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『Hm? Wow, that woman reads fast. I haven\'t even gotten the chance to speak with Cedric yet.』

The young lord looked pleased, though he kept his excitement hidden behind a small smile.

Depending on how you saw it, his smile could come off as either charming or a bit sly.

He adjusted his fur coat and scanned the crowd of nobles, searching for Cedric.

『Hmm, where are you, my friend…』

Finally, he spotted him sitting alone, gripping a large mug of beer with foam spilling over the top.

Cedric looked drained.

His looked like a jumbled mess of anger and confusion.

Anyone else might feel sympathy for a man whose lovely wife had just "cheated" on him, but not Vritra.

『I couldn\'t give two shits.』

His smile only grew.

The dark prince strolled over to Cedric and sat down at the table beside him. He crossed his legs in an elegant manner, still wearing that self-assured smile he almost always seemed to have.

The moment Cedric saw him, his stomach churned. He felt sick, as if he might throw up right there on this spoiled, arrogant young lord… the very man responsible for wrecking his marriage.

"What do you want?"

The nobleman figured it was best to get this over with so he could go back to drowning his sorrows in drink. Being this close to Vritra made him want to slam the wooden mug he held straight into his smug face.

"Hmm, would you believe me if I said I was just here to ask about your health?"

"Of course not!"

"Ahhh, well, the truth is… I\'ve been plotting on the best way to ruin your marriage."

"WHAT──?!"

Cedric choked painfully at Vritra\'s words.

The young lord just gave a casual shrug and spoke on.

"Uh, yeah. So, I did some digging into our wife, Katherine, and I found out she\'s from House Aldwyn. Then I dug a bit deeper and discovered something interesting called the Aldwyn Scandal from many years ago. Long story short, it was a financial scandal that ruined her family\'s lives and everyone they cared about."

"Digging? Are you kidding me? That scandal happened years ago, and I had the Court Historian destroy a──!"

"Ho? Destroy what? The evidence that you and your bastard father, whose sorry grave I\'m gonna fucking piss on, manipulated House Aldwyn into that financial disaster?"

"H-, How did you…"

"Find out? You know, bits and pieces. I bet you\'re wondering how I got hold of the evidence you paid a lot of money to get rid of. Must be frustrating, right? Just think about what would happen if your dear old Katherine found out."

"She can never know!"

"And why not? Because she\'d find out you don\'t really deserve her? Or maybe because she\'d learn you have an illegitimate son out there? Or is it because you\'ve been scheming with Marquis Kris to create a dual vassalage under both Duranzia and Serathen so you can play the two against each other and come out on top? That\'s treason, by the way."

"NO! Most of what you\'re saying is a lie!"

"Most? I thought you\'d say all. So, I guess that means your plans to assassinate my wife, Princess Luciana, are true as well? Oh my, now I\'m scared."

"Wh-, What?! I never said that!"

"Of course not. But just because a thief says he didn\'t steal something doesn\'t mean I\'ll believe him."

Cedric was at a loss for how to feel. His whole world seemed to be falling apart in just a few seconds, and the worst part was that Vritra was the one causing it.

『Yes… I was right to be worried about this guy showing up! He hasn\'t even been here for two full days, and he already knows about the Aldwyn Scandal!

『I did everything I could to destroy and hide all records of that event, yet somehow he has information on it. The only people who know now are some local nobles in Gladius City and most of the Royal Council, and they still don\'t have the full story.

『How did he… when did he even get the chance to… no… this can\'t be happening.』

Cedric felt completely helpless.

He didn\'t know what to do next.

『K-, Kris! Yes, him! I\'ll just…』

Cedric stood up, ready to search for his close friend, but the first person he saw instead was his wife, Katherine.

She looked furious, but also on the verge of breaking down into tears.

Cedric had no idea what to do.

He glanced back and saw Vritra sitting there, nervously biting his fingernails, his eyes darting around the hall as if he were just a harmless bystander.

A surge of frustration welled up inside Cedric.

He wanted to hit Vritra… no, he needed to convince Katherine that Vritra was just a liar, nothing more.

"Katherine, whatever he told you, it\'s all a…"

Before Cedric could finish his sentence, Katherine slapped him hard across the face.

… SMACK!

The sharp sound caught everyone\'s attention, including the servants and performers nearby.

The only person who didn\'t look surprised was Vritra. In fact, he seemed a bit disappointed that Katherine hadn\'t slapped Cedric the moment she saw him.

Cedric\'s hand trembled as he touched the stinging side of his face.

"Katherine… did you just slap me?"

He had never felt this kind of anger before. The humiliation of being struck by his wife, especially in front of other noblemen, ate away at him like a grater on cheese.

"Katherine…"

He glanced around, hearing the whispers of the other nobles, who were casting judgmental looks at him and Katherine.

"Wow, I always thought their marriage was peaceful."

"Yes, I guess even well-educated nobles like us can be wrong sometimes. But I never imagined their marriage would be bad enough for someone as mild and gentle as Lady Katherine to slap her husband."

"That\'s unacceptable behavior! A wife should serve her husband like he\'s a god, not act like they\'re on equal ground. I definitely didn\'t expect this from Lady Katherine!"

"It really is surprising…"

There was no turning back now.

Cedric knew that once the nobles started talking about something, there was no stopping it.

His only hope was to use his influence to deny whatever Katherine had heard from Vritra, shift the conversation to her disrespect, and somehow come out of this with his reputation intact.

The man took a deep breath, trying to steel himself, and raised his hand to slap Katherine back. But before he could, Vritra grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

"No, no. You won\'t be doing that."

Vritra spoke very firmly but calmly.

The nobles gasped in shock.

From the crowd, Princess Luciana stepped forward to see what was going on. She was surprised to see her husband, Vritra, in a confrontation with Marquis Cedric.

The scene was confusing to her.

"Honey?"

She called out softly, wanting to approach but something told her to hold back and trust her husband.

Vritra turned to Katherine and asked, "Are you okay?"

[Ding! Katherine\'s affection for the host has gone up by a great 100 points!]

[Katherine\'s affection has gone up again!]

[+50 Affection Points!]

"I… I am…"

Katherine replied, but the words came slowly, as she was still reeling from the truth she had just learned about her husband.

"Katherine?" Vritra pressed.

"Yes, Lord Vritra?" she responded, her voice still shaky.

"Tell these nobles the dark secret your husband has been hiding from you—and from all of them—for over 30 years."

"Y-, Yes…"

Katherine stammered, her hands trembling as she held the scroll of documents Vritra had given her.

『I didn\'t want things to turn out like this. Should I apologize to Cedric so we can actually have a proper conversation? No, he knows what he did. But… I\'m not even sure what to think anymore. I feel completely lost. At the very least, I\'d rather we talked about this in private, not in front of all these nobles.

I don\'t want to embarrass him like this.』

She was undecided.

But Vritra knew to make her realize quickly.

"Katherine, are you really going to show pity to this man?"

"H-, he\'s still my husband…"

"Oh, don\'t give me that crap. Did you not see what he was about to do just now?"

"He almost hit me, but that\'s bec──!"

"No. That\'s not what this bastard was trying to do. He was about to slap you and accuse you of lying, then deny all the evidence I\'ve shown. You\'re a woman… you, of all people, know that if he denies it, they won\'t give you the benefit of the doubt. They won\'t listen to your side. They\'II punish you for disrespecting your husband.

Do it, Katherine. Put him to shame."

"I-, I really can\'t… I don\'t…"

It was a hard decision to make.