Secret Love Affair between a Former Saint and a Dark Hero - Chapter 132 - Who Is Stirring My Heart?

“What is this mess?”

That was the very first thing her aunt blurted out. For people who called themselves aristocrats, who greeted one another with refined smiles and polite laughter while constantly lecturing each other about etiquette, they certainly had atrocious manners. Iora quietly raised her eyes and looked at the plump, middle-aged woman.

“Would you care to explain exactly what is wrong with the way I look, Aunt?”

Unlike before, she was no longer poisoned by Arcanda’s influence. Iora knew perfectly well how lovely she looked now. Back then, every cutting remark had pierced her heart, leaving her holding back tears and hanging her head in silence. But she was no longer the same person who would quietly endure it.

Standing beside the middle-aged woman was a rather pale-faced young woman, glaring at her with undisguised spite.

‘So it really was true.’

Iora recalled the past. Whenever her aunt saw her, she had always seemed desperate to crush her spirit.

From what Iora had heard, the woman could barely stand the generous support and privileges Iora received as a saint candidate.

It was the very picture of someone resentful that another had something they did not.

More than that, her aunt seemed convinced that her own daughter was far more deserving of becoming the saint.

Iora let out a quiet laugh to herself.

This was how she had always been treated.

That was why everyone around them merely watched with amused smiles, not a single person thinking to stop the woman’s absurd nitpicking.

At that moment, her eyes briefly met Janus’s.His face had gone deathly pale.

‘Ah, are you afraid I’m going to ruin your birthday?’

Seeing them look at her with such anticipation, Iora suddenly felt the urge to turn the whole place upside down.

But she restrained herself. If her stout aunt suddenly rushed over and grabbed her by the hair, she didn’t have the strength to break free.

She was too tired. I’ll just deal with this and go inside, she thought as she remained silent. Apparently, her silence had been interpreted differently.

Splash!

Something cold was thrown over her.

At first, she couldn’t quite process what had just happened.

“…Did you just throw water on me?”

“No matter how disgracefully you’ve been conducting yourself, how dare you respond like that when an elder of the family is speaking to you!”

The sheer audacity of it left her dumbfounded. For a moment, white-hot anger flooded her vision. To hell with respecting one’s elders. Even a worm will turn when it’s stepped on. And both Jiyeon in her previous life and Iora in this one had been trampled far too many times.

Iora smiled. Looking at the mother and daughter, who were watching her with smug expressions as though daring her to say something, she slowly curled her lips into a bright smile. Janus, who knew that smile all too well, screamed as he rushed toward her, but Iora simply took two glasses of red wine from the tray of a passing servant.

Then she threw it at them.

Splash! Splash!

“……”

“Eek!” The onlookers screamed as they watched. The mother and daughter, soaked in red, stared at Iora in utter disbelief. Looking into their toad-like eyes, she smiled sweetly and whispered shyly.

“I’ve developed a habit of returning exactly what others do to me, Aunt.”

“…Y-you. You!”

“I wish it had been water, but don’t be too disappointed. Aunt, the red makes a much stronger impression. …Oh my! Were you just about to hit me, Aunt? Me?”

“You… you ill-mannered little wretch! Get over here this instant!”

“I’m really not fond of getting hit. Though I must say, you’re rather slow on your feet, Aunt. Oh dear, my mistake.”

“Eeeek!”

Quite by accident, Iora’s foot happened to catch hers, and her aunt’s enormous body toppled straight into the banquet table. With a tremendous crash, dishes and food went flying in every direction, scattering over the horrified guests.

Aah! Eek! The hall filled with shrill screams.

Naturally, the rest of the ball descended into complete chaos. Her father bellowed in rage, while her mother came running over with a shrill scream. Janus was no different. Dodging the blows swung by her father’s sister, who resembled him to an uncanny degree, Iora beamed brightly, delighting in driving them all mad.

“This isn’t my fault, everyone.”

Amid the uproar, which raged like a fire-breathing dragon, Iora was the only one smiling.

* * *

“That… that crazy little b***h!”

“Mother… sniff… Did I really look that terrible…?”

“Oh, my dear daughter! You’re beautiful as always. Could you possibly look as hideous as that devil of a girl?”

Madam Tran huffed with rage, utterly unable to contain her fury. Even if she had become a widow, she had never imagined that insolent girl would dare treat her like this. Smiling sweetly the whole time, talking back until the very end, and slipping away without being struck even once—that slippery little eel of a girl!

“I won’t let her get away with this!”

“Mother, please… please teach that damned girl a lesson!”

“Don’t you worry, my dear.”

She knew she ought to restrain her anger, if only for the sake of her younger brother, who kept apologizing with a stiff expression. But even if she grabbed that insolent little brat by the hair and shook her senseless right then and there, it still wouldn’t be enough to satisfy her rage.

She had let it go for now after seeing Janus hurriedly lock the girl away in her room and order her confined, believing he was protecting his sister in his own way.

But mere confinement would never be enough to extinguish this fury. One day, she would make sure that wretched girl learned her lesson.

Madam Tran ground her teeth. How dare that insolent little brat throw red wine not only at her, but at her daughter as well.

A worthless fool who had been given such a precious opportunity, yet still couldn’t even earn recognition as the saint!

Just then, the carriage, which had been rolling along smoothly, lurched violently with a jolt.