Chapter 58
Today, I woke up unusually early.
“You’re abandoning me…?”
Mel’s note made her blue eyes tremble in despair.
Hermia, who had dropped the note, instinctively dashed toward the Countess’s bedroom. Unlike earlier when she had entered without finding Mel, she was now searching the bathroom and dressing room thoroughly.
No way. It can’t be true. No way.
Like a madwoman, she opened every door, lifted every lid, and checked the floor. After a while, she finally collapsed onto the carpet.
“This can’t be happening.”
No matter how much she searched, the suitcase was nowhere to be found. Mel had completely disappeared along with it. The shocking reality hit her like lightning.
Three hundred million is gone.
“My money… my persoooooos!”
In the empty mansion, Hermia howled like a beast.
She screamed in anger, then laughed like a lunatic before cursing again in rage. But no matter what she did, the fact remained that Mel had run off with her money.
As she sat there in shock, Hermia suddenly scrambled to her feet.
“Gold… the gold…!”
Her legs wobbled as she walked to the kitchen pantry, forcing her to lean against the wall multiple times for support. When she finally reached the wine cellar, a sigh of relief escaped her lips.
A few gold bars were missing, but fortunately, the rest remained untouched with their lids still closed. If she converted all of this into cash, it would be worth not just three hundred million but many times more.
“Damn you, Melissa Vansen! This is all mine!”
Clenching her fists tightly, she smiled fiercely—a smile that would seem despicable to anyone watching.
And that wasn’t all.
“There’s no other choice now. I have to marry the Duke.”
With all her escape funds gone, Walter was now her only option left. He was the only one who could help her dispose of this gold and save her from this place.
Unaware of how much she was smiling for someone making such a desperate choice, she continued to laugh like a villain from a novel.
“That stupid girl! Once I marry him, I’ll turn all of this into cash…”
Wait a minute. This gold isn’t fake, is it?
Suddenly feeling anxious, Hermia picked one up and examined it closely.
After squinting her eyes and observing sharply, she concluded,
“I can’t tell.”
She didn’t know how to appraise gold.
Anyway, assuming it’s real and considering the amount of gold and diamond necklaces she had, she could let go of three hundred million without too much trouble. As she thought about the necklace, she glanced around with a smile still on her face.
Where did my necklace go? I’m sure I put it away with my letters.
Looking again, there were no letters or necklace in sight. Her hands trembled again as they searched through the empty floor aimlessly.
The necklace didn’t grow legs and run away; so who could have taken it?
“Ah! That woman stole my necklace too?!”
Even the Countess’s jewelry box remained untouched. It was as if they had taken only what belonged to her as a cruel joke.
Feeling her blood pressure rise in real-time, Hermia turned around.
“Now that it’s come to this, I’m definitely marrying the Duke. I’ll live lavishly after that. You’ll regret it—Mel Greenwood, no… Melissa Vansen.”
Lost in her villainous role, she spoke dramatically as she stomped back into the study.
Hermia immediately began rummaging through the trash can. Her missing letter and what seemed like a threatening note written by Mel last night appeared side by side.
The cute round handwriting warned Walter that if he followed her, he would die; she tossed that note behind her without a second thought.
That wasn’t what she was looking for.
Finally grasping a piece of paper with a subtle sheen to it, she started collecting the scraps that spilled out of the trash can.
“She really torn this into tiny pieces… Damn it.”
It was quite a skill to tear thick cards into such small bits… or rather a curse. She gathered the scattered pieces like assembling a puzzle and stood up with her arms crossed.
“Hmm.”
If I show this… will the royal guards let me in…?
Her face showed discomfort as she looked down at the invitation from the queen that had been torn into exactly twenty-nine pieces.
Hermia had two reasons for looking for the ball invitation.
First, to formally decline Elisabeth’s offer. Second, to spread rumors that she would definitely marry Walter Rockford.
Once news spread throughout every corner of the countryside, Mel would realize just how foolish her choice had been.
Her plan was straightforward:
To attend the ball with Walter and propose to him there. Then he would be so surprised that he would propose again to her in front of the king and queen—he wouldn’t be able to take back his words then.
Did he expect her to just wait around for when the author would be caught? Hermia thought her scheme was incredibly clever.
Just wait and see; after marrying Walter, she would prove that everything Mel said was just delusion and live splendidly as if to show off.
Determinedly, she gathered glue and paper and carefully began sticking each piece of the invitation together one by one. The final result looked somewhat ragged but at least it was legible enough to pass off as acceptable.
“Canty! Ross!”
The voice calling Walter’s subordinate from the study window stretched out into the garden.
“Hello! Is anyone there? I have something to say to the Duke!”
She needed to ask him to go to the ball together, but all she heard in return was the loud chirping of cicadas since morning.
“Maybe they went to eat.”
Just as she was about to turn away, she suddenly let out a half-hearted whistle. It sounded more like air escaping than an actual whistle.
“……”
Hermia, who had been whistling to herself until her lips tingled, quietly closed the window.
They wouldn’t come for something like this. She recalled Walter’s whistle and the black robe that had appeared as if flying in from somewhere, but it only made her feel awkward.
Deciding she needed to eat first, she moved to the kitchen. The moment she opened the pot lid, she unleashed the most vulgar curse she knew. It was all because of Mel, who had picked out only the meat from among many consomme ingredients.
“If I catch her, I won’t let her off easily.”
She ground her teeth in anger.
Leaving behind a morning filled with shock, despair, and determination, Hermia put on a wide-brimmed hat and took out a parasol. After gathering up to 100,000 persos from her father’s emergency funds, she was ready to go out.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
After eating the same menu for days and now seeing consomme without meat, she felt no motivation to cook anything new.
Let’s go out and buy something.
She also needed to send a letter that would arrive at the Duke’s residence on the same day.
The Chameleon unit was absent. After shouting for a while and finding it strange that it was so quiet, she discovered this when she sneaked out to check.
There had been a time when they seemed ready to arrest her just by stepping outside the front door, yet they didn’t show up even after she walked far past the main gate.
Maybe the Duke isn’t seriously injured anymore, so the surveillance was lifted?
Her hunger took precedence over complicated thoughts, so she decided not to dwell on it any longer.
* * *
Stepping out into the bright sunlight felt light and cheerful. It had been a long time since she could roam outside freely without anyone’s permission or supervision.
The hem of her cream-colored dress brushed against her ankles with each step. Her hat decorated with colorful flowers and a sky-blue parasol with frills and lace complemented her cheerful appearance perfectly.
It was rare for a noble lady to walk around without a maid, but in a big city like the capital, wealthy commoners often dressed nicely too. No one would recognize who she was based on appearances alone.
Even after the will of Duke Leonard was made public and their engagement ceremony was completed, Hermia’s portrait had not appeared anywhere. Walter had ensured that her face remained hidden from view.
It was only natural since it would be troublesome if this woman destined to be a Duchess were kidnapped or murdered before even entering the banquet hall. Even though newspapers mocked and ridiculed this fortunate lady, they wouldn’t go so far as to print her face.
Thus, aside from having silver hair and blue eyes, little else was known about Walter Rockford’s fiancée. There were rumors that she was a beauty here and there, but those claims were met with sharp rebuttals that labeled them as nonsense.
Most guests at the engagement ceremony were respectable people; thus, their comments on Hermia’s beauty were dismissed as mere politeness and not taken as objective testimony.
Meanwhile, members of the Ban.Sa,Yo took the lead in branding her as an ugly duckling.
Extreme opinions only served to obscure the identity of the fiancée further.
As expected, there were no curious gazes following her. With her dazzling silver hair braided neatly under her hat in bright light, she felt perfectly disguised.
While humming a tune, Hermia faced reality less than thirty minutes after stepping out joyfully.
Although people couldn’t recognize her face, Vansen’s illegitimate daughter had already become a well-known figure in public.
Given that interest was already focused on the Duke’s fiancée at this point, everywhere she went people were gossiping about “Lady H.”
It happened while she took a brief rest at a large fountain in the middle of the square.
Sitting on round stones and rubbing her legs, she overheard two women chatting nearby as their voices drifted through the rising water streams.
It felt like a peaceful midday scene… until one name changed everything.
“At first, I thought it was like a fairy tale—a strategic marriage between a man who has everything and a commoner girl; it sounds romantic just hearing it!”
“I never dreamed that it would be that villainess Helen.”
As soon as they mentioned “Helen,” their chatter became alarmingly clear and pierced Hermia’s ears.
Still seated, Hermia subtly shifted closer to them. The two women were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice her presence.
“No matter how fictional it is, knowing that she’s a villain makes me feel sorry for the Duke somehow.”
“Doesn’t it feel unsettling? I’d rather he marry the Princess instead. Giving up an inheritance to become part of royalty would be more beneficial for him!”
“I just wish he’d marry the Princess instead. The fiancée must know this too; if she’s staying quiet about it, then she’s definitely ambitious!”
“She probably isn’t even as beautiful as they say! Princess Elisabeth seems genuinely pretty though.”
“She must be just as beautiful in real life as in her portrait!”
“The portrait is better.”
The two women chirped like little birds before suddenly turning their heads in unison.
