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Chapter 08
Doana wanted to lean in and whisper into Rosé’s ear right away. The man you say is a good person—he’s actually spending every night with me. He holds me and whispers words of love. When Rosé saw the twitching expression on Doana’s face, she hesitated. The slightly lifted chin, the corners of her mouth twitching, her eyes curved playfully… It was an expression Gyeoru often wore when looking at Byeolha. Gyeoru’s face overlapped with Doana’s.
‘…So that’s why you used to make that expression so often.’
Rosé let out a hollow laugh at a truth she had never realized back then. She had thought that expression simply meant Gyeoru was in a good mood. But now that she knew everything, it was clearly the look of someone drunk on the sense of superiority that came from coveting her husband behind her back. Whether the male lead in the novel was fooling around with Doana or not didn’t matter to Rosé. She felt no attraction to Eric whatsoever, and the role of the female lead was nothing more than a thorny path. She was merely irritated by Doana, who kept repeating the same behavior.
‘What on earth did you like about a woman like this? And why… why did you marry me?’
She couldn’t understand it. If he had dumped her before marriage and gone to Gyeoru instead, it wouldn’t have hurt this much. Thinking of Lee Dohyeon, whom she had believed without a doubt she would spend her life with, made one side of her chest throb painfully. She had lived believing that, of all people, her boyfriend—her husband—would never do such a thing. During their relationship, he had been kinder and more considerate than anyone. They were the perfect couple everyone envied.
“Rosé?”
Doana called her name, apparently finding Rosé’s blank stare strange. Only then did Rosé speak.
“Ah. Your earrings are so pretty—I was looking at them closely.”
“Right? How did he manage to prepare earrings that match my level so perfectly?”
At Rosé’s words, Doana beamed, showing her white teeth. She seemed delighted that Rosé was admiring them, fiddling with her earrings repeatedly.
“So how did you meet your boyfriend?”
Rosé looked at Doana while forcing herself to hide the chill in her eyes. Satisfied by Rosé’s curiosity about her boyfriend, Doana answered in a bright voice.
“I guess you could say we were drawn to each other by fate?”
Without explaining how they met in detail, Doana simply said it was destiny.
“Everything about him is great. He’s truly perfect.”
She then curved her eyes into crescents and glanced sideways at Rosé. There were many eyes on them now, so she was wearing a maid’s outfit, but…
‘That position is mine, Rosé.’
Doana smiled with a fishy grin, not bothering to hide her dark intentions. In reality, she had secured the position of a kept woman. But that role alone could never satisfy her. Though she had captured Eric’s heart and was acting as his mistress, that was all it was. No glamorous dresses, no luxurious life—just a relationship spent sharing nights together. When she said she wanted to wear glamorous dresses like Rosé’s, Eric only told her to wait. He promised that when the time came, she would enjoy everything. She didn’t particularly like those words, but she had a plan of her own—a way to seize the position of countess.
‘For a moment I thought my life was over because I got tied down to a man like Lee Dohyeon.’
Doana smiled faintly as she looked around Rosé’s lavishly decorated room. Who could have imagined that she, once nearly from a chaebol family, would be disowned by her parents for choosing the wrong man and end up living like a beggar?
‘You had nothing, yet you dared to get me pregnant?’
It was an unwanted pregnancy. She had planned to enjoy thrills with this man and that man, then enter a strategic marriage with someone at her level.
‘I should have just run away back then.’
Foolishly soft-hearted, she ended up marrying Lee Dohyeon. Part of her had wanted to see Byeolha’s always-grinning face twist into misery… Her parents, shocked by their daughter stealing a friend’s husband, threw her out without a single penny.
‘Possessing this book is clearly a chance given by God—to let me, Lee Gyeoru, live according to my original level.’
Clicking in her high heels, Doana stepped closer to Rosé. She swept her gaze over Rosé’s face, which looked at her with the innocent expression of a country girl.
‘I heard Rosé already miscarried once. And that she hasn’t been able to have a child for three years.’
Eric already sought only her every night. He didn’t seem to have any intention of going to Rosé at all.
‘Pfft… I’ll make sure you won’t even get another chance to conceive.’
Thinking the winner of this game had already been decided, Doana mocked Rosé inwardly. Seeing Doana giggling right in front of her, Rosé slightly furrowed her brows.
‘Why didn’t I notice this all along? Honestly.’
To think she had regarded such a transparent girl as a friend. Her past self felt foolish. Doana, unaware that Rosé had seen through her, was still basking in her sense of superiority. At that moment, a servant knocked on Rosé’s door.
Knock, knock.
“Madam.”
“Come in.”
At Rosé’s words, the servant cautiously opened the door and entered. Seeing Doana in Rosé’s room, he looked taken aback.
‘How shameless.’
Maintaining such a relationship while mocking an oblivious Rosé. He shot Doana a sharp look, then bowed politely to Rosé.
“An invitation has arrived for you, Madam.”
“An invitation?”
Rosé tilted her head at his words. Strange. In the novel, Rosé never received any invitations.
‘Am I misremembering? I’m sure Rosé was portrayed as a social outcast who interacted with no one and only looked at Eric.’
“Oh my, what’s that?”
Before Rosé could even take the invitation, Doana snatched it from the servant. She noticed the displeasure in his gaze.
‘How dare you look at me like that? Once I become the countess, you’re fired.’
Acting as if she were already a countess, she haughtily glanced at the servant and began reading the invitation.
“You are invited to a banquet to be held in ten days.”
Hearing Doana read it aloud, Rosé’s eyes widened.
“What is this?”
Doana waved the invitation with a highly intrigued expression.
“It says you’re invited to a banquet.”
“A banquet? What do you do there?”
“You just dress up nicely and socialize.”
By “dress up nicely,” she probably meant a dress like the one Rosé was wearing. Imagining herself in such a dress, Doana couldn’t suppress her smile, confident she would be the most beautiful person there.
“That sounds fun. Let’s go together!”
Rosé found Doana amusing, already assuming she’d be taken along when Rosé had no intention of doing so. She spoke gently, as if soothing a child.
“I’m sorry—what should I do?”
“Huh? Why are you sorry?”
“You can’t go.”
“Why?”
Caught off guard, Doana’s expression stiffened. She had assumed she could go, yet Rosé said no. After a brief pause, Doana cleared her throat and spoke softly.
“What’s friendship for, if not times like this?”
As if granting a favor, she continued,
“I’ll go with you. Someone timid like you wouldn’t be able to approach people first… I’d worry you’d just waste time alone in a corner.”
Her voice was gentle, but barbed. Holding Rosé’s shoulder affectionately, she went on,
“It’ll be better if you go with me. Unlike you, I’m good at getting close to strangers.”
Rosé found it amusing how Doana tried to persuade her, even slipping in subtle insults. She barely held back a laugh.
“I’m sorry. I’d like to, but only invited people can attend this party.”
“Can’t you say I’m your friend and take me with you?”
“We could go together, but…”
Rosé trailed off, looking at Doana.
“Only nobles can attend. Maids can’t.”
“What…?”
Rosé put on a regretful look.
“If you go, you’ll just be turned away at the door… Ah! Or would you like to go as my maid? If you say you’re attending to me, you can enter the hall.”
Speaking with an utterly innocent expression, as if she meant no harm, Rosé made Doana frown.
‘A maid? You want me to serve someone who’s about to become a countess?’
She had no intention of going as a maid.
“You’re not offended, right? I said it because I was thinking of you.”
Covering her mouth lightly, Rosé looked at Doana cautiously, trying to show she meant no ill will. They say even a school dog recites poetry after three years. Rosé found it amusing that she could now mimic Doana’s behavior perfectly—she, who had always acted like a bear, now imitating a fox.
“Offended? No… I’m just disappointed.”
Unable to say anything more, Doana forced a cold smile.
‘What an unlucky bitch.’
She swallowed the insult she couldn’t voice aloud. Doana was strong against the weak but endlessly weak before the strong. Needing to gather information by staying close to Rosé, she had no choice but to appease her. Rosé smiled sweetly at Doana and took the invitation from her hand.
‘Let’s see who sent this.’
She read the invitation slowly. Doana had already read the contents, so she skipped that part. Ten days later, 6 p.m…
“…Huh?”
Checking the sender, Rosé could hardly believe her eyes. In the original story, he was someone she never even met face to face—yet he had sent her an invitation.
“Why… why would this person invite me?”
Recalling the face of the man she had met recently, Rosé swallowed hard. Perhaps her connection with him wouldn’t end with just one encounter.
“Grand Duke Arteum…”
The one who had sent Rosé the invitation was Grand Duke Arteum—the man she had met at the auction.
