The Duke’s Fake First Love - Chapter 3

Chapter 2.1

Just as I wondered if there had been an accident and tried to look outside, the door suddenly flew open.

“So it was you, Leonie.”

In an instant, a figure with their face concealed by a robe burst into the carriage. Then, without warning, they pinned me against the wall and braced their hands on either side to block my escape.

“You went to the banquet yesterday, didn’t you?”

The glimpse of their face and figure through the robe belonged to someone I knew all too well.

“…What does it matter?”

I answered, sounding more annoyed than anything, and tried to step out of the carriage. But before I could, they grabbed my wrist.

The door slammed shut and the carriage took off before I even had a chance to escape.

“Don’t even think about running. Just answer my question. We’ll be heading straight to the mansion together.”

As soon as the person finished speaking, they pulled back their hood with one hand, exposing pink hair tied in a high ponytail.

Her blue eyes, icy and sharp like the ocean, were filled with irritation.

“Understand, Leonia?”

…Of course. I should’ve known it would turn out like this.

I let out a resigned laugh that sounded almost like a sigh.

Alice Bellasi.

She was the heroine of this novel, and my older sister.

‘And the one Louis is searching for.’

That thought made my mood plummet again. How was I supposed to fix this mess?

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“You already know everything anyway, so does my answer even matter?”

I tilted my head to the side.

The fact that she had bothered to board a moving carriage was all the proof I needed that she already knew what had happened yesterday.

“…Ha. I thought you would at least try to deny it. Say it was just a misunderstanding or something.”

Alice sat across from me, arms folded, giving me a look that said she thought I was hopeless.

“Seriously, how long has it even been since your engagement was broken off, and you’re already running around having fun?”

“Just because the engagement’s broken off doesn’t mean I have to stay cooped up in the mansion like a criminal.”

Unlike my ex-fiancé, who spent our entire engagement period embroiled in scandals with other women, I’ve lived quietly and properly.

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

But Alice just let out a heavy sigh, clearly thinking something different.

“Whether you’re blameless or not, public opinion isn’t on your side. Your ex-fiancé is the future emperor, no less. Even if he’s the one at fault, any misstep will still be blamed on you.”

“I know that.”

“If you know that, then why—”

“Because I don’t care if I never get married.”

“…What?”

Alice narrowed her eyes, as if she couldn’t tell whether I was being defiant or sincere.

“Maybe it’s because I stayed engaged to someone like that for over a decade, but I’ve grown disillusioned with the idea of marriage itself.”

I leaned my chin on my hand and looked out the window, speaking in a flat voice.

“You’d feel the same if you were in my place.”

“…That bast—I mean, Marquis Rigen was really a piece of trash.”

Alice nodded, agreeing with me.

“Honestly, I still don’t understand why he proposed to you in the first place. You two hadn’t even met once before the engagement ceremony.”

“He liked you, Sister. That’s why he proposed to me.”

“…What?”

“He said he thought I looked a lot like you. But once he realized I didn’t, he immediately regretted it. He said so himself.”

My ex-fiancé was the villain who was obsessed with Alice in the novel.

“He begged His Majesty to arrange the engagement, so he couldn’t call it off. But since I didn’t meet his expectations, he started stirring up scandals, hoping I would be the one to end things.”

Unfortunately, in the original story, Leonia couldn’t let him go until the very end, and she was ultimately murdered.

Even though things were different now, I still couldn’t shake off the unpleasant feeling.

“Anyway, how did you even find out I went to the banquet last night?”

I changed the subject, even though I knew it was a little obvious.

“I stopped by the guild for a moment this morning, and everyone was talking about some lunatic who bought a large amount of sleeping pills and caused a scene.”

It was a little late to be asking now, but Alice played along like she didn’t notice.

“I had a bad feeling, so as soon as I got to the mansion, I went straight to your room. But they said you hadn’t come back.”

“And that was enough for you to guess I attended the banquet?”

“Well, I’ve always had good instincts.”

Seeing how she was trying to brush it off, it was clear she had probably obtained the list of nobles who attended the banquet through the information guild.

‘It’s not exactly a legal route, but the information is definitely fast.’

Now that I think about it, I still need to find out why Louis proposed to me. Maybe I should commission them? There was only so much information I could gather on my own.

…Wait, information?

“Sister, there’s something I want to look into.”

“If it’s about Marquis Rigen, forget it. If you’re not careful, you’ll just end up giving him a useful card to play in the battle for public opinion.”

“No, I couldn’t care less about someone like him. The information I want is…”

At my next words, Alice’s eyes widened.