The next day, Dandelion found herself sitting opposite the Supreme Commander, Dex Maximilian, a man renowned for his stoic demeanor and military prowess.
"I am so sorry, but I truly hope that you reject this engagement," Supreme Commander Dex said, his voice level, his gaze direct.
'Well, this is to be expected,' Dandelion thought. A man of his stature wouldn't want a 'vicious' woman with two annulled engagements. She simply offered him a polite, serene smile.
"Of course. I don't wish to break up someone's family, either," Dandelion replied, her voice soft but firm.
Dex's stoicism momentarily cracked. He looked genuinely shocked. "H-how..."
Dandelion didn't elaborate. She merely rose to her feet, offered him a deep, respectful bow, and walked toward the door.
"How… I only found out yesterday," she murmured to herself as she stepped outside. She looked up at the vast blue sky and sighed deeply. "I'm going to disappoint Father again." She sighed once more, feeling the weight of the social disgrace settle upon her.
"Which father?" a deep, masculine voice boomed, startling her.
Dandelion froze. The voice was resonant and commanding, yet there was a strangely familiar, lingering attachment in its tone. She spun around to see Marquise Marx standing there, his face tight with anxiety, beside a very tall, muscular man with pitch-black hair and intense red eyes.
"F-Father?" Dandelion looked between the two men, unable to form a coherent thought.
"Er… let's just go home first," Marx muttered, clearly trying to manage the situation.
They were back in the Marx drawing-room, the tension so thick it was suffocating.
"So..." Marquise Marx began, fidgeting.
The red-eyed man's gaze was fixed entirely on Marx, an intense look of accusation and lingering affection. "You ran away from me, and then you dared to hide my daughter, Wife?"
Dandelion's jaw dropped. Wife?
"F-Father... tell me..." Dandelion glanced frantically at the man.
"It's nothing like that—" Marx started, but the red-eyed man interrupted him with a burst of terrifying, regal anger.
"And now that damned ugly creature dared to tarnish this King's daughter's name!" A powerful surge of mana, an overwhelming aura of royalty, radiated from the man, shaking the china on the mantelpiece.
"YOU'RE THE ONE AT FAULT!" Marquise Marx burst out, tears welling in his eyes. "You suddenly left, and that bitch succubus said you were getting married to someone else! And I didn't even know I was pregnant! Damn that woman! I didn't have anyone since you left, and I'm a mess... it's been twenty fucking years!"
Dandelion sweated slightly, watching her two biological fathers scream at each other. She had clearly just discovered her second father was actually a powerful king from a neighboring country: King Hermes.
King Hermes turned to Dandelion, his expression softening to a strange mix of adoration and apology. "Which do you prefer? A boy or a girl?"
"A b-boy?" Dandelion managed, utterly bewildered.
King Hermes simply nodded, then vanished in a flash of red light. A second later, a loud, peculiar 'pop' echoed from somewhere high up in the manor.
Dandelion started to giggle. "Hahaha… it won't be long until I have another sibling, but whatever." She waved away her weeping father and returned to her room, leaving the Marquise to collect himself.
The story of Dandelion getting her engagement annulled twice quickly became the talk of the town, fueling the established rumors about her 'vicious' nature. After one year, a new rumor surfaced: Dandelion was pregnant by an unknown man. Only Dandelion and her family knew what truly happened in that year.
One day, while Dandelion walked through the town with King Hermes—her previously unknown father—they passed the notorious Rose.
"What the?! Do you think he will last longer with you? Hmph, we'll see… as long as I am here, I will make sure you won't even have the chance to be happy!" Rose sneered, radiating pure malice.
Hearing the threat against his daughter, King Hermes was about to unleash a kingly retort, but Dandelion cut him off first.
"Just because you're a Rose doesn't mean everyone fancies you," Dandelion said calmly, dismissing the girl with a cool look before walking away with her kingly father by her side.
At the same time, the former Crown Prince Lebanon heard Rose's malicious outburst. Seeing the true character of the girl he'd chosen over Dandelion, he was bitterly disappointed, realizing the 'vicious' one was Rose all along. He dumped her that very day.