When the One-Sided Love Female Lead Loses Her Memory - Chapter 18

Volumes 1 & 2 of OSFLLM are available uncensored on ko-fi! Support on Ko-fi

“Hck, Your Grace…….”

Sophia coughed and buried herself deeper into Viern’s hold. Seeing Viern tolerate her action, Diana’s hand unconsciously clenched into a tight fist.

Splash, splash, splash.

He stopped before her with wet, heavy footsteps. Sensing his shadow looming over her, Diana slowly lifted her head. Droplets slid down her face and fell with soft plinks. Viern was looking at her with a terrifying expression she had never seen before.

“This is unacceptable, Your Highness.”

A cool, emotionless voice was directed at her.

“I made it perfectly clear that Lady Sophia belongs to Erkman.”

His manner suggested he had already concluded she’d pushed the woman into the lake.

“I……”

Diana started to explain but then pressed her lips tightly together. It felt like he wouldn’t believe her no matter what she said. Was it because his cold gaze made her shrink? Or was it because the firm arms holding the marquis’s daughter felt so bitterly unfair? She struggled to open her lips that somehow refused to part.

“Don’t be angry, Viern. I’m also……”

Whoosh—!

But before her words could even finish, he turned away. As she watched his indifferent figure walk away, carefully cradling that woman, Diana, left behind, felt utterly wretched.

“…I’m hurt too.”

A bitter, acrid sensation spread heavily from the pit of her stomach. A delayed chill shivered through her entire body.

* * *

After that day, Viern didn’t come to see Diana for a while. Not only that, he even moved his office to the Ducal Estate to prevent her from coming to find him.

‘……I’m hurt too.’

That small voice muttering as she watched him turn and walk away kept coming back to mind. But now was the time for the whip, not the carrot. His Princess had a temperament where if he coaxed and appeased her gently, she would forget her faults and grow even more arrogant.

Thus, Viern pushed away the image of her pitiful face—looking up at him from the ground, drenched and dripping lake water, utterly disheveled.

‘She must be utterly dejected by now. It would be good if, this time, she could suppress that wicked filly-like temper and learn a bit of self-reflection.’

Pushing for an engagement with the Marquis of Silberk’s family wasn’t a sudden decision. Over three years had already passed since they ousted the Crown Prince’s faction and stabilized the kingdom. In that time, he had turned twenty-six. Considering that heirs of Laurelai’s great noble families typically married and secured an heir as soon as they came of age, his engagement was quite late.

However, there was no way Diana, with her self-centered nature, would easily accept his union with the marquis’s house. If he didn’t put his foot down now, she would undoubtedly continue to cause disruptions and run wild. If the marquis’s daughter were to actually get hurt because of it, avoiding unnecessary friction would be difficult.

Therefore, it was necessary to make it clear to Diana beforehand. The marquis’s daughter was now to become a person of Erkman, so she must refrain from causing her any harm.

“I think you were too harsh on Her Highness.”

Viern set down the document folder he was holding and glanced at Aisen standing before his desk. Over the past few days, people had been coming to persuade him to relent and soften his heart towards the Princess. Particularly, his younger brother Aisen had already defended Diana several times like this.

Viern quietly studied his face, the corners of his eyes creasing slightly. It reminded him of the sight of his youngest brother pulling Diana from the water that day. The image of the Princess in his arms, clinging to his bicep as if it were her lifeline…

“You know as well… Brother, that it wasn’t Her Highness’s fault.”

“Not her fault? Ruining the marquis’s daughter’s dress, damaging the carriage wheel, and even preparing a separate carriage?”

“W-Well, that’s true but… Still, Her Highness has reflected a great deal…”

Aisen avoided his brother’s gaze and stammered. His conscience pricked him because he was the one who had ruined the marquis’s daughter’s dress, damaged the carriage wheel, and prepared the separate carriage, all on the Princess’s orders. Of course, he had reported it beforehand to Viern and acted with his tacit approval.

“Aisen Erkman.”

Viern cut off his brother’s words with an icy voice.

“Do you think you’re the princess’s man?”

Aisen’s mouth snapped shut at his sharp rebuke.

“I placed you as the princess’s watcher. You are not the princess’s man—you are Erkman’s man. I distinctly told you not to harbor any foolish feelings for the princess, did I not?”

“That’s…”

“If you forget your duty one more time, I’ll punish you myself. If you understand, leave now.”

“Yes, brother…”

Aisen replied in a deflated voice and withdrew.