The Jilted Noble Lady's Windfall

“Is it the king of your country's wish that I play the villain who breaks off the engagement?” His Majesty Emperor Odin stood pensively with his hands behind his back at the study window. From his vantage point, he could see a group of radiant young women laughing and chatting beneath lace-trimmed parasols in the garden below. Among them was his fiancée—the niece of King Obsda, the second daughter of Count Calda and Grand Duchess Archique—Marianne.Lorraine.Archique.Dunawa. Because the previous emperor had received favors from Grand Duchess Archique, he had betrothed his brilliant son to Marianne, who had been jilted twice. To many eyes, this was a marriage of mismatched status and background. Yet the dowry offered by Grand Duchess Archique was sufficiently lavish, and Marianne herself was such an endearing young woman that His Majesty Emperor Odin harbored no preconceived biases toward his betrothed. Instead, her experiences earned her his quiet admiration. After all, not everyone could bounce back swiftly from repeated blows and accept their lot. To put it more dramatically, any spiritually fragile noblewoman who endured what Marianne had would shatter, doomed to live a hollow existence under the goddess of light's blessing. “I simply cannot bring myself to betray my word and harm an innocent maiden.” His Majesty forcibly tore his gaze away, meeting the Obsda envoy's utterly contemptuous stare. “If Your Majesty refuses the Obsda King's request, there will be other monarchs or great nobles willing to betroth themselves to the beautiful and gentle Princess Innes, thereby inheriting Obsda's vast territories.” The Obsda envoy inwardly cursed Emperor Odin's hypocrisy, yet his face remained adorned with a flawlessly polished smile. “After all, what does sacrificing one person's reputation matter for the future of Odin and Obsda?” The Obsda envoy understood that His Majesty, the Emperor of Odin, did not wish to be the ungrateful villain who initiated the annulment. However, His Majesty the King also did not want Princess Innes to bear the stigma of stealing her cousin's fiancé. Therefore, the annulment... required someone to speak up publicly. Since neither the Emperor of Odin nor the King of Obsda wished to be the first to play the villain, the only solution was for Marianne to relinquish her betrothal to Emperor Odin voluntarily. This would also, to some extent, avoid the Grand Duchess Archique's retaliation. Truly a solution that served multiple purposes. The Emperor of Odin and the Obsda envoy reached an unspoken understanding through their silent exchange. The only remaining challenge was persuading Marianne to voluntarily relinquish her betrothal to the Emperor of Odin. But was this princess, already jilted twice, truly one to yield so easily? ……………… …… Undoubtedly, when word spread that Emperor Odin had received the Obsda envoy, everyone regarded Marianne—her smile unchanged—with eyes brimming with pity laced with schadenfreude. A royal princess rejected three times? One would search the entire continent in vain for another such case. Those vultures who thrived on the suffering of the privileged dared not mock her openly, instead letting her overhear a barrage of whispers. “How pitiful! This is Princess Marianne's third broken engagement.” “A noblewoman rejected three times—even a royal princess—can only spend her remaining years quietly in a convent, bathed in the light of the Goddess of Light!” “Indeed! Her suitors were kings and emperors. No sane woman, having glimpsed the majesty of an eagle, could ever settle for an ordinary sparrow.” “Enough! The object of your pity is a princess whose wealth rivals a nation's. You haven't even sorted out your own life yet, and you have the audacity to fret over someone else's future.” ………… …… After two days of listening to the gossip, Abigail, who accompanied Marianne, finally slammed the door shut in exasperation and confronted her mistress: " You just let those gossiping sparrows spread your sordid tales throughout the palace." Facing Abigail's fury, Marianne leaned back in her plush chaise, winding a lustrous pearl necklace in the sunlight, letting the iridescent pearls trace beautiful fleeting shadows across her knuckles. “Do you like it?” Marianne held the pearl necklace before Abigail. Abigail, who had been seething, froze for a moment before instinctively nodding. Then, flustered and angry, she snapped, “Were you even listening to me?” “I'm not deaf. You were shouting so loudly that even if I wanted to ignore you, my ears wouldn't let me.” Marianne flung the pearl necklace back at Abigail, adopting a languid posture. "This is what the little emperor sent today. Haven't you noticed the more those sparrows chatter, the more guilty the little emperor feels?" Marianne finished with a bitterly sarcastic smile. "Since the engagement is off anyway, reputation is the last thing I care about now. A few jibes from those chattering sparrows won't hurt a bit. In fact, to minimize damage, I'd rather they chirp louder in the little emperor's ear—preferably until his pride-driven conscience keeps him tossing and turning, sleepless day and night." Though the sun blazed overhead, Abigail felt a bone-chilling chill radiating from Marianne's words. “Our task now isn't to quell the rumors, but to fan them into flames.” Marianne knew ambitious men would never cling to the noble virtue of “keeping promises” when faced with sufficient gain. So upon learning Obsda's envoy had met with the Emperor, she deliberately spread the news. This would allow her to demand exorbitant compensation in future negotiations, making both the treacherous Emperor Odin and King Obsda pay dearly. “My dear uncle and the young emperor are determined to make me dissolve the engagement myself. I can't let them get the better of me, can I?” Marianne picked up another ring the young emperor had just sent, examining the luxurious sheen of the golden pearl in the sunlight. “Breaking off the engagement is certain. Making me dissolve it voluntarily is negotiable.” Marianne adjusted the ring's angle, squinting as the pearl's reflection stung her eyes. “But I never make deals that leave me at a loss, nor am I so desperate I'd rush headlong into humiliation.” “They think they can have their cake and eat it too? Then I'll make them taste the heat of the fire.” Marianne turned to Abigail, her gaze revealing suppressed madness and distortion. “The thought of them wriggling like ants on a hot pan, yet forced to put on their hypocritical facades under public pressure, excites me beyond measure.” Marianne stroked her flushed cheeks, her voice trembling with excitement: " So you see, human pleasures are interconnected in certain ways." “Those chattering sparrows crave to see my face crumble.” “And don't I long to witness the little emperor's frustrated expression as he struggles to suppress his rage?”