RVMPT Chapter 97

Chapter 97

Money.

Ella twisted her face at the familiar word.

Then, shaking her shoulders slightly, she let out a broken, almost mad laugh.

“…Of course. There’s no way you’d come looking for me without a reason.”

Her voice slipped out in a thin, bitter tone.

“Did your business fail again?”

“Ah, not yet! If you just lend me some money…”

“It failed, then.”

Ella cut him off coldly. She had expected this from the moment he desperately tried to expand his business. She had never once believed it would succeed.

Her family had never helped her even once in her life. They were worse than maggots crawling on a corpse.

Disgusting.

Ella roughly pushed the baron’s hand away.

“I can’t lend you anything.”

“Ella!”

“I just got out of prison, Father. I was kicked out of the Garcia family, and I’m no longer Kaiden’s fiancée. What money could I possibly have? Even if you try to squeeze something out of me, you won’t get a cent.

So don’t ever come looking for me again.”

As soon as Ella finished speaking, she pushed past the baron.

But the baron suddenly reached out and grabbed a handful of her golden hair blowing in the wind.

“Ahh!”

Ella screamed as her scalp was yanked tightly.

“How dare you try to deceive your own father?!”

“What are you talking about! I never lied!”

“I know everything! You’ve been hiding money!”

How did he find out?

“No! That’s not true! Ahh!”

The more Ella denied it, the more ruthless the baron became.

“Selfish girl! Do you think I want your money for myself? It’s all for you and the family! How could you say such things!”

“Stop it! Even if I had money, I don’t have to give it to you!”

Ella shoved the baron hard. As he fell, he still clutched her hair, tearing out strands that filled his hand.

“Ugh…”

Ella rubbed her scalp and looked down coldly at him as he sat on the ground. He seemed to have twisted his leg in the fall, but she felt no sympathy.

“I hope I never see your face again.”

She walked away. The baron screamed her name furiously from behind, but she didn’t look back. She only quickened her pace, wanting to get away from that dreadful voice.

“Ella! If you leave like this, I’ll tell everything!”

“…”

For the first time, she stopped walking. He hadn’t said exactly what, but she immediately knew what he meant.

Clenching her jaw, she turned back to him.

“…Are you insane?”

“Insane? I’m perfectly sane.”

The baron grinned and whispered so only she could hear.

“Your mother wasn’t sane, following that witch.”

“…And whose fault do you think that was?”

It was all because of her father.

Because of his constant failures, always starting things he couldn’t handle.

“Father. If that secret gets out, not just me—you will die too.”

“You’re right, I’ll die too. Your mother even offered a human to that witch. If that’s revealed, how could we possibly survive?”

On the day it was first discovered that witches offered humans as sacrifices, not only the witches but also their followers were executed.

The Emperor had declared them all equally guilty—traitors who deserved death.

“If you don’t help me, I’ll end up dying on the streets anyway. It may sound meaningless now, but I’ve already sold off all of our lands.”

“Father!”

“If I go down, I’m not going down alone.”

The baron grabbed Ella’s ankle and looked up at her with bloodshot eyes, grinning again.

“So let’s survive together. If I just get the money, this time it’ll definitely…”

Ella covered her ears.

But she couldn’t shake off the hand that was dragging her into a dark, endless pit.

She couldn’t breathe.

‘Why? Why is the world so cruel only to me…?’

She just wanted to be happy.

‘What did I ever do wrong?’

Tears streamed down her face.

Escaping prison hadn’t been the end of it.

Hell was right here.

—

The day before the party arrived.

After meeting with the noble ladies, I got up to leave when the time came. Then, one of them called out to me.

“Tomorrow’s the day of the party in Baisen, isn’t it? Is the ‘joy you want to share,’ written on the invitation, really a secret until the day of the event?”

“Yes. I wish I could tell you all, but I really can’t say anything just yet.”

I saw a flicker of disappointment in their eyes as they looked at me.

It was a familiar reaction.

Every time I attended a social gathering, people always tried to guess what the phrase on the invitation—“I hope you will join us to share in our joy”—actually meant.

“At tomorrow’s party, I’d like to share the good news and be congratulated in front of everyone. I hope you understand, ladies.”

“Well, if you say it like that, there’s nothing we can do. I’m curious, but I’ll hold out one more day.”

“I look forward to seeing you at the party tomorrow, Madam.”

I checked the time and stood up to leave first. Then I returned to the duchy and inspected the entire estate.

Even though the butler and I had checked everything multiple times, I wanted it to be absolutely perfect, since tomorrow was such an important day.

After thoroughly checking the garden, I was about to go back inside when I heard the sound of horse hooves.

‘That must be Harold.’

Harold had gone out in the morning to meet with the retainers of Baisen. Instead of going inside, I waited for the carriage to stop. When it did, I opened the door myself instead of waiting for a servant. I saw a pair of thick, well-shaped eyebrows lift slightly. I giggled and held out my hand.

“Welcome back.”

“…Are you copying me?”

“Oh, yes. You noticed right away! Did I do a good job?”

If he says yes, I’ll feel a bit proud.

“You did well.”

Harold smiled more deeply and praised me.

I smiled brightly, feeling happy, and then Harold suddenly wrapped his hand around my wrist.

“Diana.”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to kidnap you for a bit.”

Then he pulled me up.

Before I could react, I found myself in the carriage. Sitting on his lap, Harold gave the coachman an order.

“Driver, let’s go.”

“…Y-yes, sir.”

Though the driver sounded flustered, he still obeyed without question.

The carriage started moving smoothly again. I sat there, stunned, and finally managed to speak.

“…Uh. What is this? Kidnapping? You’re kidnapping me?”

“My wife is just too lovely. I was afraid someone else might kidnap you, so I couldn’t just sit back and watch.”

“…So you decided to kidnap me yourself?”

“Well, since I was going to ask you out for dinner anyway, I figured I’d do both.”

He admitted it so easily.

Harold must have seen the look of disbelief on my face, because he smiled slyly like a fox.

I narrowed my eyes at his shamelessness, but I wasn’t really upset. Harold knew that too—that’s probably why he acted like this, which was a little annoying but also kind of cute.

“So, which restaurant are we going to?”

“The one you liked the most. I already made a reservation.”

“Alright. Then I’ll forgive the kidnapping.”

Harold chuckled and leaned back against me.

—

After dinner, we went to see an opera and came back home late.

Since we had to wake up early tomorrow, I quickly got ready for bed.

Lying side by side in the dark room, I yawned.

“Haaahm—”

“You must be really tired.”

“Well, we also took a walk in the park.”

There was such a cute cat there…

My thoughts wandered as I slowly blinked my heavy eyelids.

“Aren’t you tired, Harold?”

“Not yet.”

“I see… Haaahm— Ah, I really had fun today. It feels like we made the most of our time before things get super busy.”

Once Harold announced his recovery tomorrow, he’d become even busier than when preparing for the party.

And it wouldn’t just be him—I’d be busy too.

I didn’t know how long I’d stay as Harold’s wife, but for a while, I’d have a packed schedule.

“I had fun too. Oh, Diana.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s take care of our contract tomorrow.”