#6. An Encounter That Creates Fate
2023.08.06.
Before she knew it, deep darkness had descended.
A breeze drifted through the open window, stirring the curtains.
Elise’s body was repeatedly half-hidden and half-revealed.
She pondered for a long time about how she should live her life from now on.
Her first goal was easy to decide.
Revenge.
‘But there’s nothing I can do with what I have right now.’
The foundation Chase had built belonged solely to him. Because Elise had operated entirely behind the scenes.
‘Even if I asked for it now, Chase wouldn’t hand it over. I should have kept a double set of books and siphoned off some money.’
The Elise of the past had been naive.
So while she had managed several businesses for Chase, she had never once looked out for her own gain.
‘I was so foolish, it’s embarrassing to admit to anyone.’
She needed money to keep Chase in check and to exact revenge on the sorceress Iris.
‘I need people on my side, too.’
But even that felt insufficient.
‘What else do I need?’
Elise pondered and began calmly listing everything she had to do.
When her thoughts had mostly settled, Regina entered with a knock.
Turning to look at Regina, who had her brown hair neatly pinned up, Elise found her approaching with a letter and a small box in hand.
“His Highness Chase has sent a gift.”
“His Highness sent a gift?”
Elise was stunned.
Having grown up in poverty, Chase was a man stingy with giving to others.
It had been even worse before he became Crown Prince, so when he’d dated Elise, the expenses had mostly come from her pocket.
Naturally, she had never received a proper gift from him until he became Crown Prince.
The only “gifts” he had given were poems scribbled in haste.
Back then, Elise had thought it deeply romantic.
She had told herself she was receiving his sincerity and his time—things money couldn’t buy.
But it turned out the poems were written by his aide, and he had merely copied them, swapping out a few words.
Even knowing that, she had tried to understand Chase, insisting that choosing words befitting the poem was the harder task.
‘I was out of my mind.’
With an icy expression, Elise accepted the letter and the box.
In any case, it was an uncharacteristic act for him.
“Oh my, they’re ruby earrings. These small, darling things will suit you so well, my lady.”
One could call it an act of sincerity on Chase’s part, but Elise felt no emotion whatsoever.
She shoved the box aside and roughly tore the envelope open without a paper knife. Regina jumped in surprise.
“My lady, I’ll fetch a paper knife—”
“There’s no need.”
Elise waved her hand and read straight through the letter.
Perhaps the aide had penned this one too; from the first sentence, it was highly literary and rather sorrowful.
Elise tossed the finished letter onto the table as if discarding it.
“What does it say?”
Regina’s eyes sparkled. She had cheered for Elise and Chase’s romance as fervently as if it were her own.
Regina believed that Elise’s position as the despised burden of Viscount Warton’s household would change once she became the prince’s partner.
Strictly speaking, things had already changed now that they were lovers. The Viscount and Viscountess no longer openly abused Elise. But the covert torment had continued.
‘They gaslighted me into being grateful, claiming it was all thanks to them.’
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, so Elise forced the memories away.
“Read it if you’re curious. And take the ruby earrings.”
“Excuse me? You’d give me something so valuable? But His Highness gifted these to you—”
“They don’t suit me. Gifts should go to those who’ll cherish them. More importantly, what is Sister Iris doing these days?”
“She went to the hot springs with the master and mistress.”
Regina spoke cautiously.
Hot springs in winter, Elise murmured to herself. She knew all too well where and what they would be doing.
‘Will things go as you wish, Sister?’
Imagining where the Viscount, his wife, and Iris would be, the corner of Elise’s lips curled up.
Regina gathered the box and left, and Elise resumed her earlier train of thought.
Elise had no intention of forgiving Chase, who had thoroughly used her and cast her aside.
And she was preparing to punish Iris, who had not only stolen what was hers but also dragged her through scandal.
‘I won’t stand idly by and let His Highness David die in vain, either.’
Because she had been Chase’s fiancée, her relationship with David had inevitably been strained, yet David had always maintained his manners toward her.
Even when he was unjustly disinherited because of her, he had blamed Chase rather than curse Elise.
“It seems my younger brother was a fool who only knew how to treat a good person poorly.”
To save him, she had to stop David’s marriage to Iris as well.
“This life will be different.”
Elise’s eyes gleamed sharply.
***
To escape the sweltering heat and the bitter cold of midwinter, the Viscount and Viscountess took Iris and traveled abroad.
On such occasions, the climate-control magical devices in the Viscount’s mansion were shut down, and the fireplaces throughout the manor stood idle.
No wonder it was so cold.
“Please don’t be too disappointed, my lady. Next time, you’ll go with them.”
For the tenth year running, Regina offered the same comfort to Elise, who was rubbing her arms against the chill.
Elise didn’t believe Regina’s words, but she nodded and smiled regardless.
‘It’s better that Father isn’t here. Someone who could interfere with my plans is gone. I must make a clean break with Chase before they return.’
When Elise smiled, Regina’s face brightened considerably, and she began to chatter.
“Not long ago, Baron Photon was caught meeting Lady Jane in secret behind Baroness Photon’s back. They say the Baroness scratched up the back of his neck terribly. Apparently, that’s why Baron Photon has been wearing a scarf around his neck whenever he goes to the gentlemen’s club lately.”
Regina chattered on without pause. Most of it was high-society gossip, but there was news concerning the royal family as well.
“Oh, have you heard? His Highness the Crown Prince is going hunting with His Highness Chase. They say they’re heading to Count Joshua’s territory.”
‘So he’ll meet Iris.’
The love story of Iris and David was widely known. While walking in Count Joshua’s territory, Iris happened to get lost and wandered into David’s hunting grounds.
There, she befriended a certain little bird.
‘His Highness David ends up shooting that bird, and Iris sobs her heart out.’
David apologized to Iris, returned to the capital, sent her a bird made of jewels, and their love began.
‘Iris claimed she got lost by accident, but that wasn’t true. How did she know? It should be difficult to find out the princes’ hunting grounds beforehand due to security concerns.’
The current Viscount Warton’s household was not a family that wielded great influence in the political sphere.
Thus, they were largely indifferent to news of the royal court.
‘She’d been in contact with Chase from the start, or… perhaps not?’
A flash of insight struck Elise’s mind. She turned her gaze on Regina.
Whether because that gaze was so piercing, Regina—who had been chattering away excitedly—fell silent and gauged her mood.
“My lady?”
“Regina, where did you hear all that?”
“H-hear what?”
“The stories you were just telling.”
“These? I read them in a gossip magazine that the maids pass around.”
“A gossip magazine? That you pass around among yourselves?”
“Yes. It comes out once every two weeks. It’s cheap and full of interesting news, so we read it. It’s surprisingly accurate, too.”
“Can I see it as well?”
“Pardon? But it’s not really something for you, my lady…”
Regina’s confidence abruptly flagged.
When Elise tilted her head and stared at her, Regina waved her hands hastily.
“It’s not that it’s improper, my lady! It’s just that not all the content is suitable for you.”
Regina’s attempts to evade only made Elise more curious.
“Bring them here. Every issue you have.”
The magazine had correctly predicted the prince’s hunting grounds. In her past life, she would have dismissed it as coincidence, but this time she wanted to verify.
Reluctantly, Regina brought the gossip magazines. The stack was substantial.
“This is enormous.”
“Ah, well, it’s three years’ worth. Publication began three years ago. At first, they were palm-sized, but they kept getting bigger. Now they’re about the size of a standard newspaper, and the release cycle has gotten shorter as well.”
Listening to Regina’s explanation and examining the magazines, Elise saw that it was true. In the early days, perhaps due to lack of funds, the paper quality had been dreadful.
There were smudged sections here and there.
“I’ll read them carefully and return them.”
“There probably won’t be anything you’ll enjoy, my lady…”
Regina trailed off.
The Elise of the past might have felt that way.
But the current Elise was different.
If this was what had forged the “fateful” meeting between Iris and David, then to twist that fate, she had to obtain this first.
Elise sent Regina out and pored over every issue, from the ones published three years ago to the most recent release.
***
She spent several days reading the gossip magazines and narrowing down the publisher.
And finally, Elise examined the last issue.
‘It’s all true. There are lies mixed in, but they’re skillfully woven in. Pick them apart, and every piece is an actual event that happened. It means they write what they see, experience, and hear…’
This was exactly when she needed someone to serve as the eyes, ears, and mouth of high society and the political world.
Elise’s eyes gleamed as she spread the gossip magazine open again.
‘Regina said she didn’t know their identity, but they’ve left traces everywhere.’
By analyzing the content published on a specific schedule, she could infer their area of activity.
Special banquets. Specific events.
Elise listed out those banquets, events, and dates, then narrowed down the guest lists of those invited.
The last thing to check was the handwriting. Elise rummaged through her desk drawer and pulled out some stationery.
She sent out tea-time invitations to the people she suspected of publishing the magazine.
“Now, shall we wait for the replies?”
Elise climbed into bed. It was early to sleep, but she had an important plan this evening and needed her rest now.
It was a plan to make Chase—who stubbornly insisted he would not break things off—turn his back on her for good.
‘But this is only possible if he helps me. Will he help me?’
Elise felt an inexplicable confidence.
At the thought of meeting that man in the evening, her heart beat low and fast in her chest.