Chapter 29
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The Male and Female Leads Broke Up - Episode 29
What was there to see? I'd grown sick of staring at "my diamonds" piled high enough to kick around.
"I wasn't there long, so I couldn't explore in detail. I simply spent a brief time sightseeing around the village. It was quite a peaceful place."
"Grens is perfect for a retreat—the air is clean and it's tranquil. I've visited a few times myself."
"Yes, if I meet someone affectionate in the future, marry them, and have children, I'm thinking of spending a month or two there each year."
I deliberately emphasized the word affectionate.
It was my way of saying I'd find someone on an entirely different level than him.
"...I see."
In that moment, I caught Cain Maxius's expression tighten ever so slightly.
What was that about?
While puzzled by why he kept making such faces, I felt an inexplicable unease creeping in.
'Is he upset about losing Grens?'
But I quickly steered my thoughts toward reassurance and composed myself.
Ah, that must be it.
I almost misunderstood.
It made sense—I'd handed over Grens entirely, so he'd naturally feel the sting.
That had to be the reason.
Still, that place was mine now.
With that thought, I barely restrained myself from dancing and boasting right in front of Cain Maxius, instead laughing silently until my face nearly split.
Then, as a brief silence settled, the gatekeeper's voice rang out once more.
"The Duke James Byon of the Byon Duchy, the Lady Adela Byon, and the Young Lord Aiden Byon have arrived."
'Ah, Adela didn't have a mother, did she.'
The details were hazy now, but I recalled hearing that Adela's mother had died not long after giving birth to her younger brother.
We rose from our seats once more to receive the Byon Family members.
A man with black hair, appearing to be around my father's age, entered the dining hall.
Following him came a woman and a man of my generation, both with the same dark hair.
I glanced sideways at Adela.
'Wow, she's truly beautiful.'
Honestly, ever since Cain Maxius mentioned falling for Adela at first sight, I'd been curious about her appearance.
Just how beautiful would she have to be to captivate someone so completely?
Only after seeing her face did I truly understand Cain Maxius.
'With looks like that, one couldn't help but fall at first sight.'
Of everyone I'd seen in this world, my mother had been the most beautiful—but Adela was her equal.
Then, behind Adela, a tall man entered, and the moment I saw him, I froze in shock, my entire body going rigid.
The man called Aiden Byon was....
The man was....
Someone I'd seen in Peorat and Ulita, yet someone I'd believed I would never encounter again.
How could this even be possible?
Aiden was Aiden Byon?
The man who killed Belita in the original story?
As unimaginable events unfolded before my eyes, I instinctively turned my head away in bewilderment.
It was an absurd thought, but I desperately hoped he wouldn't recognize me....
Yet it seemed he had already seen through me.
I could feel his burning gaze fixed upon me, piercing and intense.
"My, I've arrived the latest, haven't I? My apologies."
The Duke of Byon greeted us first with an obviously artificial smile.
"Not at all. His Majesty the Emperor has not yet arrived, so you are not late."
Father responded with an equally calculated smile, no less refined than the Duke's.
"I see. How fortunate we are not late. Come now, do sit."
The subsequent conversation between the two dukes appeared superficially cordial, yet an unmistakable tension permeated their exchange.
Observing this, I could confirm that relations between our house and the Byon Family were far from amicable.
'Ah....'
I sighed inwardly in that moment.
It was because the man called Aiden—Aiden Byon—had seated himself directly across from me.
As a result, we found ourselves facing one another.
Not wishing to reveal my shocked expression, I deliberately cast my gaze downward to avoid meeting his eyes.
Yet it was unmistakably clear that he had been watching me all along.
"You are Lady Belita Heitz, are you not? It is my first time meeting you. I am Adela Byon."
It was then that Adela suddenly addressed me.
Unable to ignore someone attempting conversation, I reluctantly lifted my head.
Since Adela sat beside the man I'd thought was Aiden—Aiden Byon—I could not help but look at him as well as her.
His gaze remained fixed upon me, as I suspected.
Unlike myself, the man called Aiden seemed hardly shocked at all, his expression remaining largely unchanged.
No, rather, his expression seemed almost pleased, as though he'd encountered someone he was delighted to see.
What, what is this?
If he knew who I was, he couldn't possibly wear such an expression—what does it mean?
As I tilted my head in confusion, my mind suddenly snapped into focus.
'What did I say to that man?'
Regardless of his expression, I rapidly retraced my steps to the moment I first met Aiden two years ago.
I needed to determine if there was anything that could unravel all my efforts thus far.
Fortunately, I recalled saying nothing of consequence, so I felt some relief.
Then, realizing that Adela had greeted me, I gathered my scattered thoughts and responded to her.
"It is my first time meeting you as well, Lady Adela Byon."
I offered her a greeting, lifting the corners of my lips slightly.
"I heard you had taken a long journey. How was your travels? Did you enjoy yourself?"
The fact that I had gone on a journey and returned was common knowledge among the nobility in the Capital.
Every invitation I received upon returning to the Capital contained the phrase, "I heard you had returned from your travels," without fail.
They all believed I had left the Capital temporarily due to the shock of being rejected by Cain Maxius.
Though that "temporary" absence had stretched into two years.
So Adela would certainly believe the same thing.
"Yes, it was an enjoyable and enriching time."
"It seems so. Your complexion looks wonderful—I'm envious. I would also like to travel if circumstances permitted."
What did she mean by saying such a thing?
What could her true intention be in saying that to me?
When she surely knew the real reason I had gone on this journey.
Was she trying to tell me that she was in the same position as I was, having broken off her own engagement?
Was that why she simply wanted to travel like I had?
I didn't know the reason why the two of them had broken their engagement, but I could sense strongly that it had to be because of Cain Maxius.
The man I had observed for half a year was someone utterly devoid of compassion.
When he asked Adela to break off their engagement, he likely did it exactly as he had done with me.
I could picture it vividly without even seeing it.
I had harbored no affection for him whatsoever, and because I had the goal of the diamond mine, I could endure the contempt and disdain he showed me.
But if I had truly loved Cain Maxius, if such a situation had befallen me, the despair would have been indescribable.
But this was merely the thought of "me"—not Belita.
I was Belita Heitz.
Therefore, regardless of how or why Adela and Cain Maxius had parted, I could not openly display pity toward her.
And since my affair with Cain Maxius was already a thing of the past, I responded with a bright smile to show that I harbored no lingering regrets about it.
"If you have the opportunity, you must go. It will surely help you. The time I spent was so wonderful that I barely remember what happened before I left."
"...Is that so? Hearing you say that makes me feel like I really must go."
Adela's expression as she answered still bore the look of someone unable to emerge from the depths of separation.
'She still hasn't forgotten.'
Yet Cain Maxius appeared completely unbothered.
I glanced at him sideways.
I looked at him expecting he would remain composed even after hearing my words.
But the subtle shift in expression he had shown me earlier was now appearing on his face again.
'What is that?'
He was truly impossible to read.
A man who seemed as though he wouldn't bleed a single drop even if stabbed with a blade.
This place was now tangled with people in an extraordinarily delicate web of relationships.
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