TCS - Chapter 6
Indeed, this could have been resolved if he had just bowed his head and apologized sincerely for his wrongdoing at the beginning.'
How would his family have known that the guy living in the capital was going around making illegitimate children?
That's why I intended to let it pass amicably, but seeing how things turned out, it was utterly infuriating.
I intended to leave them breathing space. But when he chose to drink himself to death, why should I waste effort trying to stop him?
In the end, the Saxon family had to pay a substantial settlement. Though Pedro was at fault, the engagement contract bound both the Saxon and Estalote families, making this outcome possible.
Since Pedro was clearly a deadbeat, extracting compensation from him would have been futile anyway. This arrangement served me better.
I heard they sold all their luxury assets acquired through our family's patronage at rock-bottom prices, barely preserving their estate while scraping together the settlement funds.
For them, it must have been unfair and infuriating, but for me, things were finally back at 0.
Because I had fully recovered the benefits they had gained through me and my family.
And Pedro was completely ruined. One might wonder how he could fall further from here, but it was possible. He ended up being expelled from the family.
"You stupid bastard! You couldn't even keep your own body in check, and now look at this mess!"
"Yeah! As the older brother, you didn't even appreciate your blessings and did stupid things, and now what is this!"
Even after settling with a compensation payment, there remained one thing: a lawsuit for adultery under the guise of marriage and fraud.
The Saxon family, facing the prospect of paying damages if they continued to support Pedro, had disowned him. In other words, he had become a commoner.
He had lost his meager fortune in court settlements and was cast out with nothing.
Unable to challenge me, he tried to go to his mistress, but would she take in a madman?
She had already left the capital, cleared her house, and disappeared with the recommendation letter I wrote for her, leaving no chance for him to borrow anything.
In the end, Pedro ended up at a monastery. A noble turned commoner had few options.
He was grateful the monastery accepted him, despite its poor conditions. Entering a monastery was unlikely without donations, so naturally, I intervened.
It wasn't out of affection for Pedro, but to make him spend the rest of his life there reflecting on what he'd lost while enduring hardship.
He was just a knight in name, with no substance to speak of. If he'd been decent with a sword, he might have survived as a mercenary, but...
Pedro's skill with a blade was only slightly better than someone who'd never trained. He was a fool who'd never faced real combat.
If he'd boasted about his mercenary life, he'd have died by a blind sword's edge - and that would have served him right.
In any case, Pedro's fate was sealed. Whether he'd endure at the monastery or flee, it mattered little. If he ran, he'd never return.
By making this wrong choice, he'd lose even the shelter he'd been given. What worse fate could there be?
In the end, I obtained the marriage annulment document.
"Haha. What a long road."
It was spring of the new year when I received the annulment papers.
I'd originally been scheduled to marry Pedro by now, but who could have foreseen this outcome?
Perhaps I should count myself fortunate for avoiding that hellish marriage altogether.
Being able to eavesdrop on the gods' conversations was truly a stroke of luck for me.
After completing the annulment procedures at the administrative office within the imperial palace, I watched the official stamp thud onto the documents before stepping outside.
It was finally over.
"...The weather's perfect."
Contrasting my restless heart from the conclusion of my long unrequited love, the weather was absolutely beautiful.
Despite the clear skies, the streets were nearly deserted - perhaps everyone was still at work during this daytime hour.
I walked through the open-air hallway of the imperial palace, where one wall had been removed to allow for an exit.
Leaning against a pillar that supported the roof instead of a wall, I gazed up at the sky.
The weather was truly perfect.
"...Hic!"
I wasn't feeling regret or disappointment about the breakup. But ending things with someone I'd spent nearly half of my life with - someone I'd thought I'd continue to share my life with forever - couldn't help but stir emotions within me.
Even if that end had been an unhappy one.
When I realized no one was passing by and no one could see me, my tears wouldn't stop.
It was then, as I stood there pathetically weeping, that a figure appeared before me.
A person with a black hood pulled deeply over their face.
The hood was pulled so far down that only the tip of his chin was visible.
I wondered if he could see ahead, but his sudden appearance strangely proved helpful.
My tears had stopped flowing from sheer shock. As the half-formed droplet fell from my blinking eyelid, the man swiftly extended his hand.
I flinched at the suspicious gesture, but what he offered was unexpectedly mundane.
"...A handkerchief?"
It was a neatly folded white cloth, its plain surface devoid of any embroidery.
Could he be a noble? I stared blankly at the unmarked handkerchief, and his fingers twitched impatiently. He clearly wanted me to use it for wiping my tears.
I had my own handkerchief too... but somehow, I didn't want to dismiss his kindness. Even without knowing who he was.
As I carefully accepted the handkerchief, our fingertips brushed.
It was a minor touch, yet the man flinched back as if harassed, pulling his hand away abruptly.
"Huh...?"
I let out an involuntary sound of surprise. The man, now flustered, fumbled around before hastily retreating.
Staring blankly in the direction he'd fled, handkerchief still in hand, I couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all.
"Haha... What a strange person."
He'd clearly been kind, offering a handkerchief when he couldn't bear to watch a stranger cry.
But his overall suspicious demeanor and the way he fled in embarrassment made for an amusing scene.
The man's behavior lingered in my mind as I smiled faintly, wiping my face with the handkerchief.
Hmm......
I couldn't identify the scent, but it carried a refreshing fragrance. The cool aftertaste reminded me of mint. Absentmindedly sniffing, I suddenly flushed with embarrassment.
It was rude to blatantly inhale the body odor of a stranger.
"I should return this..."
Who was it? Would I see them again? Even if we crossed paths, I might not recognize them.
The hooded garment they wore was plain and unremarkable, revealing nothing about their social status.
With 10,000 people passing through the vast imperial palace daily, finding them among the crowd would be impossible.
The handkerchief's plain fabric and lack of pattern suggested they likely didn't expect it back when lending it.
...If fate brings us together, we'll meet again.
Shaking off lingering traces of longing, I walked through the corridor.
***
<Best> [Golden Family’s Siblings’ Obsession]
Wow, so the cure for that mysterious illness from three years ago was seaweed. No wonder the emperor is furious.
The Empire already controls half the continent's coastline, yet... ㅋㅋ If I were Korean, I wouldn't have died! ㅋㅋ
We'd have already eaten that seaweed raw, cooked it in soup, and grilled it with oil... ㅋㅋ
└[Please Help the Evil Beggar ㅠ]
As a Korean, I ate rice wrapped in seaweed today. Tomorrow, I'll have seaweed soup. A 200-year prison sentence for a rice thief! ♡
(t/n : rice thief = very delicious side dish)
└ [Huffy's House Is the Most Perfect House]
But wait... ㅋㅋ Even as a Korean, I'd find that seaweed hard to eat...
It looks like purple blood vessels! Unless there's nothing else to eat, it's just...
The texture is so sticky and unpleasant... ㅋㅋ
└ [VS Death's Inevitable Villain]
What if your beloved male lead imprisoned you but served only that seaweed side dish every meal?
Endure imprisonment vs Escape.
└ [Huffy's House Is the Most Perfect House]
Are you crazy!?
A year had passed since the broken engagement. After the prophecy saved my life, I thought the miracles had ended. But now, another window revealing the future has suddenly appeared before me.
"O God..."
A plague. Shocked by this revelation, I hastily grabbed paper to take notes while reading the contents.
Thankfully, as gods who see the future, this event hadn't yet occurred in my present timeline.
Still, it's urgent. It's happening next year, isn't it?
I was reading through my notes when I suddenly stood up. Everyone was surprised that I was suddenly going on a trip after being stuck in the family estate since my breakup.
"Right... A year should be enough time to sort out your feelings."
They probably thought I'd been holed up in my room, wallowing in heartbreak. It wasn't entirely untrue—I did suffer for about a month before finally letting it go. But I'd put that behind me long ago...
I had no real friends, and thanks to Pedro's massive blunder, news of my breakup had spread like wildfire. I'd stayed at the estate precisely to avoid social events and the inevitable gossip...
As I struggled to explain this awkward situation, my parents spoke up.
"If you don't want to marry, you can stay with us forever. Don't worry too much about it."
"Yes. When I inherit the family business in the distant future, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life. Don't worry."
My eldest brother Sinclair, the heir, also told me that. At their words telling me to live my whole life doing whatever I wanted with the inherited fortune, I mustered my courage.
"I want to start a business."
"Business? What kind of business?"
"Just... anything."
At that, my parents offered to give me a position in the family's merchant group, but I shook my head.
If the young lady of the house, who suddenly parachuted in, said she wanted to buy and sell some strange seaweed that no one even knew existed, who would like that?
To act freely, it was better to use money I could spend as I pleased.
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