The Funeral

There was an entire crowd of people surrounding the Calisppo Church hall. The sounds of the bell was ringing from a distance in the capital of Amsterdam. People wore monochromatic black clothing all over.

"To the Messenger of the Kingdom Of Eleridia, the loyal servant of the Holy King, we must respect Lord Xavier Vermont von Castano's death, to who he has bravely died in an encounter of an unfortunate tragedy, rest in peace!" the Bishop gave a eulogy as he read from the Holy Biblicanas of Eleridia. He closed the book and looked down at the audience.

Soon an entry came in, a young lady covered in a black mourning dress arrived from the doorway, with a veil on her face. She lifted the hem of her skirt and came forward towards the Bishop's way. As she walked in, small whispers started happening in the sidelines:

"Is that Lady Mirabelle Cissy von Castano?"

"The Daughter of Duke Castano? This person's funeral's daughter? How disrespectful that she arrived after us- the guests,"

"How unruly for the daughter of Duke Castano to arrive before us- truly what kind of daughter is that?"

"She isn't even shedding any tears! How heartless!"

***

Whispers fleed past my ears. Today. Was the day when Duke Castano- a man- who was my father- who once never performed his fatherly duties- an overbearing workaholic man- with a cold attitude- who never looked my way- that man's funeral.

In my previous life- I did not once shed a single tear from my eyes. How could I? We never had the perfect parental-childhood happily ever after. People started calling me the 'Heartless woman.'

I clenched my fists as I forced myself to walk upon the stairs towards the Bishop.

I believe that I am the first child in the Castano Lineage who attended her father's funeral twice. The Bishop summoned me over as he announced:

"Lady Castano, your father, Lord Duke Castano, has not left a will for you because of this unexpected encountering with the King of Death, however- as the only relative and the only living child of the house- you will have full authority of the House of Castano.

However, by the primary customs of theEleridia- you did not have your debutante to the upper-class nobility, you will not be able to inherit the Dukedom temporarily. So for the time being- you'll wait on the terms of Lord Count Schein's guardianship until you reach your debutante,"

I snorted inside my mind. That's right. This is what happened in my previous life.

Meaning that I don't have the entire rule over the Dukedom until I reach sixteen. My mother's younger brother, whose face I have seen only twice in my entire two life will take care of me as my guardian.

I sneered inside my head. Lord Count Schein. Even though I have only seen him twice- I know that brat has greed locked up inside his eyes. According to Duke Castano, the entire Schein family is filled with vixens and switches; including my mother.

This is not good.

In my previous life, Lord Count Schien tried to take over all of the Dukedom; but fortunately for him... he was assassinated by me.

I wanted to bite my nails as I remembered that greedy little fox trying to steal everything. But because of my influence with the Dark Underworld, I was able to assassinate him and get away with everything. Only Lord Archduke was the only man in this entire world to be able to track me down for that man's murder a few years later.

"A criminal mastermind..." he snorted at me as he charged in with a set of guards into the Dukedom that day.

"Only Heros kill criminals. Not criminals killing criminals," I sneered back at my fiancee.

I sighed... Ah... I wanted to live a peaceful life.

***

"Where do we go now, Mademoiselle? Home?" the Butler asked me as he opened the carriage door. I nodded simply and went back home.

I needed to get some rest and rethink everything.

I don't want revenge. I really don't want to go back and destroy people's lives anymore. People called me a tyrant Ice Duchess. Typical. Some called me the Evil Queen.

Not because of my standing was equivalent to that of a Queen- because it was obvious that Archduke would become the next Emperor rather than the First Prince. And as his fiancee, my standing would be the next Crown Princess.

I sighed. That's right. I needed to take care of a few things first.

First mission to victory-

Annul the engagement!