About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 84

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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 84. All That Awaits Is Death
“I’m curious what you discussed with the Grand Duke in the bedroom.”
My eyes widened at Eclite’s question.
“Did the Grand Duke say he loves you? Or does it seem like he does?”
Luderne Sellen certainly seemed to have taken a liking to me.
But there was only one answer to this question.
“Not at all.”
There was no point in answering this madman’s questions honestly.
I shook my head in denial, and Eclite tilted his.
“Not at all, yet he did that in front of the mansion?”
“Perhaps His Highness had too much to drink. It was merely a momentary lapse in judgment.”
“That doesn’t seem right.”
“Surely a man of such standing would never harbor such feelings toward a commoner woman.”
Eclite fell silent for a moment.
After a long pause, I ventured carefully, “Is there anything else you wish to ask?”
“Anything else?”
“I was hoping you might step back. It’s difficult to breathe.”
Eclite nodded readily.
“If there’s nothing more to ask, I’ll step back. But there is still something I want to know.”
A sigh escaped me.
I waited quietly, and Eclite, who had been studying me intently, finally spoke.
“So by your logic, you comply whenever a man of standing demands it?”
“….”
It was a difficult question.
“Or is it that you’ve taken a fancy to the Grand Duke?”
“How could someone like me ever dare to——”
“Exactly.”
In an instant, his lips curved into a sinister smile. Simultaneously, his upper body lowered.
Startled by his suddenly close face, I instinctively raised both hands to push against his shoulders.
“Why—why are you doing this!”
“I thought I’d have a taste myself.”
Eclite seized both my wrists with one hand and pinned them against the floor above my head.
“Someone like you can’t possibly refuse me.”
My hair stood on end.
I could no longer remain passive.
“Your Majesty! Please, let me go!”
A scream tore from my throat.
As I struggled, Eclite laughed as though amused.
“Kekeke! Don’t you think it would be wiser to stay quiet? If you wish, scream all you like. Everyone in the Salon will know you’re being violated.”
“Keke! Don’t you think it’d be wiser to stay quiet? But if you want, scream all you like. Everyone in the Salon will know you’re being violated.”
Good heavens!
Every word spilling from his lips was utterly unhinged.
I thrashed with all my strength, refusing him desperately.
“Let me go! Please, let me go!”
But the harder I resisted, the more forcefully Eclite pressed me down, his laughter turning sinister.
Rip—as my collar tore, despair gave way to a burning rage that surged through me.
Death would be preferable to this.
And to die, I needed to provoke him.
“Let go, you insane bastard!”
“What?”
Eclite’s movements froze. The amusement vanished from his face entirely.
“Does a salon employee curse at her patrons? And dare to curse at me, no less? Do you wish to die?”
“You’re no patron—you’re a madman!”
I hardened my gaze and poured steel into my voice, speaking with raw defiance.
“Just kill me! Go ahead and kill me!”
“Ha, so you provoke me to kill you?”
Eclite’s lips curved upward in a smile of disbelief.
“I won’t let you die so easily.”
A flicker of madness gleamed in his eyes.
“I think I need to give you a proper lesson today so you learn to control that mouth of yours.”
Eclite released my wrist and began to rise.
His right hand lifted sharply.
As he moved to strike with brutal force, I clenched my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut.
“….”
But nothing happened.
I cracked one eye open cautiously, then both eyes flew wide.
Eclite had turned, and his raised right hand was seized at the wrist.
By Luderne Sellen, who had entered without warning.
His crimson eyes flicked toward me for an instant before fixing on Eclite.
A low voice, yet slightly breathless as though he had rushed here, resonated through the service room.
“I felt compelled to mention that an imperial prince causing a disturbance in a foreign land presents rather an unfavorable image.”
Eclite’s expression darkened as he slowly rose to his feet.
I quickly stood as well.
Through the slightly parted curtains of the entrance, I could see Madame Laber and Margaret, their faces etched with concern, along with several other staff members.
The commotion had drawn them all.
I hastily smoothed my disheveled hair and straightened my clothing. The left side of my hair, singed by cigarette ash, felt rough and brittle.
“Heh, what’s this?”
Eclite glanced around with an amused laugh.
“They say designers can’t be love, yet here the Grand Duke comes rushing in desperately?”
Whether he had lost all reason to the point of madness, or whether he was simply a personality-disordered wretch who shifted with every situation.
He was speaking to Luderne in casual speech.
Yet Luderne showed no particular change in expression.
So that’s how it is? Or had he simply given up on pointing out rudeness altogether?
At that moment, Eclite’s cold gaze found me again.
“Did you dare lie as well?”
Luderne took a long, measured breath.
“I came in haste, that much is true, but there seems to be a misunderstanding. I came because Your Highness was here, not because of the designer. I’m not certain what this woman told you, but…”
Luderne looked at me.
The faint smile and the glimmer in his eyes I’d noticed yesterday had vanished without a trace.
“She was merely a one-night affair—she means nothing to me.”
Even his voice sounded different from yesterday.
“Who do you take for a fool?”
Eclite’s expression crumpled with anger as he roughly shook off the wrist Luderne held.
Luderne released his wrist without resistance.
“A woman who means nothing, yet you rush in to stop me? Using the excuse that I came looking for you? Does the Grand Duke expect me to believe that?”
Luderne exhaled deeply once more.
“This is not the time for this. You must return to the Empire at once.”
Luderne whispered something in Eclite’s ear.
The anger that had darkened Eclite’s face drained away instantly.
“Is that true?”
Luderne nodded.
“The moment I heard the news, I went to the Royal Palace to inform Your Highness, but hearing you were at the Salon, I came immediately.”
“It’s urgent, so I must go. But before I do…”
Eclite bit his thumbnail anxiously, then fixed his gaze on me.
“That woman who dared hurl insults at the Empire’s prince—I must punish her before I leave.”
“What punishment do you desire?”
At Luderne’s toneless question, Eclite looked at him.
Was it my imagination? The way Eclite seemed to scrutinize Luderne’s reaction carefully.
“Death, of course.”
A chill ran through me.
Eclite was serious.
At the malice-laden statement, one of Luderne’s eyebrows twitched.
“That would be… problematic.”
“Why?”
Luderne’s gaze slowly swept over me.
My face, my body, my feet. And my hair, singed by flame.
Again, what followed was a sigh.
“It would be unwise to carelessly damage merchandise I’ve invested in.”
“Merchandise? That woman?”
“She’s a designer at the Salon now, but with proper cultivation, she has the makings of an excellent asset for espionage operations.”
Eclite’s expression turned bewildered.
“A honeypot scheme?”
“A sacrificial offering to send to the King whenever the Empire’s interests demand it.”
Eclite’s brow furrowed.
“King Zerox appears to have taken an interest.”
At those words, Eclite’s gaze shifted toward me. He soon seemed to understand, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“Ah, yes. That was the impression I got. Besides, Zerox is the type to wait for justification if the other party hasn’t consented.”
Luderne Sellen nodded in agreement.
Last night he laughed while showing emotion, yet today he speaks like this.
It wasn’t a conversation I particularly welcomed.
But it was plainly evident that Eclite had softened at Luderne Sellen’s words. With any luck, we might glide past this smoothly.
‘Perhaps he’s lying to protect me.’
Looking back, Luderne Sellen was a man who lied when necessity demanded it.
Like his claim that he knew nothing of a woman named Priscilla and had never married her.
Then it could be considered a well-intentioned lie of sorts.
Just as I was about to forgive his words through my own interpretation, Luderne Sellen opened his mouth with casual composure.
“However, the crime of insulting the imperial family cannot simply be overlooked. So perhaps an appropriate punishment within the Empire’s authority would suffice, rather than execution.”
‘What?’
I was utterly dumbfounded.
The matter was being buried, yet he deliberately brought up my punishment again?
Was what he just said about being a sacrificial offering sincere?
Confused and bewildered, Eclite let out a scoff.
“If we handle it appropriately in due time, that should be….”
“Do you know whether the King’s mistress might become Queen? So if there’s punishment to be administered, it would be cleaner to settle it now.”
Eclite stroked his chin seriously.
“Aside from beheading, there’s no way to handle it immediately. I must depart for the Empire at once—is there an appropriate punishment besides execution? Ideally, something as dishonorable as possible.”
The content of his words was dreadful, but his tone had certainly softened.
“If that’s the case….”
Luderne Sellen regarded me with an impassive gaze.
“What of banishment and a prohibition on crossing the border?”
“Banishment?”
“Yes. That way, it would bring dishonor to your family remaining in the territory as well. Since you couldn’t advance directly into the Empire, your social standing would be severely limited.”
“Indeed. Once I return to the Empire and handle the administrative procedures, there’s no need to rush.”
Eclite, nodding repeatedly, pointed a finger at me.
“By the name of Eclite Doorban, Prince of the Doerban Empire, I decree: Priscilla of the Necari Territory, I strip you and your family of your status and banish you. The moment you cross the Empire’s border, death awaits.”

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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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