About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 179

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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 179. Sister, I’m Sorry!
Hearing a sound, I turned to find Melissa Bilsty crumpled on the deck.
Her dress was so voluminous that I couldn’t discern her exact posture, but it appeared as though she had fallen to her knees.
“I, I, Sister! I’m sorry!”
What tumbled from Melissa Bilsty’s lips was an apology, desperate and hurried.
She pressed her palms together and began pleading earnestly.
“I didn’t want to do it, but Mother forced me! I had no choice!”
“So your excuse is to blame someone else? Someone who no longer exists in this world? How contemptible—you haven’t changed a bit.”
My brow furrowed involuntarily.
“And you dare tell such lies when you know full well that I’ve seen and heard everything myself?”
At my rebuttal, Melissa Bilsty’s eyes darted rapidly—she was clearly concocting another excuse.
“Ah!”
It was the moment Melissa Bilsty exclaimed as if struck by sudden understanding.
The door to the adjacent cabin opened, and someone emerged.
Simultaneously, what spilled from Melissa Bilsty’s mouth was yet another contemptible fabrication.
“Count Veloda Genoma! He’s the villain! I never intended any of this, but he forced himself upon me and then threatened to destroy both me and Mother if I didn’t comply! I had no choice!”
It was an utterly unconvincing tale.
Yet at the same time, something intriguing had emerged.
The person who had just stepped from the adjacent cabin was none other than Count Veloda Genoma himself—gaunt and bearing dark circles so pronounced they seemed to swallow his face.
He had suffered terribly from the curse, and his appearance was truly wretched.
He bore the unmistakable shock of hearing Melissa Bilsty’s words.
Unaware that Count Veloda Genoma stood before her, Melissa Bilsty continued to plead with me, tears streaming down her face.
“It’s true! Believe me! I’ve been nothing but a tool for exploitation all along. Don’t you know Count Veloda Genoma even forced me into… into that?”
At such an absurd claim, I narrowed one eye skeptically.
Melissa Bilsty sobbed as though her words were sincere.
“He said I had a talent for it, and ordered me to seduce Zerox. But then Zerox and I developed genuine feelings, and now we’re on the verge of marriage.”
Then she asked me to pity her.
She claimed that the reason she couldn’t break the curse Count Veloda Genoma had placed upon me was because she believed the old woman was dead.
“If I had known that mage was alive, I would have tried to break your curse.”
“So the girl who wanted to break my curse pushed me into the sea?”
“B-back then, I thought it would be kinder to die than to suffer endlessly from the curse.”
Even through her tears, it was transparent—Melissa Bilsty’s mind was working frantically.
What Melissa Bilsty shed were not genuine tears, but false ones born of desperation to escape her increasingly dire situation.
“I-it’s the same thing! Like putting down an injured horse that can no longer walk, granting it mercy! But now that I think back, my reasoning was flawed.”
Her final response was something I simply could not accept.
“This is infuriating. If you’re going to lie, at least make it plausible.”
I clicked my tongue and turned to Count Veloda Genoma.
“You heard that, Count Veloda Genoma? The lies Melissa Bilsty just told.”
Melissa Bilsty’s head whipped toward Count Veloda Genoma.
Count Veloda Genoma staggered forward and positioned himself beside Melissa Bilsty.
“Ha, Priscilla, I heard you were alive, but you look remarkably well.”
“Count Veloda Genoma, you look positively haggard.”
His front teeth were missing in a ghastly manner.
Count Veloda Genoma sighed, covering his mouth with his hand.
“I didn’t hear everything from my sister-in-law, but I suspect it’s all true.”
Even as he shielded Melissa Bilsty, something seemed to occur to him, and his eyes gleamed with sudden interest.
“In any case, I’m delighted to have found my wife again. And quite pleased, I might add.”
The words were shameless and repugnant.
“Who is your wife?”
“Since I’m alive and my status has been restored, wouldn’t the marriage registration remain valid? Even if we are in litigation.”
“Since we’re in litigation, the marriage is suspended.”
“I will win the lawsuit.”
I was so exasperated that a scoff escaped me unbidden.
“Even if I grant you a hundred concessions and you win the lawsuit—”
I infused my voice with steel.
“That marriage is automatically void. Under national law, bigamy is not recognized at all. My former husband, Baron Sellen, is also alive.”
“Alive… you say?”
“Didn’t Melissa tell you? She must have known.”
“?”
“That my husband is the current Prince Wintem.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
Count Veloda Genoma’s expression became quite a sight to behold.
Melissa Bilsty shook her head as his gaze fixed upon me.
“You’re lying. How would I know that?”
“You couldn’t possibly not know.”
I began counting on my fingers.
“How you provoked His Majesty the Emperor of the Doerban Empire to incite war between the two nations in order to kill my husband, Baron Sellen. How you murdered the late Queen Hilda Arde. How you cursed His Majesty the Emperor of the Doerban Empire. And all the various treason-related matters orchestrated by His Majesty the King and His Highness the Prince. You directly received copies from His Majesty the Emperor and kept them with you, didn’t you?”
“What does that even…?”
A startled Count Veloda Genoma looked back at Melissa Bilsty.
Melissa Bilsty was looking at me. Her face screamed the question: how did you know?
I smiled with leisurely confidence.
“Why didn’t you keep something so important better hidden? Not deep in your cabin?”
At my words, Melissa Bilsty stumbled backward a few steps before rushing frantically into her cabin.
Something crashed loudly inside, and soon Melissa Bilsty’s scream pierced the air.
“Aaaahhh! This can’t be!”
Melissa Bilsty came rushing back out.
“H-how! How is this possible? How did you know about that?”
“How is it possible, you ask?”
A derisive laugh escaped me.
“My people were watching you, and I received that box quite safely.”
“Since when?”
“Why do you think Priscilla from Raber Salon never got entangled in your schemes with Count Veloda Genoma?”
I lifted a finger and wagged it slowly.
“I’ve known about all your petty machinations with Count Veloda Genoma for quite some time now. So the more implausible your excuses become, the more contemptible you appear to me. And forgiveness? That’s the furthest thing from my mind.”
“Then… there really was a conspiracy?”
Melissa Bilsty bit her nails hard, then grabbed her hair with both hands.
“Wait, Jeanne—that’s—!”
I pulled one corner of my mouth upward in a smile.
“Jeanne? Who’s that? It seems there was another maid you suspected of conspiracy?”
My deliberately loaded words made Melissa’s eyes widen.
I read it in her expression.
From now on, she would relentlessly interrogate and torment the maid named Anne.
“Now that you understand the situation, you should prepare yourself. It’s time for you, Count Veloda Genoma, and Prince Eclite to all face the consequences of your actions. So rather than wasting effort on excuses, you’d do well to steel yourself.”
That was when Count Veloda Genoma spoke to Melissa Bilsty.
“It’s not Anne. She’s lying to sow discord among us.”
Melissa Bilsty shook her head, repeatedly wiping her tear-stained face with her hands.
“No. My sister…”
“How distasteful. Why would you call her your sister?”
Melissa Bilsty swallowed hard as her words were cut short, then opened her mouth again.
“Priscilla is…”
“A commoner addressing a noble with such casual language? How improper.”
Count Veloda Genoma’s eyes widened even further at my rebuke cutting off Melissa Bilsty’s words. He clearly hadn’t anticipated this from me.
Melissa Bilsty took several shallow breaths, then bowed her head respectfully to me.
“Miss Priscilla is…”
“You still haven’t mastered the basic courtesy due to nobility.”
Melissa Bilsty cleared her throat several times. But I could see her jaw was clenched.
She was pretending to weep, feigning weakness, but my treatment had clearly filled her with exasperation up to her breaking point.
“Count Bilsty—!”
“Now that’s the proper form of address.”
Finally, Melissa Bilsty let out a small sigh.
“I’ve never seen you tell a lie in your life.”
I nodded readily, suppressing my laughter.
Yes, Melissa. You were accustomed to an environment where I spoke only truth, weren’t you? But not anymore. You’ll come to see that I lie when necessity demands it.
I smiled with satisfaction.
“You understand, don’t you? If you want the curse lifted, you need to come alone to the back of the deck on a quiet night.”
Melissa Bilsty pressed her lips firmly together.
Since I had no intention of hearing a response, I turned to leave.
“See you then.”
That was when it happened.
“…Wait. What do you mean by lifting the curse?”
“Well, that’s because I placed a curse on Melissa Bilsty.”
Count Veloda Genoma’s brow furrowed deeply.
“But Melissa is meant to become queen?”
“From The King’s perspective, Melissa Bilsty is merely a pawn who seized his weakness and shook it in his face. Do you truly think he would seat her as queen?”
“….”
“It was obvious he kept her by his side by force. Once he learns there’s no copy….”
Laughter escaped me unbidden.
“He’ll have her hanged immediately. Perhaps you as well?”
Count Veloda Genoma’s pupils dilated considerably.
The matter of the copy appeared to be something even he hadn’t known, so I simply shrugged and turned away.
It was then that Count Veloda Genoma’s voice rose sharply.
“Wait! If you placed a curse on Melissa Bilsty, then could the curse on me also be your doing?”
I stared at him directly.
Since I made no particular denial, he broke into a cold sweat and trembled visibly.
“Then, then the curse on Prince Eclite as well—was that you?”
“How absurd.”
At my response, Count Veloda Genoma hung his head and scratched it awkwardly.
“If that weren’t the case, I apologize….”
“You’re only realizing this now?”

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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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