CATB Chapter 11

After slipping out of the terrace, I headed toward a side corridor to avoid encountering people. I had roughly figured out the palace layout from the palace map that Jen had brought, so if I walked this way for about five more minutes, I should be able to see the banquet hall.

Click-clack, click-clack — my heel sounds echoed through the deserted corridor. I had slipped out during the peak of the festivities, so everyone would be busy enjoying themselves, eating and playing right about now.

Walking through the dark corridor and turning right, I finally saw the passage leading to the banquet hall. I quickened my pace.

By now, there would probably be people looking for me. I didn't want to give them another excuse to attack me.

A man was walking toward me from the opposite direction.

'If he's going the other way, that's the exit from the banquet hall...'

Thinking that anyone leaving the banquet hall at this hour must either be feeling unwell or simply not fond of parties, I hurried my steps.

My hurried steps gradually slowed as I got a closer look at the man approaching me.

The man walking toward me had golden hair and wore a white uniform. His perfectly proportioned physique fit the uniform as if it had been tailored specifically for him, showcasing his neat and dignified appearance.

'Maybe he's a knight captain or something.'

With that kind of proper posture and bearing, he'd at least be a knight.

Without realizing my steps were slowing, I continued observing the approaching man. Handsome men make people happy just by their mere existence. I was no exception.

'He's pretty.'

A bagel-type guy*, maybe? He had a sturdy build, but his face was pretty enough to rival even Ariel's. His vivid green eyes turned toward me. I found myself staring mindlessly at his thin pink lips and straight nose, then gasped at how pretty his face was as it looked directly at me.

The man came to an abrupt stop.

'Hmm? Did I stare too much?'

Not wanting to make this beautiful person uncomfortable, I averted my eyes from the man's face, gave a slight curtsy, and brushed past him.

I knew better than anyone the discomfort of one-sided stares.

"!!!!!"

I could feel the man turning his body to follow me as I passed him. His gaze clearly fixed on my back as I walked away.

He must have recognized that I'm Alexa.

I let out a snort of laughter. The reactions of those who discovered my transformation from beast to my current state were all exactly the same. How cliché.

Either don't react at all—

I thought of the Grand Duke from earlier. The Grand Duke in his black attire, a complete contrast to this man's white uniform. If there were black and white, anyone would remember white more vividly, yet why was I thinking of black while looking at white?

I shook my head from side to side and entered the banquet hall.

"Alexa."

Sure enough, a sky-blue dress came rippling toward me immediately.

"Where were you? I looked for you for quite a while."

"Sorry, sister. I had a bit of a headache."

"Princess Ariel. I told you there would be nothing to worry about. It's perfectly understandable that Princess Alexa can't adapt well since this is her first time at such a luxurious banquet."

Here we go again with the ping-pong-like battles between women. I felt my chest, which had warmed while thinking of the Grand Duke moments ago, cool down again.

As I stared at the woman standing beside Ariel, Ariel hurriedly introduced her.

"Alexa. This is Duke Manuela's daughter. My precious childhood friend and academy classmate. I've been wanting to introduce you to her."

Ariel beamed at me. Her right-hand woman, I suppose.

"Princess Alexa. My apologies for the late introduction. I am Ezel Arzel Manuela."

"I am Alexa de Peliazen Dwight. Pleased to meet you, Lady Manuela."

Whether surprised by my polite greeting, Manuela stared at me briefly before automatically producing a smile.

"I've been wanting to meet Your Highness as well. There are quite a few other young ladies besides myself who have been eager to meet you."

With a bitter smile curling at the corners of her mouth, she looked somewhere, and a swarm of young ladies rushed toward me. I spotted a few of the ladies who had witnessed my glass-smashing rampage earlier. Those few had apparently figured out my personality and couldn't even make eye contact with me, averting their gazes, but unfortunately they were in the minority.

"Your Highness's dress is very novel! It's a design we've never seen among the noble ladies!"

"Lady Raphishiel! That sounds like you're saying Her Highness's dress is designed like a commoner's dress! You should apologize immediately."

"Oh my, is that how it sounds? Actually, I often see this design on the servants at the social club my brother frequents... If I've been rude, I apologize, Your Highness."

"Oh my goodness! A social club!!! No wonder..."

How amusing. Why make it so complicated to say I look like a tavern woman?

I smiled graciously.

"It's fine. I can fully understand Lady Raphishiel. Just by looking... (I visibly scanned Raphishiel's body from head to toe) ...your figure has extremely limited options for suitable dresses, which must be very unfortunate for you personally."

"Wh-what?!!!"

"A woman's body line is..."

I slowly raised my hand and traced my silhouette from my waist.

All the ladies' gazes followed my finger.

"Something you must be born with, so I can't help but feel sorry for you when I look at you, Lady. Well, what can we do? We must live according to how we're built. Hiding my beautiful body would be unfaithful to God who gifted me with such a body, and revealing your unfortunate body would also be unfaithful to God."

"Your Highness! What are you saying right now?!!"

Lady Raphishiel, her face burning red, shouted at me despite all courtesy. The other ladies, having heard my words, found themselves unconsciously alternating their gazes between my body and Raphishiel's.

"Stop! Stop looking!!!"

Raphishiel, noticing the ladies' comparative stares, cried out loudly with tears welling up.

"Oh my, how unrefined of such an intelligent lady to raise her voice like that... Lady Raphishiel seems to have one misfortune after another."

I clicked my tongue with a tsk tsk, and Raphishiel finally burst into tears and ran out of the party hall.

Ariel had been standing beside me, quietly watching this situation unfold. She never openly attacks me. It feels like playing chess — she places pawns and bishops one by one beside me, watching them attack me. And when a pawn gets crushed by me like just now, she simply sends it off the chessboard like discarding a chess piece.

"Your Highness."

A baritone voice called out "Your Highness."

Everyone's gaze, which had been watching the fleeing Raphishiel, turned toward the man behind Ariel.

"Marquess Berford!"

Following some young lady's small whisper, people alternately looked at me, Ariel, and the man called Marquess Berford.

Finally, I get to meet Alexa's nominal fiancé. Let me see what he looks like, I thought as I turned around.

"Huh?"

I inadvertently made a sound.

The man standing beside Ariel was the same white-uniformed man I had encountered in the corridor moments ago.

No wonder he was so handsome.

Now I could finally understand Alexa.

'Alexa, you little... you had quite high standards.'

Honey-colored hair and green eyes. The word "beautiful" came naturally to mind. Standing next to Ariel, they made a perfectly matched pair. I could somewhat understand the hatred directed toward Alexa when the Marquess was engaged to her. Even I had been so heartbroken when Won Bin's dating news with Lee Na-young came out. At least it was Lee Na-young, so there wasn't much time to be sad, but Alexa... hmm...

Anyway, he was worth the hatred, though that could never justify the hatred that Alexa had to bear alone.

"Berford..."

Ariel called the Marquess in a longing voice, then looked at me once and looked back at him. She did this with enough pause that everyone could notice Ariel was being mindful of me.

Marquess Berford also gazed gently at Ariel before looking at me. Unlike his surprised look from earlier, this was a sharp and disgusted stare.

I pretended not to know anything and returned his gaze.

"Hmph, how shameless."

Someone among the ladies watching us whispered. But it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Ariel looked back and forth between me and Berford, not knowing what to do.

"Princess Ariel. May I request the last dance of the banquet?"

When he requested the dance in a low voice, Ariel's face turned red. Looking pleased with his request, she smiled bashfully and grabbed his sleeve tightly, then suddenly acted startled, shrugging her shoulders and glancing at me nervously.

What a dramatic performance. She could be an actress.

"I would be so delighted, but... Alexa is..."

"Your Highness! You and Marquess Berford are practically the kingdom's official lovers. Who. Would. Dare. separate these beautiful lovers?"

When Manuela loudly defended Ariel, the ladies beside her nodded vigorously. Ariel looked at me with teary eyes again, checking my reaction. So this is how Alexa became a bitch.

Here I was, having become the perfect villain who, despite being an ugly and filthy beast, stole away the love that this pure and pitiful sister had been giving and caring for so much, making him her fiancé, and now in human form, I was separating these beautiful lovers.

Actually, legally speaking, Alexa hadn't done much wrong, so why was she receiving so much hatred? She hadn't committed adultery, wasn't in a common-law relationship, and Ariel hadn't made any definite marriage promise with the Marquess either, yet Alexa was getting called every curse word in the book. I think this was less about Alexa's actual wrongdoings and more about her simply becoming a scapegoat for blame that exists everywhere. Everyone needs someone to be their punching bag. That, combined with her ugly appearance contrasting with the beautiful angel beside her, created a synergy that made her an easier target.

Before I knew it, the banquet hall's attention was focused on us.

"Princess Ariel, I..."

"Stop, Berford. Please don't say it. Alexa is listening!"

Ariel threw herself pitifully into the Marquess's arms and cried out. Now the Marquess was glaring at me too.

I haven't even done anything yet.

How absurd. I irritably ran my hand through my hair.

"I, Alexa de Peliazen Dwight, hereby declare the dissolution of my engagement with Berford Harman."

"What did you say?"

"What did she just say?"

"She said dissolution!"

"Dissolution?"

The murmuring crowd, Berford, and Ariel all stared at me with wide eyes.

Acting surprised, these bastards. I snorted.

For Alexa to establish herself in the kingdom, it was right to first cut off the biggest chain. That chain was the engagement with that pretty boy who was the source of being treated like a bitch.

He was handsome, but too prettily feminine for my taste, and having seen the Grand Duke already, there was nothing to regret.

"Wait, Alexa, you..."

Ariel came out of Berford's embrace and approached to stop me.

"Since our opinions seem to align, let's handle this swiftly. I no longer have any intention of continuing this engagement. Marquess Berford Harman. Do you agree to the dissolution?"

The Marquess stared at me intently. What's this? Why isn't he answering quickly? You said you hated Alexa so much.

"I'll consider silence as agreement. Do you have any objections?"

"Alexa!"

Ariel shouted at me loudly. Seeing her shout at me for the first time, she must be quite shocked.

"Princess Ariel, do you object to the dissolution of engagement between me, Alexa Dwight, and Berford Harman?"

When I didn't call her "sister" but used her official title and asked if she was formally raising an objection, Ariel hesitated. After all, it would be strange for Ariel to object here.

The sister who had been a longtime obstacle to love was voluntarily dissolving the engagement, finally allowing her to reclaim the lover she had long desired, yet for her to step forward and prevent my dissolution with the Marquess made no sense.

"....."

"Seeing no further objections, the dissolution between the Marquess and me has been finalized. Princess Ariel here and everyone at the party have become witnesses."

I deliberately designated Ariel as a witness, and the stunned crowd maintained their silence.

When Alexa the Beast, who had followed Berford around obsessively, let him go so easily, people became even more anxious. Though Alexa rarely participated in royal events, she was someone who had followed Berford around regardless of her hideous beast appearance. No matter what curses she received, no matter what criticism she faced, she had never given in. But now she was voluntarily requesting dissolution?

Had her mind gone strange along with her changed appearance? Or was she planning to use magic to confine the Marquess separately? There must be some scheme... Everyone watched the situation with their own various imaginations.

"The official dissolution letter will be sent to the Marquess's house later. Please sign it and return it to the royal family."

"....."

The Marquess was still glaring at me as if trying to gauge my intentions. Meanwhile, he wasn't saying he wouldn't dissolve the engagement, so he must have wanted to quite badly.

Having said everything I needed to say, there was no reason to stay here any longer.

I refreshingly turned around and left the banquet hall. I could hear voices cursing me for leaving without saying goodbye, but screw them.

Damn it, I'm free.

Translator Note:

*Bagel-type guy is Korean slang describing a man who appears tough on the outside (like a bagel's hard exterior) but is actually soft and gentle on the inside (like the soft interior). A gap moe of their intimidating appearance and their actually kind nature.