, would know that she was actually a decent person, and that love for someone she loved could turn into hate the moment she saw the person’s ugliness.

“Seria. First, go to the Lombardi Mansion and meet Cesar. Then it will be clear.”

Ludria finally gave her what she wanted to say herself. Ludria was expecting something to change if Cesar and Seria met.

“For now… Is that so?”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Yes? You don’t have to come all the way to my older brother.”

Originally, Ludria did not intend to follow her, but she changed her mind to follow her because she was suspicious of her sister’s mental problems.

However, what greeted them after arriving at the Lombardi Mansion was the cold words of the head of the Lombardi Mansion.

“The Marquis and Young master cannot see each other.”

“I am the fiancée of the Young master you speak of. I have the right to meet him.”

At Seria’s words, the butler replied with a snort.

“No. Not from now on.”

After saying that, the butler locked the gate of the mansion.