A Contract Marriage with My Child’s Father - Chapter 76

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 76

This is a story from when the previous Count Devoroe was still alive.

Viola had accidentally torn a page from a book the Count treasured and was sniffling in fear.

The Count sat the child on his knee and whispered gently to her.

“Viola, there’s someone I respect greatly. That person always said this: The most important thing is to regret your mistakes and apologize sincerely. Only then can a person move forward.”

Young Viola held those words to her heart like gospel.

She loved the warm voice that whispered to her while she sat on his knee, and would repeat those words over and over.

‘That’s right. My family is angry because I must have done something wrong.’

So let me apologize for my mistakes.

Honestly, Viola had no idea what she had done wrong.

Even if it was something she didn’t know about…

She thought it was her responsibility to apologize and ask for forgiveness if she had upset her family.

Viola steadied her trembling legs and headed to the Countess’s room.

“Mother… I’m sorry. If I did something wrong, I’ll fix it. Please don’t be angry anymore.”

An apology delivered with as much dignity and courage as she could muster.

She didn’t expect immediate forgiveness from just one sentence. But she hadn’t expected such a piercing cold gaze either.

“…Mother?”

The Countess glared at Viola with sharp eyes, then let out a hollow laugh as she stood up.

The elegant noblewoman’s face instantly contorted like a vengeful spirit filled with resentment.

“Why am I your mother? You’re mocking me to the very end. Pretending to know nothing while laughing at me and tormenting me!”

“What do you…”

“Shut that disgusting mouth of yours right now! Just the fact that you exist makes me grind my teeth every night!”

The courage she had barely mustered disappeared, and for the first time in her life, the small girl trembled in terror.

Why was she angry?

What had she done wrong?

The Countess wouldn’t tell her anything.

Brother Reymon and sister Shurin were the same.

They only mocked and tormented her.

‘…It’s okay. Someday Mother will tell me.’

Then I’ll apologize sincerely again.

Then my family will smile at me again.

With that belief, the girl gradually lost her voice and began watching their every mood.

As those hellish days accumulated, one day…

Viola finally learned the cruel truth.

She overheard a secret conversation between the Countess and the head maid.

“It’s so disgusting I could die. Did you see her call me mother just now? How can she be so shameless!”

“My lady, please calm down. The Count said during his lifetime that Miss Viola was simply an adopted child…”

“You still expect me to believe such a flimsy lie? It’s obvious he secretly had a bastard child outside and pretended to adopt her!”

“My lady… Please calm down first…”

“Am I wrong? If that weren’t the case, why would he bring such an orphan when I was pregnant with Shurin!”

“My lady, please calm yourself. The Count would never do such a thing.”

“Calm down my foot! If she wasn’t his blood, why did he protect her so much! Do you think I’m a fool?”

“My lady…”

The elegant Countess was nowhere to be seen.

After screaming in rage, she soon collapsed to the floor, tearing at her hair and wailing.

Her bloodshot eyes were filled with a mixture of betrayal and resentment.

“He said he loved me, said he’d cherish only me forever… It was all lies! Even in death, he left behind such a bastard to drive a nail through my heart!”

Hearing the wailing through the crack in the door, Viola froze and couldn’t move her feet.

It was too painful and she didn’t want to hear anymore, she wanted to leave quickly, but her body wouldn’t move.

The Countess’s voice continued to reach her.

“Oh, my fate! Not only am I a widow, but I have to live raising some bastard child my husband brought from outside! I can’t even throw her out because of his will!”

Though they were difficult words, unfortunately children raised in abuse and neglect develop sharp instincts.

From the conversation she overheard that day, Viola realized the cruel truth.

It felt like her heart was being torn to shreds.

Learning she was adopted brought back faint memories of being an orphan, but that hardly mattered now.

A bastard child.

Dirty blood that Count Devoroe had brought after betraying his beloved wife.

Her family had hated Viola because they thought she was a bastard child.

All this time, Viola had thought her family hated her because of her mistakes.

But that was Viola’s naive delusion.

She hadn’t done anything wrong.

Rather… what was wrong was her very existence.

“The most important thing is to regret your mistakes and apologize sincerely, Viola.”

Alexander’s gentle voice echoed in her head.

Viola asked a silent question to the empty air.

Father.

No, Count.

What if…

What’s wrong isn’t my actions, but… my very existence?

‘What should I do?’

How exactly can I correct this wrong and ask for forgiveness?

Sitting collapsed on the floor, Viola wanted to ask through her flowing tears.

But Alexander, the only adult she could truly rely on, was no longer anywhere in this world.

After that day, young Viola fell into deep confusion.

Even so, she gained one cruel certainty.

No matter what she did, there was no way to apologize to her family.

The Countess, who had initially maintained minimal dignity while suppressing her emotions, gradually revealed her true nature as time passed.

On nights when she had nightmares, she would beat Viola to vent her anger, and starving her for days was commonplace.

Sometimes she would lock the girl in a narrow, cold closet where not a single ray of light entered.

Trapped in the dusty closet, Viola couldn’t even scream.

She could only crouch on the damp floor and shed bitter tears.

Passing maids would look at her with pitying eyes, but no one had the courage to stand against the Countess’s madness.

Once, overwhelmed by the fear that she might really die, she tried running away from the manor.

But there was nowhere a small child’s short legs could take her.

When Viola was caught and brought back, she was met with cold mockery.

“Think carefully, sister. Do you even have the right to run away?”

“Hey, you know you’re really shameless, right? Huh? Just an orphan. No, just a bastard thinking you could really become part of our family?”

Dragged back to the manor, Viola no longer resisted.

Since she didn’t even know how to apologize for her wrongs, the best the girl could do was silently endure until everyone’s anger subsided.

‘My family suffers because of me. Even the Count is misunderstood because of me.’

Thinking that her very existence had caused that good man to bear the dishonor of having a bastard child broke Viola’s heart.

She hadn’t wanted to cause trouble for him, at least.

But her very existence was already a great stain on him.

‘My family is right. I really am a useless child.’

A child who only caused trouble for others and didn’t even know how to apologize properly.

Viola found herself utterly despicable.

She was even shameless.

Even while thinking that she was the one in the wrong, she could see that deep in a corner of her heart, she still harbored the desire to live.

Viola endured her family’s violence with her entire body, yet desperately treated her own wounds by grinding herbs, all in order to survive.

When she applied medicine to her body, the wounds no longer hurt, but strangely, the ache in her heart never healed.

And so Viola had lived for a very long time like this.

A time she no longer wanted to remember.

But an era she could never forget, despite everything.

It was a lifetime of nightmarish memories.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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