Chapter 3 (I Hate Ugly Men)
When Lariette was very young, her relationship with Raon wasn’t too bad. Raon was loved unconditionally from birth, and although he was already arrogant at a young age, he was quite fond of his one and only younger sister. But, of course, it was still a shallow affection—giving her toys he’d grown tired of and the like.
Only after she joined him for lessons did their relationship change for the worse.
Parental love, financial support, the ducal inheritance—their parents gave all of these to Raon, but a talent for magic was something they couldn’t give him.
And, as if in recompense, Lariette was given nothing but was born with a tremendous magical talent.
Although she was not outstanding in every field, she was outstanding enough to be unmatched in some. The teaching wizards couldn’t praise her enough. They said she was a “true Blanche” and was born to dominate the era.
And when Raon heard what they had to say, he immediately told his mother so that Lariette could no longer attend classes. Since then, there has been no more of that rarely-offered shallow affection.
Jealousy.
That was the moment Raon began to hate Lariette.
****
“Ahhh!! Hey, what is this!”
“You’re so noisy. Just shut up.” Lariette looked at the marquis, who hung upside down with a terrified expression on his face. She even snapped her fingers once.
“‘Shut up?!’ What did you say to me?!”
“Lord Segreb, I’m only going to explain this once, so listen carefully.”
The Marquis of Segreb wanted to scream, but strangely, his lips were stuck together, and he couldn’t say anything.
“I have no intention of marrying you. Our engagement ends today.”
“Mrph! Mrphh!!”
Lariette stretched out her long, white finger and tapped the marquis’ cheek. It was in return for his earlier gesture. “I just hate ugly men.”
She smiled bitterly, flicking her hand as if she had touched something dirty. The marquis’ face, already ruddy, grew even redder with shame.
But her moment of exhilaration was ruined by fast-approaching voices.
“Lariette!!”
“My God, the Marquis of Segreb!”
After the butler alerted them to the situation, the duke and duchess rushed there. The duchess screamed when she saw the Marquis of Segreb hanging upside down, and the duke moved his hand in a hurry to cast a disarmament spell.
Thud!
“Ugh!” Due to the sudden release of the magic, the Marquis of Segreb hit his head on the dirt floor and moaned.
The scene was too ridiculous—Lariette couldn’t help but laugh.
At the sound of her laughter, the duchess glared furiously at Lariette. It looked like she would slap her.
“Lord Segreb, are you okay?” The duke hurriedly tried to help the Marquis of Segreb to his feet, but the marquis waved him away and stood on his own.
“This disgrace. I will never, ever forget this.”
“Marquis, our daughter is still young, so please—”
“No! And you can forget about our deal!” The Marquis of Segreb cut in, answering the Duke of Blanche firmly. Then, he sent a vicious look toward Lariette and continued speaking, his voice threatening. “Just you wait and see, Lady Blanche. There will come a day when you will beg and kneel to me.”
“Well, I don’t want to see that ugly face again. I have a weak stomach.” Lariette smiled as she spoke, and the marquis bared his teeth.
The duchess grabbed Lariette’s arm roughly, treating her like she’d gone mad, but Lariette calmly shook her off.
It’s over now.
Ultimately, the marquis left the estate, despite the pleading duke and duchess.
Afterward, the ire of the duke and duchess fell solely on Lariette. Even Raon joined in and looked at her with contempt.
“You,” the first to break the silence was the duchess. Her high voice trembled with anger. “Have you finally gone crazy, Lariette?”
“Yeah, a little late, though. I should have done it right away.”
“What?!”
“Isn’t it strange that this family hasn’t gone crazy until now?”
The duchess let out a low sigh as if it was ridiculous. Then, with a sharp voice, she started admonishing. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? As if it’s not bad just to embarrass the family! Now you even plan to put the Duke of Blanche into debt!”
“Who put the duke into debt?”
“Now you dare…!”
“I didn’t do it. So it’s strange. Why do I have to pay the debt someone else made?”
It was a reference to the record of the Duke of Blanche, who did business arrogantly here and there and brought the family to ruin.
The Duke of Blanche couldn’t believe his obedient daughter had said this. At the same time, he was furious at this child who dared to challenge her father’s authority.
“It’s not someone else! It’s only right and natural for a daughter to take care of this for her father.”
“‘Father’? Ha!” Lariette snorted as if she had heard a funny joke. “Even though I’ve been acting absurd, what sort of father doesn’t care what the marquis did to make me do this?”
“No matter how rude he was, you should—”
“Have you ever been interested in me in the first place?”
“Lariette! What are you talking about?” When the duchess heard it, she screamed and then continued. “The dresses you wear, the carriage you ride, the food you eat! You enjoyed it because you were our daughter. So shouldn’t you take some responsibility for that?”
“Yeah, I thought so too, and I tried to take responsibility. Originally, I did all the estate management, which was your job, Mother. And I visited the estates, which should have been Raon’s work. I even accepted the marriage to that sleazy bastard to pay off the debt my father accrued.”
“Then why are you behaving like this now?!” It was a high-pitched voice.
Lariette bit the inside of her lip in the bitter glance of hatred. To them, her devotion was too natural. It was a fact she knew, but when she heard it put so bluntly, her chest felt heavy, as if something were pressing on it. “If my mother and father won’t take on the responsibilities of parents, why would I do that? As much as there is a way to become a child, there must be a way to become a parent.”
“Where do you think all your enjoyment came from,” the duchess shouted, saying it was absurd.
Lariette let out a small sigh and continued, “A parent has responsibilities other than providing food, clothing, and shelter. If you had been at least half as kind to me as you were to Raon, I would have just done my part and died.”
“Haha! You’re not even a baby; it’s funny that you’re still whining for affection,” Raon giggled and mocked Lariette for mentioning him.
Lariette glared at him indifferently and responded softly. “Shut up, Raon. Haven’t you figured out that even a baby is more useful than you?”
“This girl…” Raon, agitated by Lariette’s words, charged at her rapidly when insulted. But not faster than the duke.
Slap!
The duke’s rough hand remorselessly slapped Lariette’s cheek.
Her face burned from the sharp friction, and then it began to tingle like mad.
Lariette stood shocked. She didn’t even think to turn her head back to its original position.
The duke opened his mouth, and an angry voice spilled out words that hurt Lariette more than her stinging cheek. “I raised you, but your arrogance has crossed the line.”
Lariette was still stunned.
“I don’t need a deranged bitch like you anymore. I will erase you from the family register, so leave immediately!”
“Honey, that’s a bit,” the duchess, who heard the furious declaration, put her hand on the duke’s shoulder with a bewildered expression as if she had not wished for him to go that far. But then she met his venomous gaze and quietly shut her mouth.
Lariette slowly faced forward and looked at her father standing before her. He glared at her with steely purple eyes that looked just like hers.
“The family register means nothing to me, Father. It is nothing but a piece of paper that will burn quickly.”
“…….”
“I never feared to be removed from the family register, but from my parent’s hearts. How stupid of me. I could never be removed from where I never existed in the first place.”
“Lariette, don’t talk like that. Apologize to your father right this moment—”
“No.” Lariette cut the duchess off. And she said her final goodbyes with a firm voice, without shaking. “Thank you for everything you have done until now, Duke and Duchess of Blanche.”
She slowly lowered her head and turned around. And then she walked away without looking back.
“Don’t even think about taking anything from the duke’s mansion!” These were the last words of the Duke of Blanche to his daughter.
Lariette smiled bitterly. He was an ignorant father to the end.
****
“Oh, my lady. What’s going on? Gosh.”
“I’m sorry, Anne.”
“Why are you sorry for me? What is the duke doing? What did he do to my lady? Ugh, hic.” Anne fretted over Lariette, who had never left the duke’s family and lived obediently. Lariette patted her on the back, trying to ease her worries.
“Don’t worry; I have a plan. Anyway, I’m worried about you, Anne. I don’t know if you’ll be fine without me.”
“What can a young lady who has never done chores do? Do you know how dangerous it is outside?”
“You know, Anne. I’m not going to be so fussy.” Lariette said playfully, hugging Anne. However, facing Anne’s sharp gaze, she pretended to rush out for nothing. “Anyway, thank you for lending me your clothes. I will pay you back someday.”
“It pays off! Do you really want to go with those little bags? Please take this too, my lady.”
“This is already enough. Why would you give me the money you worked for?”
Anne, anxious, held out a bag of money that she must have been collecting for a long time. However, Lariette simply waved her hand, saying she loathed to accept it.
Anne couldn’t help but worry.
Lariette couldn’t bring any of her own clothes, so she borrowed Anne’s, and all she got was a small bag that could hold only a few coins. It would not be strange at any time to die.
“It’s chilly in the morning and evening these days.” Anne wiped her tears and put the shawl over Lariette. Her rage against the cold-hearted duke and duchess who drove their daughter out to die grew.
“Well then, see you next time, Anne.”
Lariette’s smiling face was carefree, but at the declaration of parting that she never thought she would hear in her lifetime, Anne finally burst into tears.
Lariette patted her on the shoulder a few times and then walked out of the room that used to be hers.
After going down the stairs and passing the main hall, Lariette could not find a shadow of the duke and duchess until she reached the main gate.
As soon as she reached the manor’s gate, someone called her name out loud. “Lariette!”
It wasn’t the voice she wanted to hear, so Lariette looked back annoyedly. “I don’t need you to see me off, Raon.”
“You’re joking. I wouldn’t see you off even if you died.”
At Raon’s words, which cut to her very core, Lariette slowly stared into his eyes. She didn’t know what he wanted. “I guess you didn’t come all the way here to talk such nonsense. Just tell me what you came here to say.”
“Don’t we still have some unfinished business?” Raon seemed to have held onto Lariette’s insulting words from earlier and carried them into the present situation. With a provocative expression on his face, he approached her step by step. Mana wrapped around his hands, and electric sparks began to flow.
“Your jealousy made me unable to attend class. Do you feel a little more confident now?”
“Compared to your level of earth magic, this is plenty.”
At Raon’s confident voice, Lariette burst into laughter. He even admitted his shortcomings outright.
“Yeah, I have no talent for earth magic. And the other elemental magic, I just barely finished learning.”
“If you knew you had no talent, you shouldn’t have been so cocky!” Raon shouted in a harsh voice and shot a blast of electricity at her.
Although Lariette was slightly better than him when they were children, he had studied since then, and she hadn’t. So he believed he would be enough to overwhelm her.
“By the way, Raon,” Lariette swung her fingers lightly, redirecting the electricity pouring into her. At the same time, when she raised her other hand upwards, a huge vortex appeared on the ground just below Raon.
“Agh!!”
Raon was quickly sucked into the vortex. When he opened his eyes, he found himself buried in the ground with only his head still exposed.
“I’m stronger than you.” As she finished speaking, she tapped Raon’s head with her foot. Enraged, he yelled at her, but she didn’t care, so she continued to ignore him.
Lariette hummed and took another step. Now it was a real goodbye.
****
At a quiet cafe in the city, Lariette sat by the window, drinking a strawberry smoothie through a straw and waving her fountain pen in her hand.
< 1. Gift Anne a Cake >
< 2. Independence (Let’s Save Money!) >
< 3. Engagement to the Marquis of Segreb (Kept for the sake of appearances) >
< 4. Dating a Handsome Man>
< 5. Travel >
It was only yesterday that she started her bucket list, but she’d already accomplished over half of it. Granted, that was only possible because items one through three were so easy. From here on, it seemed like it would be more difficult.
Let’s start with dating…but where am I going to find a handsome man?
Lariette moaned and tapped the notebook with the tip of her pen. It was very difficult to find a handsome man who satisfied her taste. Lariette thought blankly that a handsome man might be just a fantasy.
Rattle…
At that moment, the chime of a bell rang out as someone opened the cafe door and entered.
Lariette’s gaze, which had been following the fountain pen here and there, went up, and when it found the man who had entered, her eyes widened.
TIME FOR POINT 4 WOOO