I Stole the Heroine’s First Love

Chapter 3. Rule Breaker

Episode 18

She looked just like me in the past.

After losing my fiance to Tatiana, I was weak and unable to control my mind from the defeat.

“Have you ever heard of someone who lost three fiances to Tatiana, and even her recent fourth fiance?”

“Ah…”

No matter how ruinous the store is, it was on Berris’s Street, so she has probably heard gossip about me.

Slowly, as if she remembered it, her eyes widened.

“That is me. Do you still think I’ll be on her side?”

I told her my past clearly.

~*~

Nivea sat down again and became very calm.

Did she think I was a comrade of Tatiana?

She drank the water one after another and exhaled a long breath.

“Yeah. Freya’s family won’t hurt me, so I’ll trust you.”

“Speaking of Tatiana, what happened?”

“With me?” 

Nivea rubbed her face with one of her hands.

She seemed to be quite nervous, and it seemed that she had trouble speaking.

I sat quietly and waited.

How much time has passed-

Nivea opened her mouth.

“It was a few years ago…about three years ago? One day the Duchess appeared and offered me a business.”

Three years ago, then she just got married and became the Duchess.

“The conditions were not bad. She said that she would set up a brand for herself and leave the operation and other things to me.”

“But was there any reason for refusing it?”

“I wanted to hand over my boutique to my daughter. My daughter is also a perfumer, but she said that my conditions were unacceptable.”

It was an ordinary story.

Artisan shops were often passed down from generation to generation.

Therefore, when collaborating with them, the rule was not to touch the boutique management in order to protect their pride.

“But the Duchess was angry. Why didn’t I listen to her?”

“What do you mean?”

Nivea, who remembered that time, rubbed her face as if in pain.

“I don’t know, but she was really angry, and she even threatened to ruin me completely.”

“She’s still selfish.”

And really ruined everything for Nivea.

People stopped visiting her shop, and her clients refused her.

It wasn’t long before Nivea learned that Tatiana was behind the incident.

And once again, the call came.

Contrary to the contract, which she had seen for the first time, this time there was a provision that all recipes she made were the property of the Duchess.

“I turned it down, and in the end this was what it came to be. People on this street don’t even talk to me. It’s like I’ve greatly sinned against the Duchess.”

Nivea’s words reminded me of my academy days.

I didn’t react much to Tatiana’s actions, but strangely, bad rumors circled about me.

‘It’s either the power of the bracelet or Tatiana was just that smart.’

Recalling the tough years of the past few years, Nivea buried her body in the chair. As she stared blankly out of her window, she saw her own old shop in her eyes.

The building, which was all hers, was falling apart, completely out of place in the splendid street.

“I don’t know why you came, but I will be leaving this street soon. I’m tired of it.”

“So you’re running away?”

“Is there a way? I don’t think so. You opened your eyes and lost your fiances.”

Many times I wanted to run away.

The news of my fourth breakup was quite shocking to Nivea, who found out I’ve been enduring like that.

Nivea thought that Tatiana had so much power over me that even Duke Pioneer couldn’t handle it.

And she realized that she, a commoner, could not go against such a family.

“I’m tired.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand Niveia’s heart.

I am too.

I was tired of Tatiana’s tyranny.

I was annoyed at her harassing me for no reason, but I figured I could just ignore it.

I was patient and suppressed, but Aster appeared in front of me, like a savior.

He took my hand and urged me to take revenge.

I smiled at Nivea.

“Have you not heard the rumors these days?”

“What?”

“I am meeting with His Majesty the Emperor. Maybe I will become the Empress.”

My words opened Nivea’s mouth.

“Do you think that a Duchess can challenge the Empress’s authority?”

I thought rumors about me were pretty grandiose, but apparently it wasn’t.

I let her know my worth in person.

So that she knew there was someone here who wasn’t afraid of Tatiana.

“Ha. Are you telling me to take revenge by helping my business?”

However, the answer that came back was more tedious than expected.

This reaction was not unexpected.

Craftsmen who dug deep in a field regarded their business as sacred. So, she must have felt an instinctive reluctance to let me use the business for personal use.

“Is that bad? Your opponent used her position to ruin your business.”

“…”

“And now there’s someone who will give you a chance. You’ll build a business that’s gone bankrupt, and you’ll be able to spit in the face of Tatiana, whom you thought stepped on you. Then everyone around will give praise while using your stuff.”

It wasn’t a bad offer for Nivea.

And the truth is, I was going to start a business anyways, not just for revenge.

But if the business goes well, Tatiana will find out naturally, and she will probably die of stress.

I knew better than anyone how Tatiana would react if she didn’t get what she wanted.

“Give me time to think.”

Nivea, who seemed stubborn, was shaking.

That’s enough for today.

If someone who values ​​her own business like that shakes, she will surely come to me at least once.

I called the waitress and paid for it, and I got up and said to Nivea.

“I know you’re coming. It’s not that we didn’t have anger. We just didn’t have a legitimate opportunity to express it.”

“Vengeance only hurts each other.”

At her naive answer, I almost laughed out loud.

I, who had been attacked by Tatiana several times, had never thought like that.

I just didn’t have the will.

“Nivea, did you just say each other? Where and how did Tatiana get hurt?”

As I asked her with a smile, Nivea’s shoulders trembled.

She was deluded.

Tatiana had lost nothing.

Fame, pride.

“I will give you time. When you have made up your mind, come to the duchy of Pioneer.”

The emotion of anger was clear over her face as Nivea bit her lip.

She must have felt clearly that she was not in a position to worry about Tatiana.

“When Tatiana falls to the bottom, I wish to have one more person to watch it with.”

Wouldn’t revenge be fun when several people enjoy it?

With that in mind, I left the cafe.

~*~

Returning to my house, I told my mother the story of Nivea.

When she heard that she had been through her hardships, my mother’s expression was unusual.

“That kid Tatiana, who the hell is she and doing all that, and she’s just running around fine?”

“I’m curious about that too.”

I couldn’t say she was just like that, because that kid was the protagonist of this world.

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was too much for Nivea.

She said she was married to Andrew anyway, but why the hell did she do that?

“That bracelet. In the end, I couldn’t find out who made it.”

“Ah…”

“I personally knew someone who has a knack for manastone processing. So I was going to try and see if he had someone who could make something like this.”

“Then are you going back to the tower again?”

I kept my mouth shut because I felt like I was being foolish without realizing it. Then my mother reached out and patted my head.

“I will come back here again.”

“Really?”

“Yes. So in the meantime, take care. That kid named Tatiana, she’s more than capable of harming you.”

Then my mother took the bracelet from her pocket and placed it in mine.

And she explained how to use it.

In order to use the bracelet, I had to be able to use magic power, but it looked like I needed quite a bit of training.

“It was given to you by a low-level kid like Daniel, but as a tool for storing magical power, it’s a top-notch product. I’ve put my magic in it, so if you just do what I’ve taught you, it’ll protect you wherever you go.”

Just because I had the same thing as Tatiana in the past, the bracelet I didn’t want to see looked new. Read only at pm tl.

No, the shape was slightly different.

The design in which crude glass beads were woven was changed into a sophisticated look by cutting beads and decorating them with silver.

“I’ve crafted it so you don’t wear something like that sleazy kid wears. Now you can wear it anywhere.”

“Mom…”

“I didn’t like what that Wilhelm guy had to say.”

I nodded at the sight of my mother smiling sweetly.

“I’ll send a good present.”

“Okay. Don’t forget to train every morning.”

“Ugh, that’s really hard.”

As I grumbled a little, my mother laughed out loud.

The bracelet I was touching seemed to give me an insensible warmth.

~*~

After my mother left the duke’s house, I waited patiently, without provoking Nivea.

There was plenty of time anyway.

Tatiana won’t die tomorrow.

“Miss, how about this hat?”

“I don’t think that’s very good.”

Lily showed me a pale sky-blue hat, but in disappointment from my response, she put it back on.

Another maid beside her pulled out a straw hat, this time adorned with chiffon and flowers.

“How about this? It’s going to be a perfect picnic atmosphere, right?”

“Should I try it?”

At my reaction, the maids jumped and put the hat on. It all came together better than expected.

I decided to go to a picnic with Aster today, so there could be no more perfect outfit than this.

I got up from my seat and turned around to check my clothes.

“Miss!”

We stopped when we heard a loud knock on the door.

When I opened the door, there was a servant standing there.

“A lady named Lela, the daughter of Nivea, came to see you.”

“What?”

I went down the stairs at once.

A young-looking girl, as if she had just become an adult, was crying.

“Lela….’

“Please help my mother!”