My Fiancée Hates Me

"May I have this dance?" Prince Erik asked as he held out his hand.

I sent him an invite but had no expectations that he would show up.

Maybe showing up was for a formality...

"Yes, you may," I said as I took his hand.

Prince Erik led me to the dance floor and began properly leading me through the song. I was a bit surprised when I found my body already in position and moving. My body seemed to react before I could properly collect my thoughts.

"You look exceedingly beautiful today," Prince Erik said.

"Thank you, Your Highness," I said.

"I assume that it is because of him, yes?" Prince Erik asked.

I blushed.

"...Please don't ask such a thing," I begged.

The song quickly ended before I was able to sort my complex feelings out. We separated our hands shortly afterwards.

"Congratulations on your engagement, Arielle," Prince Erik said with a smile.

For whatever reason, I expected him to hate me because I got engaged to someone else, but I could feel that that he was truly sincere when he said that.

I wonder how much it took for him to accept the news of his former wife getting engaged to someone else?

I hope that he can find someone who loved him as much as I once did...

"Thank you, Your Highness," I said as I shed tears of happiness.

I excused myself to fix up my makeup. Upon leaving, a man had bumped into me.

I suddenly heard a cog running in my head...Right, that sound was similar to that of the wheels of fate turning.

It was my first time seeing him since I was reborn into this second life, but that person was undoubtedly the reason behind my trauma. I had almost forgotten about him until I saw his face again. I recognized his golden almost hazel hair and deep orange eyes as if I had just seen them yesterday. It was Marquis Pillar's first son Nevel Pillar who had taken part in my kidnapping and the main culprit behind Garett's death.

"You hurt my arm," he said as he grabbed my arm. "How will you repay me?"

I saw him give me a disgusting smile while he leered at my body.

He had been away from the capital and stationed at the borders between Arundel and The Balik Empire. I never expected to find him back in the capital much less at my engagement party since he was not on the list of invitees. That means that someone invited him in with their invitation letter.

"... You are right. My apologies for hurting you. Allow me to make it up to you somewhere more private. Let's go somewhere we cannot be easily heard by others," I said as I walked in front of him.

"I like a proactive Lady like yourself," Nevel Pillar said with an amused expression.

I am sure that he had some unsavory thoughts about what he wanted to do with me after getting me alone.

After giving me Hell for two lifetimes, God finally delivered me the prey I had been looking for right before my eyes. Since he was the son of a War Hero and was stationed far from the capital, I could not have many chances to meet him.

All I could think about was how I wanted to kill this man as soon as possible...

My hands were already itching to pull out his hair and wring his neck until he was left limp as a corpse.

I tried to keep my cool until I could lead him far away from the party and close to my weapon room. There, I could take my time picking of my choosing that would be the best at taking care of his measly life with the most ease and take the least cleanup.

"You sure are taking me quite far from the party. Are you worried about being too loud? There are ways to cover up sound such as covering these lips with mine," Nevel Pillar said as he pulled me close and pulled my chin towards him.

"Now, that would be no fun," I said as I lightly smacked his hand away. "Just continue following me a little further..."

It worked in my favor that he found my appearance pleasing. If I played it coyly, he would be sure to follow me like the mangy lustful beast he was. Unlike his father, he was a disrespectful womanizer who only thought about bedding women he took a liking to.

Killing you a second time would add no guilt to my consciousness...

"Nevel! There you are!" a woman with a bright yellow dress said as she came out of nowhere and latched onto his arm. "I have been looking everywhere for you."

"Sherry!"

What an annoying pest!

Should I kill both of them?

"I am tired of doing my greetings. Let's go back to my place," the woman said with an unabashed expression.

This woman is innocent...I should not think about taking the life of someone on a whim.

"...It seems as though the young Lord already has a partner. Please excuse me," I said.

"Wait! My Lady!" Nevel Pillar said as he reached out to me.

I had already made my way out of the scene and tried to contain my feelings of anger and hatred deep inside of my heart.

"Arielle! There you are," Garett said as he found me sitting by the fountain.

"Garett?" I said in surprise.

"Are you alright? You did not come back after a while," Garett said.

"I'm sorry...I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts for a while," I said.

"...Are you having second thoughts about our engagement?" Garett asked.

"No! I certainly want to marry you and be your wife, but I just have these unpleasant thoughts that keep on creeping up in my mind. If you knew what I thought of, surely your image of me would be broken," I said.

"...It has already been long broken if I should say," Garett said bluntly.

"Pardon?"

"When I first met you, you were shining as if you were a polished gem. You were different from all of the girls I had ever known before who were plainly brutish tomboys. When I got to know you, you were more expressive and talkative when it came to things that you liked. You are also quite fickle and stubborn and cry quite easily, but everything about you is charming in my eyes. A fool like me won't abandon you simply because you have one or two thoughts you consider ugly. Rather, I am more worried that you would leave me since the number of my faults outweigh yours," Garett said with a smile as he held my hands.

He is always reassuring me by telling me that he loves me. I wish that I could be as honest as he was about his feelings for me.

I brought my arms around his neck and hugged him.

"...I promise to protect you from here on out to eternity," I swore.

"...I promise too," Garett said as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

We soon made our way back to the party while tightly holding our hands with each other.

I promise to protect this hand...even if I have to become a Demon.☐☐☐☐☐☐