Chapter 1: Scarlett Rossi

Scarlett Rossi is the eldest daughter of Marquess Armacynt Rossi. She possesses a bewitching beauty; fiery scarlet hair that she inherited from the Rossi bloodline, enchanting blue eyes from her mother, an hourglass body and voluptuous chest, and porcelaine skin.

People would naturally think that nothing is impossible if you possess this level of beauty. But for Scarlett Rossi, who had a rough childhood, it's the other way around. She is the infamous villainess of Valoria Empire. In reality, she's the opposite. She's the kind of person who will put the well-being other people before her.

People would have thought that she is living a luxurious and comfortable life as a daughter of a marquess. Well sorry to disappoint you but Scarlett lived her life in the marquisate. She lived there inconspiciously but she was still subjected to gossips and mockery to the point that she became numb to it.

Scarlet was never in good terms with her siblings. His older brothers treated her as if she does not exist. To be honest, she thought that it was for the best, unlike her annoying younger sister who kept bullying her and scheming to make her look like the villainess.

The common physical trait of the Rossi Family are scarlet hair and emerald eyes. Since Scarlett has blue eyes, this made her the target of mockery. The reason for this is due to the origin of her birth.

Scarlett's birth mother was not Marchioness Rossi, instead, she was a maid in the Rossi Marquisate. After giving birth to her, her mother unfortunately passed away. She was never treated as a real Rossi because of this. Her father was aware of the indifference of the people around hair but chose not to care. She lived in there as if she was dead. She withdrawn from the people around her and acted strong.

Until a faithful day came, when the marquess told her that she will be bethrothed to the second son of Duke De Carlo, Luca De Carlo. Scarlette was engaged to him for 9 years since she was 12 years old.

Luca De Carlo the future Duke of the De Carlo Dukedome was one of the elligible bachelors in the empire due to his exquisite facial features, dashing honey blond hair, and deep blue eyes. Luca is also a royalty. His mother is the current emperor's younger sister.

At first, the news that she will be bethrothed to someone she doesn't know, scared her. But after meeting Luca, Scarlett gradually opened her heart for him and fell in love. For her, he's the first person to treat her like human being. The first person who showed that someone in this forsaken world cared about her.

It happened on the her 12th birthday, Scarlett was walking around the garden looking for her younger sister, Clara. Clara played a prank on her which caused her to trip on a stone. Scarlett sustained wounds on her knees, Clara laughed at the sight of her sister crying on the floor behind her were her maids. Scarlett look at her sister with an expressionless face. She can't even cry because she was used to this kind of treatment by her own kin. She just stood there while looking at the blood flowing from her knees. She felt numb.

"What are you doing?!" A shout was heard in the garden. A boy with blond hair and eyes as blue as the ocean strode towards where Scarlett was. She stand infront of Scarlett with a sad expression. Scarlett looked at him, puzzled why he had that expression pn his face. As if he was the one who's feeling the pain. He then kneel infront of her and checked the wound on her knees.

"Hey, does it hurt? Here take my handkerchief." he said. "....." Scarlett only stood there looking at the boy who's rolling his handkerchief on her wound to stop the bleeding. "What are you doing?" She asked. "I'm trying to stop the bleeding. Let me bring you to the doctor." He replied. He then looked at Clara who was silently standing in the corner with her maids like a scared puppy. He clenched his fist and glared at her which made her ran away from the scene. That was the day that she open her heart for Luca De Carlo. She can vividly remember his eyes that day. It was the first time that someone looked at her like that.

After the engagement, Luca visited Scarlett every 2 weeks to play and study. They studied together and went to different places. They became good friends and each other's confidant. This became something that she always looked forward to. It is also the reason why she was able to endure all those years of suffering in the marquisate.

This sweet moments continued until her 20th birthday. Luca drastically changed, from sweet Luca that she knew, to the cold Luca that she's married now.

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It was a cold evening, the same day when he arrived with his mistress. Scarlett was sitting in the balcony with her leg crossed drinking a 100-year old wine while looking at the view outside. She is not a fan of alcohol, but she felt like she needed it now. 'I think I remember it now. That girl looked eerly familliar.' Scarlett thought. She recalled the day when Luca and her went to the capital when they were 18. They went to the capital for the founding festival. After the successful escape from their maids and knights they decided stroll in the night market. They were curious because it's a place where the nobility rarely go. "Hey, Luca! Where are we going? I don't think heading this direction is safe." Scarlett uttered. "Scarlett, don't be a scardedy cat. My friends in the academy told me that going here is fun! Luca replied while smilling. "But, do you think this is the right direction? There's no one in this alley." Scarlette asked. "Okay let's--" Before Luca can finished his sentece they heared scream of a girl.

"Aaaaaa, don't touch me! Get a way from me!" Luca ran towards the scream. "Luca! Wait for me! Don't go there, it's dangerous!" Scarlette protested. When they followed the scream they saw a commotion. A group of tugs were surrounding a woman around their age.

"Hey! Why are you not answering! Tell me where is your father! That guy hasn't paid the money that he borrowed from us!" The guy was about to raise his hand to the girl, but Luca punched him first. "Ha!" the thug spat and wiped the blood on his lips. The thug leader punched Luca in the stomach, which caused him to squirm in pain. "Luca!!" Scarlett shouted. "It looks like we hit jackpot here! These guys look loaded. Hey you! If you don't want to be harmed give us your money!" Scarlett whispered to Luca, "Hey, what should we do now?" He replied, "When I tap your shoulder, run." He also whispered the same to the poor girl. Luca tapped my shoulder and we began to run. Luckily there was a group of capital knights headed to our direction that's why the thugs failed to chase us. The three of us where chasing our breaths and laughed. "Thank was fun!" Luka uttered. "Which part of that was funny? We were nearly robbed abd you were punched in the stomach!!" I shouted angrily. "Scarlett, I'm fine, okay?" He replied. "Oh by the way, are you okay?" The girl looked at us and put her hood down, I was stunned by the sight because she was beautiful, golden platinum hair and breathtakingly green eyes. Luka was silent for a moment. The girl opened her mouth and said, "I'm okay thanks to you. If you were not there I don't know what will happen to me." She said with teary eyes. "Oh, it was nothing, by the way do you live near here?" Scarlett asked. "Actually, I have nowhere to go, I kept wondering the street because my father has a huge debt those people were chasing us." She replied. Scarlett felt bad for her but she couldn't do anything since she's not close with her family. "How about staying in the dukedome temporarily?" Luka said. Scarlett was delighted by the idea since she felt bad leaving the girl in the street. "Really, is that really okay?" The girl replied with tears in her eyes. "Yes, I will tell the duke that you're our friend. By the way, I'm Luca and this is my Fiance Scarlett. What's your name?" He asked. "My name is Camilla." She replied shyly while wipping the tears from her eyes.

After that incident, Luca, Camilla, and Scarlett would ocassionally go to the capital together to have fun. His visits to the marquisate became infrequent. Camilla stayed in the De Carlo Dukedome for almost a year until his father picked him up to move to the border.

Scarlett realize that the woman his husband brought was their childhood friend, Camilla. "Why did I not realized that back then? Was I too naive?" Tears fall down from her eyes. She could never imagine that Luca and her friend will do this to her. Yes, Luca gradually became cold to her from that incident but she nevel thought that it's because somethinf was going on between the two. Despite his coldness, she kept clinging to Luca because she thought that he felt the same way. Scarlett also recalled that he became more distant at her whenever the three of them were together.

Scarlett is a bit intoxicated due to low her low tolerance of alcohol. She decided to go to Lucas' room because she missed him so much. She wanted him to say that he missed her too. Scarlett grabbed her white robe and wore it. Most of the lights in the hallway are switched off, the cold breeze of the autumn night brushed her skin. Weird sounds kept echoed in the hallway "Ughh... Luca...!" Scarlett knew that if she take a few steps forward, there's no turning back. "Nghhh... Ahhh.. Faster, Luca!!!" She took a few steps forward, knowing that it will hurt her a lot. She wants to see it with her own eyes. "Ahh.. Camilla.. Ughh!!" The door was halfed open when she arrived, lights were switched off, she saw Camilla naked on top of her husband while kissing him. Tears stream down on her porcelain skin. 'So, that's it. This is the end.. well, did we even started? Am I the only one who felt that way? I'm so stupid.' Painful thoughts flashed through her mind while standing frozen in front of the door before she decided to go back to her room.