This Is What Revenge Looks Like
Chapter 5

Jack swung his arm as he shouted angrily, and the bride’s veil was pulled violently off.

“Lord Jack!” the archbishop called, almost at a scream, and the guests who had been seated all shot to their feet.

Count Jaxen and his wife, as well as Duke Taylor and his wife, seemed incredulous at what was going on and simply stared, slack-jawed.

“Grab him! Quick!” commanded the archbishop, not wishing for violence to ensue in the holy chapel. The priests quickly took Jack Jaxen by the arms.

“Let go of me!” he shouted, a scowl on his face as he struggled against them.

Grace slowly got to her feet, appearing to be the only level person in the room despite the chaos she had caused, like she was the eye of the storm. Graciously, she removed the necklace, ring, bracelet, and earrings she had received as wedding gifts, then set them down gently in front of Jack, who was being held by the priests.

Silence quickly fell amid the confusion. Even Jack, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs and trying to get free, stared blankly at the gifts, then looked up.

The sunlight which glanced off the holy statue now enveloped the aloof bride who had wrecked the wedding. She had been impudent enough to declare at her wedding, a holy ceremony, that she loved another man, but perhaps because of her elegant looks or straight back, she looked like a saintess in the image of a holy icon. Her eyes were like fresh verdure, which left him dazed for a moment.

This set an angry fire going in the heart of Countess Jaxen. Her precious son was kneeling on the floor, held back by the priests like he was some kind of sinner, while the lowly woman who had ruined the wedding was looking down at him like she was her judge.

Quivering, she shouted at the top of her lungs, “How dare you declare before the divine, with the man who is to be your husband in front of you, that you love another man? How could any family offer such a vulgar woman up for marriage?”

Duke Taylor and his wife, who had been staring and gaping like somebody had hit them on the back of the head, finally stood, flustered.

“Duchess Taylor!” Countess Jaxen screamed, pouring out a litany of criticism at them, her eyes gleaming like those of a tiger. “We have agreed to this wedding for the sake of your family’s reputation—we went so far as to forego a dowry and even cancel your many debts! How do you intend on repaying us for the hurt you have done to my son, and the humiliation brought upon our family name? House Jaxen is not to be mocked by the likes of you! In doing so, you are mocking Empress Hetviga!”

“Countess Jaxen, if you will calm down for a moment...” the duke said.

“Do I look like I can be calm right now? I refuse to let my son take part in this marriage!”

“What do you mean? You can’t do that!” the duke said.

“I’ve said it! And the debts which your name has been cleared of—they shall return!”

“Countess! Count!”

But Count Jaxen also spun away, his mustache quivering. The faces of the duke and the duchess turned ashen.

No! We cannot pay back all that money...! A massive sum seemed to flicker before their eyes, and it made them dizzy to think about it.

They simply could not understand what was going on. The guests were no longer trying to lower their voices. Their eyes gleaming, they began to chatter about this unprecedented event, and the archbishop gave up on trying to maintain order, deciding what was going to happen, to happen.

The round chapel echoed chaotically with voices. In the midst of it all, Grace slowly walked back up the aisle the way she had come, alone.

“Grace!” Duke Taylor screamed at Grace, looking ready to kill her. Grace turned her head, and the duke shouted, trembling all over, “Unless you get on your knees and apologize, I will disown you and remove you from House Taylor!”

Disown me?

Me? From my own house? She suppressed the urge to laugh in his face. Instead, she resumed walking. From behind her came a wave of angry voices.

“Get back here right now, Grace!”

“Look at her, that shameless woman! Honey, this is a good thing. Just call the wedding off! Every loss we sustain because of this will need to be reimbursed by House Taylor!” the countess shouted.

“P-please, Countess Jaxen, you need to calm down!” The duke and duchess, who had been intending to stop Grace, were stopped in turn by the count and his wife, who seemed to be about to throw an angry fit. Rosette, who had been standing anxiously beside her parents, bit back her rage and quickly followed Grace.

“Grace!” she shouted angrily, and Grace, who had been about to set foot on a stairway, turned around. Rosette was decorated even more heavily than the bride, with all sorts of gems and lace, and she ran over in no time at all.

Grace felt the wind in her face. Chaos was unfolding behind Rosette. Her heart was racing incredibly fast, but at the same time, an odd sort of elation filled her.

“What the hell do you think you are doing? Was not soiling the family name not enough?”

Grace relaxed her eyes, which she had always kept purposefully docile. “Me?” she asked.

“Yes! You just ruined this wedding? You have caused trouble for my house!”

Grace listened quietly to Rosette’s angry shouting, then laughed. Grace usually smiled meekly without sound, but this time, she was actually laughing, and it made Rosette blink in surprise.

“You’re... laughing?” Rosette asked moments later.

Grace replied with a single, mocking question: “Your house?”

Rosette’s expression froze.

Just last night, Grace had smiled at Rosette like a fool. But now Grace moved a step closer to Rosette, her words biting.

“Me? Create trouble for the house?”

Grace, with her slim, frail form, round eyes, elegant and beautiful face, had, like her namesake, always been graceful and quiet. No matter what treatment she was forced to endure, Grace had quietly borne it. But for the first time, she was actually speaking her mind.

While Rosette was at a loss for what to say, Grace whispered in her ear, “You know what, Rosette? House Taylor’s honor was trampled in the mud the moment someone like Jack Jaxen was discussed as a potential husband for me.”

Then an angry holler came from the chapel. It was clearly the voice of Duke Taylor. Rosette bit her lip, then glared resentfully at Grace, arguing, “My parents raised you thus far! Now do your part! Go back, pray for forgiveness, and get things back in order! Marry Jack Jaxen!”

“Why don’t you marry him instead of me?” Grace no longer had time to be arguing with Rosette. Rosette flinched, and Grace turned away. “He has six illegitimate sons, but you can learn to live with it. And being beaten, too, while you’re at it. Once you have put up with it for around twenty years, you’ll probably become Countess Jaxen. Since you are their daughter, the one they birthed and raised, you should be the one to pay your parents back,” Grace said, her amiable tone almost sounding like a song.

Rosette blinked, a blank expression on her face.

Grace did not know how to fight back. She had simply nodded meekly when Rosette took away her dress, or even stole the room she had occupied since she was little. So what was happening?

But Grace was already across the gallery and moving away. Grace didn’t really seem to care about the noises behind her as she walked lightly and gracefully, and Rosette didn’t know what to think.

What did she say? That I’d be Countess Jaxen if I endured for twenty years? Did she dare tell me, the daughter of House Taylor, to put up with a womanizer like Jack?

Rosette shook angrily, then screamed at Grace’s back, “You! Were you only pretending all this time? You sure put on a display of being meek! Grace!”

Her angry voice echoed loudly through the gallery.

“Is anyone out there? Grab that wench and bring her here quickly!” she called.

But the servants hiding in various parts of the chapel simply watched the finger-pointing Rosette coldly. Nobody obeyed Rosette’s command.

In the meantime, Grace reached the end of the gallery, stopped momentarily, and turned around. After slowly taking in everything in the chapel, her gaze stopped when she noticed a man looking down at her from atop the stairway.

At the entrance was a man leaning to the side with his arms crossed and looking directly at her. Grace’s breath stopped for a moment, and she exchanged glances with him.

Rosette’s shouting came back to her. An act? So what if it’s an act? She didn’t care even if the entire empire criticized her for what she had done at her own wedding, and publicly, too.

In fact, she planned to become a femme fatale that everyone remembered. In the end, she would stab in the neck the enemy who had killed her parents, and then she would come return here no matter what—to the cornerstone of the empire, to House Taylor and its the golden fields.

She would bring back the prestige of her family name.

Balling her fists, she turned her back on the place which had been the only home she’d known all her life.