A Cold-Hearted Prince Who Has Had 23 Engagements Broken off Is Manipulated by a Useless Young Lady From the Countryside - Chapter 9

The day of the party…

The Bahnhof household was in a flurry as Ophelia got ready.

The outfit she chose for herself was so terrible that Madame Nicola had to give it a thumbs down when she was about to leave.

They had to start all over again.

All the individual items were extremely nice, chosen and bought by Madame Nicola. But when Ophelia puts them together, it suddenly looks unfashionable, which is strange.

Her fashion sense was hopeless.

“Why didn’t you guys stop her!?” 

Madame Nicola was furious.

“She was almost about to go out like that!”

It was as if she was really glad that they had stopped Ophelia’s terrible outfit before anyone saw it.

The maids Mia and Demi made excuses.

“Well, that’s because… Lady Ophelia refused to help me because she said I wouldn’t be able to hone my sense of fashion unless I practiced a lot myself.”

(It’s such a hassle. Whatever dress I want.) Adonis was fed up.

(No one expected her to wear a crappy dress.)

“Is that a good idea, Ophelia?” Mrs. Ophelia lectured.

“Only rich people with bad taste wear big jewels.”

The lecture continued.

“Your outfit is different for the night and the day. This time, I’ll also choose a dress with the garden view in mind.”

She explained as she coordinated the outfit.

An hour later than the departure time.

Ophelia finally came out of the dressing room.

Adonis, who was thinking of complaining, held his breath.

The dress was made of several layers of thin salmon pink muslin.

The large ribbon tied at the back at the waist looked like fairy wings.

Her only accessories were a white corsage of fresh flowers and a ribbon.

Her hair was loosely tied up in a half-up style with pearls scattered on it.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Every time she moved, her dress fluttered like a petal.

Ophelia looked as lovely as a small rose bud that had just started to bloom…

“She looks like a flower fairy…”

She muttered unconsciously.

“Eh?”

“N-nothing. I just thought it was a lot better than the first outfit. Let’s go.”

Mrs. Nicola and the maids didn’t miss what Adonis had just muttered. And it was duly recorded in a notebook by Demi.

The party venue, which she arrived at late, was at the Count’s house, not far from the Bahnhof house.

It was a garden party in a garden that boasted beautifully kept topiaries and hedges.

“Adonis Bahnhof is here.”

“That’s something rare.”

Adonis takes Ophelia to greet the host, the Count.

“Thank you for inviting me today. This is my fiancée, Miss Ophelia Richtburn.”

“This is the first time we’ve met, Ophelia Richtburn.”

The hall was abuzz.

Everyone seemed surprised that Adonis remembered his fiancée’s name.

Especially the young ladies who had been his fiancées in the past.

(The daughter of a baron from the countryside? She’s practically a commoner!)

(She’s no match for Lord Adonis.)

Malicious whispers could be heard.

Ophelia felt that everyone’s attention was on her.

After that, various people came and went to talk to the two of them, but thanks to the preparations she had done yesterday, she was able to have a harmless conversation without making any major mistakes.

“Adonis!”

A glamorous woman in a crimson dress appeared, standing out.

She was a beautiful woman with wavy black hair.

“It’s unusual to see you here.”

(He called her by her first name…)

Ophelia was surprised. She seemed to be quite friendly with Adonis.

“Diandra! It’s been a while.”

(I didn’t expect Adonis to remember a woman’s name…) 

It was surprising. She was cold with everyone else, but she was chatting with Diandra.

She wondered what kind of person she was.

She felt a bit uneasy inside.

Ophelia was left alone, and then…

“Lady Ophelia, would you like to come and talk with me?”

An unknown young lady spoke to her.

She looked like she was smiling, but her eyes were not smiling, which was scary.

She had a group of about 7 or 8 people following her behind.

All of these ladies were Adonis’s former fiancées.

They were eager to inspect the newcomers.

They hadn’t even remembered their names.

Who on earth was this country girl? She was so cheeky.

While Adonis was talking to Diandra, Ophelia was suddenly taken to a round table a little ways away.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Ophelia. I’m Caroline.”

Baron Caroline was Ophelia’s 23rd fiancée, the one before her.

In other words, she had just broken off her engagement.

“Lady Ophelia’s dress is very beautiful.”

She had heard she was a country girl, but she looked very sophisticated. She didn’t like it.

“The Marchioness Bahnhof chose all of these.”

“Oh my! Lord Nicola! I’m so jealous,” the other ladies murmured.

Was she even liked by the Marquise?

She barely spoke to them.

She disliked them more and more.

“Now, everyone, let’s have some tea.”

Caroline winked at another young lady.

She decided to pretend it was an accident and splash tea on Ophelia’s dress.

She was planning on doing a classic prank, but…

“Ah!”

(What?!)

Everyone was shocked and their eyes widened.

Ophelia had spilled the tea.

She didn’t even have to do anything, she did it herself.

“I’m so sorry… Ah!” Ophelia panicked.

Crash! Crash!

She accidentally grabbed the tablecloth.

The dessert sauce and chocolate got on Ophelia’s dress.

“Oh no! Th-Here.”

One of the young ladies couldn’t bear to watch and handed her a handkerchief.

What a clumsy girl!

The ladies lost all hope of being mean to her.

One of them couldn’t help but chuckle, and the others joined in.

It was not the malicious laugh they had expected.

They somehow came to like the clumsy newcomer.

Except for Caroline.

Caroline was the only one who had not yet recovered from the pain of her broken engagement. Because of this, she could not accept Ophelia.

So she left the group and went to Adonis and said,

“May I borrow Lady Ophelia a little longer? We’ve gotten so excited talking. I’ll take Lady Ophelia home in our carriage.”

Adonis looked at Ophelia at the table.

Hearing the laughter of the ladies made him feel a little better.

“Please go home first, Adonis. We want to chat with the ladies without worrying about time.”

Caroline strongly urges Adonis to go home.

(They seem to be having a good time.)

Thinking so, Adonis

(It would be rude to interrupt a group of ladies having fun.)

Also because he doesn’t like parties to begin with, he takes this opportunity to go home alone.

Caroline, who confirmed this, smiles to herself,

“It seems Adonis and Diandra have left the party.”

She lies to the ladies and lies.

“What!”

Ophelia is taken by surprise.

(D, Diandra and the two of them…)

She looks around, but Adonis is no longer there.

(He’s been left behind…)

Ophelia sympathizes with the abandoned dogs of the world, thinking that this is probably how they feel… or rather, she sympathizes with them.

Perhaps they felt sympathy for Ophelia, who had been left behind by Adonis, or perhaps they saw her as one of their own, but the attitude of the young ladies completely softened.

Then they comforted her by saying,

“Even when we were engaged to Lord Adonis, you always talked about Lady Diandra at parties.”

They all hated Diandra.

“Lady Diandra has a flamboyant relationship with men, and there are rumors of her with multiple men.”

“She’s beautiful, but she’s kind of poisonous or sinister. I don’t like her.”

“Me too. She seems to have a tough personality, and she always wears low-cut dresses.”

“She seems to be very popular with men, though.”

They forgot about how they had been trying to bully Ophelia earlier, and got excited talking bad about Diandra.

It’s common knowledge for girl groups to bond more when they have a common enemy.

“Was Lady Diandra also previously engaged to Lord Adonis?” Ophelia asked.

“No. They’re both only children and can’t get engaged because they have to take over the family business.”

Was that so… Ophelia felt like it all made sense.

Because Adonis wanted to marry Diandra but couldn’t.

Maybe that’s why he’d broken off his engagement 23 times.

For some reason, Ophelia felt heavy, as if she had swallowed lead.

Diandra was glamorous in a crimson dress.

She was very different from her own skinny and emaciated self.

Adonis must like feminine women like that.

In fact, Adonis and Diandra were close. However, their relationship was a little different from that of a man and a woman.

It was more like a friendship between men.

Contrary to her appearance, Diandra had a surprisingly straightforward personality.

Like Adonis, Diandra had also broken off engagements with her parents’ arranged partners many times.

The two were similar in that they were not very romantic.

Well, the conversation with the young ladies continued for a while, and eventually it was time to disperse.

Everyone promised to meet again if the opportunity arose, and headed home together —

Ophelia stood in a daze near the gate to the venue.

The Bahnhof family’s carriage had left long ago.

…Leaving Ophelia alone at the venue.