ESML 05

Chapter 5

“This money I’ve spent on you all this time. Give it back.”

“Hah!”

Cedric let out a hollow laugh as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I didn’t know you were that materialistic.”

He looked at her with contempt.

“Materialistic?”

Emilia was speechless for a moment at the absurdity of his words.

“Fine. I’m materialistic. So give me my money back.”

Emilia stubbornly kept her hand out.

“Since it seems you never considered me your fiancée in the first place, I think I deserve to be paid for all the work I did around your house.”

Of course, she had never done any of it expecting compensation.

But now that things had come to this, she felt that she might as well get some money back.

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

Cedric huffed angrily at how she refused to back down even an inch.

But Emilia had no intention of exchanging another word with him.

“If you’re not going to give it to me yourself, move.”

She picked up her trunk and walked inside.

“Hey!”

Cedric, who had been leaning against the door, stumbled and fell after being knocked aside by the trunk.

Inside stood Reina, looking startled.

Emilia glanced at her briefly before walking past her and heading farther inside.

She threw open the doors of an elegant display cabinet and spread her trunk out on the floor.

Crash!

Emilia carelessly swept the items from the cabinet into her trunk.

Several of them fell to the floor and rolled away.

Just then, Cedric followed her inside with angry footsteps and shouted.

“Hey!”

“I’m busy, so don’t talk to me.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Cedric roughly grabbed Emilia by the arm and pulled her upright.

Crash!

At the same time, something fell, followed by the sound of breaking glass.

“What? What are you complaining about? You wouldn’t give me my money, so I’m taking it myself.”

Emilia yanked her arm free from Cedric’s grip.

Then she looked inside the display cabinet, and for a moment, she felt bitterly sad.

There were actually plenty of valuable things in his house.

They simply hadn’t sold them, treating them like precious heirlooms even after the family had fallen into financial ruin.

Instead, they could easily spend Emilia’s money without feeling the slightest bit of regret.

“Are you seriously crazy?! You’re nothing but a thief!”

Slap!

Unable to contain his anger, Cedric struck Emilia hard across the cheek.

“Ugh!”

Her head snapped to the side, and Emilia collapsed to the floor.

Soon, Mrs. Romance came rushing out of her room after hearing the commotion.

“What on earth is going on?!”

She was horrified when she saw the state of the house and immediately hurried over to the display cabinet.

“Oh, no! These precious things!”

She stared helplessly at the shattered ornaments.

“Reina.”

“Yes?”

Reina, who had been standing there in a daze watching everything unfold, startled at Emilia’s call.

“Do you think you’ll really be okay from now on?”

Emilia stared quietly at her.

“With a man who hits you whenever he gets angry, and a mother-in-law who doesn’t even care when her son hits a woman?”

“Th-that…”

“You’ll regret it.”

Reina’s eyes wavered anxiously at those words.

But Emilia soon looked away from her.

She planted her feet firmly on the ground and stood up, her struck cheek throbbing painfully.

‘He really hit me hard…’

To be honest, although she had said those things, Emilia had never imagined Cedric would actually hit her.

They had argued from time to time, but he had never once raised a hand against her.

‘I’ve learned so many new things about him these past few days.’

Emilia felt strangely bitter.

Just then, Mrs. Romance whipped around.

Crunch—

The remnants of the shattered ornament crumbled beneath her feet.

“Emilia, you! What did you just say?!”

Apparently, she had become furious at Emilia for insulting both her and her son, Cedric.

But Emilia pretended not to hear her.

Instead, she closed her now-full trunk and locked it.

Zip—

“Can’t you hear me?!”

“No. I can hear you perfectly well.”

Emilia turned toward her.

“But since it seems you heard me perfectly well too, I don’t see any reason to repeat myself.”

“What? How dare you—!”

Mrs. Romance approached her angrily, but suddenly stepped on the debris and slipped.

“Oh my!”

“Mother!”

“Madam! Are you all right?”

Cedric and Reina quickly rushed over and helped her up.

Emilia watched the scene indifferently before speaking to Reina.

“It must be quite difficult to take care of people like this while you’re pregnant.”

‘…And thank you. For making sure I never became part of a family like this.’

“Wh-what?!”

Mrs. Romance was too stunned by Emilia’s audacity to respond properly.

Meanwhile, Emilia left the house without a trace of hesitation.

The wheels of her trunk rattled as they rolled over the doorstep.

“You insolent little thing! What did you just say?!”

Mrs. Romance screamed and began hurling whatever objects she could get her hands on.

But none of them even reached Emilia’s feet.

After Emilia left—

“Hah! Unbelievable!”

Mrs. Romance spun around, utterly exasperated.

Seeing the state of the house only made her angrier.

“Cedric! Did you hear the way that girl talked?! How can someone be so insolent?!”

“I know. She really thinks she’s something special, right until the very end.”

“To think I was actually going to bring someone like that into our family as my daughter-in-law. I must have been out of my mind.”

In truth, it had been Mrs. Romance who had arranged for Emilia to be with Cedric.

Once Cedric reached marriageable age, she had been increasingly worried about him.

Because the family had gone bankrupt, not a single noble lady was willing to marry into their family.

So she had paired Cedric with Emilia, who was said to be the prettiest and smartest girl in the village.

Of course, she had never been completely satisfied with the arrangement.

Naturally.

No matter how pretty or intelligent Emilia was, she was still nothing more than a common girl with no parents.

‘What was I thinking?’

If she had known Cedric would eventually bring home such a perfect bride on his own, she would never have rushed to arrange his engagement.

‘Still, it worked out that she left of her own accord.’

Of course, Mrs. Romance was furious that Emilia had turned the entire house upside down before leaving.

Mrs. Romance gave Reina a meaningful look.

As expected of a young lady from a count’s family, Reina was elegant. Even simply standing there, she seemed to radiate refinement.

She was fundamentally different from a girl like Emilia.

‘She’s exactly on my son’s level.’

Erasing the malicious expression from her face, Mrs. Romance spoke gently.

“You have no idea how relieved I am that a girl like you came to our Cedric. We almost ended up bringing someone as vicious as that into our family.”

“Yes? Yes…”

“And how thoughtful of you to bring us a grandchild, too.”

However, Mrs. Romance failed to notice that Reina’s expression was completely different from before.

“You’ll regret it.”

Reina’s hands trembled as she tightly gripped her clothes.

The sight of the woman leaving with what seemed like relief lingered before her eyes.

And so did those words.

They had sounded strangely certain for something that should have been nothing more than a curse.