The white organza fabric that covered the roof of the pergola fluttered in the sky. The reception area set up in the middle of an open garden was so heated that even the cool night breeze could not cool it down.

Only the head table set in front of the reception area gave off a chill.

As the family elders left, the three young men and women remaining at the table no longer hid their emotions. Leon looked at the faces of his brother and fiance, who were sitting diagonally across from each other at the round table.

Both of them looked like they had come to a funeral, not an engagement party.

His face wouldn’t be much different, either.

Fiancé?

Leon, who was washing away his bitter mouth with champagne, hardened his face again. He felt uncomfortable saying that she was his fiancé. However, when he finally remembered another face, he could only think that he was crazy.

Marriage was just a business to make money.

Looking at it that way, marrying that damn mean, bad-tempered woman was an act of charity. He would have to give up everything he has.

‘… You’re crazy.’

He wanted to put a bullet in his head for occasionally imagining a lost marriage with a woman he knew well but didn’t even want him.

Leon watched with sad eyes the people dancing to the music on the floor. It was because of Mrs. Winston’s old-fashioned tastes that people dressed in jazz outfits were dancing the waltz.

Under the beams covered with yellow light bulbs and green vines, people with glasses of champagne in their hands gathered in small groups and chatted noisily. As a young woman in a dull officer’s uniform began to approach, making her way through the crowd of people wearing luxurious suits and dresses, he glared.

She was one of the personnel responsible for monitoring the torture chamber tonight. The officer reported the woman’s movements in a whisper.

“She’s been lying down for an hour.”

“The meal.”

The officer looked at him impatiently and shook her head.

Leon sighed briefly and sent his subordinate away.

He feared that the woman might act unexpectedly, so tonight, he opened the door to the torture room and had her watch the woman’s every move. The engagement ceremony was a little less boring because his subordinate had to watch and post every hour, though at the same time, the urge to get up and go was strong.

If it hadn’t been for this d*mn clown show in the first place, none of this would have happened today.

Leon eventually couldn’t resist the urge and stood up.

He passed between the tables and glanced at the commander sitting not far away. He was drinking alcohol all evening with a dark look on his face. He hoped that he was regretting his foolish mistake of carelessly opening Pandora’s box.

Nevertheless, he was also in a position where he had to regret his stupid mistake.

He planned to present the evidence step by step. In the meantime, the woman was alone in her small head, allowing her imagination to expand with this matter so that there were cracks in her hard eggshell.

The truth had no choice but to seep in more easily.

He tried to save the cards that he had spent in vain, but the moment he smelled blood, he lost his temper and spewed out the truth.

And in the worst way.

Fool.

So, in the end, the card was not able to fully utilize its power and became a piece of paper. The worst thing was that something happened when the relationship was troubled.

‘A troubled relationship?’

Leon laughed self-deprecatingly as he walked out of the engagement hall, past the guests who were congratulating him.

‘We had trouble from the beginning.’

It was a relationship that was wrong from the beginning.

He came this far by forcing buttons that didn’t fit and couldn’t let go. Would it have been different if he had corrected it along the way? No, there was no way to fix it other than completely cutting off the first button that was inserted incorrectly in the first place.

Despite the fact that he knew this, he couldn’t throw it away and kept putting on the wrong button.

“Leon, where are you going?”

As he was passing through the garden, his mother, who was showing off her new sculpture to the guests, ran after him and stopped him.

“The fireworks will start in just an hour.”

The age when fireworks were a lure to sit in a boring place has long since passed.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Behind his mother’s disapproving face, a brightly lit engagement hall caught his eye. To be precise, his eyes were focused on Jerome leading the Grand Lady to the dance floor. Both of them now had faces suitable for an engagement ceremony.

Leon turned and continued walking towards the annex. He left the funeral home, yet his stern face remained the same.

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“That’s why I said let’s send her to an orphanage!”

As a loud cry rang sharply in her ears, Grace covered her ears. But blocking her ears didn’t help the sounds ringing in her head.

“My daughter. Come here, come here.”

“Grace Riddle, you are proof that the Blanchard rebels use the dirty seduction trap.”

No! No!

She wanted to scream until her voice was hoarse, but she couldn’t. The woman standing guard outside the wide open door will tell her superior. She didn’t want that sneaky b*stard to see any evidence that she was agitated.

Seduction trap.

Selling body to get information.

There was no way her mother, who was a proud soldier, would have used such a dirty trick. Moreover, it made no sense that her father, who was always with her in the operation, had ordered it or watched it.

Grace, who had been rummaging through her mind for more evidence to refute Winston’s claims, clutched her head and groaned.

That was it.

The evidence that Winston was wrong was weak, but the evidence that he was right was very strong.

One could argue that the blue-green eyes were a mutation that appeared between the two people by chance, but can it really be said that the unique eyes, hair color, and facial features are just a coincidence?

In addition, if she were to say that she was an illegitimate child born by mistake during an operation, her parents’ awkward attitude would be explained. That was why they had intended to send her to an orphanage.

No matter how much she respected her, she couldn’t possibly think that her mother, who was the goal of her life, would do something like that. Maybe she was forced by that man during the operation because royalists were all horny pigs.

“Oh my God… It’s terrible…”

Yes, it made no sense. This was just the work of that cunning b*stard.

In the end, she denied all the clear evidence and gained the easiest conclusion.

Grace pulled the blanket over her head and berated Winston endlessly. A heinous human being who not only played with her body but also wanted to trample her mind at will… No, an ugly devil disguised as a human.

‘That son of a b*tch probably made it all up… Don’t believe it. Don’t fall for lies like this.’

She had to cling tenaciously to her hatred for Winston in order not to break down. That was the only strong feeling.

‘…There is no way I am the child of a royalist. Dirty. Dirty.’

Grace scratched her forearm while denying and affirming at the same time. A bright red mark was left where her fingernails had passed. As if that wasn’t enough, she scratched her skin until small droplets of blood formed.

The next moment, as she heard the dull sound of shoes outside, she gritted her teeth beneath the blanket.

“Please vacate the annex for two hours from now.”

As soon as Leon kicked the officers out and entered the torture room, he let out a short sigh. The silver tray on the table at the foot of the bed was still covered.

It was clear that it had never been opened.

If he treated the woman the way he felt, like he was stuck in a gutter, their relationship would get even worse. He tempered his anger as much as possible and asked softly.

“Are not you hungry?”

As expected, the woman did not respond. He grabbed what appeared to be her shoulder by the blanket and shook it slightly, and only then did a gruff voice come out.

“Leave me alone. I suffered enough from your trick today.”

What trick?

Leon clicked his tongue briefly.

The woman dismissed the truth that she was evidence of a seduction trap as a trick from him. He was worried that the egg would break all at once and hurt the bird inside, but instead of breaking, the woman applied another layer of plaster to the thick membrane.

Look at this. She has completely become a piece of tissue paper.

She was almost devastated.

“Get up. Because I have something to give you.”

“I don’t need it. If it’s candy, shove it up your a*s. If it’s a candy apple, shove it in your mouth.”

He was left speechless by the shallow reply. It was because he had been tormented all day, and his patience, which was as thin as paper, was bent dangerously close to breaking.

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