In the end, that day’s meeting was completely ruined.
After I collapsed from dizziness inside the carriage, Ena, who was riding with me, panicked and turned the carriage back to the Count’s estate.
I sent a letter apologizing for not keeping the appointment because I was unwell, but Pedro didn’t even bother to reply wishing me a good recovery.
“He’s been cheating since two years ago?”
The panel floating in front of my eyes didn’t seem like it would disappear unless I checked every bit of its content.
Even after quite a while, it kept hovering around me until I read the last conversation, and then it finally vanished.
After composing myself and slowly rereading to piece together the information the gods had left, I concluded that Pedro had been cheating since he was fifteen.
Coincidentally, that was when he had started hiding his hostility towards me.
“Hahaha…”
I let out a hollow laugh and buried my face in my palm.
But no tears came.
It wasn’t because it felt unreal — it was simply that despair had ended, and now I had entered the stage of anger.
“Pedro… you damn Pedro…”
Maybe the gods named him well.
His betrayal made it impossible not to want to beat him senseless.
Although the Estarote family was wealthy and powerful, they weren’t tyrants who would force an engagement.
The engagement only happened because I had clung to it, and Sachsen could have refused at any point.
I skimmed through the documents handed to me by my father’s aide — they detailed the benefits Sachsen gained from my engagement.
“At least since we weren’t married yet, no dowry was actually exchanged.”
If we had married, a significant amount of wealth would have transferred: Two diamond mines, one gold mine, three villas scattered across different regions, an island in the south under my name, and a townhouse in the imperial capital used by Sachsen’s family whenever they visited.
Just the value of the wedding gifts alone surpassed 100 million gold.
The townhouse could just be reclaimed, so there was no real loss there.
As for what Sachsen gained during the seven years of engagement — they earned business profits by leeching onto the Estarote family’s ventures.
Whenever they were tipped off about a sure-success business by the Count’s household, they’d make a tiny investment and take back multiple times the dividends.
They profited at least five to ten times over.
The Count’s house didn’t even need such minor investments but allowed it to save my face.
“And on top of that, I sent extravagant gifts for the Sachsen family’s birthdays too.”
For Pedro’s birthday this year, I was planning to gift him a prestigious warhorse from South Selvia.
Despite the breed being rarely sold outside, I paid a hefty price because Pedro wanted it.
“How clueless he is…”
Even a donkey would be too good for someone like that Pedro.
Since the horse was already being brought over, I couldn’t cancel it, but there’s no way he’d get his hands on it.
“Hah…”
Going through everything like this made me realize just how blindly foolish I had been.
Thinking about it, Pedro was handsome, yes, but not god-like.
When we were younger, he still had baby fat and was cute, and it was the first time someone treated me roughly in my easy life, which probably made me obsess even more.
But now, with the rose-tinted glasses gone, he was just a fool who thought looks were everything and had no self-awareness.
“The gods wouldn’t lie to me with fake prophecies just to mock me, would they?”
They said he would have five (affairs) by 225.
Since it was currently 220, I wondered how many there already were.
But being an ordinary noble lady with no network of spies, there was no way for me to find out.
Even the panel showing the gods’ conversation didn’t specify details.
“Guess there’s no choice.”
I rose from my study and headed outside.
Who was home right now?
“Not mother or father. If they find out, everything will be over before I get to beat Pedro up. And not the youngest either — still too young.”
One by one, I eliminated options until only two people remained.
I was still deciding when—
“Lovey!”
“Ew, go away.”
Despite my rejection, my body was lifted into the air, and kisses rained down on my face.
The one who picked me up was our family’s fool — my second brother.
Even though I wasn’t particularly small, he, being in a physically demanding profession, had a body twice my size, so he could easily lift me like a paper doll.
I didn’t hate the affection, but considering I’d be an adult next year, it was getting a little inappropriate.
Ah…
Thinking about adulthood soured my mood again.
If not for the prophecy, I would have been married to that damn Pedro by next spring.
Thank the gods for watching over me.
Though a fool, my second brother was smart when it came to me, and immediately noticed my upset mood.
“Our little cutie, what’s wrong?”
His eyes drooped sadly as he carefully studied my face.
Since I had recently fainted during an outing, he seemed even more worried.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and as he leaned back to make it easier for me to cling to him, I whispered into his ear.
“Oppa (older brother). I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor? What is it?”
“I’ll only say it if you promise not to get mad.”
“Why would I get mad at anything my little cutie says?”
His dopey grin made him seem harmless despite his massive frame.
Still, I knew that if I mentioned Pedro, he’d surely get furious, so I made him promise again.
“You can’t tell anyone. Not even Mom or Dad or big brother.”
“Not even them?”
“Yeah. It’ll be our secret.”
At the word “secret,” my second brother’s face lit up like the sun, and he eagerly promised.
I told him we needed to move somewhere quieter first.
He said he wouldn’t get mad, but I was sure he’d yell once he heard it.
Fortunately, the large back garden was empty.
As he looked at me, eyes sparkling, waiting for me to speak, I whispered:
“I need to borrow some people.”
“People? What for?”
“I want to dig up some dirt on… damn Pedro… I mean, Pedro.”
Hearing that, my brother was horrified — as if he thought his precious little sister had lost her mind over love and was now stalking her fiancé.
His eyes trembled as he tried to figure out how to talk me out of it, so I whispered urgently again:
“I think Pedro might have a child already.”
“What?!”
Despite promising not to get mad, he roared in anger.
Though I knew he was mad at Pedro and not me, I didn’t want things blowing up before getting proof, so I hurriedly covered his mouth with my hands.
Unable to shake off my hand, the second brother, who had been fuming with an angry, red face, soon became calm.
He lowered me to the ground and turned his body toward somewhere.
“Where are you going?”
“To kill him.”
Hmm, it was said in an ordinary tone, like “I’m going for a walk,” but his eyes were spinning for quite a while.
Our second brother, though a fool and having a surprisingly gentle personality for his size, was the type of man who would get things done when he decided.
I hurriedly grabbed him.
“It’s not certain yet!”
“You wouldn’t suddenly come up with something like that, given your personality. Something must have been off.”
“That’s… true, but still!”
“Our dear little one. You won’t even get your hands dirty. I’ll just clean it up as if it never existed in the first place.”
“No! Wait a minute!”
I clung to his arm and struggled, but my body stopped abruptly.
The second brother looked at me, his face twisted in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“You’re not trying to stop me because you want to spare that bastard, are you?”
Maybe before I heard the gods’ words, I would have been like that.
I really am his fiancée.
A woman is just someone who passes by, not someone with whom I’ve shared deep feelings.
I would have endured it while convincing myself of that.
The affection I had for Pedro, the guilt, and the fact that I didn’t want to tell my family that the engagement I had pushed for had failed.
I would have just moved past it, thinking it was fine.
But then, I realized that he had been deceiving me for a long time, and that he would continue to do so.
The reason he had treated me well wasn’t because of affection, but to cover up his own faults.
The feelings I had for him cooled in an instant.
What remained was only a desire to take back the gains and benefits they had received from me.
“That alone will make them fall.”
Without even lifting a finger.
The townhouse the Saxon family was using like a vacation home was mine, and even Pedro’s position in the cavalry was something our family had given him.
If they had never had it, they wouldn’t know the feeling of loss.
But the things they had received were beyond their abilities, so that feeling would lead to despair.
“That’s my prey.”
I looked directly at the second brother and said.
Whatever else happened, Pedro would be buried in the mud by my own hands.
Even if he was family to the second brother, I couldn’t allow him to get the chance for revenge.
The second brother examined my face, and when he didn’t see any lingering affection for Pedro in my eyes, he seemed to understand.
Still, it seemed like the bastard’s betrayal still angered him.
He bit his lip, roughly scratched his head, and then let out a deep sigh.
“Ugh. I don’t want to make our little one do something so harsh… but it can’t be helped. Alright.”
In the end, the second brother raised both hands in surrender.
I smiled brightly and gave him a big hug.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you for what? I’d get you the moon and stars, and even his head, if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t particularly want that bastard’s head, but… if you give it, I guess I’ll have to take it…”
The second brother and I exchanged jokes and giggled.
A few days later, someone who worked for the second brother brought information.
Pedro’s son was clearly guilty.