It seemed as though she didn’t remember at all how badly their last meeting had ended, as Veronica was showing an extremely calm smile.

As Briella had said before, she was truly a master at pretending to be nice.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Your Grace.”

“…Yes, Veronica.”

“Roshan, Emily, it’s been a while too.”

“How shameless…”

“N-Nice to see you, Lady Plona. Thank you for inviting me to such a lovely occasion today.”

As if trying to make up for Roshan’s mistake, Emily hurriedly spoke up. But Veronica didn’t seem to pay any attention to Roshan’s comment.

As if her attempt at familiarity was just an excuse to approach.

“It’s nice to see the three of you so cozy as usual, but could you step aside for a moment? I have something I really want to say to Her Grace.”

“Ha, are you trying to apologize now? You’ve got some nerve. That’s why you thought you could have an affair with someone else’s man…”

“L-Let’s give them some space!”

Emily managed to drag away Roshan, who was standing firm and refusing to leave, and they disappeared into the distance.

“You still look lovely, Your Grace. Oh, by the way, I heard you recently visited the Kingdom of Leveren. Did you enjoy your trip?”

Though her tone was sweet, her eyes were filled with raw intensity.

I had thought Veronica might have changed a bit after Casien gave up, but realizing how foolish that thought was, a laugh involuntarily escaped me.

“You haven’t changed either, Lady Plona.”

When I didn’t respond with the usual trite greetings like before, Veronica briefly showed a surprised expression before completely dropping her pretense as well.

“The phrase ‘haven’t changed’ suits Your Grace more than me. You’re always living so comfortably, aren’t you? I’m truly envious of how everything comes so easily to Your Grace, both then and now.”

“…”

“You luckily became someone’s fiancée, and if that wasn’t enough, now you’ve even married the one and only Grand Duke Rocheter of the Empire. Everyone is envious of how uniquely smoothly Your Grace’s life is going, even if they don’t say it out loud, you know?”

“I knew you disliked me from the start, but given the occasion, it would be best to refrain from speaking further.”

“Ah— Perhaps you’re very disappointed that you can’t receive proper treatment from me, now that you’ve become the grand duchess after abandoning your fiancé?”

Veronica wrinkled her nose and soon curved her eyebrows as if pitying me.

“But what can I do? I might feel respect for His Grace the Grand Duke, the war hero, but I just can’t seem to muster any respect for Your Grace. After all, the only thing you know how to do is be comfortably loved.”

“It seems you have trouble understanding when told to mind your manners, Lady Plona.”

“If anyone is making excessive demands, it’s Your Grace, isn’t it? Why don’t you try minding your own manners?”

My voice wasn’t gentle either in response to Veronica’s excessive sarcasm.

“You, isn’t it about time you stopped taking out your anger on me because of Ersian?”

As soon as I directly mentioned Casien, Veronica’s face noticeably hardened.

“Ersian and I have been over for a long time. I have no reason to be involved with him anymore, so I really don’t understand why you keep showing this discomfort in this way.”

“That’s why… I envy this aspect of Your Grace. That shamelessness, I mean.”

“…What did you say?”

“I find it so amazing that you can walk around with your head held high after ruining someone else’s life, Your Grace. Do you know what state he’s in now? If you knew, I don’t think you could speak so confidently, Your—”

The truth didn’t matter to Veronica.

The mere fact that I had been Casien’s fiancée was enough to make me the worst person in the world to Veronica. Judging by her contemptuous gaze, she truly seemed to believe I was the villain.

‘This woman is out of her mind.’

Thinking that, the anger that had been welling up naturally subsided. And soon a sense of futility washed over me. To think I believed I could have a normal conversation with such a woman.

“Veronica. You may not want to believe it, but I have never ruined Ersian’s life for even a moment. If anything, it was the opposite.”

“…How can you say that while you’re living so well without a care! Don’t you feel even a little sorry towards Ersian—”

“I don’t care at all what you think of me.”

“…”

“But keep your unsightly delusions to yourself. Don’t upset the people around me by showing it like this.”

Despite saying that, Veronica responded with a smile closer to a sneer.

“Are you saying you’ll get rid of me like you got rid of Camilla and Sasha if I go against Your Grace’s words? But what can you do? His Grace the Grand Duke doesn’t seem to have any intention of doing so. Is it because he has at least a minimum of discernment, unlike Your Grace? How fortunate.”

I hadn’t been bothered until just now, but as soon as I heard about Reus, my eyes naturally furrowed. Veronica smiled brightly after confirming my expression.

“The Grand Duke is not someone you can speak of as you please. This is truly my final warning, Veronica. If you commit any more disrespect, I won’t stay quiet either.”

“You’re going to unnecessary trouble. Such threats won’t work on me, as I have no intention of ever seeing Your Grace again?”

Before, I had felt some sympathy seeing Veronica clinging to Casien, as it reflected my own image, but now I realized she wasn’t even worth cheap pity.

“Veronica. For the first time, I’m grateful to you.”

“…What?”

“I’m so glad you haven’t changed and continue to be shameless and cowardly.”

“Ha! What about Your Grace?”

Veronica wrinkled her face irritably.

“As you said, I hope we never see each other again after today. For both our sakes.”

“I desire that more desperately than anyone.”

Both Veronica and I stared at each other silently for a moment with the smiles wiped from our faces. At that moment, a large hand gently wrapped around my shoulder.

“Roelle.”

Even without Reus saying more, I could feel that he was worried about me. He seemed to be wondering if there had been another unpleasant incident like last time.

Amusingly, it seemed Veronica was being mindful of Reus, as if her words about being able to respect the Grand Duke were true.

‘Come to think of it, she kept calling me Lady Ivelle that day, but today she’s been consistently saying Your Grace.’

As Reus was looking at Veronica with slightly irritated eyes, the Plona Marquis couple approached us from afar.

They were people just as unwelcome to me as Veronica.

The Marquis couple were people who had never cared about their daughter tormenting me in the first place. That’s why they could say such things so casually.

“It’s truly wonderful to see you with our daughter like in the old days. Now that our families have grown closer, we hope you’ll visit the Marquis’ estate often, Your Grace.”

“We will take good care of Your Grace. Of course, the same goes for Your Grace the Grand Duke.”

They knew that Veronica had been meeting with Casien, who had been engaged to me.

One way or another, they were truly shameless people. Both Veronica and the Plona Marquis couple.

When I didn’t give any particular answer, Reus tactfully concluded the conversation on his own.

“If there’s nothing important to discuss, let’s start the banquet soon.”

The Marquis couple announced the start of the banquet, expressing their gratitude to those in attendance today.

“What could be better than having this wonderful opportunity to form a connection, allowing our two families to prosper together even more?”

After rattling off some meaningless words, the Marquis slowly approached Roelle and Reus.

“The true guests of honor at today’s banquet are the Grand Duke and Duchess of Rocheter.”

Unlike Reus, who showed no reaction, Roelle, conscious of people’s gazes, responded with a light laugh.

“Such a precious occasion calls for precious wine, doesn’t it?”

The Marquis of Plona began to explain at length about how rare the wine prepared for this banquet hall was.

The Marquis seemed to want to boast about how much effort he had put in for the Grand Duke and Duchess, but regardless, Reus was preoccupied with worrying that Roelle might get drunk again.

“You should only drink a little.”

“Are you worried I might get drunk again even at an occasion like this? Reus, I know how to separate public and private matters.”

Reus let out a slight laugh at Roelle’s resentful voice. At that, the Marquis seemed a bit relieved, while Veronica let out a sigh-like sneer.

Veronica, who had immediately intercepted the wine bottle brought by a servant, approached the Marquis.

“Father. I really want to pour the wine for Her Grace myself.”

“If Her Grace is alright with it…”

The Marquis substituted his question by mumbling and shifting his gaze, to which Roelle gave a slight nod. Veronica gestured to a servant. The servant then prepared two glasses and approached them.

“I wish for endless glory in Your Grace’s future life.”

Veronica, who had handed over the glass and was pouring the wine, added in a slightly clearer voice.

“Sincerely.”

Roelle’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but Veronica quickly stepped back, handing the wine to the Marquis as if she hadn’t seen anything.

Soon, the Marquis of Plona finished pouring wine for Reus and his wife.

“To the endless glory of the House of Rocheter and the Marquis of Plona!”

With those words, everyone in the banquet hall drank their wine. However, after a short while, Roelle stopped moving unnaturally. Reus, who immediately sensed something was wrong, slowly turned his head.

“…Cough—”

And Roelle, who suddenly vomited blood, twisted her face in pain and collapsed right there.