Mistaken for a Wicked Woman!

“Um, is that right… Young Lady Bright?”

Silence is best when you’re pressuring a person to spill out the beans. I stared at the orange-haired young lady, and she averted her eyes as if the thief had numbed her foot.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s hard to forgive, but there was nothing I could do at that time.”

After a moment of hesitation, the orange head eventually opened her mouth cautiously.

“People’s hearts don’t always work the way we want, do they? It was really hard for me too, and I’m sorry I hurt you, but….”

The orange-haired girl, who had been making excuses in a muffled voice, suddenly snapped her head up, and then spoke up like a person blessed with emotions.

“You’re the one who’s stuck in a rut now aren’t you?!”

‘What’s wrong with her?’

I frowned suddenly, not knowing why, and my dark light-lotus like brows instantly shot up.

“What’s with that look? I’ve had a hard time because of you, and so has His Highness Pavel!”

The orange-haired young lady jutted her chin provocatively, as if she would not lose to me.

“Honestly, isn’t it his choice that His Highness Pavel chose me and not you? If you had handled yourself better, none of this would have ever happened!”

‘Oh my, is that what happened?’

The words that followed after were a series of exclamations from the Orange Haired lady.

I seemed to finally have a vague idea about what happened between Young Lady Bright and this Orange-haired girl.

‘It was said that it was Young Lady Bright’s fault, that their engagement was broken, but… It was actually our fault…’

When I finally piece together what the Crown Prince said with what the orange-haired woman was saying now, I was finally able to clear up the puzzle. I can’t be one hundred percent sure, but I think I’m pretty sure this Pavel guy is the second prince, which was Bright Young Lady’s former fiancé.

And this young lady here was probably one of the reasons for their breakup.

“What, you’re mad at me? You think it’s unfair? I know I’m a bad person. That’s how I am. But You shouldn’t have done that, Young Lady Bright.”

As I calmly gathered my thoughts together, the orange-haired young lady’s expression changed. She crossed her arms and glared at me with a fierce expression.

“See, I warned you, you’re gonna get yourself in trouble one of these days.”

She had so many facial expressions, I could actually learn from her. I glanced back at the orange-haired young lady with admiration and then her face contorted.

“What’s that look? It’s not like you.”

The orange-haired young lady was fierce, as if her friendly demeanor a moment ago had been a lie.

“You screamed at the top of your lungs and cried for the world to go away, why aren’t you crying this time?”

‘Yeah, tell me more. Come on.’

I watched in silence as the orange-haired young lady rambled on. She eventually sneered sarcastically with an excited giggle, as if she took my silence to mean something else.

“What, no tears now? Or have you finally accepted reality?”

“Well, the fact that you, a Villainess, are still at the mercy of the prince… It’s like passing gas that was enough to make a dog laugh.”

Amber eyes curved into crescents of obvious sneer. “You were never worthy of the position of the Prince’s wife in the first place. You were too greedy.”

The orange-haired young lady twisted her red lips as she looked at me with mocking eyes. Leaning toward me, she whispered in a husky voice, “I’m sorry. You trusted your family name and your looks. Only to find yourself abandoned by your family and loved ones right?”

So this is the socialite’s thread of society. Suddenly, an unbearable feeling of disgust enveloped me. I wondered why my mother hadn’t been able to endure the imperial judicial system. Now I know why. She couldn’t stand the social circles of the empire, and this is probably why she suffered from postpartum depression. Now I understand.

“How shameless.”

Oh, I want to curse, I think, and I force out the mildest words I can muster as I squeeze through the dozens of expletives that have risen to the top of my throat.

“What did you just say?”

“What?”

“What did You just called me?…”

“Oh, shameless?”

I said it again, nicely, and the orange-haired young lady sucked in a breath. She couldn’t hide her puzzled expression, wondering why my reaction was unusual.

“Wh-what…..”

“I said.. You… Are… Shameless.”

I purposely enunciated each word with force, and the orange-haired young lady shuddered like someone who had just been horribly insulted.

“How rude, how rude……”

“You’re the rude one. Why are you talking so loudly? It’s as if I’m the one who committed adultery.”

I choked back a laugh and glared at the orange-haired young lady. In the Empire, adultery is treated like a crime. The bloodline-oriented nobility was sensitive to adultery. So much so that when a nobleman drew up his marriage vows, he made sure to include a clause requiring him to pay a large amount of alimony if he committed adultery.

The amount of alimony was at least as much as the cost of one of the pillars of a mansion. If a person was unable to pay for financial reasons, he or she could be demoted to a lower rank. This is why the nobility of the empire were as cautious about marriage as anyone else.

Of course, in the case of betrothal, divorce was freer than marriage.

But if the reason was infidelity, it was different. Adultery, whether in marriage or betrothal, was a violation of vows made before the Great Spirit, so if someone with a fiancé cheated on them, he or she will be morally condemned, if not legally responsible.

Even if it was a prince. No, he wasn’t. It was more a matter of being royalty. If a prince, who was supposed to set an example for others, cheated on his fiancé, it was something to be condemned. But the desert orange-haired woman was very proud of herself for committing adultery with the prince.

“Adulterer! Uh, how could you

you say something like that….!”

“Why? Isn’t it true?”

Through thick and thin, I can see why the crown prince said it was their fault. Seeing the orange-haired one make a scene like that made me visualize what the situation must have been like.

“Do you think that you can get away with this? Cheating on your fiancé with someone who has a fiancé is thick as sh-t, man.”

Her amber eyes widened as she twitched one lip.

“It’s your fault. You shouldn’t be surprised…”

“Pfft..!”

If it were me, I’d be so ashamed of myself, I wouldn’t even be able to hold my head up. God, I love the world, with an adulterer holding their head up in shame. If she were in my estate, she would have been carpetbagged and beaten long ago. I took a deep breath, while swallowing down the lump in my throat.

“This is the price of an orange.” Let’s get the kid out of here first. Ignoring the bobbing orange head in shock, I pulled out a handful of silver coins from my inside pocket.

I put three or four silver coins in the basket, and the kid’s face lit up as she looked at us both.

“If you don’t mind, can you give me the basket too?”

“Sure!”

“Thank you.”

A much bigger return than expected. The kid excitedly handed the basket over to me.

“Hey, orange head.”

I didn’t know what her name was, so I called her Orange Head, and her face turned bright red. Regardless, I pulled a round orange out of my basket.

“First, I am not Young Lady Bright.”

With a deliberate word, I glared at the orange’s head as I spoke. I was furious, so I added a little extra flesh to her face. The orange-haired woman hiccupped at the speculation, but I didn’t let it bother me, instead tightening my grip on the orange.

“Secondly, I don’t walk away from a fight I’ve walked into.”

Crushed.

As soon as I finished speaking, the orange was completely crushed in my hand. Seeing that, the Young Lady’s face immediately turned pale.

“A-Are you threatening me?”

The orange-haired young lady trembled and opened her mouth.

“No. I’m just responding to you because you made the first move.”

Oh well. I’d succeeded in scaring her, but the juice dripping from my hand was unpleasant. I brushed my hand away and said something back, and the orange head clutched at her member and stomped her foot. She was angry, but she couldn’t seem to get the words out because she was scared of me.

“What’s going on?”

Just then, a dark blue-green head appeared above the Orange.

‘What is that seaweed hair?’ 

“I’m out here by myself, just wanting to breathe and…”

The man seemed to be part of the orange-haired youngster’s group. Suddenly, the tanned unwanted guest spotted me and frowned at me.

“Archie, why are you here?”

“Pavel!”

‘Oh. So It’s the Second Prince, that creep from the other world.’ 

The orange-haired young lady had summoned him, so it was easy to recognize him. “Your Highness, listen to me, Did you know what that woman said to me?”

The flustered orange-haired woman regained her composure as her adversary appeared.

“Eris, calm down, what’s going on?”

The man soothed the orange-haired woman who had turned on him with a calm voice, he was looking at me with fierce eyes.

“I’m so sick of you. I thought I told you never to set foot in front of my sight again.”

“I’m sick of it too,” I said nonchalantly.

My chest felt tight as if a hot potato was hanging around my neck. I wanted to curse at him, but he was a prince of an empire.

‘I’m the one who’s sick of you, you salted seaweed head.’

“What have you done to Eris?”

I could only curse inwardly, but the seaweed-headed prince asked with a fierce look on his face. One would think I was a substitute sinner.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re lying, you didn’t do anything, and Eris is like this?”

The hostility in his eyes made me feel even more uncomfortable. Now I was really starting to feel like a b-tch.

“Come on… What did I do? i simply saw a bug sa I crushed it”

As I replied bluntly, I looked at the orange-haired girl called Eris, and she shuddered in the prince’s arms, her shoulders slumping as she shivered. The prince frowned at the sight.

“If you’ve done anything to Eris, then you’d regret it…”

“I was just smashing an orange..”

“An orange?”

“Yes. An orange.”

The prince looked at the orange, crushed and lying on the floor.

He then blinked.

“What the…”

“Pavel! That woman threatened me with an orange!”

“Huh?”

The prince narrowed his brow, as if he didn’t quite understand the current situation. If it were an ordinary young lady, she wouldn’t have the strength to crush an orange with her hands, so he had reasons to be suspicious.

But I have a Knight’s body. I could crush an apple or a walnut, both of which are harder than oranges.

✤

TL NOTE:

I’m so pissed off. They’re so shameless. I actually feel sorry for Archie now… She seemed like a sweet Persimmon..