Chapter : 5
At the unexpected remark, Patron’s eyebrow twitched as he asked in disbelief.
“Why is my ex-wife being brought up here?”
“She’s behind you.”
“You may come in.”
At Clitaim’s words, the firmly closed door opened, and Nestra entered the room.
“Are you really going to do this?”
“……Didn’t I tell you to stay quietly in your room?”
“Not just anyone. A woman is coming here, and you expect me to stay still?”
Nestra was extremely indignant as she glared at Clitaim, who was sitting across from her.
She looked like a tragic heroine who had been robbed of what belonged to her, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
‘Anyone watching this would think I’m the villain.’
Her role in the novel was indeed that of the villainess’s mother, but this particular situation wasn’t her fault.
Nestra had brought it upon herself.
When Clitaim continued to hold her head high with such confidence, Nestra gave a disbelieving laugh and approached her.
“Do you not understand what’s happening right now?”
Why are you still here? Why aren’t you leaving?
At the question directed at her, Clitaim continued the conversation with a calm expression.
“I overlooked that childish prank of yours, so please overlook something this minor as well.”
“What?”
“You were the one who damaged the tea table earlier, weren’t you?”
The table that had been ruined a little while ago.
Considering how quickly and efficiently the Grand Duke’s servants had moved, there was little chance that any of them had done it.
Which left only one suspect.
‘This is exactly like the original.’
Perhaps because she hadn’t interfered with this part much yet, events were faithfully following the original plot.
Though that would gradually change from now on.
Nestra had been caught off guard, but pretended not to know and put on an act.
“There are several servants here. How can you simply assume that I did it?”
The fact that she had suddenly switched from informal speech to polite speech was already a clumsy giveaway.
Clitaim considered pushing her further by bringing up her affair and completely crushing her spirit.
But she decided against it.
If you corner a rat too much, even a rat will bite a cat.
However—
“When will I be able to see Calix, Your Grace?”
Since we’re going to become family now, shouldn’t I at least meet him?
Calix and Patron did not have a good relationship.
That was something she could tell even without relying on the original novel.
From people’s gossip, and from the occasional scenes at banquets, the relationship between the father and son was so cold that one might think they would be better off as strangers.
That was one thing.
Whether they liked it or not, Clitaim would be living with them for at least a year.
So she should at least be properly introduced.
At Clitaim’s suggestion, Patron answered that he would arrange a meeting soon.
At that, Nestra’s face twisted instantly, and her voice rose again.
“Are you insane? Who is that woman to see our son?”
“Because she—”
“She will be my wife, and the person who will become our son’s parent.”
Clitaim was about to answer, but Patron spoke first.
Her eyes widened slightly at his sudden intervention.
Meanwhile, after hearing his answer, Nestra’s eyes grew moist, and she murmured in a trembling voice.
“Are you really…… getting remarried?”
“Yes.”
Nestra let out a hollow laugh and left the reception room.
The scene made it look as though Patron were the perpetrator and Nestra the victim.
Clitaim found the whole thing absurd.
‘Was that gaslighting?’
Acting as though someone else had done something wrong when you were the one at fault.
Clitaim had vaguely heard about gaslighting in her previous life.
She had only known about it through the media, so this was the first time she had witnessed something like it firsthand.
For some reason, she felt a little sympathetic toward him and offered a few words of consolation.
“It seems the person who did wrong is the one getting angry instead.”
At her murmur, which was almost like she was talking to herself, Patron looked at Clitaim with an expression devoid of emotion.
“It wasn’t your fault, Your Grace.”
She responded with an awkward expression before leaving with a slight bow.
Patron stared at the door through which she had disappeared for a long while before turning his gaze away.
‘He didn’t seem to have any lingering feelings.’
Nestra might have, but Patron certainly didn’t seem that way.
Every word that came from his mouth carried an icy chill.
‘Is he keeping her here because of the child?’
Nestra was the daughter of a marquess.
Although her family wasn’t as powerful as the Grand Duke’s, it was still one of the empire’s prestigious noble families.
In other words, she had enough power to silence most of the criticism she would receive if she remarried.
Even if Nestra were divorced and remarried, there would probably be quite a few men willing to marry her simply because of her family background.
From Patron’s perspective, there was no reason to stubbornly keep his former wife around.
Unless it was because of the child.
‘If she’s the child’s parent, I suppose that makes sense.’
Emotional stability was important for a child.
Having roughly understood the situation, Clitaim headed toward the garden where Electra was.
But someone blocked her path.
“Baroness Schulz.”
“Oh, Young Master Calix.”
Speak of the devil.
The original male lead was standing right in the middle of the hallway, waiting for her.
Clitaim raised the corners of her lips slightly in response to his greeting.
“What did you talk about inside?”
Unlike the usual roundabout questions she had heard from nobles in high society, Calix asked it directly without beating around the bush.
Clitaim was slightly taken aback before opening her mouth.
“We just talked for a moment. Is there some problem—”
“Liar.”
Unlike the nobles she had encountered countless times in high society, Calix was more honest and direct than anyone she had ever met.
“You deceived everyone with lies. Were you planning to deceive me too?”
He provoked Clitaim by bringing up the incident that followed her around like a permanent label.
Of course, she wasn’t naive enough to fall for a child’s provocation.
“His Grace is in the room at the very end of the hallway on the right.”
Avoiding the question, she naturally tried to walk past him.
But Calix, being as direct as he was, had no intention of letting her go so easily.
“Are you planning to become family?”
Faced with a question she couldn’t dodge, Clitaim stopped walking and turned toward Calix.
It was impossible to simply ignore such a question.
‘Should I tell him the truth?’
He seemed to already know.
Had he heard because they had spoken too loudly, or was he simply perceptive?
At least, she was relieved that no provocative words such as mistress or lover had been used.
They weren’t things a child should hear.
Clitaim chose her words carefully, intending to explain it in a way suitable for a child.
But then—
“Yes, we will become family.”
Electra appeared from behind Calix and answered for her.
Clitaim had thought she was playing with the dog.
Electra smoothly walked past Calix and approached Clitaim.
She gave her mother a gentle smile before delivering a sharp remark toward Calix.
“And no matter how much you dislike her, I think it’s rude to speak to my mother that way.”
At the pointed remark, Calix couldn’t say anything.
He could only glare at Electra.
Clitaim stepped in to lighten the atmosphere.
“Since you’ve gotten your answer, we’ll be going now.”
Electra, let’s go.
Clitaim held out her hand to the child.
Electra deliberately interlocked her fingers with her mother’s.
Calix stared blankly at the sight.
Then, as though suddenly coming to his senses, he stomped away down the hallway.
Once Calix’s shadow disappeared into the distance, Electra let out a deep sigh and returned to her usual lively self.
“He’s so prickly.”
I’m really going to become family with someone like that?
Clitaim couldn’t hide her surprise as she looked at Electra casually muttering to herself.
‘Did Electra have a side like this?’
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.
When Clitaim still looked bewildered, Electra added matter-of-factly,
“Kids know things too.”
She must be angry. Anyone would be if someone suddenly barged into their home.
The words contained so much meaning that Clitaim’s heart sank.
Then the words that followed made her heart ache with emotion.
“So don’t keep everything bottled up by yourself.”
Besides, I’ve been acting spoiled all this time without even realizing it.
Electra’s ears were bright red like ripe strawberries as she complained affectionately.
Bang!
A chair was violently thrown across the floor.
Theo, the head butler of the Schulz household, hurriedly picked up the chair, clearly flustered, and quickly returned to his place.
Hailey was breathing heavily with rage.
This time, he swept all the neatly arranged books off the table.
The floor quickly became a mess of scattered books.
“That damn woman……”
He let out ragged breaths and looked around with beast-like eyes.
Everything he possessed.
None of it truly belonged to him.
He wouldn’t even have obtained his title if Duke Verden hadn’t recommended him.
But Hailey hadn’t made no sacrifices either.
Hadn’t he married a woman everyone despised?
If he hadn’t done so, it was obvious that Clitaim would have been reduced to nothing more than an old woman hidden away in the back rooms.
“And now she divorces me after I’ve finally made a decent living?”
What kind of mentality is it to abandon your husband the moment you’re comfortable?
His emotions, which had briefly settled down, began to surge again, and he was about to cause another uproar when—
“Stop!”
Camilla, who had been standing outside the door, entered and stopped him.
At her appearance, Hailey hesitated for a moment.
“Do you really need to hurt yourself over a woman like that?”
Camilla deliberately came running in with tears in her eyes.
She took Hailey’s injured hand and whispered affectionately.
Hailey stared at her for a moment before suddenly furrowing his brows and shaking off her hand.
“I told you not to do that at the banquet!”
“……But you liked it.”
Since that day, the servants’ gossip about Camilla had become even worse.
Some openly cursed her.
Servants from other noble households also heard about it and came to the baron’s residence, mocking her for not knowing her place.
To be honest, Camilla hadn’t wanted to humiliate Clitaim by bringing up their relationship in bed.
She had simply wanted to defeat her mistress more elegantly and take the position of lady of the house.
But for the person who should have been on her side more than anyone else to react like this—
Camilla couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
She murmured with a stunned expression.
But the anger on Hailey’s face showed no sign of disappearing.
“Me? When did I?”
He instead sneered and shamelessly lied.
Camilla slowly clenched the hand that had been hanging in the air and stepped backward.
She glared coldly at Hailey.
But he didn’t notice.
He only continued ranting even more fiercely.
For a moment, Camilla remembered the warning Clitaim had given her before leaving the mansion.
—“You should be careful too. He’ll take his anger out on you now.”
‘Take his anger out on me.’
Camilla already knew that Hailey treated his wife emotionally and had a violent temper.
She had been Clitaim’s personal maid.
She had watched Clitaim being beaten from right beside her and had even treated her injuries herself.
There was no way she wouldn’t know.
That foolish woman had endured all that pain because of her child, swallowing her suffering again and again.
‘But I’m different.’
I’m not like that woman who stupidly endured everything.
Camilla glared at Hailey, who was still ranting only about what he wanted to say.
Even though the atmosphere had changed in an instant, he didn’t seem to notice.
After listening to him ramble for a long while, Camilla straightened from her kneeling position and stood.
She was about to leave the room when she suddenly noticed a wedding photograph of Hailey and Clitaim lying on the floor.
The frame had shattered from the impact of the fall, and ugly fragments were scattered across the floor.
There wasn’t even a trace of joy from their marriage in the expressions of the two people in the photograph.
“……It was all my fault, wasn’t it? Everything the Baron said was right.”
She murmured as though speaking to herself.
Then, once again, she put on a bright smile to please the Baron.
