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Chapter 5
“Give me back every single coin I spent on you.”
“Hah!”
Cedric let out a laugh as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“So you were this greedy all along?”
He looked at her with contempt.
“Greedy?”
Emilia was speechless for a moment.
“That’s right. I’m greedy. So give me my money back.”
Emilia stubbornly held out her hand.
“It looks like you never even thought of me as your fiancée, so I should at least be paid for all the work I did for your family.”
Of course, she had never helped them because she wanted something in return.
But after everything that had happened…
She felt she should at least get her money back.
“W-What are you talking about?!”
Cedric was furious because she refused to back down.
But Emilia had no intention of arguing with him any longer.
“If you’re not going to give it to me yourself, then move.”
She picked up her suitcase and walked into the house.
“Hey!”
Cedric, who had been leaning against the door, was knocked aside by the suitcase and stumbled to the floor.
Inside, Reyna stood there with a shocked expression.
Emilia glanced at her for a moment before walking deeper into the house.
She opened the expensive display cabinet and placed her suitcase on the floor.
Clatter.
Without hesitation, Emilia swept everything valuable from the cabinet into the suitcase.
Several items fell to the floor and rolled away.
Just then, Cedric stormed inside.
“Hey!”
“I’m busy. Don’t talk to me.”
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
Cedric grabbed Emilia’s arm roughly and pulled her to her feet.
Crash!
At the same time, something fell and shattered.
Glass broke across the floor.
“What? What’s your problem?”
“You wouldn’t give it to me, so I’m taking it myself.”
Emilia shook off Cedric’s hand.
Then she looked inside the cabinet.
A wave of sadness suddenly filled her heart.
There were quite a few valuable things in this house.
Even after the family had fallen into ruin, they had never sold them.
Instead…
They had simply spent her money without hesitation.
“Have you completely lost your mind?! You’re nothing but a thief!”
Smack!
Unable to control his anger, Cedric slapped Emilia across the face with all his strength.
“Ah!”
Her head snapped to the side, and she fell to the floor.
Hearing the commotion, Mrs. Romans hurried out of her room.
“What is going on here?!”
She gasped as she looked around the ruined room before rushing to the display cabinet.
“Oh no! These precious decorations!”
She stared helplessly at the broken ornaments scattered across the floor.
“Reyna.”
“Y-Yes?”
Reyna, who had been frozen in shock, quickly looked at Emilia.
“Are you really going to be okay in the future?”
Emilia quietly looked at her.
“Living with a man who hits women whenever he’s angry… and a mother-in-law who doesn’t even care that her son hits women.”
“I… I…”
“You’re going to regret this.”
Reyna’s blue eyes shook with uneasiness.
But Emilia soon looked away.
As she stood up, her cheek throbbed with pain.
He really hit me hard…
Honestly…
She never imagined Cedric would actually hit her.
They had argued before.
But he had never once raised a hand against her.
I’ve learned so many new things about him these past few days.
A bitter feeling filled her heart.
Just then, Mrs. Romans turned around angrily.
Crunch.
The broken pieces under her feet cracked.
“Emilia! What did you just say?!”
It seemed she had become furious because Emilia had insulted both her and Cedric.
But Emilia ignored her.
Instead, she closed the full suitcase.
Zip.
“Are you ignoring me?!”
“No.”
Emilia turned toward her.
“I heard you clearly.”
“But since you also heard what I said, I don’t see any reason to repeat it.”
“W-Why you…!”
Mrs. Romans angrily marched toward Emilia.
Then suddenly—
She stepped on the broken pieces and slipped.
“Oh my!”
“Mother!”
“Mrs. Romans! Are you alright?”
Cedric and Reyna quickly rushed over to help her up.
Emilia watched them quietly before speaking to Reyna.
“It must be hard taking care of this family while you’re pregnant.”
…And thank you.
Thanks to you, I won’t become part of this family.
“W-What?”
Mrs. Romans couldn’t believe what she had just heard.
While everyone was distracted,
Emilia walked out of the house without a single regret.
The wheels of her suitcase bumped loudly over the doorstep.
“That girl! What nonsense is she talking about?!”
Mrs. Romans screamed as she grabbed whatever she could find and threw it after Emilia.
But none of the things she threw even came close to reaching her.
After Emilia left—
“Hah! Unbelievable!”
Mrs. Romans spun around in anger.
When she saw the messy house, her temper flared up again.
“Cedric! Did you hear the way she talked? How can someone be so arrogant?!”
“Exactly.”
Cedric snorted.
“She acted like she was better than everyone until the very end.”
“I must have been crazy to think about making a girl like that my daughter-in-law.”
In truth…
It had been Mrs. Romans who brought Emilia and Cedric together.
When Cedric reached the age to marry, she became very worried.
After their family fell into ruin, no noble lady wanted to marry him.
So she chose Emilia, the prettiest and smartest girl in the village, to be his fiancée.
Of course…
She was never completely satisfied.
No matter how pretty or smart Emilia was,
She was still nothing more than a commoner with no parents.
What was I thinking?
If she had known Cedric would bring home such a perfect bride on his own,
She never would have rushed the engagement.
Still… it’s better that she left on her own.
Although she had turned both their home and their lives upside down before leaving.
Mrs. Romans looked at Reyna with satisfaction.
Just as expected from the daughter of a count’s family.
She looked elegant simply by standing there.
She was completely different from someone like Emilia.
She’s the perfect match for my son.
Mrs. Romans erased the harsh look from her face and smiled gently.
“I’m so thankful someone like you came to Cedric. We almost let a vicious girl like her become part of this family.”
“Y-Yes…”
“And you even came carrying our precious grandchild.”
But Mrs. Romans failed to notice that Reyna’s expression had completely changed.
“You’re going to regret this.”
Reyna’s hand trembled as she tightly gripped her clothes.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Emilia’s back as she walked away without looking back.
And those words…
They hadn’t sounded like a curse.
They had sounded like a certainty.
