Chapter 1: Engagement Breaking Off
Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter
Elias Edition
“Please allow our engagement with each other to be called off.”
The young lady burst out, her wide eyes brimming with tears.
Initially, Elias was at a loss to grasp what he was being told. For a moment, uncharacteristically for him, he stood there in utter blank amazement. Despite not opening his broad mouth, his dark-brown eyes remained fixedly open as he gazed around at his lovely fiancée from top to bottom.
It was true that today, he felt that the atmosphere was somehow different from the ordinary, but what was she saying out of the blue?
“Prince Elias. You and I should end our engagement, please.”
Elias abruptly recovered his composure after hearing the words once more.
It seemed that it was not a mishearing. If that was the case, there was no sense in standing there and looking like a fool.
Inhale deeply, exhale slowly. Elias’ face adopted a gentle, yet bemused smile, followed by a calm voice.
“Lady Grace. Would you be so kind as to explain? Have I treated you in a way that was unworthy of you?”
Oddly enough, Elias saw the girl’s eyes lifted for a split second. It was typical of her to reveal an immediate expression on her face. Her demeanor would change in the presence of a guy, as it would for a woman of such exalted stature. Elias thought that a woman’s trait like this was both endearing and practical. For better or worse, it was simple. It beat a woman who kept her mouth shut wondering what was on her mind or a woman who was foolish enough to try to manipulate a man behind the scene while putting on a good front.
The issue was that Elias seemed to be experiencing rage of some kind when emotions of that nature came to the surface. Elias offered a princely smile and curled his lips after not noticing anything wrong with Grace but inwardly wished he could click his tongue.
“You don’t have a single flaw… That is precisely because why I am unworthy of you.”
Grace’s endearing, rasping voice had a reputation for being as pleasant to listen to as a canary’s. But as of now, Elias was beginning to perceive it as extremely irritating.
Nonetheless, it would be shallow to be offended by such a thing, and even if Grace had something to complain about, he would still have to keep himself in the right mood.
Duke Valmi, unquestionably the most influential aristocrat in the neighborhood, has been coddling his sole remaining daughter ever since the death of his wife. And that would be Grace. Elias therefore set his sights on her, among all the other beauties. After patiently laying the foundation for their relationship from the time she was still an innocent girl, he donned the mask of a good-looking young man and made advances to her with sweet and coquettish words, which led to a successful approval and a marriage proposal. The challenges he went through were beyond description.
Grace was the only daughter of Duke Valmi, a distinguished noble house.
Elias, on the other hand, was the Fifth Prince.
Even though Elias believed he was the sole legitimate prince—the first had died too soon, and the second was unreliable and ill—his father, the king, had already recognized him as such. Furthermore, his father evidently felt more affection and favoritism for his filthy children with a lustful woman than for Elias and his sons, whom he had fathered through a political marriage.
It was repulsive. For Elias, he had always found it unforgivable.
He has always felt that for being a prince, he was not being given what he should have been entitled to.
Fame, position, wealth. Over and above what a typical individual would have, he possessed all of these things. However, in reality, they fell well short of Elias’ aspirations.
His father should have appreciated and admired Elias more.
His mother should be more hopeful and pleased with Elias.
His brothers should be modest enough to return the things to Elias that they unjustly owned him.
That filthy whore, that royal disgrace, ought to realize her shame and depart the castle.
All his subjects ought to bow down to Elias, and all the common people ought to prostrate themselves before him.
How can the people not fulfill their natural duties? Everything in the world existed for Elias.
Elias’ self-esteem was too high, and the knowledge that he couldn’t live up to it tortured him constantly.
But after meeting Grace, he had an epiphany.
Nothing in the world was limited to castles. For instance, Duke Valmi’s territory.
Elias has not abandoned his childhood ambition to prove that he was the true king. He did, though, decide to change his conduct.
Reputation, prestige, wealth – as well as acknowledgment. The ideal way to achieve all of this—success as a distinguished lord, wealth he wouldn’t have to divide with his brothers, and then, possibly, falling in love with Grace—seemed to be through marriage to Grace.
“Prince Elias. In the beginning, I thought there was nobody who could understand me as well as you do. My tomboyishness wasn’t well received by other gentlemen, but you claimed it was fine. You are my prince. A kind, strong, and wise man. Even though I strived to be the ideal partner for you… things ended up being different. Everything was not the same. And it dawned on me.”
Elias, who was still processing what was actually taking place, heard Grace speak.
He was finally coming to terms with what was unfolding. The impact must have been so overwhelming that his mind had subconsciously rejected the notion.
No way, you mean to tell me that after I have come all this far, you are now attempting to end our relationship?
“Lady Grace, I don’t understand what you mean… why are you asking me now to break off our engagement?”
In the past, she had thrown tantrums, made outlandish remarks, and burned her hands. The azure eyes of Grace possessed a light of willpower when her mind was made up and she would not give in. She drew in a breath, and then her face must have turned piercingly sharp again.
“I will tell you this, Prince Elias. You do not love me. That is why I cannot marry you.”
“What―What nonsense are you saying?”
“You know better than anyone else that you do not love me. I told you earlier, you have always been kind to me… But that was not because you were fond of me, but because you didn’t care about me. Am I wrong?”
Elias was speechless this time. Grace was supposed to be a simple, naive, thoughtless young lady. He was so taken aback when she revealed to him who he really was—a man who could treat everyone flawlessly since he wasn’t fascinated by anything and everything—that he nearly went blank in astonishment.
“I am a self-serving woman. Perhaps I am being unbecoming of an aristocrat. Once we are married, you will probably be ostensibly very benevolent to me. Perhaps you will even give me the world, which I initially believed to be a joke. But.. but I’ve already come to an understanding. I am a woman who cannot live without love. As long as you love me, I’ll endure any circumstances. But I can’t live like that, without love, appearing to be content only in appearance! What you and I wish for is definitely not the same. We can’t live together and be happy.”
The young lady slowly approached her former fiancé, who was standing still and bowed deeply once more.
“I can’t go against my… own heart. After all this time, it is my one-sided convenience. Therefore, please, break off our engagement.”
―Ah, so she was saying that Elias could unilaterally break off the engagement, not cancel it. He gulped from his dry throat.
“Your father―Duke Valmi, what did he say?”
“He said this is a matter for both of us to discuss first. But he said he would respect my feelings.”
Elias searched for the right words as his gaze lingered on the young woman’s head.
The sapphire hairpiece he had gifted her. Until recently, Grace had been so delighted that she always wore it every time she met Elias.
Now, there was a wildflower of some sort entwined with it, whose name Elias did not know.
Ah, he felt the sensation of everything fading away.
“―I will break off my engagement with you.”
Was there anything else he could do but squeeze the words out of his parched throat?
He knew he had lost… He couldn’t bear the thought of exposing his hideous figure any further.
