Chapter 33…
Mother divorced Father, and he returned to his family’s count household registry — but was soon removed and became a commoner.
Marianne, being Father’s child, was also refused by his family.
Kevin divorced Catherine as well. Catherine returned to her own family’s count household registry, but was soon removed and became a commoner too.
Catherine’s child, Marianne, was to be taken in by her mother, Rosanne, but her son and daughter-in-law refused.
“Grandfather, Mother — Marianne is my sister, so she’ll grow up here.”
Marianne wasn’t even two years old yet.
If they put her in an orphanage and cut all ties, she’d probably forget she’d ever been here and live as a commoner.
But Kevin didn’t want that.
Even if they shared the same father who had become a criminal, it didn’t sit right with him that he remained a count while Marianne became a commoner.
Whatever intentions had led to her birth, Marianne herself was innocent.
“I don’t mind if she doesn’t inherit the Carmine family title. But you’ll have to remarry — won’t Marianne’s presence get in the way of that?”
“Julia said she’s fine with it.”
He had told Julia everything that had happened since then.
That Marianne had been rejected by both her father and mother’s families, and although she wasn’t of Carmine blood, Kevin wanted to take her in as his sister — Julia agreed.
“Julia, huh? She’s a good girl, but hasn’t her family also disowned her? She was divorced from her first marriage because she couldn’t have children. If she’s around your age, conceiving might be difficult. I’d say it’s fine if she stays as your mistress.”
Kevin had expected his grandfather to say that.
The fact that he wasn’t demanding Kevin to leave Julia already felt like a concession.
“Julia’s the one I want. Besides, what kind of woman would willingly marry a man who already has both an adopted child and a mistress? Only someone with circumstances — like a woman who isn’t pure, or already has a lover, or one with debts or bad spending habits, like Catherine.”
It was well known that Kevin’s father had committed adultery with his son’s wife and even tried to make their two children his heirs.
And it was also public knowledge that Kevin had a loving mistress named Julia.
So, any woman who wanted to marry into such a scandalous count family — or any parent willing to marry their daughter into it — surely had problems of their own.
“If Julia and I can’t have children, then my aunt’s grandchildren will do. They’re your great-grandchildren, Grandfather. Or better yet, I could have one of them marry Marianne.”
His aunt’s eldest son had two boys.
If it was the older one, he’d be the same age as Marianne; if the younger, then a bit below her.
“…If you have no intention of leaving Julia, then you should marry her,”
his mother said quietly.
“To share a bed and a life with someone you don’t love, just for the sake of having a child — it will only bring you pain.”
Mother probably had loved her eldest son’s biological father.
But after he died, she had been forced to marry Father for the sake of appearances.
Father already had a woman he loved, and yet Mother still had to sleep with him to bear another child.
Kevin was born — but rather than divorcing, Father dominated Mother and even committed adultery within their home.
From her own experience, Mother said that marrying someone while loving another could only lead to unhappiness.
