Eliz blinked her eyes and stared at the floor. Her thoughts were racing, and she felt disoriented.
She heard the cold voice of a man to whom Eliz was only half listening for two reasons. She knew his lines, and most importantly, she had to somehow come to terms with the situation.
Eliz still didn't understand what had happened. The voice told her that she was taking on the role of Elizabeth, a lousy character and an even lousier fate and that she'd be thrown right into the first scene where she was dumped...?
And she's supposed to do what? Play the part? And if Eliz fails, she can die? Like, really die?
She felt the ground beneath her hands, Eliz felt the soft fabric against her body, her heart was hammering in her chest, and her head still hurt slightly. And that asshole Gray kept talking, which didn't help her headache.
'Shut the hell up already!'
With that thought, she stood up and looked around; despite her headache, she had to squint her eyes a little, and her vision was blurry. It didn't take her long to find the source of the voice. It was the flashy couple on the stage.
"So what?" said Eliz impatiently.
Eliz needed to think about things, and she didn't want to risk death or whatever the voice was threatening her with right now. Eliz wanted to escape this situation and go somewhere she could recover in peace. But for now, she decided to do something about the situation.
"What did you say? Aren't you ashamed?!" Gray's words shot out again, scattering around the hall like rifle shots.
"Hmm?" Eliz raised her hand and pressed her fingers to her temple. She sighed in annoyance.
"Ashamed? Me?" She replied, looking back up at the two of them. Ugh... really like a picture in a magazine. The kind where the women scold the girl for her narrow waist, and the men for his too-attractive jawline, and everyone thinks they had to go through retouching.
"Okay, if you're going to pull out your dirty laundry in front of everyone, I'm not going to protect you anymore," Eliz announced.
Eliz liked aristocratic novels, so she knew quite a few tricks, and even as she read this part, she saw plenty of ways to get off on the class. Unfortunately, Elizabeth was too pathetic a character, destined from the start to be a victim of the main couple.
"What are you talking about, Elizabeth? Protecting me?" Gray asked incredulously, turning his gaze almost hatefully on her.
Eliz found the look a little unsettling. She hadn't realized that his dislike for Elizabeth was so strong.
"Gray Ironhoud, how long have we been engaged? Do not answer; it was just a rhetorical question. A few years; we should be married in a year. Then suddenly, the illegitimate daughter of the Count of Derevell shows up, and what did you start doing? You started courting her, meeting with her secretly; what was your poor fiancée to think?" She clasped her hands on her breast and stood a little apart to throw a sideways glance at them. Eliz gave them a disgusted look.
"I am Elizabeth Von Roseblood! The only daughter of Duke Von Roseblood! Should I have endured the humiliation you put me and my name through? Gray Ironhound! Does the name of Von Roseblood sound like a joke to you?!"
Eliz deliberately said the last words loud and clear to emphasize the consequences.
Gray suddenly turned pale, perhaps beginning to realize what was happening, but he quickly collected himself and regained his strength.
"But what about all the bad things you did to Selene? Are you going to deny them?"
Eliz could not help but chuckle at the weak defense.
"And what have I done? Sure, I have tried to keep you from meeting and separate you in every way possible before you do any more damage. But that does not seem to be getting through that hollow skull of yours." Eliz paused for a moment and had to stop herself from really starting to swear at them.
She did not know what Elizabeth had done, either. The author had not mentioned what she had done before the story began. But it could not have been something terrible considering that Elizabeth wasn't imprisoned and her title wasn't taken away. So now Eliz was cooking out of water.
"Gray, you are also the son of a duke, and we were engaged many years ago. What did you expect? That no one would find out? Do you think your father would approve of an illegitimate daughter of the count as his daughter-in-law? That he would not be upset because you broke his word to his friend and thwarted the union of our families? That my father would not be angry that you humiliated his only daughter? Have you thought at all?" She snorted contemptuously.
"So let us get it over with now. You cheated on me. And now here you are, publicly slandering me for minor offenses I have committed to preventing you from besmirching our families' good name. So...I think it's fair to say that I have had enough. You want a break. Then you will have a breakup. Who wants to be married to someone who so easily falls for another woman and throws away the years of building a relationship?" Eliz looked around the room but could not really see the expressions of the others. The more she talked, the more her head hurt and her vision blurred. She needed to wrap it up and get out of there.
If Eliz could see clearly, she could see the mood in the entire room suddenly change. The people who had previously criticized Elizabeth as an evil, jealous woman now saw things in a different light. Their eyes turned to the main couple, about whom they began to judge.
Gray began to sweat, bitterly regretting his decision to publicly accuse Elizabeth at the ball. Selene was trembling slightly beside him, so he squeezed her hand a little tighter to steady her. He didn't know that Selene was not trembling with fear or anxiety.
Eliz turned and made her way to the door of the hall.
"The official decision to break off the engagement will arrive at your estate shortly." She announced, but after a few steps, Eliz stopped, and without turning around, she said. "Eren, what do you think you are doing?"
Her twin brother winced when he heard his sister's words. "Wh-what do you mean?"
Eliz turned sharply until her skirt flew around her ankles and fixed her violet eyes on his.
"Do you intend to stay here? By the side of someone who has dragged our name through the mud? Do you intend to abandon your name of Von Roseblood and become an Eren Ironhound instead?" Her voice cracked through the air like a whip.
Eren winced and looked to Gray and Selene. Especially at Selene. He quickly lowered his gaze and considered for a moment before following his sister.
"Eren..." Selene's sweet voice rang in his ears. He hesitated but decided not to look back. He feared that he would not have the strength to leave if he did.
Elizabeth arrived at the hall's double doors and threw them wide open with her hands. She exited the hall with her head held high and her back proudly upright. Elizabeth left behind a silent hall and a sweating ex-fiancé.
Eliz stepped out into the fresh night air, which did little to help her headache. She felt like she had handled it well. So what? Eliz was in a situation she did not understand, certainly even in someone else's shoes; she would not let some bastard humiliate her like that.
Eliz heard her traitorous brother's footsteps behind her, but she ignored him and lifted her skirt to go down the stairs.
Eliz looked at the servant standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Call our carriage." She commanded. The servant bowed before hurrying to summon the carriage.
Eliz, meanwhile, folded her arms and looked around. Her vision was still blurry, so that she couldn't appreciate the beautiful flower garden, neat paths, and hand-carved gazebo.
"Sister..." Eren spoke up next to her.
"Shut up." Eliz snapped sharply. She was not in the mood at the moment. Her head hurt like hell, and she still had to listen to some second-rate character whine? And this from none other than the blood brother of a traitor.
Eren bit his tongue in fright, for although his sister was no delicate flower, he had never heard her talk like that before.
He looked at his sister in profile and began to notice a little of her pale appearance and the pained narrowing of her eyes.
Earlier in the hall, he was confident that his sister had gone astray and become despicable. He knew she had done some bad things to Selene, but it had never occurred to him to look at it from any other angle. He could not understand why that was. When he thought of Selene and all that Elizabeth had done to her, his chest tightened with anger, and he just wanted to protect Selene.
But when he heard Elizabeth's words, he was confused. Her words made sense.
And then he felt scared. What had happened to him? He had almost betrayed his name and did not even understand why.
A carriage arrived with its coachman, who greeted them respectfully. Eren wanted to offer Elizabeth a helping hand, but she ignored his hand and got in herself. Hesitant and embarrassed, Eren withdrew his hand. He knew his sister was angry with him.
Neither spoke a word until they were settled in the carriage with their family crest - two intertwined roses with thorns dripping drops of blood.
"Elizabeth..." Eren began again.
"I told you to shut up." Replied as Elizabeth sat back and closed her eyes.
Eren watched her for a moment. "What happened inside, I never...." He began to speak.
Elizabeth opened her eyes and stared at him with a disturbing intensity. "You never what? You never thought to ask me? You never thought to look at it from my point of view? You never thought about how much you were hurting your sister? Have you never thought about stabbing your twin sister in the back and condemning her to live in shame forever? And for what? For a bitch who does not even have half a brain? Who does not even care about you and chose Gray? What did you want to be? Her lover? Her lackey? Admire her from afar? Warm her bed while Gray was away? What the hell were you thinking?!"
Eren opened his mouth in amazement, for Elizabeth spoke so bluntly and indecently that he forgot to breathe.
Eren recovered in an instant.
"Elizabeth!" He exclaimed indignantly, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"Do not play the innocent, you little traitor. If you are really sorry for all this, you'll do as I say. You will not see Selene again. You will no longer write to her or receive her letters, no meetings, no spying, just nothing! You stay the hell away from her!"
Eren felt pain when he heard this, and his face contorted. "Elizabeth, you can not ask me to do that. I love her!"
To his shock, Elizabeth made a sound reminiscent of vomiting. "Give me a break. Your thighs are just getting warm. What you have is not love; it's obsession. So I am going to give you a proper detox."
"D-detox?"
"Yes. Selene ban! Now shut up, you traitor. My head hurts."
With that, she stopped speaking and left her shaken brother alone.
Eliz had a terrible headache. She was more violent now than she had intended, but she had no patience for this sort of thing. Eliz just wanted to shut him up quickly. She felt like her mind was beginning to blur.
What was actually going on here? Why was this happening?
These were her last thoughts before her body collapsed and she passed out.