Chapter 2: Broken engagement, and strangers
“W-Why…what do you mean?” I asked, trembling.
Then Cain-sama let out a small sigh and looked away from me.
He was looking at a pile of documents on the table.
“There are several reasons. One of them is the current situation.”
“The current situation…”
“Ever since you entered the court, you’ve been working until this late every day. At first, I thought you were passionate about your work and it was wonderful. But I’ve recently realized that you’re just slow and lazy.”
“T-That’s not true!”
I denied it instinctively.
Cain-sama misunderstood.
I’ve never skipped work until today, and I haven’t been slacking off.
I work diligently every day.
Still, it’s because the director is forcing me to take on an unreasonable workload that I can’t finish.
“I’m working without taking a break. Even today, I was supposed to——”
“That’s enough. No more excuses.”
A cold voice echoed in my ears.
I shuddered at the sound of the voice, which I heard for the first time.
“Cain…sama?”
“Do you think I’m talking about this without any basis? I confirmed it with the director beforehand. Whether you’re working seriously here or not.”
“The director?”
“Yes. I was disappointed to hear the answer. It seems like I was mistaken to think you were working seriously.”
I don’t know what the director answered.
Still, I know that the response wasn’t good.
That person hates me.
It’s precisely that person who created my current situation.
“N-No, that’s not true! It’s because the director——”
“Are you lying? You should be careful with your words. The director is in charge of the court’s magic tool makers. In other words, she’s the most excellent magic tool maker in the country. Who do you think is more credible, your words or hers?”
“T-That is…”
“According to the director, you’re doing your best to finish the given tasks as scheduled. You’re always working overtime because your efficiency is low.”
That’s not true.
It’s all because of the unreasonable amount…
“It is true that you have more work than other magic tool makers, but that’s because of your abilities. As the youngest royal magic tool maker, it was expected that you could easily handle this workload, but unfortunately, you were a disappointment. I feel really sorry about it.”
All of them.
Director interprets everything in her own way and reports to Cain-sama.
I can’t fix the twisted facts.
No matter how much I deny it here, Cain-sama won’t believe me.
The moment he mentioned breaking off our engagement, he had no intention of trusting me at all.
So I…
“I’m sorry.”
All I could do was apologize.
Was it my fault?
Was it just because I couldn’t meet expectations?
Where is the line between harassment and expectation?
What was being done to me, was it not harassment?
I… hated it.
Was it wrong for me to think that way?
“H-However, the matter of our engagement is not only our concern. The Roster family and the Balmoust family both need to agree.”
The two families have been close for a long time, and it is customary for the heir of the opposite sex to become engaged when they are born.
To promise a deeper relationship that lasts forever.
It’s what they call a political marriage.
And as the eldest daughter, I was chosen.
Our engagement was decided by the traditions of both families.
It’s difficult to overturn it on a whim.
“Don’t worry. We’ve already resolved that issue.”
“What do you mean by resolved…?”
“I’ve decided to become engaged to your younger sister, Aria, instead of you.”
“Aria…?”
Aria, my younger sister who is three years younger than me.
She’ll be coming of age this year, so there’s no problem with her becoming his fiancé.
“She’s a wonderful girl. She never lies to me and always answers me honestly. She’s still a bit naive, but that’s also part of her charm.”
“Cain-sama… Were you close with Aria?”
“Of course, right? She’s your sister. We had plenty of opportunities to interact. You didn’t know because you were at the court every day, but we’ve met many times before,” he said boldly in front of me.
“…”
I couldn’t say anything.
I never expected to be confessed to, right in front of the person themselves, that he had been cheating on me with my own sister.
While I was desperately working, the two of them were getting along well.
Just imagining it made my anger boil.
But I couldn’t express it in words.
Even if I did, it wouldn’t mean anything.
“Aria… what is her response?”
“Of course she agreed.”
“I see…”
It seemed like there was nothing more to talk about.
The conclusion had already been reached.
Before Cain-sama could say it, I decided to say it myself.
I straightened my back and slowly lowered my head.
“Thank you for everything until now, Cain-sama.”
“Oh, for me too, it was a good experience.”
And so, Cain-sama and I became strangers again.
Easily, without much emotion.
I learned that connections between people could be cut so easily.
“All I could do was apologize.”
Actually no.
You could slap him in the face, kick his b*lls, do a round house kick on his stomach, punch him and break his nose, finger his eyes, grab his hair, smash his face against the floor, grab some random acid from the table and pour over his collapse body and if you are not happy yet…well…improvise! 😉
The only problem is that then the novel will be rated mature, but thats the author’s problem, not yours, so isn’t it fine?
lol