CH 24

The servant left as Livia announced the end of the lesson to Vincent. Vincent was very disappointed, but he didn’t seem to notice that something was amiss. 

As she was leaving the room, Vincent grabbed the hem of her dress. 

Livia turned around with a puzzled look on her face, and he asked her anxiously, “Tutor Via, is everything okay?”

He looked nervous, as if he thought something had happened to her. 

She deliberately smiled more brightly and nodded, “Of course. Don’t worry.” 

“It’s …….” 

“See you tomorrow then.” 

” Yes……!”

After reassuring Vincent, Livia left the room and followed the servant to the reception room. 

As she walked with the servant’s back to her, she thought to herself.

‘I didn’t expect them to show up so soon.’

Of course, since she had requested the Rune Information Guild and directly asked the Master, she had expected it to be processed quickly.

But it’d only been a little over three hours.

Livia was expecting about a day or two, so she couldn’t help but be puzzled by Eden’s presence earlier than expected.

‘Well.’

After a moment’s thought, she admitted that she wasn’t surprised. 

‘An anonymous informant has turned up unexpectedly, and you want to cut your tail off before you get caught.’

The fact that Eden Aquilium appeared so quickly was evidence of their panic.

They wouldn’t find out that she was the source anyway.

By the way…….. 

Livia thought back to seeing Eden earlier. 

He exuded a certain kind of benign intimidation.

‘Eden Aquilium……..’

She knew he was coming, but it was still a surprise. Seeing him in person was strange.

Like Cardien, he is a secondary male lead in <Everyone Loves the Saint> and a being who silently stayed by the female lead, Celestina, while hiding his feelings.

And……. 

He was also the one who confronted Cardien the most.

It was Eden Aquilium who cut off the arm of the blackened Cardien as the story was nearing its end. 

‘Even though readers were crazy about Eden.’

For some reason, Livia didn’t like that scene.

Even more so–

She looked up. 

They were nearing the reception room. 

In the doorway stood Anna, who had come first, with a look of expectation on her face.

She spotted Livia and smiled triumphantly.

“………”

Livia was at a loss for words. 

*** 

‘Look at that stupid face!’ Anna scoffed to herself as she saw Livia’s dumbfounded expression. Then, with a look of superiority on her face, she looked down on Livia.

‘Although I have no idea why she’s here.’

A wicked smile tugged at the corners of Anna’s mouth.

‘It’s probably for the best; I’ll prove my worth in front of the Duke and Eden Aquilium.’

Anna’s shoulders rose. She had good reason to be so confident. 

Her father, Count Lever, had spoken to her not long ago. 

‘I’ve been having a special relationship with the temple lately. I will soon be sending a portrait of you to Eden Aquilium, so you must behave yourself.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘He must have come to see me.’

And that thought turned to certainty the moment she was called to the reception room.

‘I never thought he’d come so unexpectedly.’

‘Doesn’t this mean that he wanted to see me?’

He must have fallen in love with her portrait. 

‘Because I’m beautiful.’

Well-maintained, lustrous scarlet hair, cat-like eyes, flawless skin and a long neck.

It was hard for any man to look at her and not fall in love.

‘That’s why you’re here, unannounced, looking for me.’

‘Eden Aquillium isn’t bad either.’

Though he was a member of the Temple, he was also the Marquis of Aquilium before he was a paladin. 

Currently, the family was led by the Marquis’s deputy, but when he marries, his wife will take over and rule the family.

‘It’s a little less than a duchess, but it’s a lot more prestigious, and you get to do everything a marquess does.’

In that sense, it might be better than being the Duchess of Mercedes. 

This was because the Duke of Mercedes’s power was so strong that even if she became his wife, she would have very few privileges.

‘What’s the point in being more beautiful than anyone else if you’re still a madman?’

Cardien was undoubtedly the most beautiful man in the Empire. It was not a glittering beauty, but rather a quiet, intriguing beauty that attracted attention. 

His beauty had mesmerized Anna, but she was beginning to lose interest in him as he paid little attention to her.

Moreover, it is no secret that the Duke of Mercedes suffered from madness, so she should think twice about becoming the wife of such a flawed man, no matter how beautiful he is.

‘What if they both decide they can’t give me up and start a fight?’

Anna pondered as she stood in the doorway of the drawing room. Anna’s expression contorted as she turned her head at the sudden presence.

‘Why is she here?’

She couldn’t help but feel resentful, as things always went wrong when Livia was around.

But then a thought flashed through her mind and she smiled.

‘It’s not a bad idea to show her how superior I am.’

It was an opportunity to properly crush Livia’s nose without knowing the subject.

‘Plus, I’ll look much better with her around.’

The corner of her lips curled up as she scanned the woman next to her from top to bottom.

‘I’m so much more beautiful than you, with your dull hair color and outdated clothes!’

Then, unexpectedly, Anna’s eyes locked with Livia’s and she exclaimed in surprise, “What, what are you looking at!”

“Don’t stare. You’re the one who looked first.”

“What……”

Speechless, Anna’s face turned white. But only for a moment.

Soon, Anna smiled meaningfully. 

“You’re going to regret being so insolent, Livia Pellington.”

Just then, the servant who had announced their arrival in the drawing room opened the door.

A bright light poured in, and Anna strutted confidently into it. 

But Anna didn’t know.

What awaited her inside.

*** 

As Livia walked into the parlor with Anna, she almost burst out laughing.

‘I knew there was a separate drawing room for guests.’

In most aristocratic mansions, there is a common drawing room and a special drawing room.

The former is literally for entertaining ordinary guests.

The room Livia was shown to was the common drawing room.

Even then, she had marveled at the grandeur of the Mercedes mansion, though it was actually the less gaudy of the guest drawing rooms.

‘And this is the real drawing room, the VIP drawing room.’

Apart from being spacious, all the furniture and ornaments were covered in platinum, giving the illusion that you were in the middle of a snowfield.

But her admiration for the drawing room was short-lived. The beauty of the parlor was quickly ruined by the two men seated in the center of the room.

Livia looked at the two men sitting across from each other with a newfound sense of wonder.

She did not expect to see Eden Aquilium and Cardien Mercedes together so soon.

Seeing the two of them sitting across from each other in the desolately large, pure white space – it was like seeing light and darkness.

It wasn’t because of their appearance. In appearance, Cardien’s silver hair was brighter and shinier than Eden’s blond hair. 

It was the contrast in their auras and moods that radiated from them.

Eden was the light, Cardien the darkness. 

“You two, you have arrived.” 

Winston, who had been standing in a cold sweat between two men of considerable presence and pressure, spotted us and quickly approached.

“I apologize if you were surprised by the sudden summons. It’s just that-“

Winston left it at that.

“It was I who summoned you.”

Eden stepped toward them, cutting off Winston’s words. Then his massive shadow fell over Livia.

She stared up at him, dumbfounded.

Up close, he looked like a pure white lion.

But……

‘Why are you in front of me?!’

Livia panicked and looked around.

Apparently she wasn’t mistaken, because Anna was staring at her with wide eyes.

Winston had a look of worry and concern on his face, and Cardien was silently watching the situation. As if they wanted to gauge her reaction.

“I’m here to pick you up.”

“…….”

“Miss Anna Lever.”

“…….” 

Only then did Livia realize that Eden was firmly mistaken about something.

‘He’s mistaking me for Anna.’

Perhaps in the haste to get here, Eden hadn’t learnt enough about Anna.

Livia breathed a sigh of relief and calmly turned to face him. 

“You’ve got the wrong person. Anna is not me-” 

“It’s me!”

Anna burst out, shoving Livia aside, hard. 

Someone quickly reached out and grabbed Livia’s body as it flailed under the force.