Chapter 124

Roxanne naturally sought his recognition. Young Roxanne couldn’t judge whether her father’s love was wrong or not.

From the day she returned from her debutante ball, she roamed through the social circles in the capital and socialized with them. She willingly gave in to the strong, but she was arrogant to the weak. Sometimes she wanted to stop trying and give up, but she endured it.

She had to endure it because of her father’s order. She thought it was her fate and value as well as her life goal.

“A moment’s disgrace will bring about everlasting power.”

So, she kept reciting it, believing that all her efforts would bring about her victory at the end of the day. She thought if she emerged as the final winner, she could be happy.

But at this moment, Roxanne couldn’t figure out what this shame could mean for her, and she didn’t want to know.

She looked at the two in front of her. She felt she might have seen some other persons, so she rubbed her eyes and checked them again.

Unfortunately, the woman on the left was Marianne and the man on the right was Ober.

Their physical contact was so close that even the wind couldn’t blow through it. Obviously they seemed to have just kissed each other.

“How come they were involved in such an unscrupulous thing?”

Her clenched white hands trembled while her light green eyes trembled in shock and anger.

It was by pure coincidence that Roxanne heard a group of maids whispering among themselves. As she was about to go out to the balcony to avoid the attendant’s uncomfortable eyes, she heard the maids whispering that Ober met another woman instead of her, who had been waiting to see him until then.

Besides, she found out that the woman who came to see him without any notice was none other than Lady Marianne.

If that was true, he was terribly rude to her as well as neglecting her outright.

But she didn’t want to make trouble that would make the Chester family and her family hostile to each other. However, she wanted to confirm what the maids said.

She rushed to the flower garden and found Ober and Marianne stuck together, apparently whispering sweet nothings.

‘I thought I was more than humiliated at the recent ball by them…’

Roxanne was so angry that she felt dizzy. Ober’s selective meeting with Marianne confirmed his intentional neglect of her for several days. She felt that Marianne, not content with taking the position of the empress, was now coveting the last lifeline for her and her family.

“Hey, Roxanne! Didn’t your etiquette teacher teach you any basic manners as a guest? You’re so rude!” As if he didn’t care at all about her, Ober rebuked Rosanne coldly.

Roxanne thought to herself, ‘How can he be so casual when he was caught kissing Marianne? How can he blame me? Me, and not someone else?”‘

Roxanne shouted at him as if she was slapped in the face.

“Sir Chester!”

“This is my private space. Not only you, but also your father can’t even freely come to this place. Got it?”

“I know! So, I kept waiting for you to call me! I was going to wait forever…”

Roxanne shook his shoulders, blurring her last word. Unbearable shame and anger destroyed her reason in no time. Tears came down before she knew it.

If she had been in her right mind, she would have clenched her teeth and read his mind, but she felt too humiliated to do so. The sadness that she barely suppressed exploded like an active volcano. Uncontrollable anger made her act more recklessly.

“Why are you here, Lady Marianne? Oh, what did I see you doing a minute ago?”

“You dare to question me now?”

“It’s me who came here first to see you! I waited to see you all day long, yesterday, the day before, and the day before that!”

Roxanne yelled loudly with all her strength. Her small white face quickly became red like a ripe apple.

Marianne let go of his hand that gripped her arm until then.

And she moved one step closer to Roxanne. She did it as a means to deceive Ober, not as a weapon to hurt Roxanne. She knew she was not in a position to make excuses, but she felt she had to when Roxanne was treated badly by Ober.

“Sorry. I didn’t know Roxanne was here first.”

“Don’t say that! It’s more disgusting than ignoring me!!”

Her lukewarm compassion further fueled Roxanne’s anger. She suddenly stopped before Roxanne because of her relentless condemnation.

His warmth, who moved a step back, was felt again around her shoulders. His grip on her shoulders was a bit stronger than before.

“Miss Lonstat! Let me warn you that you had better watch your language from now on, although it’s too late.”

Roxanne laughed at Ober’s shameless face.

“Why? Did I say anything wrong? Lady Marianne is playing the hypocrite right now. If she has become the emperor’s fiancee, she should free Marquis Chester, right? If she can’t give up Marquis Chester, she should have given up the post of the future empress. Don’t you know, Marquis Chester, that you should not do this to me?”

Ober did not answer. Instead, he was casting a glance at her with derision as if he were looking at an incomprehensible worm.

Roxanne turned back to Marianne instead of Ober, who had no answer.

Her anger was not totally directed toward her. At this moment she began to believe all his infidelity that she could imagine was true.

“You’re so mean! Did you leak it to the maids on purpose, so you wanted me to witness this terrible thing in person?”

“Miss Roxanne…”

“Please answer me. Are you happy? Did you do that even when you knew all along that I was supposed to be his woman? What are you going to take away from me next time? No, why do you keep coveting my stuff? Are you doing so on purpose? What did I do to you?”

She was gonna go broke at this point.

As Roxanne hurled a barrage of abuses at Marianne. Cordelli, who was watching her unbelievable mockery while standing in front of the open door, suddenly entered.

As Cordelli entered the room so quickly, the other maids had no time to stop her.

“I’ve been watching you for a while, and I think your words are too harsh! Why do you think my lady is too mean to you? What you did to her is much, much worse! My lady didn’t do anything wrong. She never coveted anything! What do you know about her?”

“Oh my god! How come your attendant is ignoring me now? How come you are shouting at me arrogantly?”

“It’s you who is shouting at my lady! My lady is a duke’s daughter! How come an earl’s daughter is so rude to a duke’s daughter like this? You could have been sent to prison for insulting my lady!”

“What? Prison? Are you crazy? Who do you think you are, talking about etiquette? Do you think you are also a duke’s blood because you are serving a duke’s daughter? I’m just dumbfounded by your daring behavior!”

Roxanne and Cordelli huffed and puffed, engaged in a war of words.

“I think it’s you who is crazy, Lonstat. Do you know the terrible things you have been doing?”

It was Ober who poured cold water into the hot atmosphere.

“Get out of this place if you don’t want to be dragged out.”

He pointed out the door with his fingertips and coldly gave the order.

“I won’t go! You haven’t heard my story yet!”

“Giyom!”

“I won’t leave! Don’t call him! I won’t go!”

Regardless of her desperate struggling, Ober beckoned to Giyom as if he heard nothing.

Marianne watched the guy striking into the room, whose name she was not only familiar with but was also sick and tired of. Her shoulders shrugged and her fingers trembled unconsciously.

She desperately retraced her memories. After trying to think of something that would bring tranquility, the first thing that came to her mind was on the eve of the ball.

His golden cloak over her shoulder. His arm that supported her not to fall and the cool scent from his arms. His voice saying that he would allow no one to blame her. Such tender memories made her stand firm up until now.

Ober glanced down at her as her shoulders were trembling faintly. The moment he was having a strange deja vu, Roxanne suddenly rushed towards him and wailed desperately.

“I do not like it! I got here first! I don’t want her to take what’s mine anymore. I don’t want to lose anything! Marquis, don’t you like me? You didn’t do this to me before. If you don’t like me, please tell me why. I’ll fix it. I can fix it.”

The front of her long dress hem was ripped off when somebody trampled on it.

Roxanne knelt down in front of him as if her world were falling upside down.

“In the future, anybody associated with Earl Lonstat is forbidden to enter this residence. Anyone who violates my order should be expelled immediately, regardless of their position.”

Ober completely dismissed Roxanne’s desperate look.