The Heroine Had An Affair With My Fiance - Chapter 4

-ˏˋ♡꒷︶꒦꒷︶︶🌸︶꒷꒦꒷︶꒷♡ˎˊ˗

(Ciela’s POV)

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚ🌸ɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

Everyone became quiet as they stood still, except for one who kept pestering me earlier, Leather.

For whatever reason, after I asked the person responsible for revealing the guild to my personal maid to come out, everyone immediately looked behind me.

At the same time, Leather simply smiled with a questionable look as if asking  ‘What’s going on?’.

I would have been deceived by his innocent look if not for the unison of the guild member pointing out to him saying, ‘It was him!’.

“You are my right hand person. Then how come you’re not following the rules? If the guild becomes known it would be difficult for us.”

“But Master, the extra payment we receive is just so hard to pass.”

“Raise your shoulder.”

In the innermost part of the guild, is actually my office.

As a punishment for being a blabbermouth, Leather won the ‘1 hour steady push-up position’, flinching as I corrected his posture.

However, 30 seconds later he continued to tease me with his cheap-mouth.

“Anyway, 80% of that money goes directly to the Master’s safe.”

“You know I don’t need more money.”

“But, Master!”

Leather immediately looked up at me.

I patted his head with my purple-colored fan, while sitting comfortably on a luxurious red sofa, adorned with 99% pure gold on the border.

“Correct your posture.”

“I also bought that sofa with the commission.”

“Well done then. It’s soft and nice.”

“Same goes to the beautiful carpet here.”

“Oh.”

“I bought that desk with the commission as well.”

“Really?”

“Even that chandelier!”

“Oh……”

Somehow, I noticed that as well, that the office was livelier than before.

I unconsciously turned my gaze around the room filled with admiration, without me noticing that Leather had gotten up from his position.

I’m a person who has no sense of style, especially for interior designing. Even for a room as simple as this, I tend to buy only what’s necessary without being excessive.

But compared to my room in the Labyrinth’s mansion, which was designed with the latest interior and handled carefully by May, the guild’s office was literally just an assortment.

However, in just a few days, the room had completely transformed enough for it to be called as a place for secret meetings with the royal family.

“I even bought a display case for these dolls!”

“Oh my…..”

To complete the design of the office, a limited-edition glass display case was placed in the office that was made by a well known craftsman in the Empire.

Leather with both hands on his waist, pulled out his chest and proudly said.

“I did all of this on my own!”

“Good job! But who told you to stand up?”

“But that’s so unfair, I’ve done all of this, but I’m still getting punished.”

He then eagerly picked up the ledger and held it out to me, as he continued his protest.

Still, I simply ignored his attempt and squinted my eyes on him. Knowing that I won’t open it, he unfolded it instead. Turned the page full of letters and pointed to the very last item, it was the amount of money stored in my personal safe.

I was so surprised.

“Did you earn that much?”

It’s enough to buy a large mansion on a well known street… Or not just that, it can also buy an entire land in the capital city.

“Yes. So please trust me on this, Master. I promised that you wouldn’t have any problem with this.”

While saying that, Leather then offered a refreshing peach ice tea. Though it was summer, it did have a considerable amount of ice on it.

As I finally gave in and accepted the glass, he smiled happily and went on my back to massage my stiff shoulders.

‘This is why I can’t get mad at him that long.’

I slowly felt relieved. Not because I was satisfied with the changes in the office nor because of the amount of money that was placed in my personal account. Still, there’s a problem that needs to be pointed out and should be addressed, so I ought to mention it right away.

“It’s not that– I don’t appreciate everything, and I know for a fact that earning this much would really help a lot. But the thing is, shouldn’t we be focusing on the main reason why I created this guild? And those are to gather information in regards to Duval’s affair, but I haven’t received any report about it.”

“About that….”

Troubled about the turn of events, Leather gave off a worried face, as if telling me that he tried but no results were found.

Seeing his reaction, I simply looked away and took a sip of the iced tea.

“It’s okay. I know that It wasn’t easy to investigate.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No worries.”

If it was an easy task, then I wouldn’t have created this guild. From the time that I possessed this body, the first thing that came to my mind was to find ways on how to break-up with Duval.

The exact moment when I possessed this body, was the time that Duval had a girlfriend and when I opened my eyes, I saw Duval kissing another woman. That’s when I realized that I transmigrated. In order to get back at him, I purposely spread rumors in the society that he was having an affair.

However, that alone could not break my engagement with Duval.

In this world, there are two ways to completely break-off the engagement with your partner.

Firstly, to have a mutual agreement. Second, is to provide solid evidence that your partner was having an affair with another woman.

Of course I did try the first option, but whenever I asked for a break-up, Duval would always say, ‘Ciela, are you that desperate to get my attention?’. That’s when I decided to give up on it.

Well the second option was not that easy to achieve, that’s why it needs to be done in the shadows.

‘For that reason that I created this guild.’

To be honest, I did not intend to go this far.

‘Ciel’s Love Manipulation Guild’. Just by looking at the name itself, who wouldn’t have guessed that it was roughly taken from my first name.

Since the first and second method are that hard to achieve, that’s when I came up with a third method. And that is to break off our engagement using a long and complicated lawsuit.

To my advantage, I started to gather evidence about Duval’s affair with another woman.

And while doing that, I coincidentally met other people who had a similar situation as I am, and helped  them out a bit. Those connections made me create such a guild.’

“We are doing our best to find conclusive evidence about Count Essit’s history as a womanizer, but we couldn’t find anything that can be used in the trial…..”

Leather dragged the end of his speech, with a defeated look on his face.

“It’s fine.”

I tapped Leather’s hand which was busily massaging my shoulder.

The Argentine Empire, the main stage of the novel <The Evil Dragon Doesn’t Bite>, was an empire in which adultery was so prevalent that some readers jokingly said that the title should be changed to <The Affair Never Stop>.

In other words, there are guilds that professionally erase evidence of infidelity.

As I have known, to avoid unnecessary rumors that would affect his image, Duval habitually uses this guild.

Since our guild has just been established, we don’t have that much manpower yet, that’s why we are being pushed aside whenever we try to look for any evidence related to Duval.

“Anyway, I received a request to finally break-off our engagement, so it’s all over now. Still, it would be better to have a back-up plan just in case, so continue to collect any evidence related to Duval’s affair.”

“Of course, I’ll do my best. Trust me.”

Leather, who returned to his original self, nodded his head eagerly.

Hay.. I would prefer him being serious than this careless self. As I ponder, I continue drinking the remaining iced tea that Leather gave me.

Knock. Knock. Someone then knocked on the door.

“A customer came in, and personally requested to have a meeting with the Master. What should I do?”

I remembered a few days ago that a visitor eagerly requested to have a consultation with me, I guess it’s the same person.

Clients would usually meet with Leather, who always pretends to be the guild master. So this is the first time that such a request came to me.

After the shoulder massage, I looked back at Leather who was currently massaging his neck.

“You told me that I won’t get involved?”

“Well, I don’t know how, but that client knows that I’m not the guild master.”

“You may have done something to be suspicious?”

“No I did not. He knew right away as soon as he saw me. He said, ‘Your not the guild master, right?’”

What? Does that person read minds? That’s very strange, I’ve thought about the request for a moment. As I’ve finally made my decision.

“This is so frustrating. Let’s just forget about it.”

“But the client paid a lot for this request. He even mentioned that he would only ask one question and leave. He won’t be asking for more, just one will do. Are you still going to refuse?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Someone offered him an alliance in having a (*)revenge affair, and he wanted to ask a question about it.”

(T/N: (*)Revenge Affair- is having an affair with the intention of hurting their partner.)

Revenge affair….

I kind of felt guilty that I flinched without realizing it.

Is it possible that it’s related to the Crown Prince. Even with that thought, I answered back as if I’m curious.

“That is such an odd question. Okay then, let’s go.”

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚ🌸ɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Ciela’s POV)

I wore a mask and a robe to keep my identity. Adding up a voice-changing artifact to hide my gender.

‘It would be difficult for me, if it would be known that I’m the guild master.’

The Ciel’s Love Manipulator are not associated with anything illegal, but were not that welcomed as well.

Since one must have the capability to commit infidelity, and 80% of them are all high-ranking nobles in the empire.

We could be considered as their mortal enemy.

After making sure that I would not be recognized or be connected with Ciela Labyrinth, I made my way through the long hallway and slowly opened the door to welcome the client.

As soon as I took a step, I immediately held my breath. A dense rose scent flowed inside the room which immediately gave me a headache.

Rose scent filled the drawing room. Is this person that rich, to use such a generous amount of perfume?

‘This is just way too much.’

‘Just what kind of perfume is to be used like this?’

I frowned for a moment, then pulled myself right away. The client is wearing a full mask, that’s why I couldn’t see its appearance.

A glass table and two sofas were placed at the center of the drawing room, which was decorated lavishly to raise the image of the guild.

One of the sofas was occupied by a mask person whom I believed to have poured the perfume on.

I slowly breathed out to make myself get used to the scent of the rose perfume, and sat down at the remaining seat.

That person never took his eyes off me even just for a moment, then he finally opened his mouth and said.

“Are you the guild master?”

“Yes I am.”

I roughly replied to his sudden question and intently looked closely at him.

The client wore a – a half-masked that ended at the tip of his nose, – unlike mine that is a full face mask, -but then I couldn’t guess who it was since he was using a voice modulator as well.

But I can really tell that he is a very handsome man.

His hair was a natural gold color. While his eyes had a unique gradation of red and gold hue.

It’s definitely not orange, but more like the color of a setting sun.

It is so hard to express it in words.

I was so mesmerized by his eyes, it made me forget to ask about the revenge affair that was mentioned by Leather.

‘Color of the eyes can’t be changed even with the help of magic, so I’m 100% that it is the original color.’ 

Who is this person? Is there such a character in the original story?

Then, he finally reacted with his arms and legs crossed, exuding an authoritative atmosphere, as he raised the corner of his mouth.

“Take off your mask.”

“….. Sorry?”

“Take off your mask.”

“……”

I thought I heard it wrong, but his face looked otherwise.

I stared blankly at his absurd request. Then, somehow, the man showed an embarrassed look.

“Aren’t you gonna do it?”

“If that’s all you have to say, then I’ll have to get going.”

“Wait a minute.”

He grabbed me as I was about to get up.

At the same time, the scent of roses that had filled the room disappeared in an instant. It made me feel like I was dreaming.

He seemed embarrassed by his sudden request that he apologized afterwards.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I needed to check on something, that’s why I was being rude.”

Hmm. He does seem sincere, but the unpleasant feeling didn’t go away, so I needed to turn the table, this time I crossed my arms and legs. Then, I asked him half-heartedly.

“What is it that you want to check?”

“It’s hard to explain in depth as it is a personal matter. But I’ve proved that you are the guild master.”

Well, it doesn’t seem like he can read minds, so I really can’t tell. But, is it related to the disappearance of that rose scent from earlier when I entered?

‘Well, that’s not important now.’

To the point that I believe that it was just an illusion, because everything happened so fast.

And I can tell that even if I asked him, he would deny it.

But unlike the first time I came in, the man in front of me loosened up his stance, as he relaxed his arms and legs in a respectful posture, after a while he finally spoke.

“Are you really going to keep everything a secret?”

“If I can’t, then I won’t be able to stay in business for long.”

“Ah, that seems to be right”

He nodded and continued to remain silent.

As I waited, the man seemed to ponder about what to say, then suddenly his ears reddened and touched the corner of his mouth while avoiding my gaze. It seems that something is troubling him and was embarrassed on how to explain it.

Then he started mumbling whether he wanted me to hear it or not.

“I can’t come up with an answer even after thinking about it for a few days….”

I can tell that this is not gonna be a short conversation, based on his action, that’s why I asked for tea to be brought inside.

I sipped the hot tea as I waited for the man to prepare himself.

So at the time that I had my third cup of steaming tea.

For him who had not touched the teacup, finally spoke in a trembling voice.

“A few days ago I…. No, a friend of mine received a letter from a young lady. Her fiance and my friend’s prospective fiancee we’re having an affair, so the young lady who wrote to my friend offered an alliance that they should have an affair as well.”

“…..”

TO BE CONTINUED…..