Chapter 5
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The Male and Female Leads Broke Up - Episode 5
"Mother, where is Father?"
I addressed the elderly man among them.
He had been serving as the Butler at House Heitz for several decades.
"The Duke is in his office, and the Duchess is in the study."
"I see. Thank you."
I wanted to tell my parents about everything that had happened today right away, but I needed a moment to gather my thoughts on how to explain it.
So for now, I climbed the stairs to the second floor where my room was located.
Still, after spending six months here together, the words "mother" and "father" now came to me without hesitation.
Fortunately, they were people who genuinely loved their daughter and gave her affection in return.
Father, as the head of the House of Fire, possessed a fiery temperament befitting his position, whereas Mother was calm and optimistic about everything.
Yet they hadn't noticed that I had changed, so well had I maintained my act as Belita.
Over the six months I had observed them, I was fortunate to find that neither of them was particularly perceptive.
'Still, I'm grateful to have such good parents.'
I genuinely felt that way.
'In novels, people often encounter cruel parents or have none at all.'
If they hadn't existed, it would have been sad. Though not from the beginning, they had become my family now.
Watching them treat me as their daughter and care for me, an unavoidable sense of guilt would occasionally surface, and at times I felt a distance between us.
But as we continued to interact, my heart gradually opened, and now I was becoming their family in truth.
Entering my room, I rested for a moment and organized my thoughts about what I needed to tell my parents.
The deed was done, but since breaking a political marriage arranged between two noble houses from the start was a serious matter, I had to explain it properly to them.
And it fell entirely upon me to convince them and create a situation favorable to myself so that I could live comfortably going forward.
As I lost myself in thought, a knock sounded at the door, and Mary's voice came from outside.
"Miss, it is time for dinner."
"Understood."
I descended to the dining room for dinner.
When I arrived, my parents were already seated at the table.
I took my seat and studied them for a moment.
Father was a handsome man with golden hair and green eyes, while Mother had crimson hair and blue eyes—a strikingly beautiful woman at first glance.
And Belita had inherited half of Father's golden hair and half of Mother's blue eyes.
As for appearance, I could say she resembled both of them, but fortunately she took more after Mother, so while not quite as stunning, Belita could certainly be called beautiful.
Soon the dishes began to arrive one by one.
I ate while engaging in light conversation with them.
Though the food was always similar in flavor, for some reason it tasted better today than anything I had eaten before.
But in front of my parents, I made sure not to show it, silently savoring every bite.
"Did you have a good day at the Maxius Duchy again?"
Mother asked me this as I was tearing bread to dip into my soup.
Since she knew I went there every day, it had become routine for her to ask during dinner whether I'd had a good time—nothing particularly surprising about the question.
"Yes, I did. However...."
I paused deliberately, letting my expression darken slightly.
It was time to resume my performance.
"What is it? Is something wrong?"
"Belita, what's the matter?"
The moment my face clouded over, both Mother and Father urged me forward with worried tones.
"...I have something to tell you after dinner. I'd appreciate it if you could spare me some time."
At my grave and subdued voice, the two of them nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
After that, I deliberately maintained a visibly melancholic expression throughout the meal, and seeing me like this, my parents refrained from speaking to me further.
Once dinner was finished, I made my way to my parents' study.
Knock, knock.
"It's me. Belita."
"Come in."
Mother's gentle voice came from within.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
My parents were waiting for me, seated side by side on the sofa.
As I carefully sat down across from them, I released a weary sigh.
"I'm sorry... Mother, Father...."
And I began by apologizing to them first.
"What is this about?"
"Belita, speak now."
"...I've decided to break off my engagement with Duke Cain Maxius."
My unexpected bombshell left both of them momentarily stunned.
"...Break off the engagement?"
"Yes."
"Break it off?! Without asking us?!"
True to his hot-tempered nature, Father shot to his feet and bellowed as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
I deliberately shrank back pitifully at his outburst, affecting a cowed and intimidated demeanor.
Seeing my withdrawn state, Mother hastily tried to calm Father down.
"Dear! Please compose yourself."
"How can I compose myself! The two of you broke off the engagement in secret without so much as a word to your parents!"
"Calm down and let's hear Belita's side first. Our daughter wouldn't do something like this without reason, would she?"
Mother, with her composed temperament, managed to settle Father while adding words that showed her trust in me.
The thought that I was deceiving someone so kind made me feel a pang of guilt in my chest.
"Belita, explain yourself properly. I simply cannot understand this. You love Duke Maxius, don't you? We were about to be married soon, and now you suddenly break off the engagement?"
The fact that Belita loved Cain was so well-known throughout the Capital that hardly anyone was unaware of it.
Therefore, her parents also knew just how much she adored Cain.
So it wasn't Cain Maxius himself that was so unbelievable—it was the fact that I had decided to break off the engagement.
"Yes... that's what we decided to do."
I tried to answer calmly, but the surge of emotion broke through, and I let myself tremble with quiet sobs.
I was warming up my sorrow and the ache of heartbreak in advance.
"...Why did you do this? What on earth happened between the two of you?"
Seeing me weep pitifully, Father seemed to have calmed down somewhat, and he sat back on the sofa before asking.
It meant he was ready to listen to my story.
"The Duke... the Duke said he loves someone else...."
"What, what did you say?!"
"What on earth is this nonsense!"
But Father sprang to his feet the moment he sat down, jumping up from his seat again.
His fists were already clenched as if ready to smash something, and the veins in his hands stood out prominently.
From the sight of him, I could tell just how furious he was.
But at my unexpected words, Mother's voice also rose sharply.
Since it meant her precious daughter had been rejected, she too seemed to find it difficult to maintain her composure.
"So I decided to break off the engagement with the Duke...."
As I said this, I tried to portray myself as the most pitiful and forlorn person in the world.
"How dare he! How dare he abandon my daughter and take a lover?!"
Father's face flushed crimson with rage, and he ground his teeth as he spewed his fury.
"Do you know who the other person is?"
"...It's Lady Adela Byon."
"House Byon? You mean House Byon?!"
"Yes, that's right...."
"House Byon! House Byon is...!"
"Dear...!"
I didn't know what Father was about to say regarding House Byon, but Mother urgently called out to him and covered his mouth.
Father then wore a startled expression and hastily closed his mouth.
'What was that?'
The way Mother so obviously silenced Father made it clear he was about to say something I wasn't supposed to hear.
But in this situation, I couldn't press him about it, so I suppressed my curiosity for now.
And I decided to focus only on what I needed to do at this moment.
"Belita, you've seen and heard enough to know that it's common for nobles to see other people behind closed doors. And more than anything, your marriage is a union between families. It's not such a trivial promise that it should break over something like this. Of course, if the two of you loved each other, it would be wonderful. However, I'm sorry to say this to you, but marriages among the nobility are not so romantic."
Mother, who had calmed down first between the two of them, explained to me gently why I shouldn't break off the engagement.
"I understand. I know what this engagement means. But the Duke's heart has already turned completely away. There was simply no way for me to do anything...."
"Did the Duke himself ask you first to break off the engagement?"
"Yes."
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