CH 23

Chapter 3. Rule Breaker

Episode 23

I continued looking at her.

“It was better than losing her life, but still, a perfumer’s life is their sense of smell. However, it wasn’t getting any better.”

I said that much and just drank tea. The atmosphere subsided to the point of suffocation.

After she had been silent for a while, Tatiana opened her mouth.

“What’s the point of telling me that story?”

“Hm? I just wanted to make sure you had a conscience.”

Her hand holding the hem of her skirt was trembling.

I put down the teacup and leaned back, smiling at her.

“I just wanted to let you know that you ended up ruining someone’s life completely.”

“I, I’m not like that.”

“Oh? But why do you care so much, as if you were the culprit.”

Tatiana looked at me, biting her lips.

I knew that very rarely, she had a habit of biting her lips when she was cornered.

“Hey, Titi. Why did you bother her so much? You even sent Raymond.”

“No, I didn’t do that.”

“Nivea thought of you until the very end and declined my offer of revenge.”

Her eyes fluttered helplessly.

As if she had forgotten to breathe, her body didn’t even move.

Fortunately, she still had a conscience. Read only at pm tl.

Being human enough to suffer the guilt for the rest of her life.

“I came here to talk about it. So now I’ll leave.”

I got up and walked slowly towards the door.

Then I put my hand on the doorknob and waited for a while.

“Why is that my fault?”

Ah.

You wouldn’t let me go like this.

Our heroine can’t live as a perpetrator.

She must make an excuse.

Moreover, the excuses she made in a state of embarrassment like now were more likely to show her raw appearance.

It was like that when she confessed to me that all the male protagonists were hers.

“It’s all your fault, Kari.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? What did I do?”

“Why do you want to take what I don’t have?”

“What?”

The reason that came out of her mouth was unimaginable.

“She’s the person I’ve been in contact with since the beginning. But who, and what are you trying to steal?!”

“People are not things, Titi. And what matters is who contacted who first in the business. A contract wasn’t even signed.”

I turned around and stood in front of Tatiana.

Then I said, pressing my finger on her shoulder.

“You were the one who tried to destroy it in a vicious way.”

“What I don’t have, you’ll never have it Kari!”

Her eyes were full of madness.

Endless possessiveness that felt like an abyss.

“Until now and in the future, Kari, I will not lose anything to you. Be careful. Aster is like that too!”

A sound of a slap broke through the air.

I felt my head go cold.

“Be careful, Titi. How dare you put Aster’s name in that filthy mouth.”

As I watched Tatiana’s red cheeks, I slowly opened my mouth.

“If you want to go crazy, go crazy alone. Don’t harm other people’s lives.”

I was more rational than ever. If I didn’t hit her here, I thought I’d regret it forever.

“Did you slap me?”

“Yes.”

Tatiana screamed as if supported by evil, and raised her hand to slap me in the face.

Was it because of the training I have been doing?

Even when my body was not fully healed, I grabbed Tatiana’s wrist without difficulty.

“You can’t use your strength recklessly now, right Titi?”

“Let go! Let go of me!”

I let go of her writhing hand right away, laughing at her.

Perhaps because she was struggling, her body stumbled heavily and she fell to the floor.

As soon as there was a loud bang, the servants waiting outside opened the door.

“Duchess!”

They rushed around and surrounded Tatiana.

I was surprised that they were more loyal than I thought.

The butler looked at me with hostile eyes and threatened me.

“What the hell is this doing! Someone who has learned enough needs to learn more!”

I calmly waved my hand and said to the butler.

“The Duchess, who has learned enough, told my ex-fiance that she wanted to bring him in as the paramour.”

“What? When did I say that?!”

Tatiana’s eyes widened at the story I prepared in advance.

At times like this, it was fortunate that there were so many reasons to visit her and make a scene.

I smiled at Tatiana.

“You told Sir Wilhelm that you should meet him again. Since he and I would be married anyway, he would be your paramour and live together.”

Tatiana’s past, which has robbed me of my ex-fiance, shone like this.

The maids and the butler’s gaze, who ran towards her, also became strange.

Everyone seemed to be wondering.

However, in the corner of their minds, it seemed that they were thinking that maybe it was true.

If it wasn’t for that, they would have accused me and driven me out right away.

“I was insulted first, so this was nothing.”

Tatiana, who was lying on the floor, got up quickly and jumped at me at an unbelievable speed even though she had just fallen.

“Karina, are you crazy? Why did you tell the story…!”

Holding my hand against Lily as she was trying to stop her, I leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“Or should I tell them what you just said?”

“What?”

“I’m not that stupid. I’ve recorded everything you said.”

Before coming here, I purposely wore magic earrings with a recording function.

Thanks to this, I was able to record all of her remarks earlier.

“How could you be so mean…”

“You did the same to me. So what are you talking about?”

I was the one who had been exposed when she was at a disadvantage by recording my true feelings.

“It was you who believed and said whatever you wanted.”

Just like I believed Andrew and Tatiana.

Tatiana’s face hardened as if frozen.

“Be careful. You know that this world is not as kind to you as it used to be.”

I patted her on the cheek.

Tatiana flinched, but there was no response.

I passed by her slowly, thinking that there was nothing more for me to do.

For ruining Nivea’s life to trample mine, I’ll pay you back several times more.

When I got out, Lily, who had been caught by the other maids, ran to me.

We quickly crossed the hallway.

Lily, who was looking around, asked.

“Miss, did you really hit her? Was that why she was crazy?”

“I really did.”

Lily gave me a small cheer and liked it.

I wondered why she would like it that much, but I didn’t feel bad, so I left it alone.

An unexpected man appeared in front of me as I got out of the mansion and got ready to get into the carriage.

“Karina?”

“Your Excellency.”

Andrew LeBron Gloucester.

To meet a man I don’t normally want to meet in the worst place, the only thought that filled my mind was the thought of leaving.

I wanted to get out of this place quickly, so I bowed my head slightly to say a greeting.

His shadow, seen with my head bowed, flickered slightly.

After saying goodbye, I quickly passed by him and tried to head to the carriage. But I had to stop when he grabbed my wrist.

“What’s going on here?”

“I came to see Tatiana. There was something I wanted to ask.”

His eyes fluttered at my words.

They had the same deep purple eyes as Aster, but the feeling was completely different.

Just thinking about him made me feel better.

“Then will you let me go?”

“Huh? Oh. I’m sorry.”

I looked at him as if he had lost his mind for some reason and then turned around.

“Excuse me…”

Then he caught me again.

Even after getting married, flirting with the opposite sex seems to be a characteristic for this couple.

“Why are you doing this, Archduke?”

“Can we talk for a second?”

Lily didn’t like it at all, so she pulled my clothes from behind.

I didn’t even want to talk to him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not the kind of person who cares as much as anyone. If you have something to say to me, you can send me a formal request as the duke.”

But I knew.

That the request he sends would never reach me.

They will probably disappear without a trace by the people of my family.

“Then, goodbye.”

I leisurely passed by Andrew.

In the past, just looking at his face would bring tears to my eyes, but now my stomach hurts.

The saying that time for medicine was true.

‘I don’t want to see you again.’

I thought as I got into the carriage.

~*~

(3rd person pov)

After Karina left, Tatiana was perplexed by her anxiety.

Contrary to the dark and small Tatiana, her bedroom was dazzlingly gorgeous.

Like a place that doesn’t fit her.

“Madam, can I bring you some tea?”

The look in the maid’s eyes as she spoke to her seemed to have changed somehow.

She seemed to be blaming her, so Tatiana became terrified.

Her surroundings, which she had always felt safe from, are now the latent factors that could haunt her at any time.

“Huh? No, no. Go out. I have something to think about on my own.”

Tatiana let her maid out and looked down at the bracelet she was wearing.

When she turned the inner part, there were small cracks in some of the transparent beads.

‘This is all because the bracelet is broken.’

After the bracelet broke, the strong fence that protected her world began to shake.