Home/I Am Trying to End This Wrong Marriage/ch 2

Chapter 2

"Yes, Mother."

Even as she answered, Angela thought her mother the Viscountess was worrying needlessly. Why should she be wary of someone who showed her kindness? People in the world were not so fearsome as to warrant such concern. If they were, she—who came from no great family—could never have received countless invitations and been welcomed by so many.

It was a thought born entirely from her lack of self-awareness regarding her own beauty. Even before knowing Angela's character, people were drawn to her delicate, refined appearance. Her large blue eyes were like tranquil lakes; her clear white skin seemed even paler against her long black hair, and the slight downward tilt of her eyes gave her a gentle, mild impression. Add to that her kind disposition toward everyone, and she was warmly received even by other women.

It was a fact only Angela herself did not know.

'She is far more beautiful than I.'

Angela recalled Penelope, whom she had met at a gathering not long ago. She had been so impressed by that woman—her dazzling looks, her confident demeanor that commanded the room.

"Angela?"

The Viscountess realized her daughter was only pretending to listen and shook her head. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was time to prepare for the ball.

"I wish you would just marry quickly. If there is no one to your liking, I shall find a suitable match for you."

"No, Mother," Angela replied with a clear smile. "For marriage, I want to marry someone I love. I believe in love at first sight."

The Viscountess could only nod silently at those words.

That evening, at the ball, Angela met Edward.

She had only ever seen the Empress at her debut; she had never laid eyes on the other royals.

"His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress! His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Second Prince, Prince Edward, enter!"

At the chief attendant's announcement, all eyes turned toward the ballroom doors. She had heard several times that the Second Prince, who was of marriageable age, was exceptionally handsome.

She stood with her friend, watching the royals' entrance with curious eyes, when a small gasp of admiration escaped the noble ladies nearby.

"Oh my...!"

They tried to suppress the sound, but it was loud enough for Angela, standing nearby, to hear. The emotion in those exclamations was palpable. Angela quickly shifted her gaze past the Emperor and Empress.

Prince Edward was a strikingly beautiful young man. Taller than the Crown Prince beside him, his fine-featured face and neatly swept-back golden hair gave him an air of sophistication—even though several other men at the ball wore their hair in the same style.

From the moment she saw him enter with the Emperor and the royal family, Angela's eyes never left him.

Soon, Edward, who had been leisurely surveying the room, met her gaze. The faint smile on his face faded.

The moment their eyes met, a tingling sensation sparked deep in Angela's chest. Though she had never felt it before, she instinctively knew—this was love.

As the royals passed by where she stood and took their places at the far end, even while the Emperor delivered his address, Edward occasionally glanced her way.

After the speech, Edward exchanged a few words with acquaintances, then finally approached her.

"You are the Viscount Panning's daughter."

Edward, having been introduced to Angela by one of his acquaintances, offered a gentle smile. Angela thought his smiling face looked kind.

"I have heard that Viscount Panning has a good and wise daughter."

"You flatter me, Your Highness."

Angela replied shyly to the courteous compliment.

From a distance, she had thought his eyes were blue, but up close she saw they held a hint of violet. Though she lowered her gaze in modesty, drawn by that mysterious hue, she stole glances at him—and Edward looked back at her with friendly, warm eyes.

That day marked the beginning of their meetings. Edward often wished to see her in secret, and Angela quickly fell for him—with his striking looks and gentle nature.

Not long after they began secretly meeting, Edward proposed.

"Though our time together has been short, this feeling will never change. Please accept my proposal without hesitation."

The next day, having accepted his proposal with a trembling heart, Angela learned that Edward and Penelope had been in talks of betrothal.

Edward, seeing her shock, explained with an awkward look.

"I had no idea my mother was making such arrangements. It was a political match she pushed forward, thinking I had no lover—I shall put an end to it at once."

When the Empress learned of Angela's existence, she fiercely opposed the match. To the Empress, who wished to marry her beloved son to a daughter of a prestigious house, Angela—from an unremarkable family—was simply unworthy.

Yet Edward's stance was firm, and the Empress eventually relented. The quiet discussions between the imperial family and the Marquess Kruger household were quietly dropped.

Angela believed it was the power of love. She only felt a slight guilt at having taken Penelope's place.

But when she met Penelope afterward, she seemed unconcerned.

"I was planning to tell my mother to call it off anyway. His Highness and I do not want each other."

"I see..."

"And I have no desire to become a duchess by marrying a prince. I'd rather become a marquess myself."

Her bold statement—that she would become her mother's heir, overtaking her older brother—left a deep impression on Angela.

Then Penelope added something with a meaningful look.

"You'll be living in the palace after marriage, yes? Palace life may not be as smooth a path as you imagine."

"Pardon?"

"Well, do your best."

With that, she ended the conversation with an elegant smile.

Following Edward's wish to keep the ceremony simple, Angela wed him without an engagement. In less than a year, she had gone from a viscount's daughter to a prince's consort.

The capital's nobles saw her as the heroine of a social rise, but her mother the Viscountess was worried. Though she could not oppose the match, she fretted over whether her daughter could bear the burden.

"Mother, please don't worry so much."

Seeing her mother off after the wedding, Angela comforted her with a brave face.

"The man I love just happens to be a royal. I will live happily with him for the rest of my life."

To live happily with the one she loved had been Angela's dream since childhood. Even if palace life was unfamiliar, with Edward by her side, anticipation outweighed fear.

But it did not take long for her to understand what Penelope had meant—that the road ahead would not be a bed of roses.

---

"Your Grace the Duke!"

A voice called out from behind Edward, who was searching the coastline on horseback. Edward turned his gaunt face.

"Did you find her?"

He had spent the entire night searching, and even after dawn broke, Angela was nowhere to be found. He had never imagined she would actually throw herself into the sea, and with each passing hour, his anxiety grew.

"Yes. We found the lady."

"Lead me there at once."

Edward gave the short order. The knight's expression was grim, but Edward tried not to notice. Until he saw with his own eyes, she was not dead—even if she were dead.

After riding for a while, he found the knights gathered before a cave near the sea. Angela was there.

"Your Highness."

The knights encircling Angela stepped aside when they saw their master. Edward approached her with a trembling heart. He knelt on one knee, lowering himself to check if she was still breathing.

"Ah..."

A sigh escaped him.

His wife's soul had already left her body.

When he had ordered them to find her, he had clung to the faint hope that she might have survived by some miracle... But miracles, it seemed, did not exist.

When he had brought her here at dawn, he had never anticipated this outcome.

Even so, Edward carefully cradled Angela's lifeless body, still heavy with the aura of death. He lifted her upper body, pressed his cheek to her forehead, and remained still for a long time—as if unwilling to accept the death of his beloved wife.

The knights thought they understood his grief, but Edward's true feelings were utterly different.

'You would leave me like this?'

With his head bowed, Edward's fine eyes twitched with rage.

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