He pulled Rosé towards him. As Rosé, who didn’t understand why, looked at the duke, Doana fell down with a ‘thud’.

It seemed she fell because she lost her balance.

“Ahh!”

Unable to contain her anger, Doana screamed. Then she jumped up and brandished a cane at Rosé.

“You seem to want to ruin my wedding. Stop it! And you, do you think you can get away with laying your hands on a noble?”

Despite having fallen over by herself trying to push Rosé, her words of reproach were directed at the duke.

“Doana, stop it! Do you even know who he is!”

The servant, who had been respectful towards Doana for the past few days, lost his patience and yelled at her as he used to.

“He is Duke Artem! Kneel and apologize right now!”

“Duke Artem?!”

That vicious tyrant?

Doana frowned at the duke’s appearance that didn’t match her imagination.

The duke muttered while looking down at the fallen Doana.

“You seem to not know the fear of insulting the royal family.”

At the word ‘royal family’, Doana flinched. She felt oppressed by the duke’s cold aura.

“I heard there were people who had their limbs severed for offending the royal family’s pride. Ah, and there was also a man who had his tongue cut in half and couldn’t speak for the rest of his life. Or sometimes, they were stripped of their status and became slaves.”

Horrific punishments that couldn’t be imagined in Korea flowed from the duke’s mouth.

Doana’s face had turned pale. She was trembling and couldn’t hide her shaky fingers as she stared at the floor.

The duke’s ferocity was wellknown to Eric and the maids.

Probably, what the duke was saying wasn’t a lie. A wave of fear cold enough to chill her spine rushed over her.

After the reincarnation, Doana, who lived only in the count’s house, was like a frog in a well.

She had never met anyone with a higher status than Eric, and because she monopolized his love, her arrogance soared.

In her world, Eric’s power was the greatest, and she was the woman of such an amazing man. So, Doana was always unyielding.

Eventually, this led to the situation like today.

As she felt that there was no way out, Doana’s lips became parched.

“However, I’m in a good mood today, so I might let it slide.”

Doana, who had been looking at him anxiously, felt a glimmer of hope at the duke’s words.

“If you kneel and bow your head at my feet, I might overlook your arrogance this once.”

It wasn’t a bad condition. The only hitch was that Rosé was right next to the duke.

If she did so, it would be like she was bowing and kneeling to Rosé, and she wanted to avoid that.

“Rosé, step aside.”

When Doana spoke sharply towards Rosé, Duke Artem raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not a leisurely person. I’ll give you three seconds. If you have no intention of apologizing within that, I’ll punish you according to the Imperial law.”

As the chilling voice of the duke reverberated, Doana promptly prostrated herself on the floor and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry……”

Without time to think, her body moved first. Doana felt extremely ashamed that she was bowing down to someone.

She glared at Rosé’s high heels beside her head with resentful eyes.

‘It’s because of you…!’

If it weren’t for Rosé, she wouldn’t have to be in trouble with the Grand Duke Artyom. She blamed Rosé and was furious.

“Let’s go now, Grand Duke Artyom. We’ll be late for the wedding if we keep this up.”

Rosé, seeing Doana bowing her head under her feet, chuckled and grabbed the duke’s arm.

As Rosé and the duke exited the room, the sound of Doana screaming in anger could be heard from behind them.

Rosé walked away with a joyful face along with the duke.

“Thank you.”

It was clear that the duke had stood up for her. His figure, invoking the imperial law, was utterly brutal as rumored.

‘I’m really lucky not to be on bad terms with the duke.’

If she had to face his deadly gaze directly, Rosé might faint on the spot.

Rosé stopped walking without entering the temple where the ceremony was taking place.

“Are you not going in?”

“No, I have something more I want to see.”

Rosé found a spot among the crowd and looked towards the waiting room where Doana had been.

Soon after, the sight of Doana running out in panic was seen.

Doana wandered around as if she was looking for something.

And then, the real bride of this wedding, Belliar Dicar, appeared.

As Belliar, wearing a white veil, appeared, the guests started murmuring.

“Oh my, look at the bride.”

“She’s beautiful as the rumors say.”

While people were admiring Belliar, they also felt sorry for her.

“Tsk, tsk, how did she end up with Count Wens……”

“I agree. She’s really unlucky.”

“Count Wens is lucky…… He takes all the beauties.”

“My, what are you saying?”

“Hmm, I didn’t say anything.”

When everyone was focused on Belliar, one of the nobles pointed to Doana, who was standing miserably.

“Heh. But who is that person?”

“Ah. That’s Count Wens’ wife. She’s supposed to be the bridesmaid today, but what kind of figure is that? It’s funny.”

“She doesn’t seem to have any pride. If it were me, I wouldn’t have come to this wedding.”

“Well. The exwife attended, why wouldn’t the wife?”

“But at least the exwife dressed up ostentatiously.”

“Right. And the fact that she’s being a bridesmaid is ridiculous.”

Hundreds of pairs of eyes surrounded Doana.

Laughter mocking Doana came from here and there. They were busy appraising everything about Doana, from her head to her toes, and making fun of her.

Doana’s face, under the piercing gaze, had turned red with shame. Doana, with reddened eyes, looked at Belliar.

Belliar, wearing a pure white wedding dress, was utterly elegant.

Not only the highend design different from hers but also the pure white veil only a bride could wear.

It was then that Doana realized.

The wedding of the day was not for her.