“Thanks to that, even the regular meetings that were held there had to stop. Do you know how discouraged Hazel is because of that? How could you do such a thing knowing how precious those meetings are to her?”
Daniel continued in a contemptuous tone.
“Not only that, but that article also subtly dug up Hazel’s past. About the painful fact that she had lost her husband before! Damn it!”
Bang! His fist, unable to contain his anger, struck the adjacent wall.
Kisa’s body flinched at that violent act. An instinctive fear threatened to overwhelm her again.
“When I went to confront that damn magazine company, they told me the journalist who wrote the article had already left. They were quite quick to act, weren’t they? They put up a scapegoat, threw some bait, and quickly erased their traces.”
Fortunately, or perhaps not, Daniel, blinded by rage, hadn’t yet noticed her state.
“A young master who’s gone mad for a commoner widow while having the most beautiful fiancée in high society! Yes, that’s quite the matter for people to swarm around like a pack of dogs! How amusing and entertaining must it be?”
Daniel’s voice grew louder, and proportionally, the fear in Kisa’s heart also swelled.
“Fine, let’s say that’s how it is about me. The more they make me out to be an unprecedented fool, the more justification Vansfelt gets for unilaterally announcing the broken engagement.”
“……”
“But what does Hazel have to do with any of this! How could they target such a delicate and pitiful person!”
She was struggling with the urge to flee this place immediately. She wanted to rush back to her room and lock herself away. To go somewhere safe, somewhere Daniel couldn’t follow.
“Hey, Kisa?”
Daniel spoke with confusion at the other person who kept her head bowed.
“If you have a mouth, say something.”
“If you have a mouth, say something.”
When there was still no response, he grabbed Kisa’s shoulder with his right hand and shook her. Her body trembled violently at that somewhat rough touch.
“Kisa?”
Nausea rose. A strong urge to get away from Daniel surged in Kisa’s heart. Yes, rather than showing weakness in front of this man again, it would be better to retreat.
The broken engagement was already a decided matter, and nothing Daniel said could stop it. Then what was the point of dealing with him here? So this wasn’t running away.
Having reached this conclusion, Kisa knocked Daniel’s hand away with a sharp movement and quickly walked toward the reception room’s exit.
Daniel shouted her name from behind, but she intended to ignore it. However, at that moment, a doubt crossed her mind.
‘Am I really not running away?’
Why did she come here to meet Daniel in the first place? Because she wanted to give him a piece of her mind, even if just once.
But what use was it to become scared and avoid him just because he glared and raised his voice?
If she could only say what she wanted to say when Daniel was beyond the door, when they weren’t face to face, could that really be considered giving him a piece of her mind?
The door that would allow her to escape this place was just a few steps ahead, but Kisa didn’t grab the doorknob. No, she chose not to grab it.
[Kisa, don’t worry. Everything will work out.]
She remembered Seyard’s gentle encouragement from their last meeting. Come to think of it, the broken engagement was an achievement obtained through his help.
Without Seyard, Kisa wouldn’t have been able to convince her father, nor would she have been able to break ties with Daniel.
Then shouldn’t she at least handle confronting her former fiancé on her own?
If she left now, the Count would take care of removing Daniel from this mansion, but she couldn’t hide in his shadow forever.
Having changed her mind, Kisa turned around and met Daniel’s gaze directly.
Daniel had moved a few steps from where he had been earlier, presumably intending to chase after Kisa. With a strange look in his eyes, he asked,
“What’s wrong with you suddenly? You don’t look well.”
Kisa slowly opened her mouth.
“It’s nothing.”
Now that she was facing him head-on, it wasn’t much. It wasn’t as scary as she had thought.
“Daniel, I have one thing to tell you. Don’t touch my body carelessly anymore.”
“What?”
“Since the engagement is broken, we’re nothing to each other now, right? And actually, even if we were engaged, touching someone’s body without permission isn’t proper etiquette.”
Daniel’s anger, which had momentarily subsided, awakened at those words. His face contorted.
“I wondered what you were going to say, and this is it?”
“Yes.”
“You talk about etiquette after thoroughly exposing Hazel’s weaknesses and throwing her to the wolves who were drooling for it. Impressive, truly impressive.”
“I never did such a thing.”
“Of course you’d deny it.”
It wasn’t denial – Kisa really had never been involved with Daniel’s article.
When the Count showed her the article, it was already after the magazine had been published. Kisa only properly read the article after returning to her room from the Count’s office.
[I saw your fiancé courting a widow.]
She realized then that what Mrs. Oshuana had said at Melissa’s tea party long ago was right once again.
But so what? What did they expect her to do about it?
Of course, Hazel’s past was personal history unrelated to this matter. From her perspective, it might seem unfair that her past was being dragged out because of Kisa and Daniel’s broken engagement.
Someone might feel sympathy for Hazel. They might ask why she had to endure such humiliation just for being close to a man who had a fiancée.
However, at least that person wouldn’t be Kisa Vansfelt. Kisa wasn’t that overflowing with sympathy, nor was she that comfortable. She was barely managing to deal with her own immediate problems.
It took considerable courage just to say what she wanted to say to her fiancé who was acting so brazen.
“Daniel, you said it yourself before. That I only obey my father’s will.”
He raised one eyebrow as if wondering why this topic suddenly came up.
“If I’m really just my father’s puppet doll as you say, then it doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“Finding out about that woman you love’s past and exposing it in an article.”
For a moment, Daniel’s lips twitched.
“You, how dare you-”
“Or what? Do you really think I personally hired someone to investigate her past and then recruited a journalist to expose it? Really?”
Daniel couldn’t answer immediately. He knew it too.
That the Lady Vansfelt, who merely inherited good bloodline and decent looks, didn’t have such skill or ability. He had been the one who had most sarcastically pointed that out.
“I don’t understand. Let’s say that article came from our family, as you suspect. Shouldn’t you be confronting someone else?”
“……”
“But why are you only intimidating me? Are you scared? Scared to confront my father?”
“Shut up.”
Daniel muttered ominously, but he couldn’t stop Kisa’s words.
“Right, that can’t be it. How could the great Daniel Lowens be too scared to confront the person he thinks is the real culprit and instead take it out on an innocent person?”
A sigh escaped from his lips.
“You speak well. As if you bear no responsibility.”
“What about you? Don’t you bear any responsibility for your precious friend’s pain? Mr. Daniel Lowens, who fooled around with another woman while having a fiancée.”
“I told you! Hazel and I are just friends!”
Daniel raised his voice again, but this time it wasn’t frightening.
“Oh, really? Then that’s unfortunate. It seems the world doesn’t call a woman who spends more time with you than your fiancée just a friend.”
“Kisa!”
“If the world’s perception is wrong, don’t shout at me – shout at the people of the world.”
Though he had been acting like he would lash out just moments ago, now he was just breathing heavily without a word. It seems he hadn’t expected his foolish fiancée to respond like this.
Kisa looked at the panting Daniel with cold eyes before turning away.
“I’ve said what I needed to say. It’s time for dinner now, so go home.”
Of course, Daniel didn’t budge. Since there was no reason to seek his permission, Kisa tried to leave the reception room first.
“Why so proud? When you’re about to be sold to an old man.”
Until she heard this from behind her.
“What did you say?”
Turning around at this incomprehensible statement, Kisa saw Daniel wearing an expression that seemed both angry and mocking.
“I never knew you were such a frightening woman.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re siding with your father who’s trying to sell his own daughter to an old lecher because you’re blinded by jealousy.”
What? Though they were surely speaking the same language, she couldn’t understand a word Daniel was saying.
“I’ll give you credit for your acting skills. That innocent face like you really don’t know anything.”
The man lowered himself to meet Kisa’s eye level and stroked her chin with his finger.
“But did you think I’d never find out? The fact that your father broke off our engagement to make you the queen of the Chamal Kingdom.”
Kisa forgot even that she should remove Daniel’s hand that was touching her at will again. What she had just heard was too absurd.
But Daniel seemed to interpret her silence, caused by absurdity, differently.
“Were you that jealous of Hazel, Kisa?”
His face was colored with a smile full of certainty.
