Chapter 59
“I’ll erase it. Okay?”
When he pressed his forehead against hers and spoke as if even this little tussle was enjoyable, Ephinia looked at him resentfully for a moment, then nodded. Kasselard beamed and brought his teeth to her cheek.
What am I even doing?
Being bitten on the cheek startled her, but when he licked the spot as if savoring it and then kissed it, a sigh escaped her. He stared at the mark with satisfaction for quite a while, and only when the carriage was nearing the Marquis’s residence did he finally erase it with healing magic.
“My lips too.”
“Mm… That’s a shame. Alright.”
After being thoroughly kissed by him, it was only natural that her lips were swollen. He cast healing magic on her lips, then gave them another quick kiss.
“Let’s get off now. I’m really looking forward to dancing with you.”
When he said that while gazing into her eyes, Ephinia couldn’t respond. As if he had found something in her eyes, he smiled beautifully.
“Let’s have fun today.”
At Kasselard’s signal, the carriage door opened. Hearing the music from the ballroom in the distance, her heart began to pound.
* * *
‘I’ll tear that woman’s mask off today!’
In truth, there was nothing to tear off. Her lowly origins were already known to everyone. He had even heard that she was practically shunned by high society because of it.
Viscount Bill Caneze had applauded the Crown Prince’s actions, but he couldn’t help thinking this.
‘Then what about me? Why was I prosecuted?’
He was a minor noble, so he had not been detained. It wasn’t that the matter ended with a fine. In fact, he had been formally sentenced because he had been charged with multiple offenses.
He had simply bribed someone else to go to prison in his place.
Still, it would have been disastrous if he had been seen while imprisoned, so he had to live in seclusion in his provincial estate.
For four whole months!
“Is it true that woman is coming here today?”
“It’s true. I heard the Marquis’s daughter mention it at the tea party.”
Helena, who had come to the ball with her father, spoke with a ferocious expression. She was deeply resentful toward Ephinia.
‘That girl was practically my slave!’
And now she awakens as a Guide and dares to accuse this family? The family that took her in, fed her, and raised her since she was young?
In reality, they had never properly fed or clothed her, but to Helena, that was simply what life was like for commoners. Since the girl had been sold by her own father for a few silver coins, her life thereafter should naturally have belonged to the Caneze family.
‘Even if she became a Guide, she should have remained loyal to our family… and now she’s even been granted a title! I won’t forgive this!’
She had heard that the Crown Prince, in his right mind, had humiliated Ephinia publicly at the introduction, but that alone was not enough.
She intended to expose Ephinia’s lowly nature so that she would never be able to show her face before the nobles again, and to make the imperial family abandon her.
There was no evidence, but that didn’t matter. It could be fabricated.
She was not worried about the servants who had testified when Ephinia accused the viscount’s house. Buying them off would be easy.
‘Commoners sell even their own children for a few silver coins. Betraying that girl would be easier than anything!’
The servants might have stood by Ephinia when the Imperial Family supported her, but things were different now.
After all, it seemed the Crown Prince had rejected her.
This was also a matter of survival for their family. Even if she had been rejected by the Crown Prince, Ephinia was still an A-Class Guide.
There was a severe shortage of Guides. Someone would eventually pair with her and marry her. At the very least, a Marquis-level noble would become her spouse, and afterward, there was no telling how she might take revenge on the Caneze family.
No, she certainly would! If their positions were reversed, they would never let such a family go unpunished!
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have ignored Mother and poured boiling water on her face that day!’
She had burned other parts of her body instead, but she deeply regretted not doing that.
Since she was now under the protection of the Lanas Duchy, any burn scars would surely have been erased with divine power.
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Ilina
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