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Chapter 137: Fate Isn’t With Me

“Your Highness, those people are the retainers of Miss Charlotte from the Sorofya House. They are unaware of your identity, so please pardon them if they have displayed any breach in etiquette.”

“I see.”

In a room of the Ascarts’ manor, following the script that they had written beforehand, the slightly astonished Nora discreetly moved the leash in her hand behind her back, concealing it from sight. Anna also naturally took a step forward to cover her.

Even though their coordination wasn’t superb, it was fairly amazing for an impromptu reaction. However, the way they acted only further confirmed Grace’s doubts.

“Yes, I’ve already heard of his engagement. You may continue with what you were doing earlier.”

Grace watched with dazed eyes as Nora headed toward Roel’s bedroom with the leash in hand, and her evaluation of Roel Ascart plopped right down into the abyss.

“This is one of the abilities of Ascendwing. It allows Her Highness to project herself through Ascendwing to pay a visit to the young master. The two of them have gotten along well ever since their first meeting, and they would exchange letters every week. Hahaha.”

Once Nora left the scene, Anna squeezed out a smile as she tried her best to alleviate the awkwardness in the air. The other Ascarts’ servants also wisely went along with Anna and tried to laugh things off.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to reverse Grace’s opinion anymore.

Grace thought that the recent movements of the Ascart House were hinting at a future interest in engaging in the politics of the Theocracy and fighting for greater interests. However, based on what she had seen thus far, the situation was likely to be the opposite.

The royal family was planning to take control of the Ascart House by manipulating their successor, Roel Ascart! That would explain why the royal family was sparing no effort to protect him!

The more Grace thought about it, the more convinced she was of this matter.

It was only a brief moment, but she had gotten a firsthand experience of the overwhelming charisma of the successor of the Theocracy’s crown. That glint in her eye when she brought out her leash held an air that was both domineering and aggressive. No man could possibly hope to win over such a woman, especially not one who was in an illicit relationship with his adopted sister.

...

Time passed in a flash, and it was soon late afternoon.

Grace and the others were just about to leave when they stumbled onto a black-haired, golden-eyed boy in the lounge.

There was no denying that Roel’s appearance was visually striking even to Grace, leaving her a deep impression of him, but after all she had been through, she was extremely certain that this boy was nothing more than a gigolo. She had seen far too much such that nothing could change her mind anymore.

After spending another hour sorting out a few more details, she bade farewell to Anna.

“It must be tiring on you having to travel to and fro, Miss Grace.”

“It’s my duty to resolve these matters ahead of time. You don’t need to worry about it.”

It could have been her imagination, but Grace thought that Anna looked a little relieved to send her off. While she was leaving the manor with the other Sorofyas’ retainers, she passed by a few maids, who were busy putting up the bedsheets to dry.

“Today’s bedsheets are much more difficult to clean.”

“There’s actually blood on them. The young master was really too violent with the young miss.”

“Shhh, someone is coming! Don’t talk nonsense.”

The casual chatter amongst the maids revealed a piece of explosive news, but Grace was already too numb to react anymore at this point. She thought of the unnatural gait of the silver-haired girl when she left Roel’s room and shook her head.

Piecing together the results of her investigation, she came to a decision. No matter what, she couldn’t allow her beloved young miss to marry into the Ascart House!

...

The following night, in the Diamond Rivière Convoy.

Charlotte sat before a table filled with rare delicacies that had been delicately prepared by top chefs of the Sia Continent, but her hands weren’t moving at all. Behind her, Grace, who had just returned less than half a day ago, stood with a bitter look on her face.

In this solemn atmosphere, the two of them could only sigh wordlessly in their hearts.

Grace could still remember how, when she rushed back on a horse earlier this afternoon, the young miss had rushed out of the carriage with a rare anxious look on her face to receive her. Unfortunately, she didn’t bear the news that the young miss wanted to hear.

When she met the young miss’ worried, frightened, but hopeful eyes, she felt a stabbing pain piercing through her heart. She knew that the young miss had to walk out of her comfort zone in order to give this engagement a try, but reality was often cruel.

There was a short bout of silence before Grace finally pulled together her resolution to reveal everything she had encountered back at the Ascart House, including her encounter with Roel Ascart, Alicia, and Nora.

And, this was the outcome of that.

Charlotte’s head had been lowered since then, and she had hardly said anything at all. The mood in the room was so heavy that it was getting hard to breathe. The maids standing by the side of the room had uneasy looks on their faces. Even the Origin Level 3 Grace was finding it hard to endure the pressure.

Grace had never seen this side of Charlotte before. She had seen the vulnerable little girl obstinately holding back her tears, as well as that charismatic business prodigy who moved decisively on opportunities, but never had she seen the latter looking so defeated before. Even the difficulties the girl faced at the Land of Chaos only made her lose a bit of sleep; this was the first time that she completely lost all appetite.

“Young miss...”

Grace felt that she had to say something to Charlotte, but she had no idea how to continue. The latter shook her head silently in response, indicating that she wanted some quiet time to herself.

There were times when Charlotte Sorofya felt that she was someone abandoned by fate.

‘The one blessed with glory, fortune, and talent’—the rest of the world was envious of what she had, but all she could feel was the weight of it as it crushed down on her spirit. The fortunes of the Sorofyas came at a price—her father was always too busy to share a meal with her, and her mother scorned her.

It was always her and the servants at the dining table.

Of course, as a member of the wealthy Sorofya House, she had never lacked anything material before. She could buy clothes that ordinary civilians would never be able to afford even if they were to save up for an entire lifetime, and her residence wouldn’t pale to the royal palaces of other countries. Her food was carefully prepared by the top chefs of the Sia Continent, and the bodyguards who ensured her safety were on par with the royal guards of major countries.

Those around her told her she was blessed, and she told herself the same too. She tried to be satisfied with what she had, and she continued thinking this way till she was 6.

It was during a harvest festival. She was riding a magnificent carriage through town when she noticed that a child had been knocked down by the crowd through the window.

The child, around the same age as her then, cried loudly for help, and it swiftly drew the attention of her parents, who were not too far away. They quickly rushed to her side. Her father pushed away the crowd in the way, whereas her mother swiftly picked her off the ground.

Naturally, it caused a huge commotion.

The father apologized profusely to the people whom he had pushed away earlier, while at the same time, the mother berated the child for straying too far away from them. However, perhaps out of fright of nearly getting lost, the child continued bawling loudly.

The father heaved a helpless sigh before forking out a few copper coins to purchase some crude candy from the side of the street. It was only after receiving the candy that the child finally stopped crying and broke out in a smile. Hand in hand, the three of them walked off and disappeared into the crowd.

That was the first time Charlotte, who had barely any experience with the outside world, got a glimpse into the interactions within other families. It was probably a perfectly ordinary occurrence that perhaps even those involved wouldn’t remember, but it had shaken the beliefs that little Charlotte had persisted in all along.

That family of three were ordinary civilians. Their clothes were a little tattered, and they even had to hesitate to fork out the money to buy such crude candy. Yet, were they unhappy?

Charlotte had no answer to that question, and she didn’t voice her question to anyone either. She simply silently stared at that candy shop which the father had bought the crude candy from. After a long moment of silence, she ignored the objections of those around her and ran down from the carriage to buy one for herself.

It was very cheap, such that the vendor couldn’t find the change for her even after she broke the gold coin in her hand into two.

The crude sugar candy was no more than processed raw sugar; it couldn’t even come close to the refined pastries that she often had. It had an unappealing black exterior and a slightly bitter aftertaste too.

It was the same sweet, but its taste was different when eaten by different people.

A complete, blissful family; Charlotte began dreaming of having something like that.

Once, during a trip to the Austine Empire, she secretly paid a visit to her mother with a heart trembling with uncertainty and expectations. Yet, when her mother looked at her with eyes filled with blatant contempt, she found her dream shattering for the first time.

And today, her dream shattered for the second time.

In the end, fate still wasn’t on her side.

“Young miss, everything that I’ve reported is based on my personal view, so it’s still too early to come to a conclusion. Perhaps, it might just be a misunderstanding...”

Grace wanted to console Charlotte, but her words gradually grew softer and more uncertain. Hearing that, Charlotte heaved a deep sigh.

“It’s an engagement contract invoked for the benefits of the two noble houses. I have no rights to demand anything out of Roel Ascart, just like how he doesn’t have any rights to demand anything out of me. It was naive of me to pin my hopes on a complete stranger,” said Charlotte with a composed voice, before smiling helplessly.

Hoping for an intercountry political marriage to end in bliss was almost the same as hoping for a miracle to occur. Even if miracles did happen in this world, what were the odds of it happening to her?

“Young miss, what are you intending to do if the result of my investigation is accurate?”

“I’ll cancel the engagement.”

“But the chances of the Ascarts agreeing to it are...”

The thought of the current circumstances made Grace scrunch her face in distress. The annulment of an engagement could only be done with the approval of both sides, but which noble house in the world could possibly resist the humongous benefits that came with a bond of marriage with the Sorofyas?

“In the end, political marriages are centered around benefits. When it comes to offering benefits, it’s never been a problem to me.”

Charlotte responded to the worried Grace with a composed tone.

“If he doesn’t want to annul it, I’ll just have to raise the stakes until he finally caves in.”