About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 40

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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 40. Jealousy Like Madness
Betrayal and fury surged through me simultaneously.
Without realizing it, I clenched my teeth, and Walter noticed.
“Priscilla, what’s wrong all of a sudden? You look quite upset.”
I startled and fumbled for an excuse.
“Oh, no, it’s nothing. It’s just that the hairstyle photo Misha sent is so beautiful. And she’s asking if I’d like to visit the Capital. I wish I could go, but it’s a shame.”
A bitter smile escaped my lips.
I couldn’t leave without an identity pass.
Only Walter, Luderne Sellen, the Harbor Office, and the Government Official knew this fact.
“Is that so? Let me see it too.”
I handed Walter the newspaper clipping.
Walter examined the photograph and nodded in understanding.
“That’s His Majesty’s photograph. You’re saying the woman’s hairstyle next to him is beautiful?”
“…Yes.”
Walter tilted his head as he studied the image.
“Hmm, it must be considered pretty by city folk and women, I suppose.”
“Pardon?”
“Personally, I’m not impressed. It looks like a nest, and it feels rather burdensome somehow. I wouldn’t travel all the way to the Capital just to see this hairstyle… Wait, who is this man…?”
Walter paused mid-sentence and pointed to the second photograph.
His finger indicated precisely the man standing beside Melissa Bilsty.
At that moment, the tavern door opened.
The customers who arrived for the lunch hour were Maji and Auntie—both women who had sought me out four years ago and received hair styling from me.
Their hairstyles were also croissant curls, though different from the photograph.
Seeing the three of them, Walter whispered to me.
“Now that I think about it, their hair looks similar to what’s in this photograph.”
Walter approached Maji and the aunties and showed them the newspaper article first.
“Have you seen the news? This is apparently the latest hairstyle trending in the Capital.”
“The latest hairstyle trending in the Capital?”
“Let me see!”
“Show me too!”
Maji and the two aunties examined the photograph with keen interest.
But soon, with a deflated expression, they proudly stroked their own perfectly curled hair.
“What? The Capital isn’t all that impressive. My hair looks much prettier. Or is my taste just off?”
“To be honest, that hairstyle trending in the Capital has so much volume in front and back that the head looks too large… It’s like wearing a round basin and attaching a giant croissant to it.”
“So I wasn’t the only one thinking that. It’s the Capital, yet it looks rather provincial. How can the same curled hair feel so different?”
Walter grinned widely.
“That’s what I thought too, which is why I asked. Truly, Priscilla’s skill is unmatched, isn’t it?”
“Is that even worth saying?”
“Goodness, yes! That hairstyle is flashy but looks dull.”
“I vaguely assumed the Capital would be the most refined, but seeing it now, that’s not the case either.”
Walter smiled and returned the photograph to me.
“You heard, didn’t you? If the journalist who took this photo had come to this island, the hairstyle you created would have been the one featured in the newspaper, no question. Now, please take good care of the service.”
After patting my shoulder, Walter headed into the kitchen.
“….”
Walter had apparently jumped to the conclusion that I’d reacted that way after seeing the Capital’s latest trends.
The styling was indeed similar, but since this was an island, it couldn’t attract attention.
After finishing the lunch service at the Tavern, I went to the beach in front of my house.
I needed to retrieve the fish traps I’d set up.
But instead, I abandoned the traps and collapsed onto a rock, hugging both my knees.
After gazing at the horizon for a moment, I retrieved the newspaper photographs Misha had sent me.
A photograph featuring King Zerox of Arde and Melissa Bilsty as the main subjects, and then the second photograph.
Looking at that second photograph, my heart grew terribly heavy.
If he’d simply been captured incidentally, it would have bothered me less.
‘How long have they been seeing each other?’
The handsome man standing beside Melissa Bilsty was unmistakably Luderne Sellen.
In the original story, his fate was to die because of Melissa Bilsty.
‘Is this his destiny?’
The corners of his mouth were clearly turned upward as he stood beside her and looked at Melissa Bilsty.
A restrained smile.
A face he’d never shown me once.
Seeing it, anger and betrayal surged through me again.
“How can he smile while looking at Melissa Bilsty?”
When he knew perfectly well who had cursed me.
He couldn’t possibly not know. We’d discussed everything about the curse in his study.
‘And yet….’
Perhaps what happened to me simply didn’t matter to Luderne Sellen at all.
Because Melissa Bilsty was too captivating? Because I was merely a mistress with no value or emotion beyond physical intimacy?
The thought tormented me.
Why couldn’t it be someone other than Melissa Bilsty? If it were anyone but her, I could accept it.
Seeing Melissa Bilsty living so well twisted my insides, as if I might die.
Or more precisely, it was seeing Luderne Sellen at her side that did it.
Even though our relationship never progressed, after barely surviving and spending four years with him, I’d hoped the original story’s ending would change.
I reached up and gripped the key pendant hanging around my neck tightly.
I’d thought that without this, Melissa Bilsty couldn’t purchase the Temple, so the original story wouldn’t unfold as it had.
But it seemed that even with me surviving alone, even without this pendant, the original story remained unchanged.
“Besides, it’s not as though I captivated his heart with some tremendous charm….”
You could see it in his behavior after we lay together.
He simply held me with a charitable attitude. While also satisfying his own desires. He never gave me his affection or presence.
In other words, I was nothing but a meaningless mistress to him.
But I couldn’t escape, no matter how much I wanted to. Not until the curse was lifted.
Even as jealousy consumed me like wildfire, there was nothing I could do.
‘Trapped on this island, I can’t even dream of revenge.’
My pride was wounded, fear gnawed at me, and my self-worth felt utterly shattered.
I knew he didn’t love me, but still—we had been so intimate.
As I lamented inwardly, tears burst forth.
I buried my face between my knees and wept uncontrollably.
Crying should have brought some relief, but the more I thought of the original story, the more dread consumed me. My heart felt as heavy as stone.
I reached back into my memories of the original narrative.
The original story’s primary setting was the Capital of the Arde Kingdom.
Melissa Bilsty, the heroine, moved freely there, basking in the love and attention of the men around her.
And Luderne Sellen was always close by Melissa Bilsty’s side.
Even if King Zerox didn’t approve of Luderne Sellen.
If Luderne Sellen were meeting Melissa Bilsty like in a knight’s photograph….
‘Then surely, from some point on, Luderne Sellen would stop visiting this Heril Island.’
What would become of me then?
It was because Luderne Sellen was on this island that I could endure the curse and live out my modest life.
Would I ultimately waste away and die from the curse?
Would everything unfold as in the original story? Would Luderne Sellen also circle around Melissa Bilsty and perish?
Everything as written? Would it really happen that way?
Just then, a fierce wind swept across the beach.
Splash! Whoooosh!
The sudden roar of the waves jolted me back to awareness.
A particularly violent wave crashed against the shore, spraying seawater across my clothes and hair.
I scrambled to my feet and shook off the moisture.
Another wave surged forward with tremendous force before receding.
Splash!
This one was even stronger than before.
“Oh!”
Cold seawater drenched me thoroughly.
“Goodness, so sudden….”
Dark clouds, driven by the gale, began gathering across the sky.
Rain seemed imminent.
I hauled up the fish trap I had submerged in the water beside the rocks.
Inside the trap were two palm-sized fish and a baby turtle.
As I pulled the trap completely free, a small octopus that had been invisible moments before revealed itself.
It had been masterfully camouflaged, but the changing conditions exposed its hiding place.
I released the struggling baby turtle back into the sea first.
Whoooosh.
Just then, a downpour began in earnest.
I hurried inside, set the trap down in the kitchen, and dried my wet hair and body with a towel.
Then I picked up a comb and stood before the mirror to tidy my disheveled hair.
But the moment I faced my reflection, another sigh escaped me.
A woman with long, luxuriant honey-blonde hair and emerald eyes.
Yet my face was blotchy from weeping.
Since arriving on this island, I had managed well enough. Simple as life was, I had spent it joyfully among the islanders.
But now, as if those days had never existed, melancholy consumed me entirely.
I stood there for a long while, studying my reflection.
My blonde hair looked unusually fragile, and my emerald eyes had lost their luster.
The images of Melissa Bilsty and Count Veloda Genoma from the photograph haunted me. So too did King Zerox of Arde and Luderne Sellen, who had stood beside her.
At the thought of Luderne Sellen, irritation surged through me.
I cannot live like this. I cannot allow him to die.
My hands clenched into fists of their own accord.
I resolved to prevent Luderne Sellen’s death—and to separate him from Melissa Bilsty while I was at it.
I drew a long, deep breath.
Keeping Luderne Sellen confined to this island was ultimately impossible.
Then I must leave this island myself.
The odds were slim, but two paths lay before me.
Either Luderne Sellen would leave the island and take me with him, or Sir Jester would find a way to lift the curse.
I calculated when Luderne Sellen might return to me.
He had left yesterday carrying me in his arms.
If he remained on the island, he would come tonight; if he had departed, he would return in about ten days.
But what if he had gone all the way to the Capital?
Spending time there with Melissa Bilsty, he might forget me entirely.
By now, the sound of rain from outside had ceased.
When I opened the window, the sky was clear as if it had never rained at all.
I would have to seek out Sir Jester first.
Since I would be asking a difficult favor, it would be wise to bring something with me.
Just then, a messenger bird flew through the window.
I untied the note fastened to its leg and checked it.

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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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