Chapter 59
Even though the woman was wearing a mask, she could not hide her beauty.
Her lips were full and seductive, and her bare white shoulders were smooth.
It was natural for men to be attracted to her.
“Are you my opponent today?”
The woman swept the other person’s cheek with the tip of her fan and raised the corner of her mouth. Then she slowly kissed the man’s lips.
A deep kiss soon followed. Tongues were intertwined, and hands boldly groped each other’s bodies.
The woman parted her lips and whispered into the man’s ear.
“My name is Evelia Venion.”
“Evelia….”
She smiled meaningfully.
“If you want to continue with this, come see me.”
*****
“Lady, look at this!”
It was an ordinary morning. Annie came to Evelia noisily in the morning.
In her hands was a newspaper from the most famous newspaper among the capital’s nobility.
“Um, what’s going on?”
“This one!”
Evelia was surprised when she saw the newspaper Annie gave her.
‘What’s this?’
Her name, ‘Evelia Venion,’ was written in large letters on the front page of the newspaper.
But what was more surprising than that was the content of the article.
[Duke Adelhard’s fiancee, Evelia Venion! Who is she?]
At first, I thought it was just an article digging into her private life. The story continued that not much is known about her because she was the illegitimate daughter of Count Venion and was not active in social circles.
‘I went to see the opera with Cassis not long ago, so rumors might spread.’
However, the story took a turn in the middle of the article.
[Evelia lived quietly like a dead rat, has had a change of heart on the eve of her marriage. Recently, she was seen kissing men other than Duke Adelhard at a masquerade ball.]
Underneath the article was a black-and-white drawing of a masked man and woman kissing.
‘What do I do with another man?’
It was absurd. She had never kissed another man, let alone her fiancé Cassis.
To be more specific, I have never kissed anyone.
Unlike Evelia, who was simply dumbfounded, Annie went on a rampage.
“You must be trying to frame me to put a wedge between the Duke and the Lady!”
“Annie, please calm down first.”
“Calm down? If the Duke asks to break off the engagement…!”
Evelia rubbed her aching head.
“That won’t happen, so calm down.”
“But….”
“I have never left the Duke’s residence at night. That’s a fact everyone in the mansion knows, right? How could I meet someone else at a masquerade ball?”
“But….”
“But there may be a need to correct the situation.”
The newspaper Annie brought was a very influential one in social circles. Even if Cassis did not believe it, the capital’s social circles could believe this rumor.
If so, not only Evelia’s honor but also the honor of the entire Adelhard family that was intertwined with her could have been tarnished.
The good news was that it seemed like we knew who did this.
‘It must be Count Venion.’
It was clear that Count Venion, who was angry that the Adelhard family had cut off ties, was trying to separate Cassis and Evelia.
After changing her clothes, Evelia took the newspaper and went straight to see Logan.
Logan, who must have already read the newspaper, greeted her with a puzzled look.
“You also read the newspaper.”
“Yes. First of all, to sum it up, it’s not me.”
Logan waved his hand in surprise.
“Of course I believe in your innocence. You are not the kind of person who would sneak out at night and do something like that.”
“But it’s true that we’re in trouble.”
“To be honest… That’s right.”
Logan readily admitted.
“For now, I have left a request for confirmation with the newspaper. They also said that they would sue for defamation if the article contained no evidence, so let’s just wait and see.”
Evelia suddenly became curious about Cassis’ reaction. What does he think of this article?
“Does the Duke know this?”
“Yes, he know.”
“What did you think of it?”
“A little, no…”
Logan muttered, unable to believe he was saying this.
“He seemed angry.”
“Ah…”
Evelia agreed.
‘Yes, he should be angry.’
If we are not careful, the Adelhard family will be embroiled in scandal. Even if Evelia didn’t do it, it was enough for him to be angry at her.
“But I really don’t.”
“I know, so….”
“Mr. Logan.”
At that moment, the door burst open and a servant came in. When he found Evelia, he bowed in surprise and then handed the letter to Logan.
Logan’s eyes widened as he saw the sender of the letter.
“This is a letter from the Trevisi newspaper.”
Evelia nodded as if to quickly check. Logan’s face hardened after checking the letter.
He looked back and forth between Evelia and the letter, then stroked his face with one hand.
“What does it say?”
“That is….”
He explained, nudging the servant standing next to him.
“It says it’s not a rumor.”
“If it’s not a rumor….”
“It is said that there are many witnesses who say they met the Lady at a masquerade ball.”
Evelia shouted in anger.
“But that’s not me.”
Logan spread out his hands as if to calm her.
“I know that. But I think…”
Logan whispered.
“It seems like someone impersonated the Lady.”
“Impersonation? So does that mean someone actually did something like that at the masquerade ball?”
“Looking at the current situation, yes. I will find out a little more first.”
“It must be Count Venion.”
Evelia recalled the person who impersonated her mother before.
It was Count Venion who also impersonated a dead person. Wouldn’t he be able to impersonate Evelia?
Evelia asked, out of curiosity.
“What happened to the pink-haired woman who came to see me back then?”
“Ah…”
Logan was speechless. When Evelia narrowed her eyes and urged him, he barely answered.
“It’s impossible to doubt her.”
But they didn’t tell me what happened.
‘But if it’s impossible, that’s it.’
Since I got the answer I wanted, I decided not to bother questioning him.
“Anyway, there’s no one else who would do such a thing except Count Venion. I need to meet Count Venion in person.”
Evelia tried to run to Count Venion’s house right away. But Logan stopped her.
“It’s not for you, my lady, to step forward. I will solve it.”
“But this is my job.”
“That’s what I’m here to handle.”
Evelia wanted to say something more, but lost to Logan, who was especially more determined today.
“Then what can I do?”
“Just in case, please refrain from meeting guests who come to visit you from now on, and refrain from going out for the time being.”
“All right.”
Who on earth could come to visit me? Evelia didn’t think there was anyone who would do that, but she said she would understand.
*****
Catherine Eaters sat on the bed in Venion’s guest room and looked at the newspaper the maid had brought her. When she read the headline, she burst out laughing.
“What a bunch of idiots.”
She tapped the newspaper with her long fingers and laughed bitterly.
All Catherine did was nothing. All she did was wear a pink wig, go to a masquerade ball, and impersonate the name ‘Evelia Venion.’
However, these foolish men firmly believed that Catherine was ‘Evelia’ just because of her pink hair and the name Evelia.
‘Is there anyone who easily believes the information leaked by the Masquerade?’
And when she bribed someone to leak the information to a newspaper, the newspaper took the fake information and even reported it as a special feature.
It was very embarrassing.
Catherine folded the newspaper in half and handed it to the maid.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
She knew men like Cassis Adelhard well. The more a man was like that, the more he hung on the woman’s purity.
What if he reads this article? He will be very angry with Evelia and will demand that the engagement be broken off.
Then, if you approached him and comforted him, everything was complete.
Catherine ended up laughing out loud at the pleasant future she could imagine.
*****
It wasn’t long before Evelia realized what Logan was worried about.
“Lady, a guest has come to visit.”
Less than an hour later, Laura announced that a guest had arrived.
Evelia asked cautiously, admiring Logan’s foresight.
“Did you reveal who it was?”
“No, he didn’t reveal his identity, but…”
Laura’s voice became quiet.
“It was a gentleman.”
