Reason for Divorce || Episode 2

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Episode 2 Reason for Divorce

Chapter 2.

I didn't know how much time had passed since I came to my senses.

My head was throbbing heavily.

I slowly opened my eyes before shrieking at the potential amount of time I might have wasted. I quickly searched for my smartphone.

“Damn it. What time is it? How long have I been like this?”

I carefully contemplated what today’s date was.

I couldn't find my smartphone.

Besides that, I couldn’t see any of my belongings near me.

As I searched for my things, only strange objects and items came to view.

‘…Wait, what the hell? Where am I?’

I jumped out of bed in surprise.

‘What is this? Whose bed is this? Whose room is this?'

I tried my best to think about why and how I was sleeping so comfortably in a room I’d never been to before.

However, perhaps due to my embarrassment, everything that occurred before I lost consciousness was all blurry in my mind.

“Just what the hell is this situation? Did I drink? Is it because I got drunk?”

But no matter how much I tried to remember, I didn’t have the memory of drinking before this.

First off, I should hurry and get myself out of this strange place.

I was scared that someone would catch me trespassing into another person’s property and report me.

‘Ah, right. Kim Do-Hyun, that bastard gave me some bullshit about moving, right? While we were having bone hangover soup.’

Just as I backtracked my thoughts one by one, my feet halted to a stop.

“…?!!”

And slowly, very slowly, I retraced my steps.

And there it was. A stranger in the mirror.

“…What…the hell? Why? That’s… who?”

I stood vacantly in front of the mirror.

At first, the person seemed so beautiful that I thought the mirror was a painting in a frame.

But the problem was that it moved.

That too, depending on my gestures and actions.

‘It’s a mirror… right?’

I couldn't figure out how to understand this absurd situation.

This was stupidly ridiculous.

‘Is that me? Why do I… look like that?’

Glossy sky-blue hair, with slight curls at the ends? There is zero sense of realism in that.

I refuse to believe such hair exists.

Is this the work of a skilled hair designer? I skeptically examined the rest of the figure reflected against the mirror.

The hazy, light gray eyes gave off a mysterious tint that was quite pleasing to me.

‘I remember reading a line describing eyes just like these in a novel…’

Wow, how amazing for me to be thinking so leisurely during times like this.

'The expression fits perfectly, though. A blue that resembles a very faintly rising mist.’

Wasn’t it sky-blue hair that was mentioned alongside the eyes?

‘Where did I read the line?’

I decided to leave the room, dismissing all the other thoughts for the time being.

After all, it would be difficult if the owner arrived and asked who I was.

But before I could do that, the door opened, and a fierce-looking woman entered the room.

In a dress that a typical Western lady during the Middle Ages would wear.

As soon as the woman came inside, she brushed back her oiled hair so that it would not move, and stared at me nervously.

“…”

I tried to excuse myself for not entering deliberately, but she was faster.

“Today, the Count is bringing more women into the warehouse and playing lewdly. I'm so upset.”

“…?”

I looked back.

It couldn’t possibly be me who you’re talking to. There must be someone in this room besides me.

But when I searched again, there was no one else inside the room.

When I glanced at the woman again, her eyes were exactly on me.

That wife… Would she be me?

It doesn't make sense.

“With such a pretty lady. Just what is wrong with the Count? Besides, he and those women had been mentioning treason so blatantly! If His Majesty had not rebelled, the dirty servants would have long ruined the Empire.”

I almost burst out laughing as I listened to her story.

It was because this current situation was so similar to a novel I once read.

‘Ah, right. Wasn’t it the same novel with the description of light gray eyes?’

What was it called?

Oh, right. [Night of Rebellion].

I noticed her gazing at me with peculiar eyes.

It wasn’t an uncalled-for reaction. I was covering my mouth with both hands to suppress the laughter, but I didn’t seem to have hidden it very well.

The more I listened, the more I couldn’t erase the fact that the situation I existed in was similar to the content of that book.

I continued taking note of what the maid had to say.

The maid was speaking as if she were worried about me, but I knew from the book that this woman was, in fact, trying to very meticulously aim a dagger at my chest.

I wondered how all of this was even possible, but soon I became cool-headed.

That was my way.

It was also a habit that I earned from work.

Listening to the person while at the same time pinpointing certain keywords until the main idea surfaced.

That way, one could accurately grasp the circumstance, not having to be swayed by what the other person is trying or intending to say.

‘This situation is very similar to the story, and even my appearance is identical to that of hers. So, I'm supposed to conclude that I entered the novel?’

I titled my head.

That seemed to be an undeniable truth.

And deducting it to be true, this situation had to be acknowledged and countered as quickly as possible.

While I was processing my thoughts, the maid's obvious criticism continued.

'I know why she’s doing this.’

[Night of Rebellion] was a book that I started reading as a recommendation from a fellow college student of mine.

– I'm into web novels these days, so I've been reading diligently. I've been digging a lot of *sprite for a while. These days, I’m attracted to innocent, dedicated, men. It’s really good. This is a book I was introduced to.

*Sprite is used in this sentence to imply something good.

An innocent, devoted man. A character that doesn’t exist in real life.

Since such a person does not exist in reality, they wanted to see it through a novel, that friend chartered as they continued to speak.

– The female protagonist is a princess and the male protagonist is the knight commander, loyal to the princess. Then occurs a rebellion. The grand duke who causes the rebellion assassinates the female protagonist’s parents, and the female lead soon finds herself on her knees in a room surrounded with blood. Now that the female protagonist is soon to die, the male protagonist wishes to save her somehow. Then, the grand duke, who succeeded in treason, speaks to the male protagonist. Does he desire to save the female protagonist? Would saving her be his salvation?

– What do you mean? Salvation or not, she needs to survive.

That's what I retorted as a result of my complete immersion.

– The male protagonist also thinks the same. So, he asks the emperor to save the female protagonist, but the emperor marks a condition. After they marry and she falls in love with the male protagonist, let her indulge in the feeling of betrayal. The male protagonist accepts and the two get married, while everyone around her lies and causes the female protagonist to misunderstand. They gaslight her.

– What?

– They say that the male protagonist doesn't love the female protagonist. They distort the truth and claim he is cheating with other women.

– She believes that?

– She has no other choice. And what could he do? One of the conditions that the emperor put forward is that the male protagonist would not tell the female protagonist the truth. The moment he did, he would throw her to her demise.

– She didn't ask to divorce him? If she believed her husband betrayed her.

– Yes, but since the male protagonist only rejects her coldly, she becomes exhausted. There's a lot to think about, isn’t there? What the female protagonist thinks is true. And how foolish everything is. The lies of the people around her formed the female protagonist’s world. The female protagonist becomes completely isolated and depressed, all the while believing that the only person she could rely on was a monster.

– …So what happens in the end?

– A suicide attempt. The male protagonist decided to tell her everything rather than lose her. He wants to tell her that he loves her, but she dies.

– What about the male protagonist?

– He is too weak to stand up against the emperor. In the end, the male protagonist also kills himself, regretting that he chose to save her back then.

After hearing the story, my desire to read the novel disappeared, but that man often came to mind afterward.

I wondered what would have been the best thing I’d have done if I were in that situation.

The man did what he had because he wanted to save the princess, but to think of the pain she must have suffered, locked inside a living hell every passing day, suffocating on the thought that he had betrayed her.

The pain was perhaps more devastating than death.

It was ironic that only he could inflict such torment on that princess.

In the end, I read the book. I felt very uncomfortable after I finished it.

Adelia Hayden Richeveria.

The Princess of the long gone Empire of Richeveria.

But I…

I think that's me.

After listening to the maid’s story and contemplating over and over again, I finally came to a conclusion.

In the meantime, the maid’s blasphemy continued.

The words pouring out regarding Count Rivian Reinhardt were like daggers piercing right through the female protagonist.

“What a terrible and cruel thing to say about his dead Majesty.”

The maid spoke sympathetically to Adelia, whilst knowing that such comments would be the most painful to her.

Nevertheless, Adelia would have believed her. She would have acknowledged that her maid of honor was the only person who could comfort her.

After some time, I was able to grasp the whole situation.

Aside from why I was currently in this ridiculous position, I could interpret what I was in.

I should shut the maid’s mouth. For now.

“You seem to be unoccupied.”

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