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Chapter 5
The Count’s son of Sachsen swung his hand in a fit of rage, violently knocking the bride’s veil off.
“Count’s son of Sachsen!!!”
At the bishop’s scream-like cry, all the honored guests who had been seated rose to their feet at once. Count Sachsen and his wife, as well as Duke and Duchess Taylor, could do nothing but stare with their mouths hanging open, as though they could not believe what was happening.
“Seize the Count’s son! Quickly!”
Fearing that violence might break out inside the sacred chapel, the bishop ordered the priests to act. The priests quickly grabbed Jack Sachsen by the arms.
“Let go of me!!”
While he struggled with a vicious expression on his face, Grace calmly rose from her seat.
She looked like the eye of a typhoon, having stirred up a storm all around her while remaining completely tranquil herself.
With exceedingly graceful movements, she removed the necklace, ring, bracelet, and earrings she had received as wedding gifts, one after another. Then she carefully placed them down in front of the Count’s son of Sachsen, who was being held by the priests.
“……”
Silence descended over the previously chaotic chapel once more.
Even Jack Sachsen, who had been struggling and shouting, stared blankly at the neatly arranged gifts before raising his eyes.
Sunlight that had passed through the statue of God illuminated the bride who had just destroyed the wedding ceremony, enveloping her in a lofty glow.
She was a brazen woman who had declared, before God Himself during her wedding ceremony, that she loved another man. And yet, perhaps because of her noble features, or perhaps because of her perfectly straight posture, she looked almost like a saint depicted in a holy painting.
Most of all, her eyes, which reminded one of fresh green leaves, caused him to lose himself for a moment.
And that sight set Count Sachsen’s wife’s heart ablaze.
Her precious son was kneeling like a criminal with his arms restrained by the priests, while the vulgar little wench who had ruined the wedding was looking down at him as though passing judgment on him!
Trembling, she shouted with all her strength.
“How dare she prattle on about another man in front of God while standing beside the man who is supposed to become her husband! How could you possibly present such a vulgar woman as a bride?!!!”
Duke and Duchess Taylor, who had been standing there with their mouths open as though they had been struck on the back of the head, finally snapped out of their daze and rose in a panic.
“Duchess Taylor!!!”
Count Sachsen’s wife glared at them like a tiger and unleashed a torrent of accusations.
“I agreed to this marriage for the sake of the reputation of the House of Taylor! I even agreed to forgive all those debts instead of demanding a dowry!! How are you going to take responsibility for the wounds our son has suffered and the insult inflicted upon our family!!! Do you even know what kind of family Sachsen is?! This is practically an insult to Her Majesty the Empress!!!”
“Countess, please calm down for now…”
“Do I look like I can calm down right now??!! This marriage!!! I will not allow it!!!”
“You won’t allow the marriage?”
“I won’t!! And I’ll consider our agreement to repay the debts null and void as well!!”
“Countess! Count!”
Count Sachsen also turned his head sharply, his mustache quivering with fury.
The faces of Duke and Duchess Taylor turned dark.
No! Then we’ll have to repay the money…!
As countless gold coins flashed before their eyes, the couple’s minds went blank.
They could not understand what on earth was happening.
The honored guests no longer made any effort to lower their voices.
Their eyes gleamed as they began discussing this unprecedented incident among themselves, while the bishop, apparently deciding to let the chips fall where they may, simply raised both hands.
The round chapel rang with echoes until the noise was almost dizzying.
Amidst the uproar, Grace slowly turned around and walked back alone along the path she had taken when entering.
“Grace!!!”
Duke Taylor shouted at her as though he wanted to kill her.
Grace turned her head toward him, and the duke shouted while trembling with rage.
“If you do not kneel and apologize immediately, I will expel you from Taylor!!!”
“……”
Expel me? Erase me from Taylor?
Suppressing the urge to burst out laughing, Grace resumed walking.
Behind her, furious voices poured forth like a tidal wave.
“Grace, don’t you dare walk away! Get back here immediately?!!!”
“Look at that!! How shameless!! Darling, perhaps this is for the best. Let’s just call off the entire marriage!! And not only that, the House of Taylor must take responsibility for all the losses caused by this incident and compensate us for them!!”
“P-please, calm down, Countess!”
Duke and Duchess Taylor, who had tried to chase after Grace, were caught up by the hysterical Count and Countess Sachsen.
Rosette, who had been anxiously shifting her feet beside her parents, swallowed her rising anger and hurried after Grace.
“Grace!!”
At the angry call, Grace, who had just stepped onto the stairs, turned around.
Rosette, dressed even more extravagantly than the bride in jewels and lace, came running toward her.
Grace felt the wind blowing toward her.
Behind Rosette, chaos unfolded.
Even as her heart pounded as though it might burst, a strange exhilaration welled up inside Grace.
“What do you think you’re doing!! There’s a limit to how much you can disgrace the family’s honor!!”
Grace relaxed the corners of her eyes, which she had always carefully softened to appear gentle, and asked in return.
“I did?”
“Yes!! You just ruined the wedding! Our family has been thrown into a difficult situation because of you!!”
Grace listened quietly to the angry shouting.
Then she laughed.
It was different from the gentle smile she had always worn.
This time, there was actual sound in her laughter.
Rosette blinked blankly.
“…You’re laughing?”
A question filled with ridicule followed a beat later.
“‘My family’?”
Rosette’s face stiffened.
The Grace who had smiled like an idiot just last night took a step closer and pressed her.
“Your family is in trouble because of me?”
Her small, delicate frame.
Her round eyes and elegant, beautiful face.
Grace Taylor, who had always seemed graceful and quiet, just like her name…
Grace Taylor, who had endured every humiliation in silence without ever raising her voice.
This was the first time she had revealed what was truly inside her.
Rosette was too flustered to respond.
Grace leaned toward her ear and whispered,
“You know, Rosette. The moment the mere name of Jack Sachsen was brought up as a potential husband for me, the honor of the House of Taylor was already thrown into the mud.”
At that moment, a shout erupted from inside the chapel.
It was unmistakably Duke Taylor’s enraged voice.
Rosette bit down hard on her lip, then glared at Grace resentfully and shouted like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.
“Pay the price for what my parents have done by raising you all these years!! Go back there, apologize, beg for forgiveness, and fix this situation!!! Marry Jack Sachsen!!!”
“Then you marry him in my place.”
There was no more time to argue with Rosette.
Leaving her standing there frozen, Grace turned around.
“Even if he has six illegitimate children, endure it. Even if he hits you, endure that too. If you put up with it for about twenty years, you might become Countess Sachsen. The one who should pay the price for being born and raised by your parents isn’t me. It’s you, isn’t it?”
Her gentle tone was almost like a song.
Rosette blinked blankly.
Grace…
The Grace who had obediently nodded even when Rosette took away her dresses.
The Grace who had obediently accepted it even when Rosette took away the room she had lived in since childhood.
That Grace had just said what?
But Grace was already walking away across the cloister.
Her back looked light and elegant, as though the chaos behind her meant nothing at all.
Rosette felt the back of her head grow numb.
If I endure and hold out for about twenty years, I’ll become Countess Sachsen?
To me, a Taylor heiress, she dares tell me to put up with a bastard like Jack Sachsen?!
Rosette trembled before screaming at Grace’s retreating back.
“You…! You were pretending to be obedient this whole time?!! Grace!!!”
Rosette’s furious voice reverberated throughout the cloister.
“Isn’t anyone there?!! Grab that bitch and bring her back here immediately!!!”
But the servants who had been hiding in various corners of the chapel merely stared coldly at Rosette as she pointed and shouted.
Not one of them obeyed Rosette’s command.
By then, Grace had reached the end of the cloister.
She stopped walking for a moment and looked back.
Her gaze slowly swept over everything inside the chapel.
Then it stopped on the man standing on the stairs and looking down at her.
The man was leaning casually against the entrance, arms crossed, staring straight at her.
Grace held her breath for a moment as their eyes met.
Rosette’s scream came back to her mind.
Pretending?
Was that really such a big deal?
Even if the entire empire pointed fingers at her because of the commotion she had caused publicly at her wedding today, she did not care.
No.
From now on, she intended to become a woman everyone would know as a seductress.
And after driving a blade into the neck of the enemy who had killed her parents, she would return here.
The foundation of the empire.
Taylor of the golden wheat fields.
She would reclaim that glorious name.
Grace clenched her fist and turned her back on the place where everything she had ever known was rooted.
