~Chapter 08~
However, Cedric still didn’t say anything and just touched his lips. He seemed a bit upset.
Noticing this, one of the men quickly lowered his voice and carefully apologized.
“I’m sorry for bringing up that incident. It must still bother you…”
“No, not at all. It’s just… I said it was fine back then, but I still wonder why she had to be sent to the convent.”
Then, the man who started the conversation quickly responded.
“That incident only finally broke Viscount Listerwell’s patience, but honestly, Miss Harriet had been causing problems long before that. Sending her to the convent for a year wasn’t too harsh of a punishment.”
Cedric flinched slightly at the word “year.”
“It can’t be easy for a noblewoman to endure a long time at a convent. Unless she’s deeply religious?”
“As if! It just means she’s the kind of girl who wouldn’t straighten up without something like that.”
Everyone clicked their tongues or mocked her in agreement with the man’s words. But Cedric, who was the ‘victim’ of the incident, didn’t join in.
“It seems my overreaction made things difficult for her.”
“Overreaction? Not at all! The Duke was very generous. If it had been me, I would have slapped that girl in the face, forgetting all sense of manners.”
“Exactly! What kind of shameless girl chases after men like that?”
One man raised his hand as if to strike someone, and the group burst into loud laughter.
But Cedric didn’t like any of it—the one-sided accusations, the talk of hitting a woman, the fact that they didn’t seem embarrassed to say such things, or how they all treated it as a joke.
What bothered him the most was the fact that he was the source of this entire mess.
‘I hate being tangled up in cheap gossip.’
Then suddenly, Harriet’s face from that day popped into his mind.
“I didn’t steal your brooch, Your Grace. I never wanted it in the first place.”
The woman who insisted on her innocence until the end was surrounded by people accusing her.
The woman who subtly acted proud, saying she didn’t desire such a trivial thing.
‘She wasn’t bad-looking, I suppose.’
Although Bella was a striking beauty, her cousin Harriet also had distinct, well-proportioned features, so she wasn’t ugly by any means. It’s just that her clothes and hairstyle didn’t suit her at all, and she had large and small pimples on her face and chest.
In fact, it wasn’t Harriet that had bothered him, but the atmosphere around her. The sycophantic men tearing down a young woman made him feel utterly disgusted—so much so that he could almost forget the humiliation he had felt upon seeing the brooch pinned to Harriet’s chest.
‘So, I let the whole thing go, but why did they send her to the convent? Was Viscount Listerwell trying to gain sympathy over it?’
Cedric’s stomach churned at the thought that even people he didn’t know well were trying to use him. He quickly lifted the glass beside him and drank it in one go. The refreshing bubbles of the sparkling wine helped lighten his mood a little.
“It seems the break is over. The players are back on the field.”
As he redirected the conversation to the resumed polo match, the men’s lewd talk came to an end. Instead, they began passionately discussing how much they had bet on the game and which team they thought would win.
Cedric still found this side of the conversation equally distasteful, but he was at least glad they had stopped gossiping about him.
“Your Grace, which team did you bet on?”
In response to the person beside him, he pointed to the team wearing green vests and smiled smoothly. He had just decided a moment ago, but it wasn’t something that mattered to him.
“It’s just one person gone, but the house feels so much more comfortable. Ah, it feels great.”
Bella murmured, enjoying the early summer breeze. At that, Miriam, who had been doing embroidery beside her, put down her hoop with a stern expression.
“Bella. I’ve told you before that you really need to start being careful from now on. As you said, Harriet’s not around anymore.”
“But Mother! I was born with such a pretty face, isn’t it such a waste to devote myself to just one husband? Besides, I’ve gotten a lot from those men.”
There was a reason the Viscount Listerwell couple tolerated Bella’s habit of seducing men for fun. It wasn’t just for pleasure—Bella managed to get all sorts of things from those men.
From small, personal gifts to large, family-related business information.
“I know. Thanks to that, even your father, who’s not exactly talented, has made a decent amount of money. But now, you need to prepare for something bigger than that.”
“Marriage, you mean?”
Bella gave a small laugh as if it were nothing, but Miriam continued her scolding.
“Bella, what did I say is the most important thing for a man?”
“His family and wealth.”
“And what kind of daughter-in-law does a prestigious and wealthy family want?”
“They want someone who’s beautiful, kind, and pure.”
“Exactly, you know it well.”
Of course, she did. That’s why she had worked so hard to create the image of the ‘beautiful, kind, and pure Bella Listerwell’ all this time.
But the real Bella wasn’t like that at all.
Having received endless praise for her striking appearance, especially from men, Bella found it so much fun to play with the men who were obsessed with her.
From a young age, she enjoyed controlling the boys around her like her puppets and even making them fight. How could she suddenly pretend to be a proper lady at the age of eighteen?
“Right now, you’re the most sought-after bride in society. What do you think will happen if rumors start spreading that you’re too loose?”
“My reputation is perfectly fine, isn’t it? That’s why the marriage proposal from Viscount Levin’s family came, right?”
The Viscount Levin family, who recently sent a marriage proposal, was not only quite wealthy but also known for their strong religious faith. The eldest son of that family had fallen for Bella not just because of her looks but also because of her angelic words and behavior as if she were some kind of saint.
“Are you really satisfied with just the Levin family? You should at least aim for an earl’s family, right?”
“Of course!”
“An earl’s family would be much stricter when it comes to evaluating a future daughter-in-law. Even the smallest mistake could cause the marriage talks to fall through.”
“Well, I haven’t been caught so far, so isn’t that good enough?”
Miriam let out a deep sigh.
“That’s because Harriet was still around!”
At that, Bella let out a snort of laughter.
“Ah, playing with her was so much fun. It’s nice that she’s gone, but I do miss seeing her get all flustered and upset.”
Harriet Listerwell, the scandal-maker of high society.
But all those scandals were actually Bella’s. She had just pinned them on Harriet.
Because of that, even though Harriet had never even held a man’s hand, rumors spread that she had already been completely ruined.
‘When it comes to marriage proposals, those kinds of issues always get brought up. Even if she leaves the convent, she’ll never have a normal marriage.’
Bella’s lips twisted into a slight smirk.
Miriam noticed this and called her out with a stern voice.
“Bella.”
“I know, Mother.”
Just then, Aston entered the room, holding a bouquet of flowers that the gardener had prepared.
He kissed Miriam on the cheek and handed her the bouquet.
“What’s this, Aston?”
“Do I need a reason to give my mother flowers?”
“Oh! My son is so sweet.”
Miriam was touched as she took in the scent of the flowers, but Bella just gave a small laugh and mocked him.
“I bet you’ve run out of allowance money.”
As if that was true, Aston’s face quickly turned red.
“W-what are you talking about! Don’t try to cause trouble between me and Mother. Anyway, what were you talking about?”
Miriam, not suspecting anything, briefly explained what they had been discussing.
Then Aston smirked and asked.
“But why does my sister hate Harriet so much? I agree she’s annoying, but it seems like you want to completely destroy her.”
Did Aston hit a nerve? Bella’s smile became a little colder.
“If you don’t need a reason to give flowers to Mother, I don’t need a reason to hate Harriet.”
“What? I don’t get what you’re saying.”
“You don’t have to understand. I just hate her. Just because. That’s all.”
Bella laughed again.
There was no need to show her dark side to her mother and brother.
