Volume 1 - CH 1

“Alme, that’s why I’m breaking off this engagement with you.”

In the office of a big library in a big city.

Alme Titty was told this by her fiancé.

Alme could not hide being upset, and she choked up as he spoke.

“Oh no…shouldn’t we take a little more time to talk about these things…?”

“What’s the point of wasting time talking about it? I’ve already found true love, and I’m determined to marry Campbellina, not you.”

Julio Beatos, who was stubbornly trying to break off the engagement, shook his brown hair and hugged the shoulder of the woman sitting next to him with heat in his green eyes.

The woman who hugged his shoulder was said to be named Campbellina Desmond.

She is the daughter of a merchant family, and her father had recently been promoted to a baron. She is what is commonly referred to as “nouveau riche”

She is a petite and very pretty looking woman with fluffy peachy blonde hair. She seems to have a very ample bosom and wears a dress designed to show off her well-endowed figure.

She has a glamorous appearance that men seem to like. In contrast to Alme…

Apparently, Campbellina has won the heart of Alme’s fiancée, Julio, with this blessed appearance.

Alme’s black hair is parted in the middle and tied into a tight bun. Her hair is pitch-black and unrefined, her eyes pitch-black, and she wears a plain gray dress.

She knows she can’t even compete with Campbellina in this…The first thing to do is to get a good look at her fiance’s face.

As if chasing her, her fiancée, Julio, spoke plainly.

“Alme, to tell you the truth, I don’t like a type of woman like you. You look like a dull, middle-aged governess. I’d like to have a stylish and feminine wife.

Arme let out a deep sigh at his merciless words.

-*-

The incident happened only half an hour ago.

Alme was here to visit her fiancée Julio’s office, the library, as usual to help him with his work.

Julio’s job is to restore books. His family has been a family of artisans for generations, restoring everything from ordinary books to grimoires.

In the quiet library, he works silently and painstakingly every day, restoring the books. Alme liked Julio, who was engaged in such work.

She had an image of Julio as a ‘serious and hard-working craftsman. In reality, however, he was a completely different type of person.

On this particular day, when she arrived in front of his office in the library, her eyebrows furrowed in front of the door. From inside the usually quiet room, she heard a high-pitched female laugh.

‘Oh, Julio! You can’t touch me like that while you’re working!”

“I can’t help it, I love you so much, you know.”

“I love you so much too.”

Alme put her ear to the door and listened to the chatter inside.

(Julio and a woman’s voice I didn’t recognize: No kidding, right? No matter what, the content of this conversation is…)

Cheating…..?　And her head is spinning. How is it possible that she would come across such a sticky scene of cheating?

There must be some mistake.

She hope she was mistaken…and fearfully put her hand on the door.

Unfortunately, the next moment, the sight that met her eyes shattered all her hopes.

In the middle of the room, Julio and a strange woman were kissing each other. It was a passionate scene.

Alme turned her eyes and shouted.

“Julio ……! Hey, what are you …… doing?”

“Alme! I thought you were off today!”

“What, Julio, I thought you  broke up with his fiancée. ……!”

Alme, Julio, and his lover. Each of the three were surprised and choked on their words.

――Then, the discussion rambled on, and they reached this current point of time.

The discussion was mostly Julio’s excuses and his lover, Campbellina’s whiny complaints.

Alme was so upset, stunned, and tired that she spoke to Julio with eyes like a dead fish.

She said, “…Okay, for the time being, I accept your breaking off the engagement. No matter what I say, you won’t change your mind, will you…?”

“Ah. Don’t think badly. Originally, my uncle arranged the marriage on his own, and you were also begged by your deceased grandmother, so it was a reluctant engagement, wasn’t it? Aren’t we both good with this outcome?”

Julio snickered at her, and she held her tongue. There are more ways to say this…

Arme no longer has a family. Ever since she can remember, she has been raised by her grandmother in this town without her parents.

She was a kind and compassionate person. Even without her parents, thanks to her grandmother, she has been able to lead a fulfilling life until today, when she is 20 years old.

Her grandmother, who was her only family member, passed over the rainbow bridge a few months ago.

She spent her last year in the hospice at the temple, where she was at peace both physically and mentally, so Alme was able to say goodbye without much pain or sadness. Of course, I still have a lot of loneliness…

Her Grandmother’s last wish was for Alme to have a happy marriage.

She had said to Alme, “Grandma has found a good partner for you so that you won’t be alone. Laugh a lot, love each other a lot, and be a happily married couple.”

Her grandmother laughed and gave her a marriage proposal as a final gift. She wanted to make sure that Alme would not live alone and be lonely.

The other man was a nephew of her grandmother’s acquaintance, a young man with a serious occupation, who suited Alme, who was rather quiet.

He was 21 years old, one year older than her. He was quite a handsome, kind man, and she remember well how nervous she was when we first met.

The first time she met him, she remember how thrilled she was to see him.

She never thought that she would end up in a situation like this with that person.

More than the fact that she was hurt, instead her heart aches with the feeling that she would hate it if her grandmother in heaven was sad.

(Grandma, I’m sorry…I’m sorry, but I guess we didn’t get along…really, I’m sorry.)

Her eyes become damp with frustration at not being able to fulfill her grandmother’s last wish, and with an emptiness that she can’t do anything about. She didn’t want to cry in front of Julio and his lover because I felt like she’d be losing somehow, so she held it in.

Julio proceeded with his conversation, despite Alme’s stiff expression.

He continued, “Yes, that’s right. I’m going to make good on the money I’ve been giving you as compensation for breaking off the engagement. What do you think? It’s all good, isn’t it?”

The money he was referring to was for Alme’s grandmother’s medical expenses.

It costs a certain amount of money to receive medical treatment at the temple hospice using priest magic. Her grandmother was in the hospital for a year, so it was quite a lot of money.

In addition to the money from Alme’s family, she had also received some money from her fiancé Julio’s family.

In essence, it was a debt to Julio, but it was not supposed to be in the form of a debt since they were going to be married and become husband and wife.

Since the relationship would be on a clean slate, she wanted to clear up the money problem before it got complicated.

“I believe it was about 300,000 G?”

“…No, 700,000 G. I had received it.”

‘Well, that’s pretty big…Well, that’s all right. As a consolation prize, I will cancel the debt of 700,000 G gold.”

“Yes…thank you.”

Thank you, she kind of thanked him, but she didn’t think it was the right moment to say it….

What is she suppose to do after thanking him for cheating on her and giving her a consolation prize?”

There was a break in the conversation, and silence fell over the place.

His lover, Campbellina is perched on Julio’s shoulder, holding him close to her.

(…I wonder if it would have worked if I had been able to sweet-talk Julio like that…No, I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked, since he seemed to have disliked my looks before that…)

She let out another deep sigh and lifted her hips off the couch.

‘Well, I’ll be leaving then…Well, thank you for everything you’ve done for me…and for helping with my grandmother’s medical bills, you’ve been very helpful. I wish you…all the best.”

“Ah.” Julio replied with a single word.

She walked away from the room, looking down, trying not to look at him or his lover as she left.

They must have been smiling and kissing each other, because she heard a tut-tut lip sound in her ears, and she didn’t have to look…to know they were smiling and kissing each other.

She left the office and walked down the hallway at a brisk pace.

She left the building as if fleeing, not having time to say hello to the library staff, whom she recognized.