Chapter 1
“I’m sick and tired of this.”
“Sonot, it’s all my fault. So please don’t break the engagement…”
“Petunia, I hate clingy women.”
“…”
“You’re the most frustrating woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Sonot…”
“It’s better if we pretend this engagement has never happened. I’ll send a notice to Count Inkledov within this week.”
“Sonot, please, please… From now on, I won’t interfere with whatever you do…”
“I’ve had enough of you. I don’t want to see you squirming like that anymore.”
“…”
“What do you want me to do with such an unattractive woman?”
Sonot coldly turned his back. Petunia looked at his back, that’s getting distant, in vain.
Just like he said, after a few days the documents arrived at Count Inkledov’s mansion. Those were the annulment documents sent by Duke Quinton.
Petunia, who was distressed after the last meeting with Sonot, became a total wreck after seeing the documents.
Several days passed repeating themselves as she only drank, ate and cried herself to sleep.
Only after ten days Petunia finally left her room.
***
“I told you not to show up in front of me again.”
Sonot spoke in an indifferent tone. Yet, I was just looking around the luxurious café where only nobles could get in.
If I were to be honest, I didn’t think he would meet with me when I called him out. I thought he would ignore me as he said that he didn’t want to see me anymore. It was fortunate for me that he accepted my sudden call.
“Doesn’t your leg hurt from standing? Come on, have a seat.”
“Ha, you really don’t get it. I believe I said everything I had to say to you last time.”
“I won’t keep you long. This is as unpleasant to me as it is to you, so could you please cooperate with me so that I can finish this quickly?”
Sonot frowned and sat across from me. Right at that time the waiter brought two coffees as I ordered.
“So, what is it?”
Sonot sat with crossed his legs, just like how it was mentioned in the book, and I sat elegantly and drank an espresso.
“You should drink yours too.”
I said, as I took a sip from my steaming coffee.
“No, thanks.”
“Alright.”
Well, that was mine then.
I brought the cup in front of Sonot closer to me, which made the veins on his forehead visible.
Slurp.
I drank the coffee making a loud noise. Sonot opened his mouth in shock at the sight.
“I am certain that I warned you about being clingy last time. Since your usual way is not working, are you trying a different method?”
“Oh, you have quite the imagination.”
I put down the cup.
He was being too much even if he is the heir of Duke Quinton. He seemed to be mistaken about the world turning around him.
“Well, I called you here because I got my thoughts straight. I’m here to thank you.”
“You think these words will make me change my mind, don’t you?”
What?
I stared at Sonot as if he was a roach. Why in the world was Petunia so obsessed over this pathetic man?
Then it came to my mind that Petunia’s one sided love might also have boosted Sonot’s arrogance.
“Did you know? They say imagining things is a sign of senility.”
“…”
“Thanks to you, I came back to my senses, but I can’t say the same thing for you.”
“What?”
Sonot slapped his hand on the table. People around glanced at us. He seemed to be taken aback since he was the only son of a Duke.
“How shameful. Lower your voice.”
I took a sip from my espresso as I stared at him. Then Sonot, whose face became red with anger, got up.
“You…!”
Splash!
“…!”
At that moment, the whole café went silent. Everyone seemed to forget how to breathe, out of shock.
That was because I splashed espresso on Sonot’s face.
It was a rare sight to see. Soon the café filled with mumbles and whispers about coffee soaked Sonot, which was something worth seeing.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!”
Sonot roughly wiped the coffee off of his face. Several employees rushed up to him to wipe his face with wet towels. Sonot shook them off rapidly.
“It’s a gift.”
“What?”
“Your face looked like ice cream** so I thought it would be perfect if I made it an Affogato. So I got espresso on purpose. Yet you don’t look… so good?”
I smirked with one side of my mouth curled up. I heard people whispering and laughing. Even if this wasn’t going to be talked about forever, it would surely be around for a while.
“You…!”
Sonot’s furious voice was heard alongside the noise of chair being dragged.
I looked back at him while grinning.
“I’ve finished my business quickly, wasn’t this what you asked for?”
“…You’ve finally gone mad after being dumped by me-“
“You? What’s with that? Please use correct honorifics. We’re not close enough to call each other comfortably, are we?”
“Hah.”
Sonot shook his wet hair roughly.
He should take good care of his hair. I could see he will become bald in the future.
“Ah, I forgot the most important thing.”
I took a step closer to Sonot.
“Thank you for letting me escape from you.”
“…”
“And thank you for taking care of me until now.”
“…It must have been too shocking to get dumped. Seeing you’ve gone mad.”
He loudly spoke. It was a clear act for the people in the café. His exaggerated gestures were quite awkward.
Yet I wasn’t a fool to be shaken by such a shallow move. What was he going to do once I opened my mouth and made his efforts go to vain.
I shrugged my shoulders as I gave him an answer.
Perhaps Sonot wasn’t expecting this reply, as he clenched his fist. It wasn’t a kids fight yet it was amusing to see him get provoked for such childish reasons.
“But we’ve been together for years now. I believe… it would be better if we left a good impression on each other.”
“You…!”
“Just like you wanted, I won’t be around you anymore. So I don’t have to see you again. Next time I see you, I’ll grind that Affogato face into a Frappuccino.”
I left, leaving the mad man barking like a dog.
“What were you thinking, following a man around who is nothing more than a clown.”
I shook my head and walked out of the café with my escorts.
***
“Petunia, was your outing alright?”
The Countess, who is Petunia’s mother, was out in front of the main gate welcoming me.
“Yes. It’s been a while since I went out, so I’m pleased.”
“I’m glad you were.”
Surely, what I was pleased with was different from what the Countess was thinking.
I shyly smiled and went up to my room on the second floor of the mansion. As soon as I changed into indoor garments, I dismissed the servants and lied on my bed.
I had just returned from something I wanted to do after becoming Petunia. I was exhausted yet I was relieved.
I rolled to the side and picked up the calendar on the bedside table. Today was the tenth day since I possessed Petunia’s body.
I didn’t even ask for this. ‘If I were her, I would beat that dumper!’ is what I thought.
When I came back to my senses, I had become a side character in the novel I’ve read.
The body I possessed was quite fragile because of all the crying after her world collapsed. Seeing how hungry I am, I guessed she had skipped meals for some days.
I picked up the loaf of bread that’s left at the door. Yet the dried bread wasn’t enough to fill up my stomach.
I just wanted to run out and eat whatever I found. But in an unfamiliar place, I couldn’t just run around pretending to be someone else.
I held my head as I felt dizzy out of hunger. In the end, I could only come up with one assumption.
The first thing that came to my mind,
“No way.”
Then, when I tried to calculate the situation, I thought of all the possibilities.
But the words of someone said with a gloomy voice, ‘Lady Petunia, please open the door.’ was the confirmation of what I’ve never imagined came true.
That I possessed a side character of the fantasy novel ‘The Beast of the East’ which I read a few days ago.
Petunia Inkledov, the character I possessed, was the villainess of the novel, the wife of Sonot Quinton.
Even as a side character, due to her being a villainess, it was inevitable for her to not appear in the drama. As a result, Petunia, the wife of Duke Quinton, appeared as a fairly important supporting character.
They were like the Rocket Team of Pokémon. Two villains weren’t acting together. Petunia and Sonot were like that.
Thanks to the annulment documents scattered on the desk, I got to know the exact time.
Sonot and Petunia always had break ups, since they were a couple of villains, but they only had one official annulment.
So I could quickly catch that it was about two years before the main story started.
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**TL/N: I’m not sure what “face looking like ice cream” means but since Affogato is a coffee which you *drown* ice cream in it, I believe it was used to say how she got rid of him.