Let's Break Off the Engagement #1
The most awkward silence in the world descended between us.
I was certain that no matter what situation I might face in my lifetime, nothing could ever be more uncomfortable than this moment.
For some reason, I now found myself inside Aria’s room. I had no idea what she was thinking when she let me in, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
An engagement? And with this villainess, of all people? It made no sense.
I had been staring holes into the floor when I finally stole a glance at her.
Her beautiful silver hair sparkled like the Milky Way. Her features were so perfectly sculpted they looked almost unreal. Those vivid ruby-red eyes. The sky-blue dress that complemented her snow-white skin. Her slender limbs and delicate neck that instinctively stirred a protective urge. And even now, her full, womanly curves proudly declared their overwhelming presence.
But none of that mattered.
She was a wicked woman who treated people’s hearts like worthless weeds by the roadside. She had chased after me, claiming she liked me, only to dump me the moment I confessed—just before she left to study abroad. The villainess who grew tired of me and cast me aside without mercy.
‘I’m sorry. Let’s end this.’
The thunderbolt had struck on the year I turned fifteen. I had been preparing a birthday present for her—our three-month anniversary was approaching—when those words shattered everything.
‘Aria, why all of a sudden…’
It was you who approached me first. You said you liked me, that you wanted to be together forever.
‘I’m going abroad to study. It’ll be hard to see each other from now on.’
‘Even so, we don’t have to break up just because you’re studying abroad, right? Don’t you want to see my face anymore?’
‘…Sigh…’
I still couldn’t forget the cold look in her eyes or that deep, exhausted sigh.
‘Do I really have to spell it out for you?’
‘What?’
‘I’m tired of you. I’ve found someone else I like.’
It felt like a dagger had been driven straight into my heart. After that, I couldn’t make sense of anything she said. Her words became meaningless noise, swirling chaotically inside my head.
‘So please, just let me go.’
‘……’
‘Goodbye. Take care.’
With those curt words and not a trace of lingering attachment, she turned her back and walked away.
That was the last time we spoke.
The portrait I had poured my entire heart into as her birthday gift was never finished. It still lay abandoned in some storage room.
At first, I refused to accept reality. There must have been some misunderstanding. I must have done something wrong. But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what I had done.
The Aria who had laughed and chatted happily with me just the day before had suddenly become someone else. I couldn’t understand why.
Before long, that denial turned inward. Maybe the problem was with me. Those dark thoughts consumed me.
I tracked down where she was studying abroad and mustered the courage to contact her, but I never received a single reply. The faint thread of hope gradually twisted into lingering attachment, and eventually that, too, faded into resignation.
I grew more and more exhausted.
Not long after Aria disappeared, the rumors reached me—ugly rumors about her. That she had always been a vixen who toyed with men. That she was an ill-mannered, unsociable villainess.
Normally I would have ignored such baseless gossip, but coming from the girl who had cruelly dumped me, every word cut like a knife.
Back then, Aria had been so beautiful she felt almost too good for me.
At some point, she had become the villainess in my heart. The worst kind of woman—one who stole my heart at her convenience, grew bored, and threw it away. A terrible bitch.
I shut myself in my room. I stopped going outside. I spent every day trapped in a dark hell. I avoided people entirely. The betrayal from the girl I thought would only ever look at me had given me a severe case of social anxiety.
My once bright and outgoing personality had turned dark in an instant.
I tried desperately to forget her. After years of frantic effort, I finally believed I had erased her from my heart. That I would be fine now.
So why was she appearing before me again? Why now?
That’s right. In the end, that was all her feelings for me had amounted to. To her, I was nothing more than a convenient person to keep by her side—nothing more, nothing less.
She would abandon me again just as coldly as before.
Shuddering at the memories, I made a firm vow to myself. Getting involved with this woman would bring nothing good.
I swallowed the harsh words that had nearly burst out of me several times. Even crazy talk had its limits. Marry this villainess? Absolutely not.
I knew our fathers had been close friends since long ago. Was that why they had gone ahead and arranged this engagement without asking?
Damn it.
After cursing inwardly once, I forced myself to speak as calmly as possible.
“Hello, Lady Aria. It’s been a while.”
I offered the most formal greeting I could manage. Just having this conversation made my stomach churn, but I had no choice. No matter how much of a villainess she was, she was the daughter of Count Grace, a family equal to ours. If I treated her rudely and damaged our relationship, the blame would fall entirely on me. For the sake of my family’s future, I had to be careful.
I didn’t know how this talk of engagement had come about, but there must have been some misunderstanding.
“…Yes. It has been a while.”
Aria glanced at me briefly before awkwardly shifting her gaze elsewhere.
How on earth had things come to this?
Feeling obligated to say something, I began to ramble.
“It’s been five years. Seeing each other again like this…”
Yes. Five whole years had passed since that day.
In truth, I wanted to run away immediately. Every single second I spent talking to her was pure torment. My chest felt painfully tight.
But I couldn’t find a good excuse, so I sat across from her, enduring it like a man swallowing bitter mustard seeds with tears in his eyes.
“I suppose so.”
Her reply was dry and emotionless, as if she had killed every feeling inside her.
Seeing that icy demeanor made me realize it all over again, with painful clarity. Her heart had already left me long ago.
That’s right. The days when we only had eyes for each other were nothing but a fleeting moment in the past. We were no longer children. We had both become adults.
I couldn’t keep wallowing in the past forever.
Yet the lingering regret still knotted inside my chest refused to leave me. The painful memories that had resurfaced tormented my heart unbearably.
“……”
“……”
After that brief exchange, an unbearably awkward silence fell again.
I had no idea what to say. Hearing the word “engagement” out of nowhere left me completely flustered.
I suddenly found myself resenting my father. If he had known even the smallest detail about what happened between Aria and me five years ago, he would never have tried to marry his son off to the Grace family’s daughter.
I let out a small, quiet sigh and broke the silence first.
“Lady Aria.”
She lifted her head slightly and looked at me.
“Have you heard anything about this matter? Did your father give you any hint, or…”
“No. I only just heard about it myself…”
Aria answered in a low murmur, her eyes sliding away from mine.
So she couldn’t even stand to make eye contact with me anymore.
The thought made anger flare inside me.
‘I’m tired of you. I’ve found someone else I like.’
Those cruel words from five years ago, spoken by the fifteen-year-old Aria, came rushing back.
She had said we should end it. That she didn’t want to see my face anymore. After all the times she had claimed to like me, the moment she thought she was doing better, she had thrown me away. What kind of face did she have to show up in front of me again?
My stomach churned. As the old memories resurfaced, the trauma I had barely managed to suppress all this time came roaring back to life.
Don’t joke around. Who do you think you’re fooling?
“Why would I ever marry a villainess like…”
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“……”
When Aria looked at me with a puzzled expression, I hastily covered my slip. I must have accidentally spoken my thoughts out loud. I needed to be more careful. If this turned into a diplomatic issue between our families, it would be a disaster.
“……”
“……”
Once again, silence settled over us.
Let me think. Yes, there must have been some mistake. Otherwise, there was no way anyone would suddenly suggest I marry this woman now. Even if it had been in the past, what possible reason could the current me have to marry her? Don’t make me laugh.
I steeled my resolve, looked her straight in the face, and spoke.
“…I think there’s been a mistake with this engagement. I’ll go speak with my father directly.”
That was the conclusion I reached.
“Ah…”
Leaving behind Aria, who reached out hesitantly as if she wanted to say something, I stood up and practically fled the room, escaping into the hallway.
POV Shift: Leo
“Father. I cannot agree to this marriage arrangement. I wasn’t informed beforehand, and I believe there must have been some misunderstanding…”
“……”
When I cautiously brought up the subject in Count Grace’s study—where my father was in the middle of sharing drinks—his face was already flushed red from the alcohol. He turned his head slightly to look at me.
“What did you just say, Leo?”
“I said I would like you to reconsider this marriage arrangement.”
“……Hmm.”
After a moment of thought, my father picked up his glass, slowly swirled the liquid in a circle, and brought it to his lips. He downed the strong, dark amber liquor in one gulp, set the glass down, and finally spoke.
“So you’re saying you don’t like Aria?”
“No, that’s not it. It’s just too sudden. I’m not mentally prepared, and I think you’re being too hasty with this decision.”
“It is not hasty. The idea of marrying the two of you has been something Count Grace and I have discussed steadily since you were children. And didn’t the two of you once say you wanted to marry each other?”
The unexpected words made my body flinch involuntarily.
“…That was just childish play from when we were young. It wasn’t serious…”
“From what I see, you still haven’t grown up. Your father has gone out of his way to choose a suitable marriage partner for you, and you call this immature behavior?”
“That’s…”
I couldn’t answer.
In noble society, it wasn’t uncommon for fathers to decide their children’s political marriages. Especially for the eldest son who would carry on the family line—most such unions were arranged to strengthen ties between houses. I didn’t particularly resent the practice itself. I had vaguely prepared myself for the possibility that it might happen someday.
But if the partner was that villainess, the story changed completely.
No matter how much it was for the family, marrying a woman who had once cruelly abandoned me would never lead to a smooth life. We would probably live as a show-window couple our entire lives before meeting a miserable end.
I wanted to tell my father right then and there. That she was the villainess who had heartlessly dumped me five years ago. That she had coldly said we would never meet again and left. That I no longer felt even the slightest emotion toward her.
But the words wouldn’t leave my mouth. Perhaps because I feared they would sound like nothing more than a childish tantrum. Because I was afraid that the event that had become a trauma for me would be dismissed as mere children’s nonsense.
My mouth and my mind both refused to bring up that incident.
“Did something happen between you and Aria?”
“No, that’s… well… yes, something like that…”
“Is it something you can’t tell others?”
“……”
I couldn’t give any answer.
Despite appearances, my father was quite perceptive. Even though I hadn’t said a word, he seemed to have already guessed that something had happened between Aria and me.
After a brief silence, he let out a small sigh, picked up the bottle, refilled his glass, and took another sip. Watching him, I could almost feel his bitter emotions flowing toward me, and a wave of guilt washed over me.
“Leo. Come and sit down for a moment.”
At that moment, Count Grace—who had been sitting across from us—called my name.
“…Yes.”
Since it was my father’s friend speaking, I obediently walked over to the table and sat down on the sofa.
Unlike my father, whose face turned bright red when he drank, Count Grace still looked relatively sober.
“I understand that you’re flustered. If someone suddenly came to me talking about an engagement, I would be startled too.”
“…Yes.”
You really do understand.
I tried to hide my strong agreement and answered passively. Count Grace cleared his throat a couple of times and continued.
“Still, as you know, our families have maintained a deep relationship since long ago. And since we each happen to have a fine young man and woman of marriageable age, we thought this would be the perfect match. That’s why we proceeded with this matter.”
“……”
“First, I apologize for arranging the engagement between the two of you without considering your wishes. If I had known it would be like this, I should have asked you in advance. I am truly sorry.”
“No, sir, you don’t need to apologize…”
The fact that Count Grace—a man far older than me—bowed his head and apologized so politely left me even more flustered. I waved both hands in denial. He raised his head again and went on.
“I don’t know what happened between you and Aria in the past, but I’m sure she must have made some mistake out of youthful inexperience. For the past five years, that child has lived as if something were chasing her—never looking back, always busy. Perhaps she simply didn’t have the luxury to look around at her surroundings. I hope you can understand that with a generous heart, Leo.”
Was that really something that could be understood just by trying? Because of that incident, I couldn’t eat properly or sleep properly, yet she never contacted me once. And now that we’ve met again after so long, she acts completely indifferent and only shows that cold attitude.
“Moreover, this engagement matter has already spread everywhere because your father sent letters in all directions. The rumor that Aria Grace of the Grace family and Leo Stewart of the Stewart family are engaged.”
“Ah…”
“Since the rumor has already spread this far, we should at least avoid breaking off the engagement right after it was announced. It would be perfect fodder for scandal. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, I understand that part.”
“Therefore, for the time being, maintain the engagement with Aria at least in name. If it really doesn’t work out later, we can discuss it again then. At that point, we will seriously reconsider as well.”
“…Understood.”
When he put it that way, I had nothing left to say. I could only nod.
Having left the study with no real gains, I trudged back to Aria’s room with heavy steps and opened the door.
Surprisingly, she had been sitting quietly inside waiting for me. She glanced my way with a look that asked what had happened.
Her gentle eyes, which didn’t match her cold personality at all, were lovely. Her softly swaying silver hair was truly beautiful.
What sin had that brilliant silver hair committed to end up with the wrong owner?
No—perhaps the hair was simply part of her too.
With such useless thoughts running through my mind, I slowly shook my head without saying a word. Aria’s expression grew subtle.
“…I see. It didn’t go well.”
Her pretty, pale pink lips moved in a strangely seductive way.
“……”
But to me, that appearance only looked hypocritical.
She was a villainess. The villainess who had cruelly abandoned me in the past. A terrible woman.
I forced down the words that had risen all the way to my throat.
For now, the priority was figuring out how to make this marriage arrangement disappear as if it had never happened.
“Our fathers say it will be difficult for us to break off the engagement immediately. They said that for the sake of our families’ reputations and to mind the eyes of society, we should maintain the engagement for the time being.”
“…I see.”
“Don’t you have any good ideas? You must find being engaged to me in this way troublesome as well, Lady Aria.”
I sat down on the sofa across from her and asked. Aria slightly avoided my gaze as she answered.
“I’m not sure. Nothing comes to mind right now.”
Good grief. She was no help at all.
I sighed inwardly several times and awkwardly scratched my head.
“An engagement so suddenly… It’s bewildering.”
“…It really is.”
Aria also ran her hand through the hair by her temple and answered awkwardly.
She clearly didn’t want to marry me either. Yet she probably couldn’t bring herself to suggest breaking it off first, afraid she would look like trash again.
That’s right. This time, I had no choice but to say it first—just as she had done to me in the past.
But to do that, I needed something solid. Something definite that would shatter this betrothal…
“……Ah.”
At that moment, one idea came to me.
“Lady Aria.”
“Yes, Lord Leo.”
“Then let’s do this. We’ll maintain this engagement for three months, and then break it off.”
“…Pardon?”
The moment I spoke those words, the air surrounding Aria seemed to change completely.
“W-what… do you mean by that…?”
Aria’s voice trembled faintly. Deep bewilderment filled her red eyes as she looked at me.