The silence in the ballroom was brittle, like thin ice waiting for a heavy boot. Julian stood frozen, champagne dripping from Baroness Sherly’s—the girl he had been secretly courting—elaborate curls. He looked at Ramela, but the girl standing before him wasn't the timid, stuttering shadow he had spent years belittling.
Her posture was straight, her chin was tilted with an imperial grace, and her eyes held a terrifying, mocking light.
This stupid girl... Julian’s mind raced, his face turning a deep, humiliated purple. She obeyed every word. She never raised her voice. She was supposed to be my stepping stone! How dare she humiliate me in front of the entire court?
His shock quickly curdled into a desperate, ego-driven rage. He needed to reclaim his power, and he needed to do it before the highest authorities in the land.
"You... you madwoman!" Julian roared, his voice cracking. He reached out and grabbed Sherly’s hand, pulling her close to his side as she continued to sob for the audience. "I have tolerated your incompetence and your dullness for years out of pity for the Luna family! But to attack a noblewoman and insult your betrothed? I will not have a viper for a wife!"
Scarlett, tucked inside Ramela’s body, let out a soft, dry chuckle. It was a sound that didn't belong to a seventeen-year-old girl. "Pity? You stayed because my father’s coffers are deep and your ambition is shallow. Please, continue. I find your desperation quite... entertaining."
Julian’s eyes darted toward the royal dais. He saw his opportunity. He dragged Sherly toward the thrones, falling to one knee before Crown Prince Edward Goundra.
"Your Imperial Highness!" Julian cried out, his voice trembling with practiced drama. "I cannot proceed with a marriage to a woman so unstable and cruel. Before this court and under your divine gaze, I officially annul my engagement to Ramela Luna! Furthermore..."
He took a deep breath, looking at the shivering Sherly. "I ask for your blessing to betroth myself to Baroness Sherly. She is a woman of grace who deserves protection from such malice!"
The crowd gasped. To break an engagement and propose to another woman in the same breath was a scandal of the highest order.
Edward Goundra leaned forward, his golden hair catching the light. He looked down at the scene with the bored, superior expression of a man who played with lives for sport. Beside him,
Crown princess Elizabeth Rose watched Ramela with a piercing, suspicious intensity. Something about the way Ramela stood—the way she looked at them—felt hauntingly familiar to the Princess.
"A bold request," Edward mused, his voice smooth and cold. He looked at Ramela. "The daughter of Luna has shown a... regrettable lack of decorum tonight. If the contract is broken by her misconduct, the crown sees no reason to force a union."
Edward stood up, his cape billowing. "Very well. The engagement between Julian and Ramela Luna is hereby void. We grant our blessing to the union of Julian and Sherly."
Julian turned to Ramela, a triumphant, nasty smirk on his face. He expected to see her weeping, ruined, and begging for mercy.
Instead, Scarlett used Ramela’s hand to slowly clap.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Bravo," Scarlett said, her voice cutting through the murmurs. She didn't look at Julian; she looked directly at Edward, her gaze locked onto his as if she were the one sitting on a throne.
"A perfect match. A man with no spine and a woman with no talent for acting. You have done me a great favor, Your Highness. I was wondering how to rid myself of this trash without getting my hands any dirtier."
She gave a mocking, shallow bow—the kind of bow an empress gives to a peasant.
"Since I am no longer tied to this circus, I believe I shall take my leave," she said, turning her back on the Prince—a move of ultimate disrespect. "Do enjoy your celebration. It's much livelier when the guests are covered in wine."
As she walked toward the exit, her internal monologue hissed with a dark, satisfied joy. Run to your new toy, Julian. And watch closely, Edward. You just gave the 'Wicked Woman' the one thing she needed to move freely: total, beautiful social ruin.
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