No! Please don’t!”

He moved his hand smoothly over Vivian’s arm and swiftly swept her lips against his.

Charmed by her tiny defiance, he slid his hand and stopped precisely under her curvy waist.

“Ah… … !”

“What’s wrong? You knew it would come to this as well.”

Though his words were intimidating, his touch was full of warmth.

As if his temporary blindness was just a lie, his hands were vigorously seeking out her weaknesses and began his ruthless attack on them one after another.

Vivian was unable to stop her moans under the hands of his lascivious and stimulating touches.

On the very same bed that she had first climbed up to nurse his health, now it was herself that had been laid flatly to be enjoyed by him.

Even though she knew that the quiver she felt in her lower abdomen was wrong, she couldn’t help but to crave for his touch even more.

“We are going to marry later, anyway.”

He smiled sweetly as he kissed Vivian. Alas, Vivian was silently crying inside.

The Grand Duke wasn’t aware that despite in a dream, she was never the fiancée whom he will be married to. She was merely a stranger.

...The Seirart Empire is the home to a monstrous Grand Duke....

It was not certain how these rumors of him were shaped and pervaded. However, some declared that it was because of his deviant appearance while others had remarked on his vicious salacity.

Nevertheless, the horror had been inflicted to everyone. In fact, those who had neither seen him before nor understood him thoroughly, were already terrified of him.

The monster who was also known as the “Wolf of the Imperial Family”, had done nothing for the nation.

Apparently, the rumor that those who were close to him were even killed without any hesitation was more than enough to impose fear upon the public.

Even though people were horrified, they still made him into an interesting gossip. As the stories revolving around the nobility were always hidden from the peering eyes of the commoners, the rumors then grew increasingly vicious as days went by.

On the other hand, it was decided that the monstrous Grand Duke would be introduced to his fiancée during springtime.

The two families had never seen each other before as there were only correspondences and greetings transpired between the heads of the families.

Nevertheless, the engagement uniting the two ménages had already been determined by The Understanding Mountain that was in accordance to the oratory.

There were complaints surrounding the Count’s formalities, of course, especially in terms of responding to the engagement as it can be seen to be filled with power relations.

However, these were ultimately forgotten. This was due to the rumors encircling the monstrous Grand Duke that were far more interesting than a single person’s miniscule protest.

“Vivian!”

The sentiment was also accurate to the Countess of Britton, who was the one betrothed to that very monstrous Grand Duke.

Vivian was with her friend happily when she got startled upon hearing her name being called. There it was, the chief of the city who was looking for her.

“I just want to ask, are you going to do it in January?”

“Yes? But, I’ve done it already.”

Vivian was not only baffled, she also hadn’t the slightest idea that her face would be stretched as well.

“Even if she said that you haven’t done it at all?”

“I have…”

As Vivian yelled, she suddenly felt embarrassed and slowly closed her lips. I think I know who did it. Nevertheless, she also knew that she could never win.

“Go and kneel to the lady, now.”

Vivian stopped herself to say something and gave a slight nod. There was only one person who could have done something as firmly as that.

When she had arrived before the lady’s presence, Vivian sighed softly. The life she led had been full with obstructions, so she knew that she would never be able to avoid this.

“Do come in, Miss Vivian.”

As the door parted, she could see the face of the young countess, a face that conveyed discomfort. Vivian fell to her knees as soon as their eyes were locked on each other.

“I apologize for my mistake.”

Vivian had realized that this was not a trivial problem as indicated by the lady’s tone of voice. At that moment, she could not do much. Even if she hadn’t done anything wrong, she still had to just prostrate herself.

“We are very sorry. I beg your pardon. This is all my fault.”

“This is so half-hearted. Are you just repeating the same thing that someone asked you to?”

“I am very sorry.”

She fixed her vivacious gaze on Vivian, who was still on the ground. Then, she slowly arose from her seat and began to approach the trembling Vivian.

“Look up.”

At the moment she uttered those words, people began to move vigorously.

Vivian had panicked as she writhed uncontrollably but it only lasted for a mere second. Her transfixed grasp on Vivian had made her yielded.

Just when she had gotten closer, Vivian’s complexion turned blue. As she grew up under strong parenting, she then turned out to be a character who could never be considerate over other people.

Vivian’s complexion had changed to purple this time as she recalled the corporal punishment that was usually inflicted by this infamous young lady.

At this very moment, she hopelessly wanted her feet to miraculously become her hands.

“Hey, you.”

Yet Vivian couldn’t listen to any slashes of whip across her cheeks. Instead, the Young Countess had only lifted Vivian’s chin before turning her face to and fro.

“Don’t you want to enjoy a bloody good movie?”

Vivian was amazed at how bewildered she was by the Lady’s words. Everything that the Lady had said seemed to be some sort of a test against Vivian herself.

“You, act as Alexia Britton in my stead.”

Vivian’s own surprise seemed to leave herself speechless. Even as Vivian dared to sneak a glance over the Young Lady’s face, she didn’t look away at all.

“You look quite similar to myself and also to my physique.”

Nevertheless, she was frowning at Vivian rather than looking at her.

“The face is disparate though. I’m just glad that the person is temporarily blind.”

By the time she finished, she went back to her seat while relaxing both of her tensed hands. On the other hand, Vivian was still in a state of confusion.

Acting? Was that all you had to say?

“If I may ask, what do you mean by looking at me like that?”

“Instead of me, you are going to meet the monstrous Grand Duke—as a Britton.”

Vivian’s face was tinged with bitterness as the Young Countess had casually ignored her. If it was one of the Brittons, then it was just until a little while ago that she had been one of the people who were working for them.

Recently, the monstrous Grand Duke had to suffer from a grave illness that had been identified to be an aftermath from enjoying too much human flesh.

The rumors revolved around him were still terrorizing the masses yet, they also passed by as “word of mouth”.

Vivian was also one the masses.

She thought that she was in an insouciant situation where she had nothing to do with it. Therefore, the task hit Vivian like a thunderbolt as she was just laughing and even enjoying herself before with the rumors announcing the monster’s killing spree.

“If, if it’s about the monst—Grand Duke, isn’t it My Lady that was supposed to be in his fiancée’s place? How could I…”

“It’s fine. He never had the time to face his fiancée anyway.”

Alexia uttered as if there was no problem at all.

“When I heard about the betrothal, I thought that I was going to have a terrible fever and then, it hit me. Look at this, my horrible face. Aren’t I pitiful? So, you are to go there in my stead.”

As she was talking, she suddenly gave a frown.

“By the way, you are so filthy. Don’t you know that you smell? Have someone washed her all up.”

Vivian’s eyes flickered at the Young Lady’s surprising words. It was not before long when she got surrounded by the maids. As she tried to resist, they had her restrained before dragging her to the bath.

Vivian could not bring herself to scream as she had entered a large bathroom that was only used by the Lady rather than having her bath with the small barrels that the maids were used to. She had only realized that she was in a torturous state when an unfamiliar touch was cleaning her skin as she was soaking herself in the water.

Still and all, her body was soon lathered in an aromatic perfume and her hair was also done lustrously with scented oil, which was usually used on the Young Countess’ body.

In less than an hour, Vivian had been scrubbed clean from head to toe.

She was sitting upright in front of Alexia when she was still deemed to be unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, she was already cleansed from her original appearance.

“But, you’re still quite unpleasant.”

Alexia remarked as she brought out a hat from her closet.

“Especially those freckles of yours.”

At that moment, she placed a large brimmed hat on top of Vivian’s small head. As the attached lace had made it quite difficult to distinguish her face, a satisfying smile spread across Alexia’s face.

“This is good enough.”

Vivian carefully opened her mouth as she listened to Alexia’s humming and wondered if the Young Lady was feeling delighted.

“…My Lady.”

“No, not ‘My Lady’.”

Vivian sank horribly as she was reprimanded.

“You are Alexia from now onwards. The Young Countess, Alexia Britton.”