The guests were slightly taken aback.

Ariana had dragged onto the stage those who had been watching this new and interesting gossip from a perfect third-party perspective.

Adding charges to accuse a fellow nobleman was a risky business.

But everyone who needed to know was aware that the Fedegrin family had become a toothless tiger due to successive investment failures.

‘It’s much better to impress the new duchess than to be mindful of the marquis.’

Most quickly finished such calculations.

The first to step forward was Evelyn.

“I’ll help with the charges. If that’s what the duchess wishes.”

‘Honestly Elena, I don’t believe what that woman is saying, but… if revealing the truth is what Ariana wants.’

“I’ll join in the charges as well.”

“I too will participate.”

As the situation snowballed, Elena stiffened nervously.

‘What’s with this atmosphere?’

Elena’s intention was to brand herself as a complete victim in her relationship with Lucas and turn public opinion around.

She had never even thought about complicated concepts like accusations or charges.

To begin with, since the opponent was Marquis Fedegrin, she didn’t think he could really be thrown in jail even if she slandered him a bit.

The flustered Elena slightly stumbled over her words.

“But… sister. Is this really okay? The opponent is a marquis after all…”

“Don’t worry, Elena. Look how many people are offering to help. The truth will prevail.”

“But-”

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, Ariana pressed her forehead and carefully leaned against Dante’s chest.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I thought too much about past events and now I have a bit of a headache…”

Oh dear.

How pitiful…

Sympathetic murmurs broke out here and there. Even Evelyn inwardly stamped her feet.

‘This must be a past Ariana doesn’t even want to recall, yet she’s going this far to help the sister she still dislikes and resents who’s claiming to be the victim…’

With Ariana acting like this, Elena could no longer refuse.

If she dragged this topic out any further, the guests looked ready to drive her out themselves.

Dante wrapped one arm around Ariana’s head as she leaned into his embrace.

Lowering his head slightly, he whispered.

“As expected of my wife.”

Ariana stiffened at the voice tickling her ear.

“You certainly know how to stir up interesting events.”

“…”

As Ariana lightly bit her lip, Dante turned to face the guests.

“It seems my wife is quite tired, so it would be best to end the reception now.”

Everyone couldn’t hide their disappointed expressions.

Today’s wedding was by far the best of all the parties they had recently attended.

Not only was it luxurious and beautiful, but it even provided unexpected gossip at the end.

Looking at the guests lingering in disappointment, Dante raised the corner of his mouth.

“I was just wondering how to chase out the guests as the night deepened anyway.”

Oh my.

The ladies mumbled softly and blushed, while the gentlemen cleared their throats.

It was a blatant request for guests to leave, but no one took offense. After all, it was the newlyweds’ first night.

Without a single complaint, everyone willingly began to disperse.

“This turned out really well, didn’t it, Miss Elena?”

Adolph said with a flushed face as he grasped Elena’s hand.

“Everyone believes your words! With over ten people raising their hands to help, even immunity rights won’t be an issue!”

Elena hid her true feelings behind a smile.

Adolph’s words weren’t wrong.

Yes. Certainly nothing had gone against her wishes. One could say she had even achieved more than expected.

‘But, what is this? This uneasy feeling.’

Elena glared at Ariana’s retreating back in Dante’s arms before hastily managing her expression.

In the carriage on the way back.

Adolph was still excited.

“Now it won’t be long before that cruel marquis pays for his crimes!”

Watching that simple-minded look, Elena began to calculate inwardly.

‘Lucas won’t actually be punished.’

She wasn’t foolish enough to believe Lucas could be thrown in jail based solely on her tearful plea.

With no real evidence, the investigation would ultimately fizzle out inconclusively.

‘But… just Lucas frequenting the security office will be a big blow.’

The image alone of Marquis Fedegrin being investigated by security would lead to unstoppable scandal.

That was enough.

Not only having an affair with his fiancée’s sister, but even forcibly assaulting her.

Lucas’s reputation would become irreparable.

A deep smile hung on Elena’s lips.

‘That’s what you get for betraying me.’

Elena had to have whatever she wanted to be satisfied.

And if there was something she truly could never have…

‘I’ll break it and ruin it.’

Suddenly, Ariana’s face came to mind.

Wearing an unbelievably expensive dress, adorned with a dazzling tiara, embraced by a man so handsome it made one’s eyes spin.

‘Duchess Heigenberg. …How ridiculous.’

There was a time when Elena felt thrill in stealing Ariana’s men, but now she was happily smiling next to a man Elena couldn’t even approach.

And no one objected to the union of those two.

It was a position Elena could never even dream of. After all, it was impossible for a commoner’s daughter to become a duchess.

But Ariana naturally claimed that position. Just because she was a count’s granddaughter.

‘It’s unfair.’

We’re sisters, aren’t we? Close enough to have shared a man.

If it’s a man I can’t have, elder sister shouldn’t be able to have him either.

‘How on earth did she seduce the duke?’

Elena knew Ariana well. Clearly until just recently, there had been no connection at all between Dante and Ariana.

As the world was gossiping, naturally falling in love while comforting and interacting?

What nonsense.

‘There must have been some kind of deal.’

But what could Ariana have put up as a stake? A sister who had nothing…

Soon lightning struck above Elena’s head.

‘…No way?’

The day she left home after breaking off the wedding with Lucas, Ariana had packed quite a lot.

A few of her mother’s heirlooms, the few jewels she had, and…

‘Eduardo Lopez’s music scores.’

She recalled Edward raging and calling her a thief when he belatedly discovered that fact.

The scores of Eduardo Lopez, renowned as a musical master, still held value even now. No, their value had been steadily increasing over time.

In the days when Lopez House was unable to produce new hit songs, those pieces of music had served as an excellent source of income.

Although Edward would dismiss them as just old music from a dead person.

‘Elder brother has some strange stubbornness too.’

Is it because he’s an artist?

Shrugging her shoulders, Elena continued her train of thought.

Anyway. She wondered if Eduardo’s scores alone could really have secured a position as prestigious as duchess, but there was no doubt those scores held considerable value.

‘Then, if we were to get those scores back…’

Ariana’s value to Dante would surely plummet.

Just then, a subtle voice broke Elena’s reverie.

“So, Miss Elena.”

Adolph said with a meaningful gaze.

“Won’t you spend tonight at my mansion?”

Despite his quite handsome face, there was something nauseating about Adolph’s overly lecherous gaze.

Nevertheless, Elena managed her expression prettily as she spoke.

“I’m sorry. I’m too tired today.”

“Well… that’s understandable. It’s not like today is the only day.”

His disappointment was blatant as he clicked his tongue.

With smoldering eyes, Adolph whispered.

“By the way, I knew a day like this would come, Miss Elena. You always took my gifts with you, even though you wouldn’t even touch the gifts sent by other men.”

‘As if that were true.’

If that had happened, it was simply because what Adolph sent was expensive.

While inwardly sneering, Elena didn’t let her smile falter.

‘Once I’m done dealing with Lucas…’

She would discard this man too.

Elena briefly traced her plans for the future.

The flower on the cliff that receives admiration from all men yet yields to no one. That was the image of herself Elena had maintained until now.

But having taken Adolph’s hand for her purpose, she had to change her strategy.

‘There’s no choice but to go for the complete opposite image.’

How about the concept of a deadly poison flower with fatal charm? One so seductive she could even enthrall her sister’s husband.

‘Well. I couldn’t maintain the pure concept forever as I got older anyway.’

She was determined to use this crisis as a stepping stone for her comeback.

And she intended to pay back in full those who dared to humiliate her.

The ducal residence, emptied of guests, was as quiet as if the day’s bustle had been a lie.

A white butterfly fluttered in through the window.

Watching the pair of wings shimmer white in the moonlight beyond the window, I was lost in thought for a moment.

There was something that always came to mind when I saw butterflies.

The Fantasy Butterfly Trilogy.

The final part of the immensely popular Fantasy Butterfly series was never released to the world because grandfather passed away in a carriage accident while working on it.

However, three years from now, Edward will sweep up enormous fame and wealth by performing the supposedly lost Part 3 at the Founding Day Festival.

He had kept the late work he discovered while organizing grandfather’s legacy hidden away, only to reveal it when its value reached its peak.

While leaving the Lopez mansion, I managed to take a few of grandfather’s scores with me, but I couldn’t find many of them.

‘I need to get them back.’

Not just the Fantasy Butterfly, but everything.

They’re probably grinding their teeth, thinking they’ll be the ones getting things back from me instead.

Lost in such thoughts, I unconsciously put my foot on the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

I turned around at the sudden voice.

Dante’s red eyes were gleaming more eerily than usual, infused with moonlight. I dazedly moved my lips.

“…Pardon?”

Stepping onto the stairs had been unconscious. I usually started with these central stairs when entering the mansion.

Since the guest room where I stayed was on the second floor…

‘Ah.’

Realizing that far, I blushed furiously.

As if reading my thoughts, Dante let out a low chuckle.

“You’re no longer a guest now.”

His large hand grabbed my waist and pulled me close.

“So we should go to ‘our’ bedroom.”