About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 11

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

Chapter 11. There She Is!
However, the first-class cabin was guarded far more strictly.
The sailors standing guard wore different uniforms. Even when Melissa Bilsty tried to speak with them, they remained vigilant and refused to engage in conversation.
The three of us, after much deliberation, decided to sneak into the first-class cabin under the cover of night.
But just then, a thoroughly intoxicated third-class passenger had already approached the first-class section ahead of us.
The disheveled drunk ignored the guards’ warnings and recklessly lunged at them.
The first-class guards brutally subdued the drunken passenger and called for additional crew members.
The burly sailors dragged the drunk to one side and beat him mercilessly.
“Ugh! Where in the world do you beat a paying passenger like this!”
Despite his protests, the sailors hurled curses at the drunk.
“Do you even know where you are! Huh!”
“Be grateful we’re not throwing you overboard!”
“Please! Please spare me!”
The drunk finally managed to secure his release only after profusely apologizing for his transgression.
Afterward, that drunk spent the entire night groaning in agony in a corner of the third-class cabin where twenty people shared a single room. No mercy was extended to a passenger who had violated the ship’s rules and suffered the consequences.
After witnessing the entire scene, Count Veloda Genoma found himself utterly unable to muster the courage to sneak into the first-class cabin.
And so morning arrived.
“Are we really on this ship? Did we board or did we end up somewhere else?”
Matilda Bilsty, sitting in the third-class dining hall and chewing bread, spoke with a twisted mouth, and Melissa Bilsty answered soothingly.
“We saw that escort man turn back alone at the harbor. He must have boarded the ship.”
“That’s correct. The security around Roban isn’t particularly good, so most people prefer the sea route.”
Count Veloda Genoma then shook his head slowly.
“If the land route had been safe, our family’s circumstances would have been far better.”
Matilda’s brow furrowed menacingly.
“But why isn’t she showing up?”
“The first-class cabin is quite comfortable, after all…”
Bang!
At Count Veloda Genoma’s conclusion, Matilda Bilsty struck the dining table forcefully.
“Here we are chewing this wretched bread, while she enjoys comfort in the first-class cabin? That wicked woman!”
The more I thought about it, the more my anger surged.
“And with all that money, she pretends to have nothing?”
Matilda Bilsty clenched her teeth.
“I was a fool. I must have been far too kind to her.”
Matilda Bilsty was genuinely regretting her actions.
I should have confiscated Priscilla’s identification documents and seals from the start.
Had I done so, Priscilla wouldn’t have been able to board this ship, and I wouldn’t be suffering like this either.
“Sigh, that vicious woman… Does she think only she deserves to eat well and live comfortably?”
Matilda Bilsty, consumed by rage, spewed forth harsh words.
“I raised her with such effort, and she grew up to be so selfish and shameless.”
Matilda Bilsty muttered while twisting her wrinkled lips into a sneer.
“Just thinking about squeezing into first class after choking down this pathetic breakfast is already giving me a headache.”
Melissa and Count Veloda Genoma nodded along for a moment, humoring Matilda’s curses.
But as her tirade showed no signs of ending, the two of them simply let it wash over them and sighed.
Matilda’s grumbling was exhausting, and the monotonous meals were equally tiresome.
Plain bread and cabbage soup, wilted vegetables and low-quality sausage, scrambled eggs with potatoes.
The food at Baron Sellen’s Estate hadn’t been particularly good either, but the third-class dining menu was far worse.
It seemed the leftover ingredients from first class filtered down through second class before finally reaching third class.
“Sigh… how much longer must I endure this?”
As Count Veloda Genoma picked at his food and couldn’t hide his sigh, Melissa forced a smile.
“But they say first-class passengers will be at tonight’s party too. The food is supposed to be delicious, and it should be quite entertaining.”
“Then it would be better to rest well and look for her in the evening. If we still can’t find her, we’ll have to seize the opportunity when we disembark.”
At Count Veloda Genoma’s response, Matilda nodded as well.
“Right. Let’s search tonight. I can’t stomach any more of this. At my age, wandering around searching everywhere is so exhausting.”
Irritated, Matilda wielded her fork hurriedly.
“Let’s finish eating and go rest.”
When the three of them had stuffed themselves and left the third-class dining hall, the sea breeze blew in regardless of their mood, tousling their hair.
Sunlight shattered across the blue sea like diamonds, breathtakingly beautiful.
“It is lovely, isn’t it?”
Momentarily captivated by the scenery, Melissa gazed around at the sky and sea when Matilda let out a derisive snort.
“Stop talking like a fool. Does the sea’s beauty put food on the table or buy you dresses?”
Then Melissa hastily grabbed Matilda’s sleeve and lowered her voice.
“Oh, Mother! There, there she is!”
Matilda and Count Veloda Genoma looked toward where Melissa was pointing.
On the second-class deck, a sky-blue dress and long blonde hair fluttered in the sea breeze.
Though I couldn’t tell what she was looking at, the owner of the sky-blue dress gazing toward the inner deck was none other than Priscilla.
After staring at one spot for a while, Priscilla lowered her head briefly before disappearing from their view.
“What is she doing, acting so pathetic?”
Though she spoke reproachfully, warmth colored Matilda’s voice.
In truth, Matilda was delighted. She felt as though she’d found a treasure chest.
Every time they met, she could extract something from Priscilla. She had never failed to wring money out of her before.
Her husband apparently couldn’t forget Priscilla—he’d resisted stamping the marriage contract—but once they encountered each other again, she’d make him come to his senses and admit his wrongdoing.
This was the faith Matilda held in Priscilla.
One remaining concern.
The possibility that Priscilla wasn’t aboard the ship.
If Priscilla had chosen another path, she would have had to track down the distant Baron Sellen’s Estate again, which would have been inconvenient and infuriating. But now that problem had been solved.
“It’s fortunate she’s been found.”
Count Veloda Genoma, who had spent every last coin on passage, was also suffering from the economic pressure that had suddenly returned.
So relief naturally escaped him as well.
He clenched his fists tightly.
‘My entire life depends on this. I absolutely cannot let her slip away.’
The inheritance Priscilla held was staggering—easily ten thousand gold coins, if not more.
And she was a woman who possessed three thousand gold coins in her actual hands.
Therefore, I had to persuade Priscilla and bring her back as my wife.
‘If that proves impossible, I’ll resort to force.’
Count Veloda Genoma surveyed his surroundings.
An endless expanse of sea.
As night fell, the Oselia Archipelago would draw closer, but it would still be ocean.
As Count Veloda Genoma entertained these various thoughts, his gaze settled upon one person.
Melissa Bilsty, with whom he had spent the night and made numerous plans.
The moment their eyes met, Melissa Bilsty lifted one corner of her mouth as if she had been waiting.
Count Veloda Genoma was a useful man to Melissa Bilsty in many ways—one who followed orders without question. His only drawback was his lack of wealth.
But that was hardly a significant problem.
Money was abundant with the foolish Priscilla. Poverty would soon be resolved.
However, it seemed Matilda Bilsty’s influence had reached its limits, whether because Priscilla’s mind had grown sharper or for other reasons.
Thus, stronger methods were necessary.
Melissa Bilsty withdrew a small rolled parchment from her bosom.
“Shall I present it first?”
It was the magical scroll she had mentioned before.
She had told Count Veloda Genoma that she had helped an Old Woman whose leg had been broken around last year, but most of it was a lie.
Melissa Bilsty had met the Old Woman half a year before she knew Count Veloda Genoma.
It was around the time when the widowed Priscilla had just been brought to the Bilsty Estate.
Back then, Matilda Bilsty and Melissa Bilsty had gone together to pick wild strawberries.
As evening fell, the two discovered an Old Woman with a broken leg deep in the Forest. The Old Woman appeared to be fleeing from something, terrified and utterly exhausted.
The Old Woman wept and begged the two for help.
Melissa Bilsty and Matilda Bilsty asked her what had happened, and the Old Woman revealed that she was being hunted by the Doerban Empire.
In exchange for hiding her, she offered a magical scroll.
She said that since magic had become extremely rare lately, it could be sold for a very high price.
Then Melissa Bilsty and Matilda Bilsty heard something jingling from the Old Woman’s bosom.
After confirming no one was nearby, the two assured the Old Woman they would help her, then attacked her without warning.
From the unconscious Old Woman’s bosom came a considerable amount of precious metals. There were also quite a few gold coins from both the Arde Kingdom and the Doerban Empire.
Judging by the Old Woman’s shabby appearance, they suspected the valuables had been stolen from somewhere.
Matilda Bilsty and Melissa Bilsty took the precious metals and abandoned the unconscious Old Woman in a desolate place.
The rest would be handled by the wild dogs.
And when they returned to that location days later to confirm, it was exactly as they had hoped.
Only the Old Woman’s torn clothing and bone fragments remained.
Days later, an Elderly Fortune Teller who claimed to have come from the Doerban Empire visited the mansion with two hired mercenaries.
She, with a large wart at the end of her hooked nose, asked about the Old Woman.

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