The Stand-In Villainess's Contract Marriage: I Was Divorced After a Year, But For Some Reason, My Ex-Husband Seems to Be Looking for Me - Chapter 26

Kararize Kirina had been alone since he could remember.

He still couldn’t clearly recall his mother’s face.

Kararize was born as the eldest son of the Kirina dukedom, which boasted vast territories and enormous wealth, and was also of royal blood.

His life was one of privilege, but it didn’t take long for him to understand that he was an unnecessary presence for his parents.

His mother went to live with her lover and never returned.

Whenever his father saw Kararize, he would click his tongue in annoyance. It seemed that Kararize resembled his mother quite a bit.

His father did occasionally return to the mansion due to his responsibilities as the head of the family, but he also had a mistress, with whom he bought a villa within the same royal capital to live.

It was said that the mistress had given birth to a child, and Kararize had a half-brother who looked just like his father.

Even though Kararize was subjected to a strict upbringing as the heir to the Kirina dukedom, he received not a single ounce of affection.

As days passed, Kararize’s heart gradually became hardened.

His parents had married each other without a shred of love, fulfilling only their noble duties, resulting in Kararize’s birth.

Neither parent showed any affection or even interest in their son. Eventually, his mother had another child with her lover, and it seemed that his parents ended up divorcing.

The only source of support for Kararize was his fiancée, Baroness Valentina Madaliga.

Valentina was the daughter of the Marquess Madaliga, who was a cousin of Kararize’s father, and it appeared that his father and cousin had been very close since childhood.

In his youth, Kararize’s father was a reckless son who caused a lot of trouble for those around him, and there had been talks of making his cousin the heir.

However, his father desperately wanted to continue the Kirina lineage, so he begged his cousin to allow him to become the head of the family.

The cousin had a woman he loved, and since he wouldn’t be able to marry her if he took over the Kirina dukedom, it seemed he accepted his father’s offer.

However, there was a condition: the child born from his cousin had to marry the heir of the Kirina dukedom.

Since Kararize was born to his father and Valentina was born to the Marquess Madaliga, it meant that the two were engaged from birth due to that promise.

Valentina cared for Kararize.

When he seemed a bit tired, she would notice and tell him to rest, or she would listen to him talk.

It might seem trivial, but Kararize had never had someone like her before, so he became infatuated with Valentina.

Eventually, Kararize would marry Valentina and inherit the Kirina dukedom.

To ensure that he could make her happy and protect her from everything, he focused on studying and socializing.

However, just before Kararize graduated from the noble academy, his father announced that he would make his half-brother the heir.

His half-brother, Braulio, was the son of a noblewoman from a viscount family and was three years younger than Kararize.

He looked a lot like their father, and it seemed that their father was very fond of Braulio.

Kararize, who took after his mother, was not his father’s child. His father decided to disinherit him and make Braulio the true heir instead.

Kararize was shocked by the sudden turn of events.

Indeed, his parents’ relationship wasn’t very good, but both of them had started living with their lovers after Kararize was born.

Moreover, Kararize had inherited his father’s height and eye color.

Additionally, Braulio’s personality resembled that of their father, as he was a carefree playboy who disliked studying. He didn’t seem like someone who could inherit the Kirina dukedom at all.

Most importantly, if Kararize was no longer the heir, his engagement with Valentina would also be annulled.

Thinking this way, Kararize tried to convince his father with the help of relatives, but she simply said this:

“The Kirina dukedom will be inherited by Braulio? Then starting today, my fiancé will be Braulio.”

Saying this, she entwined her arm with Braulio’s.

Since their fathers, the Marquess Madaliga and Kararize’s father, were very close, it seemed she had known Braulio for a long time.

Braulio, too, pulled Valentina closer in a way that was meant to flaunt it to Kararize.

In the end, she was just like everyone else.

Only coming close when it was convenient for her, and as soon as she felt otherwise, she switched allegiances immediately.

The two were now snuggled up to each other like long-time fiancés.

The procedures for annulling the engagement were quickly set in motion, and once Kararize graduated from the noble academy, he was set to be disinherited.

The reason they waited until graduation was that it would allow Kararize to be considered an adult, relieving his father of any obligation to support him.

As soon as he graduated, Kararize would be disinherited, and his mother refused to take him in, leaving him to be cast out into society.

Friends who knew the circumstances began to distance themselves, but Kararize no longer cared.

Both his parents and even the fiancée who had been so close to him had betrayed him so easily.

There was no way he could trust anyone else.

Kararize no longer cared what happened to the Kirina dukedom or even himself.

After all, he was needed by no one.

He began to wander the streets with gloomy eyes, not returning to the mansion or going to the academy.

It was during this time that Count Tweed took him in.

He said that he had once had a daughter who had also run away from home and wandered the streets for a while, which was why he couldn’t just leave Kararize alone. He offered him a room in his house.