Chapter 7
“I made a mistake too.”
I was holding a fan, but I couldn’t block it. The feathers hanging from it were soaked and drooping. The fan lady’s red hair and red dress both hung limp as well.
I hadn’t even touched the tea, but I wondered if something had been mixed in there. I glanced at it—but this damn status window never shows up when I need it.
“H-How could you be so shameless!”
The hand holding the fan trembled, her face twisting grotesquely like some goblin. Not the handsome kind from dramas—more like a hellish demon, the Japanese style rather than Korean.
“You made the shameless mistake first, didn’t you?”
“Girls!”
Why does she keep yelling ‘girls!’ over and over?
Isn’t that too cliché?
But cliché lines came with cliché solutions—like grabbing me from behind.
Useless body of mine, flopping like a rice cake on the Siberian plains. Why don’t I have any strength at all?
“Let me go.”
“You need to apologize first, Your Highness.”
“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. Now let me go.”
I did as told, but they didn’t let go. Liars!
“Pfft! Yes, that’s how it should be. It suits you, Your Highness.”
The fan lady smacked my cheek with her fan. The status window flashed red again. The wet feathers felt soft and ticklish as they brushed my skin, yet clammy enough to be disgusting. I almost spat at her, but… could I really take on four of them at once? No way.
If they were going to make me fight four people, they should’ve at least given me decent stats!
[Warning! The mask is about to come off!]
[If the mask is removed, difficulty will increase!]
Yeah, I get it!
I thought the status window was finally going to give me a helpful quest—but nope, useless as ever.
“No, stop!”
They suddenly started pulling at my mask. I panicked and struggled, but they pinned me down harder, making it impossible to move. Especially the triangular-shaped lady behind me—her body was so solid she could’ve passed as a knight.
If I kept struggling, she might toss me around like a sack of rice.
Fine. I’ll lie low for now.
[Warning! The mask is in danger of removal!]
[The mask has been removed.
Reapply within the time limit!
1 minute… 59 seconds… 58 seconds…]
And how exactly am I supposed to do that?! Hey, why don’t you try fighting Miss Triangle Arms with this flimsy body, huh? Her arms are more muscular than a personal trainer’s, even under her dress!
[Quest requirement failed. The difficulty of the next quest will greatly increase.]
Daaamn it!!
“What are you doing here?”
I lifted my head at the familiar voice. My sister was standing there—with yet another ridiculously handsome man.
Wait. Weren’t men not allowed here, Sister?
Are you really the terrible bitch I thought you were? Or are you not the kind who should be apologizing to me?
And how about telling me what I’m supposed to get an apology for, damn game?!
“Ah… Princess Gracie. Your face…”
The man turned aside, covering his mouth with his hand. Trash! That’s what you care about now? You don’t see what’s happening to me?
Beside that trashy duke, a status window popped up:
Adrian Russell
Duke / Affection level unknown ▼
Two dukes in just two days. What an honor. How f***ing delightful.
I held back tears as I tapped the arrow.
▼ Fiancé of Princess Gracie
I looked past the window at his face. Gorgeous—though not in the same way as Clayton. Silver hair, gray eyes. Sharp nose, no double eyelids, long lashes, red lips. If Clayton was the flamboyant type, Adrian was the refined kind of handsome.
If only he didn’t look so shocked.
“Duke Russell! How dare you be so rude!”
Kiira came running in, face full of alarm. The girls holding me collapsed like sandcastles and rushed to surround her, pleading desperately. The cheek that had been smacked by the fan still tickled oddly.
“Your Highness!”
“Princess Gracie poured tea on Lady Biatch Paederpelker!”
“Gracie did that?”
“Yes, and when we tried to stop her from splashing us too, she went wild and…”
Wow. I thought I was good at fake crying. But these girls are pros.
I just stood there, half-laughing. No one would believe me anyway, and my sister’s expression looked deadly serious. Against four people, my word would mean nothing. They were probably close to her too, considering they were invited.
“That’s not the important part.”
Adrian Russell’s voice was low and sweet, like velvet against the ear. Not unlike Clayton’s low tone, but softer.
“Do you not realize that laying a hand on a royal could cost you your heads?”
Unlike before, he was taking my side. I turned to him in surprise—but he avoided my eyes.
So, he just hates my face, huh?
I sighed, picked up the mask, and tied it tightly back on. My whole body was soaked with tea, sticky and uncomfortable, but it was better than showing my bare face.
“Gracie! I’ll apologize. It was my carelessness, okay?”
“……”
“Please don’t punish the girls. I beg you, Sister!”
As much as I wanted to see their heads roll, that would only push my sister’s apology further away. And I still didn’t even know what she was supposed to apologize for. I couldn’t make the rift worse.
Think of the money.
Seven billion won—that’s money I’d never touch in my lifetime. And it’s rolling straight to me.
I just need to last one year.
In one year, I can pour tea, drink tea through my nose, even gulp poison tea and crap myself if I have to.
Focus.
“Fine.”
Maybe because Kiira was crying, my heart softened a little.
I didn’t want to suspect my sister without proof. Circumstances alone weren’t enough. I knew too well what it felt like to be doubted without evidence.
Besides, maybe she really was the only one in this world who cared about me.
“Thank you, Gracie. I’m truly sorry.”
She hugged me despite my wet dress. It reminded me of the rare gifts I used to get on birthdays.
‘Is this really okay?’
‘Yes, Sister. I like hugs the most.’
Like the nun who hugged me every birthday, her warmth softened me despite the rose perfume I hated. There was no solid proof yet. Only suspicions.
So I’d wait. Until everything was clear.
“What are you doing?”
Adrian had followed me out, though I expected him to stay with Kiira. Francis trailed behind too, frowning at my bedraggled state.
“Why are you speaking informally to me?”
“What?”
“Duke, why are you using casual speech with me?”
“And why are you suddenly using honorifics?”
So Gracie spoke informally to Adrian, huh. Well, knowing her, she wouldn’t have shown courtesy to her fiancé anyway.
[Quest complete!
You have drunk tea with Kiira Fletcher Gabriella Bastian.
Please check your reward below! ▼]
“Are you ignoring me again?”
I reached for the arrow, but Adrian caught my hand. I stared blankly at him—he avoided my eyes again. Ever since he’d seen my face under the mask, he seemed oddly burdened.
“Is my face that hideous?”
“…No.”
“Then what was all that earlier?”
“I was just surprised. You’d never shown it before.”
The moment he let go, I casually tapped the arrow.
▼ Reward: You can check the affection level of one chosen person.
I’ll use this on Sister later.
“And besides… that doesn’t matter.”
“My face doesn’t matter?”
“Right. Whatever your face looks like, you’re still my fiancée. That doesn’t change.”
And yet you looked so shocked earlier?
I almost pulled off my mask again to spook him, but the way he spoke—so seriously—I couldn’t. Francis fidgeted behind us, and I wondered if he’d also freak out if I unmasked myself.
But Adrian Russell… if I could trust his words, he was likely on my side.
He must know a lot about Princess Gracie too.
“If my sister did something wrong to me, what do you think it would be?”
He frowned at the sudden question. His already sharp features looked even more striking when twisted like that.
“I don’t know.”
“Then if I did something wrong to her, what would it be?”
“Do I have to tell you everything?”
Wow. That many, huh? Damn.
“Just the biggest one first.”
He smiled—playfully this time, but still so beautiful it was almost unfair.
How was I supposed to focus on the conversation when his face itself was a distraction?
“Stealing me from her would be the biggest, wouldn’t it?”
…Oh, f***.
