About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 117

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 117. If Only She Hadn’t Borne Children
The Press Director across from me smiled with ease.
“That article was paid for by the Countess and published as requested, but the content actually favors the Young Count. We also secure our image as an ostensibly fair press.”
“I see.”
“If you find it hard to believe, why not have some tea at an outdoor café or take a walk? You’ll understand soon enough.”
Whether it was due to Gillian’s earlier advice that I could trust him, or the Press Director’s composure, I found myself thinking I should verify it myself.
‘I can always lodge a complaint after confirming it.’
Sir Jester and I went to the outdoor café as the Press Director suggested.
After ordering drinks and taking our seats, I heard men chattering at a nearby table.
“Did you see the article about the Countess?”
“I did, and I was truly shocked.”
“It was hard to believe.”
I found myself tensing inexplicably, gripping the hem of my dress. The subject they were discussing was unmistakably me.
Just then, a Newspaper Boy appeared and waved his papers, shouting loudly.
“Exclusive scoop! The Countess herself tipped off the newspaper! Everyone’s reading it!”
I worried about what people who read the article would say.
If people believed Matilda’s fabrication and it spread, managing the fiefdom would become far more difficult.
The Newspaper Boy’s cries continued.
“Divine blessing remained in the Bilsty Estate! The Young Count is alive!”
At those words, pedestrians stopped in their tracks.
“What? Is that really true?”
One passerby, startled and exclaiming in surprise, quickly bought a newspaper from the boy.
The boy, pocketing the money, became even more animated, waving the papers enthusiastically.
“It’s true! This time they’re inheriting the title! They’re returning to the fiefdom! Buy this delicious news right now!”
Then I heard the chatter of ladies at the next table.
“Oh, finally our fiefdom will be free from proxy management.”
“That woman was so detestable. The Young Count was trying to cast her out—serves her right.”
“I moved here a few years ago and didn’t know the fiefdom well when Count Bilsty was alive, but they say it was much more pleasant to live in back then?”
“Don’t even mention it. All the welfare programs we have now were created back then.”
“From what the maids who worked there say, the daughter’s character is practically saintly.”
“So that daughter has returned? Not the one who became the king’s concubine?”
“That’s right.”
One of the ladies exchanged a relieved sigh.
“Phew… When I heard the news of his death, it felt like hope vanished from the fiefdom. I’m truly relieved.”
“Indeed. My heart feels so light. I was so irritated seeing that unscrupulous woman living comfortably.”
I was utterly bewildered. The reaction was nothing like what I’d anticipated.
“Something seems odd. She ran away, so why did the Countess say her daughter was dead?”
“Right? Was she ashamed her daughter had an affair?”
At that moment, I tensed again, worried that scandalous rumors might spread.
But one of the ladies burst into loud, delighted laughter.
“A scandal? Would the Countess be embarrassed by something so trivial? You’re joking.”
The other ladies burst into laughter at her words.
“By the Countess’s standards, keeping just one mistress besides her husband is practically virtuous.”
“I can’t fathom why they even published such an article about her.”
“And it’s not as though she’s even developed the Territory.”
The ladies gossiped endlessly—not about me, but about Matilda Bilsty. They clearly despised her.
At that moment, an Elderly Man sitting alone at the adjacent table turned and interjected into their conversation.
“Bah, what foolish women! Can’t you see why they said she was dead? Ahem!”
The ladies’ eyes widened in shock at the sudden interruption.
The patrons seated throughout the Outdoor Café fell silent in unison.
All eyes converged upon the Elderly Man.
With weathered skin, a gaunt frame, and thick eyebrows that drooped downward, the Elderly Man continued in a raspy voice.
“Heh! Baron Sellen, our young mistress’s husband, was fabulously wealthy. When our young mistress married, the bride price was quite substantial!”
The Elderly Man tapped his table with one hand.
“But once she became a widow, the young mistress would have inherited the entire fortune! For the Count to seize it freely, wouldn’t our young mistress need to be dead?”
The Elderly Man paused, scratching his head with a puzzled expression.
“Or would marriage alone have sufficed?”
“Our… young mistress? Have you actually seen her, sir?”
At one lady’s cautious question, the Elderly Man coughed repeatedly before continuing.
“Of course I have! I served the young mistress in that household back then!”
At those words, Sir Jester lowered his voice and asked me quietly.
“Do you know him?”
I shook my head. No matter how I looked at him, the Elderly Man was not in my memory.
Looking more closely, his eyes seemed unfocused—he didn’t appear to be in his right mind.
“I, uh? I chopped the firewood that went into the young mistress’s fireplace with these two hands! In the empty lot behind that Mansion!”
If he had been a servant fetching firewood, I might not have known him.
The ladies who heard this exchanged only glances, their lips sealed.
It seemed they found the Elderly Man’s state peculiar and were inclined to dismiss his words.
But what he shouted next was not something that could be so easily overlooked.
“Now that I think about it, remembering the day the master passed away is making me furious.”
“Pardon?”
“That wicked woman carried on with the Coachman, and uh? If she hadn’t borne a child, our master wouldn’t have had to die!”
The ladies’ eyes bulged wide. Their jaws dropped in unison. All of them looked devastated.
The Elderly Man glared at the ladies with half-lidded eyes before turning back to face his own table.
He sipped his drink and muttered to himself.
“Tsk, shameless creatures. I shouldn’t have spoken what I knew that day… Then perhaps our master wouldn’t have ridden out in such haste and fallen from his horse.”
I was equally stunned by his bombshell words. I couldn’t comprehend what I had just heard.
In that moment, the Unknown Man I had encountered in front of the Communication Bureau came to mind.
The man who had resembled Melissa Bilsty so strikingly.
‘Could it be…?’
My heart began to pound violently.
According to the information relayed by the person I’d sent to the Mansion, the man was a Coachman, and he appeared close enough to Matilda to speak to her informally.
She also reported that the Coachman had made a strange remark.
“But he said he was dead. He definitely pushed our Melissa into the Sea…”
‘I had a feeling that mere Coachman knew far too much.’
The worst possibility.
An indescribable wave of revulsion swept across my entire body. My hand trembled violently as I covered my mouth, fighting back the urge to retch.
‘Calm down. Calm down, Priscilla. This is only speculation for now.’
First, I needed to verify the truth of what the Elderly Man had said.
But stepping forward myself, having become the center of such a controversy, felt like too much of a burden.
I bit my lip and scanned my surroundings, spotting a woman lingering nearby.
She was a Journalist who had been circling around us.
She too stood with her mouth agape in shock.
The moment our eyes met, I pulled a silver coin from my purse and showed it to her, then pointed toward the Elderly Man.
‘Interview the Elderly Man, please.’
Understanding the meaning of my glance and gesture, the Journalist shot forward like a bullet and sat down across from the Elderly Man.
“Hello, grandfather. I’m someone like this.”
She skillfully produced her press credentials.
“I happened to overhear a rather remarkable story as I was passing by. I’d like to know more about it—would you mind if I interviewed you?”
The Elderly Man blinked.
Then the Journalist smiled warmly.
“I was actually conducting research on territorial matters anyway. If you agree to the interview, I’ll even provide compensation.”
That was when it happened.
“Father! Where on earth have you been! What are you doing here!”
A large woman rushed over and wrapped her arms around the Elderly Man’s shoulders. Then she glared at the Journalist with piercing eyes.
“A Journalist? You look like you’ve caught some scoop, but my father has dementia. He just says whatever comes to mind!”
“I don’t have dementia! I’m telling you, I don’t!”
As the Elderly Man’s expression darkened, the woman spoke as though she might cry.
“Father! If you keep saying things like that, something terrible will happen! What if you get harassed! Please, let’s go!”
“I don’t have dementia!”
The woman forcibly pulled the Elderly Man to his feet while bowing profusely to everyone around.
“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! My father isn’t in his right mind!”
As the Elderly Man was led up by the woman’s hand, he strained his neck in protest.
“No, I’m not crazy! That, what was it! The Temple? No, if we just did a paternity test with magic, we could settle this!”
“Oh no! Magic disappeared, they say! Father, please! If something goes wrong and you get exiled, what will we do!”
The Elderly Man and the woman bickered as they left the Café.
The Journalist, watching the Elderly Man’s departing figure, quickly jotted down notes. Then, following them and brushing past us, she slipped me a note.
[I’ll find out the Elderly Man’s identity and address.]
After reading the note, I surveyed my surroundings.
At one corner of the table, two Musclemen were watching me intently.
[Please protect the Journalist and the Elderly Man.]
I added the message to the note, stood up, and placed it on the Muscleman’s table before leaving.
The Musclemen immediately headed in the direction the Journalist and Elderly Man had gone.
When I returned to the Newspaper Company, the Press Director broke into a wide smile.
“How was it?”
I could only say that I looked forward to working with him going forward.
As I left the Newspaper Company after our exchange, the Press Director spoke casually.
“We’re the ones who should be grateful. Ah, and whether it’s because the young Count has arrived or merely coincidence, there’s a growing atmosphere of news stories emerging from the Bilsty Estate.”
“News stories?”
The Press Director shrugged his shoulders.
“Perhaps heaven is lending a hand. In any case, do take a look at tomorrow’s newspaper.”
* * *
Meanwhile, Melissa was quite flustered.
To encounter Luderne face-to-face in the Royal Palace corridor, where the afternoon sunlight poured in brilliantly.

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