A Toast to Your Eyes - Chapter 3

“Isabelle.”

My voice was foreign to my hearing. And I was even smiling at her.

Isabelle gave me a startled look like a rabbit. Of course, such Isabelle was very beautiful. I bet no one in this kingdom is more beautiful than her. Her beauty was so heavenly that even God must be jealous.

But that didn’t mean I had sympathy for her.

“I’m busy. Okay, can you just go back?”

“Scarlett….”

“I mean it, there will be negotiations in a few days. You know that, right? I’m tired because I work overtime almost every day these days.”

I’d like you to leave.

I swallowed the last word, but the meaning was clear.

Isabelle looked at me and nodded. However, as she stood up, she grabbed my arms and opened her mouth with eyes full of tears.

“Scarlett, we’re still friends, aren’t we?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Why am I?”

My words were tender. Because I was in the mood to be so sweet and friendly, I could even smile at Isabelle, who happily nodded her head in front of me.

I left her like that and walked out of the reception room. The people who had been sitting around the reception area until a short time ago were now half gone. Several young staff members looked at me as if I’m a saint. On the other hand, some seniors, who knew my personality well, smiled and shook their heads.

Among them, a senior, who was my former comrade, grabbed the youngest secretary he took charge of this time.

“Did you see that? That’s how you control your emotions.”

I know. Even to me, my temperance was flawless.

***

Nevertheless, when Violetta came back to me on the afternoon of Isabelle’s visit, I finally exploded.

“What the hell! Leave me alone!”

Violetta, who was looking at me with a trembling look when I stood up hitting the desk, frowned and grabbed my shoulder.

“What are you talking about when I came here because you said you had a small budget for negotiations. Don’t you need a budget? Do you have a lot of money?”

Isabelle— Violetta suddenly changed the subject and sat me down. She was very quick-witted, and I liked that very much about her. Violetta was a great friend and partner, except for the fact that she enjoyed gossip slightly too much.

Of course I knew it was because Violetta was worried about me. She had asked me to keep my distance from Isabelle since she took away my second boyfriend, but I couldn’t. It was funny how I got mad at her now.

“I’m sorry. I got a little carried away.”

It feels like my head is cooling down. It was only then that stability came. After receiving my apology, Violetta grinned and opened her mouth.

“Tiramisu, you know.”

“Is the royal family poor enough to feed the Princess tiramisu these days?”

“Not, I just want yours.”

“Stop it. Our patissier whines that his arm hurts when you come. You eat ten tiramisu at a time.”

Violetta snorted, I laughed. When it comes to eating it, I can’t go anywhere, but even to me, Violetta’s eating ability was enormous. I shook my head at her expression.

“I’ll invite you when I get back from Sorrell.”

“Oh, lovely Scarlett. I won’t inquire about your rudeness, you yelled at a Princess, because of your sincerity.”

Violetta sat down on the desk with a mysterious smile. Celine, who brought in the tea, slipped out of the office. I could hear the sound of Violetta sipping her tea in the silence,

In fact, as she may have come to talk about Isabelle, she must be looking for another topic by now, knowing that my feelings had become intense. I opened my mouth first so as not to end up embarrassing her.

“I won’t be friends with Isabelle again.”

“Umh?”

“I’m trying to distance myself from her. I’m not strong enough to have someone who’s hurt me repeatedly next to me. I’m not stupid.”

I’ve been doing that stupid thing for nearly a decade, but I’ve been cutting the kite now. Of course, due to the nature of society, it would be difficult to live without seeing her completely, but I wanted to avoid Isabelle somehow.

It’s funny that I’m the victim and I avoid the other side first.

“But rumor has it that you still says she’s a friend … what happened?”

“I didn’t have to say in that situation that she wasn’t a friend. There were many listeners out there.”

I mumbled as I unfolded the papers in my hand. Some were excuses, but some were true. Isabelle would cry again if I declared that we’re not friends. And I’ll be in trouble again. It was ridiculous, but it’s true. I had the desire to avoid such a situation.

Violetta nodded understandably, but to be honest, a corner of my mind was still reluctant.

It feels like something won’t end.

“By the way Scarlett, umh … I’m just letting you know.”

“What?”

“You, that … you’re going to Sorrell this time, so you’re going to meet the commander-in-chief of the war?”

“Right?”

“Do you know who he is?”

Looking at Violetta, who’s changing the topic unexpectedly, I suddenly realized what she was trying to say.

Khalid Prodiad.

“Oh … crazy.”

I grabbed my head for a moment. Devil Isabelle. I must have lost an enormous amount of light to Isabelle in my previous life. I frowned on my eyebrows and repeated the name again.

Khalid Prodiad.

He was the Duke of Prodiad, Commander of the First Knights, the greatest contributor of the war, the general commande at the same time, and…..

“He is Isabelle’s fiancé … is he?”

It’s like this.

I knew very well that Isabelle was so smitten with her fiance. This one-sided love and engagement were all the result of Isabelle’s own stubbornness. She was so cute back then that I supported her behavior, but I didn’t expect it to come back this way.

Isabelle loved the Duke of Prodiad. This was also the reason I never doubted her when she stole my lover before.  Isabelle has a beloved fiance, so why? My lover must have done something wrong. She really likes her fiance.

And at the same time, that was why I judged her to be malicious. The behavior of liking her fiancé but taking my lover seven times was a proof that she didn’t like me or that she was only playing with me.

If I hadn’t liked her so much, I wouldn’t have come to this situation. I didn’t expect the difference in favor to produce such a big result. But before that, I managed to catch a nasty headache thinking about seeing Isabelle’s reluctant crush.

Violetta sighed in front of me, drinking her tea.

“You must have committed a great crime against that bitch in your past life.”

I agreed with that remark. Or God just hates me so much.

***

After a few days of overtime, I was quite tired, so I was able to delete some keywords in my head: Isabelle, Fiancé, Lover, Khalid, and Prodiad. Sleeping two hours and eating thirty minutes for two weeks will make everything a nuisance.

On the last day, Celine was getting annoyed at me, I understand her behavior very much, but she shouldn’t dare to show it to her direct boss so I glared at her.

Whatever the case, the day I left for Sorrell came two weeks after I broke up with Elliott, and ten days after I one-sidedly broke up with Isabelle.

The sound of the steps of the maids moving busily from morning awakened me, and I had to wake up from dawn, combed my hair, took a shower, did my make up, and memorized the negotiation’s draft that I made yesterday.

My behavior of chewing bread while looking at the papers wasn’t very beautiful, so my mother who wa sitting across from me put down her teacup and looked at me.

“Scarlett.”

“Yes.”

“Put down what you have in your hand.”

When my mother cried out that table manners were culture, I put down the paper darkly. The beautiful Duchess, who has passed several years of middle age, has not lost its appearance as a royal princess even after aging. I’ve been modeling my mother since I was young, and I listened to her terribly well and respected her more than anyone else.

The room was quiet enough to hear the clatter of dishes. My mother, who was folding a blue salad and putting it in her mouth, suddenly put down her fork as if she thought of something.

“A telegram came from Sierra yesterday.”

“Yes? What happened?”

“They’re giving up Belice, so they’re asking us to give up the mine.”

I looked ridiculous for a moment at the words, but again I moved my hand and poured all the soup on the spoon into my mouth.

“Does it make sense to ‘give up’ Belice?”

“Of course not. It’s not even funny.”

The war started with Belice. Now that Sierra had lost the war, Belice was naturally part of Winchester. However, I burst into laughter with the sorrow of the Sierras, who insisted that Belice was theirs until the last minute and that it was a blessing to hand it over. It was an obvious ridicule.

“Sierra doesn’t seem to get the hang of it.”

“His Majesty was furious. He’s ready to wage a war in full readiness, even if it means more bloodshed. Of course I stopped it, but it’s not that I don’t understand how he feels.”

“I understand.”

Your true meaning.

My mother’s words were so meaningful that I immediately gave a positive answer.

Press down on Sierra, who can’t understand their position, so they will never be able to climb again.

My mother’s intention was so obvious, I chewed it over and asked for the salad again.