About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 17

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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 17. The Curse of Guests
Rain fell in a steady drizzle that day.
In the VIP room of the Harbor Bank in the small city of Roban, Count Veloda Genoma and the Bank Clerk sat across from each other, documents spread between them.
“Honestly, I was nervous about this. But you’ve brought everything so perfectly prepared. Impressive—you’ve got real talent, don’t you?”
“Well, this much is easy enough. I need to be somewhat charming, after all.”
Count Veloda Genoma smirked at the Bank Clerk’s admiration and pressed Priscilla’s seal onto the documents.
After examining the papers, the Bank Clerk’s lips curved upward as he rose from his seat.
“Good. In any case, don’t forget about me.”
The Bank Clerk retrieved two hundred gold coins from the vault and handed them to Count Veloda Genoma.
“I know exactly how much you’ve been willing to cooperate with me.”
Count Veloda Genoma handed the Bank Clerk a single gold coin and stood up.
“I’ll send you a party invitation soon. Come and enjoy yourself.”
As Count Veloda Genoma spoke, his lips curved upward with absolute confidence.
After escorting Count Veloda Genoma outside the bank, the Bank Clerk’s gaze fell upon the single gold coin in his palm, and he offered a bitter smile.
In truth, the two men had agreed to conduct a covert and illegal transaction.
Normally, withdrawing money from an account requires both an identification badge and a seal.
But the arrangement was that if Count Veloda Genoma brought only Priscilla’s seal, the Bank Clerk would pretend to verify the identification badge and withdraw the money from the account in exchange for a fee.
A full hundred gold coins.
The Bank Clerk’s eyes had been blinded by greed, and he accepted Count Veloda Genoma’s proposal.
Yet because it constituted a serious crime, he had been inwardly anxious. If caught, he would not only lose his job but become a criminal.
But today, Count Veloda Genoma had brought everything perfectly—Priscilla’s identification badge, her seal, and even a marriage certificate.
And so it had all become legal.
For that reason, the hundred gold coins he was originally supposed to receive had been reduced to a single coin.
“Well, even if it’s disappointing, at least my neck is safe. I am an honest man, after all.”
The Bank Clerk touched the back of his neck and returned inside the bank.
* * *
Had I not read the novel, I might have believed that Luderne Wintem was not my husband but rather someone who merely looked identical to him.
But I already knew the novel’s contents.
Whether due to the curse’s influence or not, the feeling of our shared bed was different, yet Luderne Wintem was undoubtedly my husband.
Of course, even during our newlywed days at Baron Sellen’s Estate, he showed me no particular affection. I, too, had been intimidated and unable to express myself properly.
But I had loved him.
If he had prepared such a substantial emergency fund for me, surely he must have loved me as well.
Yet as if that past had never existed, he spoke as though he had always been a Grand Duke from the beginning.
If it were amnesia, he would say he didn’t remember the past. But to claim it never happened at all—there could be only one conclusion.
It seemed my husband had used the empire’s power to erase his past, abandon me, a woman of lower status, and resolve to live a new life as a Grand Duke.
When I thought about it carefully, it wasn’t incomprehensible.
My husband’s original wealth had been considerable, but a Grand Duke’s fortune would be on an entirely different scale.
And with that came power as well.
In that case, it would only make sense for him to meet a woman of higher status than someone like me.
My mind understood it that way, but my heart could not help itself.
I locked myself in the bedroom for days, overwhelmed by the shock of abandonment. I wept bitterly and often.
Throughout those days, Luderne Sellen never once appeared.
Only a single maid—spectacles perched on her nose, her crimson hair neatly pinned—would arrive at appointed hours with fresh clothes and meals, attending to my needs or accompanying me on garden walks.
The maid heard well enough, but she could not speak, and appeared to be illiterate. When I asked her to write her name, she shook her head with genuine distress.
To my question of whether she could read, she merely nodded. Thus, our conversations could never extend far.
When I asked if there was a Government Office nearby, she nodded and pointed in one direction with her finger.
But whenever I inquired about Luderne Sellen, the maid would wave me off or cover her ears with both hands and hurry away.
It appeared she had been instructed never to discuss the mansion’s master.
Days passed in this manner, and it was morning—ten days after I had brushed against death’s threshold.
Today, the maid’s hands were particularly delicate as she braided my hair.
Even my dress was lovelier than usual—elegant enough that I could have stepped out immediately without appearing amiss.
Doctor Smith, who had come for my examination, spoke.
“I believe further treatment will no longer be necessary. I wish you continued good health.”
After Smith departed, Luderne Sellen arrived shortly after.
“I hear you’ve improved considerably.”
He seated himself across from me with the table between us, then withdrew a check and handed it over.
“This is compensation for the accident. Take it to the Bank, and they’ll disburse the funds without even asking for identification. With this, you can go anywhere, even if you haven’t a coin to your name.”
The blank check bore the inscription: one hundred gold coins.
It was an astronomical sum—one hundred million in total.
Yet instead of accepting the check, I fixed my gaze upon his eyes and asked.
“Tell me the truth. You are both Luderne Wintem, the Grand Duke, and Luderne Sellen, my husband, are you not?”
Luderne Sellen fell silent for a moment.
His gaze seemed to deepen, and I waited in quiet anticipation of his answer.
“You claimed to be cursed and desired my body, wept beneath me. Of course, it was remarkably true—your fever broke spectacularly.”
What followed was a bitter laugh.
“You swore you wouldn’t demand accountability for a single night, yet now that you know my station, your desires have multiplied? Is it because of my vast wealth?”
Heat flooded my face at his blunt words.
“That’s not it at all.”
“No? If your claim that I’m your husband were acknowledged, you’d have everything within reach, wouldn’t you?”
He laughed derisively and continued.
“No matter how I look at it, I cannot acknowledge it.”
Luderne Sellen rose from his seat and opened the door.
Beyond the threshold stood the maid, holding a small traveling bag and a bonnet.
“This is the best consideration I can offer.”
Luderne Sellen placed the check inside the bag and handed it to me.
“The Harbor and town are about a ten-minute walk from here. Thus, our connection ends here.”
The words of dismissal left my mind reeling.
I accepted the bonnet from the maid and was ushered outside the mansion, only then realizing I had not even thanked Luderne Sellen.
As I turned to look back at the mansion, the window of the bedroom where I had stayed stood open.
Luderne Sellen was visible in that window.
Though the distance made his expression unclear, Luderne raised his hand in farewell and closed the window.
Seeing that gesture struck me with an overwhelming sense of reality.
Whether he’d truly lost his memory, whether he was deliberately pretending not to know me after changing his station in life—if he’d ever intended to care for me, he would have come to me by now.
He had no intention of returning as my husband.
I possessed no power to hold him back.
He was now my ex-husband.
All I could do was bow my head in farewell to him.
I had become utterly alone.
I stood gazing blankly at the mansion, then surveyed my surroundings.
A small village appeared to the left of the mansion.
I placed the bonnet I’d been holding onto my head, gripped my small travel bag firmly, and began walking toward the village.
My first intention was to visit the Government Office.
Melissa Bilsty had warned me about something.
I needed to confirm whether Count Veloda Genoma and I were still married in the eyes of the law.
After passing several scattered residential buildings in the village, I arrived at the plaza.
At the entrance of the circular plaza overgrown with grass, a wooden sign reading “Heril Island Square” hung convincingly.
The buildings surrounding the open space were all two stories, modest in size.
I could see at a glance the signs for the Government Office, Bank, tavern, inn, general store, and grocer.
Upon entering the Government Office first, a middle-aged man of considerable years stood at the counter in neat attire.
“What brings you here?”
When I asked how my current status was being recorded, he answered firmly.
“Without an identification badge, I cannot provide any information.”
I had nothing to say.
Finding my identification badge became the priority, so this time I went to the harbor.
Heril Island Harbor Office.
That was what the sign hanging modestly on the small log building read.
As I opened the wooden door, a bell chimed.
Simultaneously, a young man’s voice rang out.
“The ship arrives in a week.”
A man wearing thick-rimmed glasses stood inside the building.
I explained about my lost identification badge.
“A sailor from the Quindle took your identification badge and you never recovered it?”
At my words, the man retrieved three lost identification badges and opened a ledger.
“Your name?”
“Priscilla Sellen.”
“One moment.”
He examined the ledger and nodded.
“I have the record of Priscilla Sellen’s lost identification badge here… Wait? It’s already been claimed?”
The answer was unexpected.
“Pardon? By whom?”

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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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