Transmigrated into Eroge as the Simp, but I Refuse This Fate-Chapter 44: Damien!

Victor didn't say another word. He simply turned, his heavy footsteps echoing through the room as he made his way toward the door. Without a glance back, he pulled it open and stepped out, the sharp click of it shutting behind him leaving Celia in complete silence.

For a long moment, she just stood there, staring at the closed door.

Her mind was a tangled mess, thoughts colliding, questions gnawing at her from every direction.

Damien ended it?

Her hands curled into fists at her sides, nails pressing into her palms. That spineless idiot—the same weak-willed fool she had humiliated time and time again—had suddenly decided to make a move like this? And not just any move, but one that cut off everything. His engagement. His father's sponsorship of her family. The lifeline that kept Everwyn Research afloat.

Something happened.

And she needed to find out what.

Bzzt.

The sudden vibration of her phone snapped her from her thoughts. She exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down her face before glancing at the screen.

A message.

@NeroV: "Hey, are you here?"

Celia stared at it for a moment, her lips pressing into a thin line.

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Just minutes ago, she had been entertained. Just minutes ago, she had been enjoying the back-and-forth, the distraction.

Now?

It was meaningless.

She locked her phone without responding, tossing it onto her desk with a dull thud.

There were far more important matters to deal with.

******

Adeline stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her with a force that rattled the crystal chandelier overhead.

How dare he?

That pig-bastard dared to call her a whore?

Her breath came sharp and fast, fury clawing its way up her throat as she paced, each step punctuated by the sharp click of her heels against the marble floor.

It wasn't the insult itself that infuriated her—no, she had been called worse. It wasn't even the fact that it had happened in front of their family.

It was the fact that Damien had dared.

The fact that he, of all people, had looked her in the eye and spoken as though he were above her. As though he had the right to humiliate her, to challenge her, to throw her name in the dirt as if she were nothing.

Adeline clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms.

It was disgusting.

He was disgusting.

She had spent her entire life meeting expectations—exceeding them. She had done everything required of an heir, shaping herself into the perfect image of power and prestige. While Damien—Damien had done nothing.

He was a disgrace. An afterthought. A leech sucking the name of Elford dry.

And yet, tonight…

Tonight, for the first time, she had seen something in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

Not fear. Not resentment. Not the pathetic, simmering defiance she had always dismissed.

No.

It was something colder. Sharper.

Something dangerous.

And that… that was what unsettled her most.

Adeline exhaled sharply, trying to push down the gnawing unease clawing at the edges of her mind. She refused to acknowledge it as anything more than anger—righteous anger. Justified anger.

And yet…

Something about Damien's gaze tonight refused to leave her.

She turned away from the mirror, pacing again, as flashes of the past flickered through her mind.

Memories of Damien.

The boy she had grown up with. The nuisance. The disappointment.

The one who always trailed behind her, always striving but never quite reaching. The younger brother who had never been strong enough to compete, smart enough to challenge, or disciplined enough to matter.

So why?

Why did she feel like she had miscalculated something?

Her footsteps slowed as she let herself sink into those memories, dissecting them in a way she never had before.

Adeline's nails dug into her arms as she wrapped them around herself, pacing the length of her room in slow, deliberate steps.

Her mind refused to quiet.

Damien.

He had always been beneath her. Always been weak. Always been the one their father dismissed, the one the world ignored. And yet, tonight, he had looked her in the eye—not with defiance, not with the pitiful desperation she had come to expect, but with something else entirely.

A quiet, taunting certainty.

It made her sick.

And yet, beneath the fury, beneath the sheer indignation of it all, something else festered—something she didn't want to name.

Unease.

She clenched her jaw, shoving the thought away. No. No, there was nothing to be uneasy about. Damien was nothing. He had always been nothing. The idea that he could ever be a threat was laughable.

And yet…

She turned, her gaze snapping toward the full-length mirror standing in the corner of the room. Her reflection stared back at her—composed, cold, untouchable. The very image of an Elford.

But beneath it, she felt the rage still boiling.

Because this—this was her mother's fault.

Vivienne.

Adeline exhaled sharply, forcing herself to stand straighter, to suppress the sudden, bitter taste that filled her mouth at the thought of her.

Of course it had been Vivienne.

It always was.

Her mother, with her quiet words and soft touches, with that patient, unwavering warmth that she had always draped around Damien like a shield. The warmth that had allowed him to stand there tonight, in front of the family, and speak to Adeline as if he were her equal.

As if he had any right.

Her fingers curled into a fist.

She had spent her entire life proving herself, perfecting herself, making sure that there was no room for doubt—no question about who was meant to inherit everything their father had built.

And Damien?

Damien had spent his entire life failing. Yet, instead of letting him rot in the mediocrity he belonged to, Vivienne had coddled him. Protected him. Kept him from breaking under the weight of his own inadequacy.

And now, he had the audacity to stand before her and act like—

Her jaw tightened.

She would not allow this.

If her mother thought she could shield him, that she could let Damien step into a world he had no right to be in, that she could let him believe—even for a second—that he could oppose Adeline and walk away unscathed…

Then she was sorely mistaken.

Adeline turned from the mirror, her mind settling, her emotions sharpening into something focused.

Damien had made a mistake tonight.

*****

By the time Damien left the dining hall and made his way toward his room, the wheels had already been set into motion.

Dominic wasn't a man who hesitated.

If he said he would do something, it was already as good as done.

By now, he had no doubt that Victor Everwyn had been informed. That Celia's father had received the cold, businesslike statement that the engagement was no more. That there would be no renegotiation. No second chances.

And Celia?

She would be finding out right about now.

Damien exhaled through his nose, a slow grin forming as he stepped into his room, shutting the door behind him.

"I really wanted to see your face…" he murmured to himself, stretching his arms.

He did want to see it.

To watch the exact moment her carefully constructed world began to crack.

But no—this was better.

If he had acted alone, if he had been the one to deliver the news, Celia might have tried something. She might have resisted. She might have twisted things against him.

Women like her knew how to manipulate. Knew how to play the victim when the situation called for it.

But this way?

The Elford family itself had spoken.

His father had announced it, made it official, made it law.

And the Everwyns?

They wouldn't accept this so easily.

No.

Victor Everwyn would want answers.

He would want to understand why the engagement was suddenly being discarded.

And Celia?

She would hate that.

That loss of control. That sudden, sharp reminder that despite how high she stood, despite how much she thought she owned the old Damien—

At the end of the day, she was still beneath the Elford name.

She could be cast aside.

And she had just been.

Damien ran a hand through his hair, his smirk deepening.

'Come on, Celia.'

'Let's see how you react.'