I'll Hate You to Death
The moment she heard those words, Canna’s lips parted.
The place where she belonged? Where on earth was that?
Her mind twisted into a hopeless tangle. She couldn’t understand what he was saying. What on earth was he…
“You are still Canna Valentino.”
At that instant, Canna’s expression froze solid. No way.
“Will you return to the Valentino family?”
“……”
Her mind snapped awake.
The confusion and shock that had thrown her off balance iced over in an instant.
This man had come to mock her.
“Why would I return to the Valentinos?”
“Josephine Elvester is no longer there.”
“And?”
“It means no one will be able to torment you any longer.”
His answer was so matter-of-fact. The confidence with which he stated something as obvious as basic arithmetic made Canna unable to hold back her laughter.
“So Josephine Elvester is gone, you say?”
“That is correct.”
“And no one can torment me anymore?”
“Yes.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Canna took one step closer to him.
“Did you honestly think I wanted a divorce because of Josephine Elvester?”
Of course that was part of it. She never wanted to see that vicious mother-in-law again in her lifetime.
But that was not the biggest reason.
“It’s you.”
Canna smiled sweetly.
“You’re still in the Valentino mansion, Sylvien.”
“……”
Sylvien looked down at her with an expressionless face.
Sylvien.
The name she had called again. It was probably nothing more than a tool to emphasize her sincerity. Yet to him it evoked the exact same feeling as before.
It was laughable.
Yet no laughter came.
“So you do not wish to come?”
“Correct. If you, Sylvien, would leave the mansion, I might consider it.”
“That is not possible.”
He answered carelessly. Canna was still unused to that attitude of his.
“If you dislike the mansion, I will simply build a new one.”
“……”
Canna doubted her own ears. She had never expected to hear such words from him.
Yet Sylvien’s expression remained perfectly calm—calm to the point of brazenness as he waited for her reply.
“Didn’t you say it yourself? That living in that mansion was difficult for you.”
“……”
“Therefore, begin anew in a new place.”
A new beginning in a new place.
That was precisely what Canna had longed for with all her heart. But not like this.
“No. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I will not be returning to the Valentinos.”
Tomorrow was the sacred marriage annulment ceremony.
Once that ritual was completed, they would legally become complete strangers.
Yet here he was telling her to come back. Offering to build her a new house. She could not fathom his intentions at all.
“Why are you suddenly acting this way?”
“……”
Sylvien did not answer right away. It looked closer to him being unable to answer.
This was not the man who always responded to any question with annoyingly flawless politeness.
“Suddenly…”
He finally answered in a quiet voice. He stared into Canna’s eyes as though he were looking at something utterly strange.
“I suddenly felt like doing so.”
Canna’s brows furrowed sharply. What kind of half-hearted answer was that?
“Why?”
“Who knows. Why indeed.”
Sylvien gazed at her as if searching for the answer within her face.
Her nervously furrowed eyebrows, her black eyes brimming with discontent, her stubborn nose, her red lips…
He had long known that once he saw them, it was difficult to look away. He had already been caught by that gaze many times before.
“Why am I like this, I wonder.”
It was not a question. It was a monologue laced with a trace of defeat.
His gaze traveled along her disheveled hair before returning to her eyes. It wavered.
“Why am I acting this way, Canna?”
His low, resonant voice. A strange heat scraped at the inside of her throat.
“…I don’t know.”
Canna seemed to have lost her mind for a moment. That was how shocking the words were.
“How should I know?”
Irritation surged violently.
“And I have no desire to know.”
Tomorrow was the divorce, yet now this.
“So if you don’t know, just leave it alone.”
Whether it was a whim, lingering attachment, regret, or guilt—whatever it was no longer mattered.
Yet Sylvien smiled with leisurely ease.
“And if I wish to know, what will you do?”
“…What?”
“If even one party refuses the annulment of the sacred marriage, the divorce will be nullified.”
The words struck Canna across the cheek.
“You intend to break our contract?”
“Well. That is certainly possible.”
Fury rose so fiercely her head spun.
“How shameless… To speak of breaking the contract so easily. And you still call yourself a noble who understands honor?”
When Canna glared at him as if she would kill him, Sylvien smiled with wicked amusement.
“Didn’t I tell you? I am far more unscrupulous than you imagine.”
At those words, Canna’s eyes finally flipped with rage.
Slap!
Canna struck his cheek with all her strength. Even so, his face only swayed slightly. As if it hadn’t hurt at all, he looked down at her expressionlessly. His eyes seemed to find her pathetic.
“You are a despicable swindler.”
“Yes. Perhaps I am.”
“I cured your addiction for you. Yet now you’re going back on your word?”
“Isn’t that much to be expected from a despicable swindler?”
“I see. So that’s how it is.”
Canna burst into laughter. She was so furious she could not endure it without laughing.
Sylvien Valentino—the man who always wore the mask of a courteous noble—was this unscrupulous!
“Sylvien Valentino, I do not yet hate you.”
She disliked him because of Juhwa, but Sylvien’s neglect was not something she had experienced firsthand.
That was the difference between him and the Addis family.
“And I have never forgiven any of those I hated.”
Kalen, Orsini, Isabel, Chloe, and her father. Canna still burned with hatred for them like roaring flames.
“I know nothing of forgiveness.”
Then she seized his cravat. Gripping it like a leash, she yanked him forward roughly. He obediently bent at the waist and was pulled toward her. He faced her directly.
“If you break your promise, you—”
She bit her lip hard, then spat the words out.
“I will hate you to death.”
She stared as if she would gouge out his blue eyes.
“No. I will hate you even after death.”
For a moment, Sylvien’s breath stopped.
He did not even notice it had stopped. He was simply robbed of his gaze, helplessly. Just as he had been many times before.
It was truly terrifying anger. The heat she radiated seemed to scorch his skin. It stung. It burned.
And those eyes—those black pupils like a storm of flames—swept him away without resistance. Scorching heat bored into his retinas.
Sylvien wanted to close his eyes instead.
Because otherwise, it felt as if he would go blind.
That dawn, Canna barely slept at all.
That crazy bastard.
Sleep refused to come.
Sylvien Valentino, that crazy bastard.
He had lost his mind. There was no other explanation for saying such things.
Why is he throwing a tantrum? Why!
Thud! Unable to bear it, she punched the pillow.
If—just if—he refused to consent to the annulment tomorrow as he had threatened…
No.
Just thinking about it made her stomach churn. All her efforts would be rendered meaningless.
The divorce. How desperately she had longed for it.
The goal she had held the moment she returned to her own body was precisely that divorce!
No. Absolutely not.
She could not predict what Sylvien might do. He had said nothing more after that.
Vile bastard.
A despicable villain. She had believed he would at least honor the contract, yet he had stabbed her in the back like this!
If you break your promise, I won’t let it slide.
She would use every means, every method, every ability and connection at her disposal to exact revenge.
I won’t let it slide, Sylvien.
The next day, the sacred marriage annulment ceremony took place in the chapel. Before the ritual began, Canna waited in the assigned room.
She stared blankly at her reflection in the mirror.
Herself, swallowed up by the pure white wedding dress. The apprentice priest who had helped her dress seemed to have complimented her several times, but none of it had registered.
She was simply dazed. In the end she had not slept a wink.
“Preparations are complete.”
At the apprentice priest’s announcement, Canna rose from her seat. She gripped the bouquet like a weapon and walked forward.
When she finally reached the chapel, the apprentice priest opened the doors. Canna stepped onto the long velvet carpet.
At the end of the aisle, on the right, stood Orsini—her witness. And astonishingly, Sylvien’s witness was Raphael—what, Raphael?
Had he gone mad? How could a defrocked priest—
But the thought went no further. Because her eyes met Sylvien’s.
There, at the end of the path, he was waiting.
With his hair swept back neatly, he was as beautiful as a temple statue. It seemed every ray of sunlight filtering into the chapel melted into him alone.
Before she realized it, she had reached him. Sylvien extended his hand. Canna lightly placed her fingers atop the back of it. He closed his hand around hers at once. The grip was resolute.
A dark premonition rose that he might never let go again.
“Duke Sylvien Valentino. Duchess Canna Valentino.”
The priest presiding over the annulment spoke quietly.
“The two of you stand here today to annul the sacred marriage you swore before God.”
Yes, please. Canna’s lips had gone dry. Strangely, she felt anxious.
“Before breaking the sacred oath, we will observe a moment of silence so that you may reflect once more.”
I don’t need that—just hurry up! Canna suppressed the urge to shout.
“Now, I will ask one final time.”
After the brief silence, the priest spoke again.
“Duchess Canna Valentino. Will you annul the sacred marriage with His Grace Duke Sylvien Valentino, whom you took as your husband for all your life?”
“Yes.”
Canna answered immediately. Beside her, she saw Orsini sneer.
It didn’t matter. Let him mock all he wanted.
Only the final step remained.
“Your Grace, Duke Sylvien Valentino.”
Once this man answered—
“Will you annul the sacred marriage with Duchess Canna Valentino, whom you took as your wife for all your life?”
Once this man answered, everything would be over.
“……”
But unlike Canna’s turn, there was no answer.
As silence stretched, Canna’s heart plummeted. Was this man truly going to ruin the divorce after all?
When the silence grew too long, the priest glanced at Sylvien with a puzzled look.
“Your Grace Duke Valentino?”
He called the name once more.
“I will ask again. Will you annul the sacred marriage?”
The next instant.
Finally, Sylvien’s tightly sealed lips parted.
“Yes.”
His voice was so calm it made the preceding silence seem meaningless.
“I will annul it.”