About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 149

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

Chapter 149. That Day at the Tavern with Me
Jeanne, the countess of Raber Salon Pree, devoted herself to attending the meal with utmost courtesy, and even after the four of them finished eating and left their seats, she diligently cleared the table.
Jeanne worked remarkably hard under Melissa Bilsty’s supervision.
When alone with Melissa Bilsty, she endured verbal abuse and physical violence.
Back when she lived in the Slums, she had thought such treatment was acceptable. As long as she remained still regardless of what the other person did, she wouldn’t be struck, and she was earning money besides.
But after meeting Madame Laber and Priscilla, her perspective changed.
Being assaulted was certainly not something to accept passively. Priscilla had also warned her never to find herself in such situations.
Yet Jeanne endured Melissa Bilsty’s verbal abuse and violence. She persevered even when the other maids abandoned their posts and fled, conducting herself obediently.
It wasn’t because she thought being struck across the cheek was better than being hit with a fist. It wasn’t that she was content with her lot.
She hoped that only she would remain by Melissa Bilsty’s side.
That way, Melissa Bilsty would trust her more deeply, feel at ease, and speak freely.
As a result, when Melissa Bilsty departed for the Bilsty Estate with Zerox, she chose Jeanne as her own hands and feet, and Jeanne took on the responsibility of attending to Melissa Bilsty’s meals and tidying her chambers during this journey.
Her patience had borne fruit.
When the ship departed hastily, Melissa Bilsty sought additional auxiliary labor for menial tasks. Jeanne quickly recommended her own mother.
Thus, there were now two of Priscilla’s allies aboard the Royal Ship.
After finishing the table arrangements, Jeanne completed a late meal with her mother and made her way to Melissa Bilsty’s chamber.
Bringing paper and pen with her.
While cleaning Melissa Bilsty’s chamber yesterday, she had discovered a box hidden deep within. She had read its astonishing contents carefully, and today was the turn to make copies.
Since the annulment lawsuit was filed against Priscilla, Jeanne had been collecting copies of every document discovered thus far, preserving them as best she could.
To deliver them to Priscilla when they met.
Today, given the nature of the contents, she intended to focus entirely on copying.
Jeanne’s mother planned to keep watch while finishing the cleaning.
As she and her mother crossed the deck toward the chamber, Jeanne encountered Baron Ugly.
The sight of Baron Ugly stopping in his tracks and narrowing his eyes appeared truly grotesque to Jeanne.
Yet Jeanne didn’t find it difficult to look at. It was familiar, and she felt only a sense of shared suffering.
Having encountered a nobleman, it was a simple matter to bow her head in greeting and pass by as usual.
But her mother stopped walking. Her eyes widened in surprise.
Baron Ugly’s brow furrowed as well.
“Mother, let’s go quickly.”
Flustered by the sudden situation, Jeanne quickly pulled at her mother’s arm.
Baron Ugly’s gaze, which had been fixed on her mother, now turned toward Jeanne.
Jeanne hastily bowed her head to him.
“Forgive our rudeness.”
Following her daughter’s lead, Jeanne’s mother also quickly bowed her head.
Just as they were passing Baron Ugly, he suddenly called them to a halt.
“Wait. Both of you, stand there. I need to confirm something.”
Jeanne turned around, feeling a sense of dismay.
“What is the matter, sir?”
“That day at the tavern with me… Is that right?”
Jeanne’s heart sank.
I found myself unconsciously recalling whether she had ever served that man during her previous work at the tavern.
Yet no matter how hard I tried to remember, the memory wouldn’t surface. If someone with such a striking presence and refined bearing had ever visited a tavern in the Slums, I would have remembered instantly.
“N-no, you must be mistaken, sir.”
Jeanne’s Mother was the first to respond.
She had kept her head down since Baron Ugly first spoke, and now she trembled visibly.
“Mistaken? More than twenty years have passed and you’ve aged, but I remember the woman I saw at that tavern back then…”
At the Baron’s certainty, Jeanne’s Mother’s face flushed crimson.
“My lord, please… My daughter is listening.”
At her plea, Baron Ugly fell silent for a moment before asking Jeanne.
“Are you… her daughter?”
“… Yes.”
“You don’t seem to resemble your mother much.”
It was something I heard often. It meant I was less attractive than my mother.
“I’ve been told I take after my father.”
“Told? Have you never seen your father?”
Jeanne’s words caught in her throat. She couldn’t understand why he was asking about her father.
But when she saw Baron Ugly’s eyes narrow, Jeanne answered without hesitation.
“No. I apologize. I don’t know my father.”
Jeanne knew well that nobility disliked when those of lower station wasted their time.
“Why not?”
“I’ve been told he was never present from the time I was born.”
“…”
The look in Baron Ugly’s eyes as he regarded Jeanne became strange. That troubled me.
No father. Low status.
I feared the Baron might use his position to do as he pleased with me.
It seemed best to leave this place quickly.
“Forgive me, my lord. I was on my way to clean my mistress’s chambers. The lady we serve is Melissa Bilsty.”
At those words, Baron Ugly took a step back.
His nod seemed like a gesture telling us to go.
Jeanne left the room with her mother.
But as they walked, she glanced back and immediately regretted it. Baron Ugly was still watching her.
After Jeanne and her mother disappeared, Baron Ugly tilted his head.
The mother’s side hardly mattered. He was certain—she was the woman he’d paid for a single night at that tavern more than twenty years ago.
It had not been a night born of love.
At that time, he had suffered severe stress because his hideous appearance had made even a political marriage impossible.
His natural looks were no sin, yet lifelong marriage seemed impossible.
So Baron Ugly had gone to a tavern near the Slums in a fit of rage. And he had bought the prettiest woman there.
Thus he had clumsily lost his virginity.
But the emotion that came after that single night was not satisfaction, but self-loathing and regret.
The pleasure he’d discovered for the first time had seemed good. But a relationship without love felt sordid, and he had been like a beast chasing only carnal desire.
So I had made a vow.
Never to return to that tavern in the Slums. I would live like a virtuous monk instead.
That night became the only night of his lifetime, and the woman he had lain with that day became a face he could never forget.
Baron Ugly kept his vow and lived a life as austere as a monk’s. He remained utterly loyal to the King.
But perhaps it was age, or the loss of his parents, or simply being left alone.
Recently, he had been feeling loneliness more acutely than ever.
It was in the midst of this that he had encountered those two people just moments ago.
Something felt strange. From the moment he saw Jeanne standing beside him, the feeling became peculiar.
With lip rouge applied and dressed up somewhat, she wasn’t terribly ugly like him. Yet despite seeing her for the first time, her appearance felt strangely familiar.
As if she resembled him.
Then the pocket watch in his breast pocket chimed.
Snapping back to awareness, he ran his hand through his hair and moved forward.
It was time to work.
* * *
Creak!
At the sudden sound of the door opening, Matilda Bilsty and Wood, who had been lying down, jolted awake in alarm.
They were lying on the bare floor covered only by blankets.
“Ahhh!”
As they rose and pressed their hands against the floor, Matilda Bilsty and Wood cried out simultaneously in pain as their bandaged hands struck the ground.
“Damn it!”
As Matilda Bilsty spat out a curse, she realized she had been awakened by the sound of the door opening just now.
‘Damn, I shouldn’t provoke that madman!’
Matilda Bilsty quickly covered her mouth.
Two hands wrapped in bandages.
They were the marks of torture inflicted by Junior Walter—a madman whose name Matilda Bilsty didn’t even know.
During this time, Matilda Bilsty had lost her fingers one by one. It was the result of lying or cleverly evading during Walter’s interrogations.
After enduring and enduring until she could bear it no longer and confessed everything, four fingers—the ring and pinky fingers of both hands—were already gone.
And Wood was missing his right ring finger and his entire left hand.
Wood had not lied.
But when Matilda Bilsty attempted to lie, Walter demonstrated what would happen by severing Wood’s wrist in one swift motion.
And he immediately stopped the bleeding and provided treatment so Wood wouldn’t die from hemorrhage or shock.
Matilda Bilsty was horrified by the sight. How could someone wearing a human face commit such cruelty without hesitation?
No matter how she looked at it, this was not the work of someone doing it for the first or second time, so Matilda Bilsty and Wood fell into the delusion that they had fallen into hell itself.
After the confession was complete, Walter released the ropes binding Matilda Bilsty and Wood. Then he disappeared for several days.
At set times, what appeared to be a Servant would bring meals and blankets.
Matilda Bilsty and Wood ate the food provided and lay on the bare floor covered by blankets.
It was a meager rest at best, but they were happy Walter wasn’t coming.
Yet today, it seemed he had something else to interrogate them about.
Even though they had said they had already told him everything they knew.
Matilda Bilsty clutched her wildly racing heart and peered toward the door.
Beyond the open door, I glimpsed a familiar face.

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