Chapter 004
Stepping out of the café, leaving behind the torrent of heated gazes, I finally let out a deep breath I had been holding.
“I never thought breaking up would be this easy.”
It was laughable that I had died over something I could do easily.
‘But what should I do now?’
Now that I had broken up with Delos, I felt a mix of relief and a vague sense of anxiety creeping in.
I had lived my life solely for Delos, so much so that I couldn’t claim there was anything in it that was truly for me.
As I stood in the middle of the street, staring blankly at the ground and lost in thought, I heard someone call my name.
“Dahlia?”
I turned toward the sound and saw a man with the same silver hair and blue eyes as me.
“Cesar?”
It was my twin brother, Cesar Feldro.
“Oh, wow! What a coincidence! To run into you in such a vast place.”
With exaggerated gestures and a silly grin plastered across his face, Cesar approached me.
I took a good look at him and then asked, “So, what brings you here, Brother?”
Cesar had been busy learning under our father, the head of Foreign Affairs. What could have brought him out in broad daylight, especially in the city center?
“Oh, well, um. I just had some errands to run. But I didn’t expect to bump into you here. Haha…”
I narrowed my eyes as I watched him startle at my question and ramble away, avoiding eye contact.
His face clearly showed that he was hiding something.
‘Did Father send him?’
Was he worried about his daughter, who suddenly started acting strangely?
If not, there was no way Cesar, who disliked crowded places, would come here without a reason.
“Ahem, the liquor store just ran out of stock. I was on my way back after stopping by the tailor.”
“Why go to a tailor shop to buy alcohol?”
“No, I meant! The brewery.”
Cesar laughed awkwardly, pretending it was just a slip of the tongue.
Seeing him like that, I couldn’t help but smile faintly.
Even as an adult, he was still as transparent when lying as he was as a child.
“Anyway, that’s good. Then let’s stop by the brewery and go home together.”
“Huh? Uh, sure. Weren’t you out because you had an appointment?”
Cesar, who had naturally moved closer to me, glanced at me cautiously as he asked.
“Yes. It was just a quick appointment.”
Cesar looked like he had more he wanted to ask, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.
An awkward silence hung between us as we walked side by side.
‘We used to get along better than other siblings.’
As twins, we had fought a lot, but we were also closer than anyone else.
Our relationship began to deteriorate when I started dating Delos.
Each time Cesar saw me groveling before Delos, he hated it more than anyone else and got angry.
“Please, Dahlia! Can’t you break up with that guy? Look at yourself. A man who truly loves you wouldn’t treat you like that!”
It was something Cesar said one day long ago, when he saw me suffering because Delos had once again suggested breaking up.
But at that time, I was busy criticizing him for calling Delos a good for nothing.
As a result, we, who were once each other’s halves, became so awkward that we struggled to have simple conversations.
A bittersweet smile crossed my face as old memories resurfaced.
I felt pathetic for only realizing the value of important things after losing everything.
‘I won’t do anything I’ll regret again.’
On the way home with Cesar, I clenched my fists and made a vow.
***
That evening.
As planned, I informed my family that I had broken up with Delos.
“I broke up with Delos today.”
To my surprise, the reaction was more intense than I expected.
Crash—! Crash!
The sound of glass breaking echoed through the dining room.
Looking up, I saw my father and Cesar, who were pale and frozen, as if they had seen a ghost.
“What do you mean? You broke up? With the Prince?”
“Yes. We broke up.”
My firm expression made my father exchange glances with Cesar, both trying to assess whether I had lost my mind.
“It’s true. I decided to end it.”
At my final, definitive words, their eyes widened.
“I’m really sorry for everything. Father, and you too, Cesar.”
I sincerely apologized to both of them.
Seeing me bow my head in apology, my father and Cesar struggled to find their words.
Eventually, it was Cesar who reacted first.
“…Wow, you finally came to your senses?”
His eyes sparkled more brightly than I had ever seen before.
“Ahem, yes. Breaking up is, well, good, no, surprising news indeed,”
Then, my father replied, covering his mouth with one hand.
It seemed like his true feelings had slipped out inadvertently, but I decided to pretend not to notice.
The rest of the meal felt almost like a celebration.
“Butler, bring out the wine we received as a gift before.”
My father busily drank the rare wine stored in the mansion’s cellar.
“Tonight, everyone, eat until you’re full. It’s a day to comfort Dahlia’s aching heart after her breakup!”
Cesar had all the servants in the duke’s household serve plenty of food and drink.
On the surface, it was evident that the party was intended to comfort me after my breakup.
***
A few days had passed since I broke up with Delos.
Since that day, the atmosphere in the house has completely changed.
I turned my gaze toward my desk.
On the desk lay a pile of gifts that my father and Cesar had given me under the pretense of comfort over the past few days.
“I appreciate it, but…”
As I examined the gifts, I let out a low sigh, looking troubled.
Among the gifts, there were particularly many books, and the titles were all quite ridiculous.
Titles like ‘101 Ways to Live a Glamorous Single Life’ and ‘Trash is Still Trash No Matter How Many Times You Look at It’ dominated the collection.
‘I can guess what they were thinking, so I couldn’t refuse them.’
The image of my father handing me various self-defense items along with the books made a small laugh escape my lips.
Who could have imagined that the once tense atmosphere in the house would change like this?
“It feels peaceful.”
It was a feeling I had never experienced in my previous life.
I closed my eyes and savored the peaceful feeling for a moment before getting up and approaching the desk.
On the desk lay an ornate invitation with a beautiful seal.
It was the invitation to Delos’s birthday celebration.
I fiddled with the invitation and let out a complicated sigh.
Of course, it wasn’t because of Delos.
“Surely that man will attend the banquet too?”
Any banquet involving the royal family required high-ranking nobles to attend.
This meant that the Duke of Ballestain would also be present at the banquet taking place tomorrow.
***
The following day, the carriage was en route to the palace.
I could no longer tolerate the intense stares I had been feeling, so I decided to speak up.
“I really am okay, you know?”
As I turned my head, the two pairs of eyes that had been watching me quickly averted to the air.
“Ahem, I didn’t say anything, though?”
“I-I was just looking out the window!”
Their attempts to act nonchalant were so similar that it was almost amusing.
I stared at the two of them, then shook my head.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand why they were acting this way.
The thought of running into Delos again just a few days after our breakup was clearly worrying them.
