Marrying For Twisted Love In a Fantasy Novel

Chapter 26

Olivia put on her sweetest smile. The party’s life slowly died down as guests began to leave. Her fiance, Thomas left her side for a moment so see out guests.

Usually she’d be eager to stick close to him at all times, due to her desire to know his every move. But tonight she gave him his space.

Instead of staying by his side she went up to a secluded terrace to be alone. She knew being too clingy might annoy him. Finally she could relax tonight since that sly fox, Adrianna wasn’t in attendance.

Just thinking about her red haired cousin, annoyed her to the bone. Olivia always felt, no, she knew Adrianna tried to put her down and covet all that was hers.

But there was no need to worry. Today, at breakfast, in Adrianna's absence, the Marquis had announced that Adrianna’s wedding would be held tomorrow!

Although it seemed so sudden, Olivia was sure it would happen because of how strongly the Marquis had spoken about it. Despite the protests from the Marchioness, the wedding would hold.

From there on, things would go smoothly for Olivia. She’d be Countess Farret in a few months time. A perfect life here as a leading socialite with a lovely family.

During the party, nobles had already began to treat with her with such high regard. Almost as if she were already the Countess. To her, it felt like just yesterday when the Southern nobles would whisper about her and Cardin, with tones of disgust.

“Can those two even be called nobles?”

“I wonder what the Marquis wants to do, raising those orphans”

“I hear their paternal family took away all their property”

“Why do they answer the Deor name even? It’s their maternal name”

“Pfft. That means they have nothing in their name!”

“What a waste it’d be, befriending them”

Eventually, Cardin’s status was elevated. Nobles began treating him with respect because he was declared the successor of the Deor family.

Meanwhile, Olivia was still a subject of their scorn; Having nothing but the Deor last name linking her to high society.

In the Empire, and moreso, the precarious South, a woman’s worth was evaluated based on the family she would marry into. And notable families only approached ladies who’d be of use to them.

How would, Olivia Deor, niece of the Marquis, be of any substantial use, to a noble man?

With these thoughts in mind, she always felt envious of the Marquis’ only legitimate daughter, Adrianna Deor. She had seen the amount of marriage proposals pouring in for her. Various suitors vied for Adrianna’s attention. Every single of one of them, turned down by the picky lady.

Maybe that was also one of the reasons she had began hating Adrianna. Her dislike for her cousin has stemmed from the envy directed towards the almighty Adrianna. Sometimes she wished that they could just trade places.

Other times, very often, she also wished Adrianna could just disappear. Her mere existence had always intimidated Olivia.

The sheer joy Olivia had, upon receiving an engagement proposal from Count Farret. It was undescribable.

Olivia suddenly was brought out from her thoughts as she bumped into somebody.

“Oh! Can’t you see where you’re going?!”

She became furious that someone had collided with her, making her almost fall. If it were at another venue, she might have reacted by shoving the person, but since this was the manor of Count Farret, her fiance, she barely managed to contain her calm image.