SGC 34

CHAPTER 34

Translator: Rae

₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚

Collin looked Dante over as though he were some strange creature and sneered.

“Look, it’s anonymous anyway. It doesn’t even say whether this woman is a duchess or a countess.”

“Married this autumn, and a high-ranking noble close to the royal family—who else could that be besides Duke of Hayden?”

Dante glared at Collin, his eyes narrowed in irritation.

“Oh yes, if you hide it just cleverly enough, I’m sure people will totally think it’s someone else.”

Aheming as he cleared his throat, Collin clicked his tongue as though scolding a child.

“If you want to be a reporter too, there are times when you have to write things that go against your convictions. That’s reality.”

“If that’s reality, then I won’t be a reporter.”

Dante tore off the press badge hanging from his neck without hesitation and turned away without a shred of regret. Startled nearly out of his wits, Collin hurriedly sprang to his feet.

“W-wait a second! You’re quitting just like that? You—you’re not planning to take revenge on our newspaper later, are you?”

“If that vile article really gets printed in the next issue, who knows. I might.”

To begin with, the only reason Dante had been able to land a job at the promising El Gazette with a single interview was because of that damned family of his.

Snorting angrily and pointing a finger at him, Collin added in a wilted voice.

“Y-you know using your status to trample ordinary people is the vilest thing there is, don’t you? H-hey… hey!”

But when Dante opened the door of the editing room without listening to it with an earlight, he rushed to run and blocked it in front of him.

“N-no, wait, um. I-if you do that, then I might just print an article damaging the reputation of the Count of Blaise’s family too…”

“Do it or don’t.”

With a scornful snort, Dante shoved Collin aside and stormed out of the editorial room. But just before descending the stairs and passing through the entrance, he muttered a curse under his breath.

Raking a hand wildly through the gray hair at the back of his head, Dante strode back up the stairs. Then he flung open the editorial room door, marched up to the bewildered Collin, and slammed a hand down on the desk—bang!

“Pull that article. Then I’ll pay in advance for a thousand copies of the paper.”

“W-what?”

“Print something else instead. It’s not like it’ll be a losing deal for you.”

At Dante’s audacious offer, Collin’s mouth fell open, and he yanked off his glasses as he shouted,

“Fine, I’ll pull it. I’ll pull it!”

As he said, it was not a losing deal. At worst, they would at least break even.

“Good thing it’s only just before printing.”

Grumbling, Collin clattered away at the printing machine’s keys. Once he deleted the article he had just finished, a pointless sense of regret washed over him.

“But know this one thing. Even if we drop this article, some other paper is bound to run it anyway. So keep in mind that what you’re doing doesn’t mean much.”

But Collin’s grumbling voice did not reach Dante’s ears. Watching with blazing eyes to make sure Collin deleted the article properly, Dante even snatched up the sample pages and ripped them to shreds.

Disgusting phrases like “a wicked woman who secretly ensnares upper-class gentlemen” and “a born temptress” scattered apart as if they would be ground into dust.

Watching the sight with dizzy unease, Collin muttered resentfully,

“Yeah, sure, he’s the only righteous one around. If he’s a noble, he should be practicing that noblesse oblige or whatever—why’s he running around playing journalist…?”

“I can hear everything, so either keep it down or shut your mouth.”

 

“U-Ukhm.”

Dante finally stormed out of the office after confirming that Collin had indeed deleted the article entirely.

Even so, the surge of anger that had risen showed no sign of settling.

"Haa, d*mn it."

 

Is that b*st*rd really just going to stand by and let this kind of trash article spread? Does he even know what kind of bullsh*t insults his wife is being subjected to out there?

Dante’s shapeless rage soon found a target—a certain man. The Duke of Hayden, Rozella’s husband.

The fact still felt unbelievable, drawing a hollow laugh from him. At the edge of the square, Dante caught a carriage and leaned his head against the window.

His mind had already been a mess, and with Rozella added to it, it had turned into complete chaos.

Gazing at the crowd rushing past the square, Dante sank into troubled thought.

The Rozella Everett he knew was nothing like the cunning or opportunistic woman people claimed her to be.

If anything, she had been so sincere it bordered on foolish—at the academy, she never resorted to tricks, crushing nobles purely through her own effort.

Once, there had even been a b*st*rd who offered to sponsor her in exchange for something vile. When Dante tried to beat the man senseless on the spot, Rozella stopped him—and the revenge she chose was unmistakably her own.

She boldly proposed that if he could surpass her grades even once in the next term, she would grant his demand.

Naturally, that motherf*cker never managed to beat Rozella even once, and in the end, he vanished with nothing but his pride shattered by the very commoner he had looked down on.

Dante liked her for that solid, upright pride. He liked, too, the flashes of free-spiritedness and playful humor that slipped through her diligence.

When she once said she wanted to become a doctor, Dante resolved to make that dream his own. He was curious about the future she would carve out for herself—and he wished that the one standing beside her would be him.

“…And yet, you say you didn’t want to be a doctor?”

Recalling Rozella spouting such an obvious lie, Dante twisted his lips in displeasure.

Did she truly love the Duke of Hayden that much—enough to so easily abandon even that long-held dream?

“Yeah, she married him because she loves him. What other reason could there be?”

Muttering self-mockingly, Dante knocked his head against the window.

Feeling an unearned sense of betrayal at the fact that Rozella was marrying someone else, he had stubbornly ignored her letter—one in which she had apologized as though she were the guilty party.

Truthfully, he had taken out his own heartbreak on her.

Knowing her earnest nature, she must have foolishly waited and waited. Then worried, then grown despondent—thinking that he, like everyone else, despised her.

But by the time he managed to gather himself, it was already too late to reply. The duke’s private wedding had proceeded at lightning speed, and in the blink of an eye, Rozella had become a duchess.

“Haa… you idiot.”

Overcome with self-loathing, Dante propped his elbows on his knees and buried his face.

The more disgusting truth was that even in this state, he still wished she could remain his friend.

But it was impossible to approach Rozella as before after she became someone else’s wife. To casually send letters or suggest meeting her would be crossing a line, wouldn’t it?

So, at the very least, if she could live happily, he would ask for nothing more. But the malicious rumors surrounding her lately…

Every time he heard the filthy words swirling around Rozella, he wanted to confront the Duke of Hayden—why he was allowing such nonsense to spread unchecked.

Whether through power or wealth, if the duke truly exerted his influence, he could easily silence the press.

With a troubled heart, Dante watched the bustling crowd in the square. He was no adolescent boy, yet he could barely control his emotions.

Annoyed at himself, he ruffled his hair roughly and shut his eyes.

*** 

Another social gathering was held in the greenhouse of the princess’s palace for the weekend.

The attendees were the same as before. But there was one difference—unlike that day when they had hurled refined insults directly at Rozella’s face, today they treated her as though she did not exist at all.

“It seems the famous paintings brought from the East will arrive soon.”

“You mean the ones Lady Dickinson plans to unveil at her charity party?”

“That’s right. There are as many as five pieces. I’m sure the ladies will be quite pleased.”

Sitting alone at a table no one had joined, Rozella absently traced her fingers along her now-cold teacup.

Throughout two hours of continuous chatter, not a single word had been directed at Rozella.

Even when she had first arrived at the princess’s palace, not one person had acknowledged her greeting.

“Ah, come to think of it, at that party… I hear Lady Dickinson’s sponsored protégée will also be attending.”

“Ah… you mean that opera singer?”

“Yes. I heard the opera at the grand theater was recently performed to great success. They say she’s the most sought-after performer in the capital these days.”

The noblewomen’s conversation showed no sign of ending. Though bored, Rozella still tried to listen attentively.

Charity parties, collecting fine art, attending operas. Those were refined pursuits befitting high-society ladies. For those who had lived such elegant lives all their lives, they were ordinary hobbies, but to Rozella, they were quite unfamiliar.

“But how did a mere opera performer come to be connected with Lady Dickinson?”

At that moment, Vanessa, lifting her teacup with elegance with a tilt of her head. She stole a subtle glance at Rozella for the first time in two hours.

“No matter how famous she is, she’s still nothing more than a commoner. How could someone like that possibly attend our charity party?”

A flicker of undisguised contempt passed over Vanessa’s face as she posed the question.

***

Hello, thank you for reading! If you wish to support me and get extra chapter, please visit my kofi page: https://ko-fi.com/raewintersss or check out advance chapters at my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cw/raewinters you can also donate directly to my Paypal Account: paypal.me/SeniaListya 

Your supports are greatly appreciated!