Provocation
I don’t understand this at all.
Isabel’s icy voice pierced straight into my ears. I simply blinked, staring at her in blank confusion.
“What’s the reason?”
Isabel’s blue eyes sank into a chilling calm. If my answer wasn’t reasonable, she looked ready to rise from her seat and demand an explanation on the spot.
“I already told you. I don’t love you anymore.”
“...Do you honestly think I’d bat an eye just because you say so?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
“Get a hold of yourself. There is no precedent in history for breaking off an engagement between noble houses in this manner.”
By some strange coincidence, the exact lines I had spat out in the previous round to force the engagement with Isabel were now flowing from her lips verbatim.
I let out a long sigh and took a sip of black tea. Then, with perfect composure, I declared:
“Then we’ll be the first.”
The engagement had to be broken. For my sake, and for hers. The knot had become so hopelessly tangled that it needed to be severed at the root before it could grow any worse.
“I would rather not endure that kind of disgrace.”
Isabel glared at me with wary, guarded eyes. Of course. For the Kyle Winfred she knew, this would have been impossible. Yet I was just as unsettled by the way her attitude had completely flipped.
Hiding my stunned expression, I looked at her again.
“What’s the problem?”
“...”
“Weren’t you the one singing about breaking the engagement? Now you’re refusing? Or is the Winfred family fortune simply too tempting to let slip away?”
Her face stiffened into a rigid mask. It seemed her pride had taken a serious blow. But the moment passed quickly. Isabel smiled again with effortless grace and swept her golden hair behind one ear.
“Kyle Winfred.”
She let out a short, arrogant laugh, as if she had finally figured it out.
“You’re always like this, aren’t you?”
“......”
“I don’t know what scheme you’re cooking up this time, but you should stop. This engagement will not fall apart because of your stubbornness, and there is even less chance that I will ever see you differently.”
What the hell is she talking about? Does she think I’m doing this just to get her attention?
Kyle Winfred could never stop loving her. Her eyes carried the absolute certainty of that belief. It made sense, in a way. Kyle had loved Isabel with a devotion that bordered on madness. Across every route, he had never once shown interest in any woman but her. A pure-hearted fool in every sense of the word.
At this point, I was genuinely curious why she was throwing such a fit.
I asked as if it were nothing important.
“It’s not like you have feelings for me, right?”
“W-what are you—!!”
She stamped her foot with a loud thud, her face flushing crimson.
“Please consider the situation before spouting such nonsense. It’s unpleasant!”
“Then why is your face turning red?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Ugh…!”
An incredulous laugh escaped me. To see her display such a wide range of emotions in front of Kyle Winfred was something I could never have imagined.
“Let’s break the engagement.”
“I refuse.”
“You hate me, don’t you?”
“Who told you that? That I hate you?”
Who told me? Those were the exact words you used to spit at Kyle every chance you got.
“...”
What was Isabel’s true intention? No—forget intention. Was this woman even the same Isabel I had watched for decades? I couldn’t get a read on her at all. Every conversation felt like a tense tug-of-war with hidden motives.
If that was the case…
□□□□□ □□□ □□□ □□□□□
Don’t tell me it’s the penalty?
Yes. This completely censored penalty that gave no hint of its contents might be connected somehow. Or it could simply be one of Isabel’s sudden whims. There was also the possibility that my mention of breaking the engagement had wounded her pride and she was now lashing out in petty anger.
I do need Isabel’s help, though…
Ending an engagement required agreement from both families. It would be far more efficient to persuade each house separately rather than trying to convince both on my own. That was why I had proposed the breakup to her, but…
It’ll be faster to push through alone.
Belger Winfred. The master of this estate and Kyle’s biological father. Instead of wasting more time arguing with Isabel, it would be quicker to persuade him. Even though unilaterally breaking the engagement would require paying a massive sum in consolation money to the Yustia family, I could simply offer Belger Winfred something of equal value.
The scales tipped quickly.
“...I’ve wasted enough time.”
I clicked my tongue and rose from my seat. There was no point lingering here any longer.
As I turned to leave, a firm voice cut through the air behind me.
“Stop.”
Isabel’s resolute tone filled the room.
“Stop, Kyle.”
I halted without meaning to.
“I have not the slightest intention of breaking this engagement.”
As expected. In the end, she was blocking my path.
“Do you remember?”
Her left hand rested on the side table. The ring on her finger caught the sunlight and sparkled. It was the engagement ring Kyle Winfred had given her.
“The one who proposed the engagement. The one who forced his love. It was all you.”
Her voice trembled faintly.
If it had been the real Kyle, what would he have said? The answer came quickly.
“It was.”
The woman who had despised Kyle so fiercely was now speaking of love. A hollow laugh slipped out.
“...”
Soon Isabel’s gaze began to trace something.
“You…”
I followed her eyes. She was staring at my left hand.
“Ah. This.”
The engagement ring I had given Isabel. The ring that should have been on this body’s left ring finger was nowhere to be seen.
I spoke indifferently.
“I threw it away.”
“...”
I turned my back on her. Isabel’s voice shouted something after me, but I ignored it. I hadn’t taken a single sip of the tea she poured. After all, dying from poison had been quite painful.
“Young master.”
When I opened the door, the waiting old butler approached. He looked deeply troubled—clearly he had overheard the conversation.
“Where is my father right now?”
“You mean His Grace the Duke? He has been working in his study since morning.”
“Guide me there.”
“...Pardon?”
“Take me to where my father is. I have something to say to him.”
The old butler’s eyes widened, as if he were asking whether I had lost my mind.
To obtain the Holy Relic, I needed to leave the northern territory and head for the imperial capital. Every official setting in the game pointed to the capital as its location. There were no other options.
Persuade the Duke, cleanly break the engagement, then depart for the capital. Find the relic and return to my original world.
But a problem had arisen.
“Young master.”
The butler emerged from the study and hurried toward me.
“His Grace… has refused the audience.”
“What?”
The butler’s throat bobbed. He continued as if forcing the words out.
“He said… to chase you out immediately…”
Fuck. Nothing could be simple.
The Duke’s stance was absolute. I continued requesting meetings at every opportunity, but he rejected me without the slightest concession. He had no time to waste on a bastard, let alone the family’s notorious good-for-nothing.
The sharp-eyed servants of the mansion could not have missed the atmosphere. Soon, rumors about how the Duke treated me began circulating inside the estate.
“This is fucking annoying.”
It was obvious. The fact that I had proposed breaking the engagement to Isabel must have reached his ears.
“Was it the butler? Or did the Yustia family already make a move?”
I didn’t know the exact channel, but the situation had twisted violently because of it. At the very least, I needed a chance to meet him to attempt any kind of deal.
The longer this dragged on, the worse my position became. The engagement ceremony date was set. Once it took place, breaking the engagement would become impossible.
It was then that a familiar knock sounded.
Knock, knock—
“Young master.”
As expected, when I opened the door, the old butler stood there, once again delivering the Duke’s response.
“That is… His Grace has said…”
“Don’t tell me it’s the same today?”
“Yes. If you are found near the study, he ordered us to remove you by force if necessary…”
Crack—
I felt something inside me snap.
“This insane bastard…”
My patience had reached its limit. The ceremony was approaching, and I needed to settle this immediately.
“Wait a moment.”
I stopped the butler as he turned to leave.
“I didn’t want to go this far, but…”
I opened the desk drawer, took out stiff paper and a quill, and scribbled something across the page. The butler watched with wide eyes, blinking in confusion.
After a moment, I folded the paper with a satisfied expression and sealed it inside an envelope.
The butler accepted the letter with a dazed look.
“Young master?”
His eyes begged for an explanation.
I smiled crookedly and waved a hand.
“Deliver it exactly as it is.”
The butler stared back and forth between me and the envelope for a long time before finally departing with it. A reaction from the Duke would come soon. And it would be quite intense.
“Haaam.”
I let out a lazy yawn.
Sure enough, before long the old butler came rushing back, his face deathly pale.
“Y-young master.”
He caught his breath and delivered the message.
“His Grace has read the letter.”
“And?”
When I asked cautiously, the butler continued.
“He ordered us to bring you to him immediately…”
Hook, line, and sinker. Meeting the Duke was now all but guaranteed. However…
“...However, after reading the note, he became extremely enraged. He looked ready to draw his sword at any moment.”
It seemed I had struck his reverse scale perfectly. That was to be expected. The situation I had deliberately created was one of the routes in which Kyle Winfred met his death in the game.
It didn’t matter. Everything was intentional, and I had prepared flawless countermeasures.
“This way.”
I followed the butler toward the study. Behind me, escort knights blocked every possible escape route in case I tried to flee.
Creak—
The moment the door opened.
“...!”
A bone-chilling wind scraped across my skin. The thick killing intent made breathing itself feel laborious.
I turned my head. A man radiating dignity stood leaning against the wall, a terrifyingly sharp blade drawn in his hand.
“Kyle Winfred.”
The Duke ground out my name.
“You had better explain yourself properly. If you wish to keep that worthless life of yours.”
He seemed rather furious.