Chapter 27: Facing the Past

Hawk took Fine’s hand, and they stepped out of the carriage.

Perhaps due to the long, bumpy ride, Fine still felt unsteady on solid ground.

Before them stood the grand three-story townhouse of the Diner Dukedom.

Fine stared at the building.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing… I was just thinking it’s been six months since I was locked in that rest room.”

Reflecting, so much had happened in half a year.

She was trapped in the lounge at the Diner Dukedom’s ball, falsely accused of infidelity with Hawk, leading to her engagement’s end.

Then Hawk proposed, they married, and she learned of his mistress, making their marriage temporary.

‘Now that I think about it, isn’t the latter part all Hawk’s fault?’

She glanced at Hawk, who looked puzzled by her stare.

“Something on my face?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Mesmerized?”

“That’s quite confident.”

To her chagrin, Hawk’s rugged features made his confidence seem natural.

Fine sighed.

The past six months had been so eventful, it felt like a lifetime’s worth of incidents crammed together.

“I know you’re tired, but hang in there a bit longer.

We’ll head back to the townhouse after this.”

Mistaking her silence for fatigue, Hawk patted her back gently.

“Right.

It’s almost time.”

‘And now the real challenge begins.’

Earlier, Reina and Banaji held their wedding at the cathedral near the royal castle—the same place Fine and Banaji had planned to marry.

Now, a party was about to start at the Diner Dukedom’s townhouse, attended by close friends, supporters, and acquainted nobles.

At the ceremony, all eyes were on the altar, but at the party, someone would surely notice Fine and Hawk.

The venue was crowded when they stepped inside.

The marriage of a duke, second only to royalty, to a prestigious marquis’s daughter with the coveted “Green Hand” blessing was bound to draw attention.

“Shall we?”

“Yes.”

Hawk took Fine’s hand, and they began walking.

As they entered, the lively chatter hushed.

“Look, Death and a whore.”

“Will he drag someone into the rest room today?”

Fine froze at the voices from nowhere.

Turning, she saw a group of young noblewomen, friends of Reina’s from lower-ranking families, whispering and staring.

‘So, you’re using your entourage to humiliate me?’

She’d anticipated harassment but was disappointed by its childishness.

Fine turned and strode toward the young women.

“Good day.

Thank you for attending my sister’s wedding.”

She smiled brightly.

“Huh?

Uh, you’re welcome.”

The women exchanged shocked glances, unprepared for her approach.

“By the way, I overheard something about ‘Death and a whore’—”

Fine placed a hand on her cheek, gazing at them.

“Th-that’s—”

“Calling someone a slut, even in a risqué dress, is rude.”

Fine glanced at one woman in a dress with a plunging neckline and back, likely urged by her parents to find a husband at this ducal event.

“W-what did you say?”

The woman’s face reddened, realizing Fine meant her.

“You called me a slut.”

“Oh?

So you meant to insult today’s stars, Lord Banaji, and me, Reina’s sister—thus shaming the Diner Dukedom and Shot Marquis?”

The woman paled at Fine’s icy question.

‘She’s likely a viscount’s daughter.’

The gap between viscounts and dukes or marquises was vast.

Angering them could spell trouble.

She was probably acting on Reina’s orders, with no intent to tarnish their reputation.

But Fine wouldn’t let it slide.

Ignoring this would demean not only her but also the Rosaider Margrave.