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Chapter 4
The Male and Female Leads Have Broken Up
There was no response.
“So I suppose you don’t even want to speak to me anymore.”
With those words, I straightened my body, which I had deliberately kept hunched to make myself look timid and dejected until just moments ago.
I wiped every expression I had been wearing from my face and lifted my chin a little higher, standing tall and confidently.
Finally, it’s over.
With that thought, I opened my mouth to say the one thing I had been aiming for ever since I came here.
“You’re amazing. Fine. I admit defeat. I’ll break off the engagement.”
That was when it happened.
A look of slight surprise and confusion briefly crossed Kane’s face at my words.
Ah, was that too quick?
Did he think I was giving up too easily?
Surely not, right?
I thought I had clung to him just enough—enough that the real Belita would probably have done the same—so that I wouldn’t give the impression of readily agreeing to break off the engagement.
But I immediately continued speaking without giving him any time to notice that something was strange about me.
“However, you’ll have to give me enough compensation to satisfy me.”
Hand over the money, male lead. You’re rich anyway.
As soon as the matter of material compensation came up, the confusion and suspicion that had briefly lingered on his face disappeared.
In their place, a mocking smile gradually spread across his face, as though he had expected this all along.
“Very well. Tell me how much you want, and I will compensate you sufficiently so that you will not feel that you have been treated unfairly.”
Perhaps he was afraid that I might change my mind, because he hastily accepted my condition without even asking how much I wanted.
Got you. You asked.
I had been thinking about this the entire time.
If Belita had truly been in this situation, she probably wouldn’t have broken off her engagement with Kane even if he offered her an astronomical fortune.
After all, as the daughter of a ducal family herself, she already possessed more than enough wealth—not merely enough to live comfortably, but enough that she probably couldn’t spend it all even if she lived extravagantly for the rest of her life.
Thinking about that, I realized that if I wanted to give this breakup a convincing justification and make everyone accept it, I absolutely needed compensation so enormous that anyone would understand why I had agreed to give up Kane.
Of course, I also intended to use that excuse to take a proper fortune from him while I was at it.
Consider it compensation for all the trouble I’d gone through.
Once I made up my mind, I secretly investigated the Maxius Duchy’s wealth whenever I had free time.
Since I was digging into one of the most powerful families in the empire, it had taken considerably more time and money than I expected.
But I was also a member of a family just as powerful, so there was very little I couldn’t accomplish if I put my mind to it.
As a result, I managed to find out how much wealth the Maxius Duchy possessed.
And based on that information, I was able to calculate approximately what I could obtain from them.
I intended to ask for the most valuable thing he possessed.
I was certain that would be enough to make absolutely no one question why a woman who had supposedly loved Kane to the point of death—who had loved him more than her own life—would suddenly agree to break off their engagement.
Well, perhaps someone might still question it.
But once they learned how much compensation I had received, they would surely go, “Ah!” and accept it.
Because it really was worth that much.
“I don’t want money. I want land.”
“…Land?”
Perhaps he had expected me to ask for a few coins or some ordinary sum of money. At the mention of land, a slight crack appeared in his usually stone-like expression.
Seeing that, I became so excited that I felt as though I had just landed a decisive blow against him.
No. Calm down. It isn’t over yet.
Reminding myself that it wasn’t over until it was truly over, I desperately tried to suppress my excitement before speaking again.
“I heard that there is land within the ducal territory that contains a diamond mine. Give that to me.”
Just like in the world I had originally lived in, diamonds were one of the most expensive and prestigious gemstones in this world as well.
Therefore, possessing not merely a few diamonds but an entire diamond mine meant possessing an enormous fortune.
My own family, the Hatz family, had accumulated wealth for generations, but unfortunately, we didn’t own a diamond mine.
So I thought that if I broke off the engagement and took the mine as compensation, even my parents would be able to understand my decision to some extent—and might even welcome it.
“You mean the diamond mine…?”
“To be precise, I want the land containing the diamond mine.”
I was asking for land that could continuously generate an almost limitless amount of money rather than a finite sum of cash, so even Kane seemed deeply shocked.
Kane remained silent for a moment.
Since I had nothing left to lower myself for, I held my head high and stared straight at him.
“Do you dislike the idea? Is it too precious to give up? Do you not think our broken engagement is worth that much?”
I lightly mocked him, indirectly asking whether his love was really not worth even that much.
“If it’s too much for you, then you can cancel the breakup. I don’t mind either way. No, actually, if Your Grace comes to your senses even now and tells me that you’ll return to me, I can pretend none of this ever happened. And I’ll immediately set a wedding date.”
I deliberately brought up marriage to pressure him, trying to make him anxious so that he wouldn’t have enough time to carefully reconsider his decision.
“I don’t want to spend another moment worrying that something like this might happen again.”
Although I was being forceful, I was just as anxious as he was.
What if Kane’s love for Adela wasn’t actually strong enough?
If that happened, the breakup would be off the table, and I might be forced to marry a man who had cheated on me and spend the rest of my life in misery.
But I desperately tried not to let my anxiety show as I maintained my expression.
However, Kane remained silent for such a long time that I began to grow impatient.
Just as I was about to open my mouth and pressure him again, Kane spoke first.
“…Very well.”
Thank goodness.
The moment I heard the answer I wanted, I clenched my fist tightly behind his notice.
Looking at his face, it was obvious that he was far from happy about giving me the diamond mine.
So what if you don’t want to?
Still, I have to admit you’re quite the lover.
Giving up a diamond mine for love… That’s some serious devotion. I completely approve!
“I’m allowed to trust you on this, right?”
However, based on my investigation, even for the richest family in the empire—the Maxius Duchy—giving away an entire diamond mine would undoubtedly cause a considerable financial blow.
So I asked him once again to confirm his decision.
“Yes. You may…”
“You don’t seem like the type of person who would change your word later, so I’ll trust you.”
His personality might be unpleasant, but he didn’t seem like someone who would lie. That was enough for me to believe him.
“You must also promise that you will not change your mind about this later, Lady.”
He likewise demanded reassurance from me, perhaps afraid that I might change my mind later.
“I don’t go back on my word either. I swear on the honor of a noble.”
I invoked the honor of a noble to demonstrate that I was absolutely determined.
His expression immediately seemed somewhat more relaxed.
Did I really have to swear that?
I regretted it slightly because I didn’t particularly like the thought of making things so easy for him.
After all, watching that man worry and doubt me wasn’t so bad.
No. Forget it.
It didn’t matter anymore.
Our relationship was over now.
From this point onward, the most we’d probably do was exchange brief greetings at official gatherings.
There would no longer be any thread connecting the two of us.
“Then I’ll have the detailed terms drawn up in writing and sent through my family’s representative. I sincerely hope Your Grace achieves what you desire.”
I had gotten what I wanted, so there was no reason for me to stay here any longer.
With those words, I turned around and headed toward the door.
For some reason, I felt as though he was watching my back until I left, but I didn’t even bother looking back as I walked straight out of the reception room.
And the moment the door closed behind me, I screamed in triumph inside my head because I was so happy.
I did it. I actually did it!!
I’d constantly encouraged myself, telling myself that I could do it, but there had always been a lingering anxiety inside me.
Yet now that it was finally over, a sense of accomplishment and the liberating feeling of freedom began filling my heart.
But I was still inside the Maxius Duchy.
This wasn’t exactly an appropriate place to fully celebrate.
I desperately tried to calm my bouncing shoulders as I walked toward the carriage.
Still, I couldn’t hide my cheerful footsteps, and my feet felt so light that it was as though I were floating on clouds.
A diamond mine…!
I’m going to be rich until the day I die.
No, I’ll even be rich after I’m dead.
As long as I had this diamond mine, I could spend the rest of my life doing whatever I wanted and eating whatever I wanted without ever having to worry about anyone else’s opinion.
Now that I’d successfully broken off the engagement, I sat in the carriage and seriously began thinking about what I should do next.
Before I knew it, we had arrived at my home.
“My Lady, you’re back.”
As I stepped down from the carriage, the butler and the servants were already waiting to welcome me.
