About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 85

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

Chapter 85. Prayers Fall on Deaf Ears
Even if punishment were to be administered, there were proper procedures to follow.
Eclite was disregarding those procedures entirely. Yet his expression suggested it was the most natural and obvious thing in the world.
Meanwhile, I found myself utterly bewildered.
‘But I don’t have a family.’
Unaware of my thoughts, the salon staff peering into the service room stirred at Eclite’s pronouncement.
They looked thoroughly shocked.
All except Madame Laber, who knew my identity had been forged.
I stood there dumbfounded until my eyes met Luderne’s. In that instant, he gave me a subtle signal.
His reaction cleared my mind.
‘Ah?’
Eclite’s earlier words came back to me.
“If we handle it appropriately when the time comes, it’ll all work out.”
Looking more carefully, Luderne seemed to be trying to protect me from Eclite’s rampage and whatever threats might follow.
Exile was certainly preferable to execution.
‘Then I should behave as the situation demands, shouldn’t I?’
I rolled my eyes and covered my mouth with both hands. Then I collapsed to the ground, as though the shock had drained all strength from my legs.
Eclite’s face lit up with delight at my reaction.
“Kekeke, your prayers won’t save you.”
He issued an order to the salon employee standing near the entrance.
“You there, open the window.”
Margaret hurried in and opened the window.
As the window swung open, Eclite produced a small whistle from his pocket and blew into it.
Though no sound was audible, I could see him move to a nearby table and write a note, so he must have summoned a carrier pigeon.
Soon a single pigeon flew through the window.
After tying the note to the pigeon’s leg and sending it off, Eclite sneered at me.
“Be grateful I’m ending this here.”
What he produced next was a black stone shaped like a coin.
When he hurled it forcefully to the ground, it made a sharp crack, and a manhole-like gate large enough for a single person to pass through materialized.
Eclite grinned at Luderne.
“Prince Wintem, if you don’t follow immediately, you’ll have to come by horse and ship, won’t you? Given the gravity of the matter, there’s no time for hesitation.”
Eclite’s tone toward Luderne remained disrespectful, but he had shifted from informal to formal speech.
Having done as he pleased, his mood seemed to have improved somewhat.
Luderne nodded.
“Of course.”
Eclite stepped toward the gate.
The moment he vanished into it, Luderne quickly approached and whispered near my ear.
“Find Walter.”
Before I could even respond, Luderne stepped into the gate Eclite had created.
The gate then disappeared without a trace.
Once the surroundings grew quiet, Madame Laber spoke coldly.
“What are you all staring at? Everyone, get inside. And you—come with me right now.”
After dismissing the staff, Madame Laber led me to her study.
“Goodness, my heart is absolutely racing.”
With the table between us, Madame Laber settled onto the sofa across from me and lit her cigarette holder first.
Soon, acrid smoke billowed into the air, accompanied by her caustic voice.
“Are you out of your mind? To provoke that man of all people?”
“….”
“Your body will rot in the ground anyway—why are you being so precious about it? Did you coat yourself in gold?”
“….”
“It’s simple enough—when a person of high standing asks for something, you oblige gracefully and be done with it. Why are you being so difficult for a commoner?”
“Madame Laber, that’s too harsh.”
At my stern expression, Madame Laber tapped her cigarette holder against the table.
“Too harsh? Are you a fool? Do you still not understand what situation you’ve found yourself in?”
Madame Laber’s voice grew even louder.
“Fine. I’ll admit I put ideas in your head to manipulate Prince Wintem a bit. But why do you think social rank exists in this world?”
She gestured toward the window as she spoke accusingly, her lips curling into a sneer.
“You’ve lived on an island and know nothing of the world’s ways, it seems. Look around you—why would Oliana Bilsty, the Count’s daughter, remain merely the King’s mistress? Can’t you see reality?”
Madame Laber was furious.
I watched her silently and chose to say nothing.
Regarding such affairs, the gap between Madame Laber’s sensibilities and mine was simply too vast. The more I resisted, the deeper the conflict would become.
Given that I was under exclusive contract with the Raber Salon, it was wiser to endure rather than create unnecessary friction.
‘Better to wait this out.’
As expected, Madame Laber unleashed a torrent of abuse upon me.
Each word spat out was vile and difficult to hear.
As I sat there, gripping my skirt with both hands and listening, I found myself marveling—I was actually tolerating this verbal assault.
More than that, I could bear it. As if I had built up some kind of immunity.
I wondered why this was possible, and the answer came to me quickly.
Matilda had been worse.
“That man is a saint in the eyes of the Empire, but behind closed doors he’s the worst kind of scum. You cannot confront someone like him.”
Madame Laber, who had been ranting continuously, struck her own chest in frustration.
“Do you know how many women from our side have been killed by him? If Prince Wintem hadn’t appeared when he did, you would have truly died.”
Even as Madame Laber raged, she looked pained.
‘Ah.’
I realized that the expression on her face might be Madame Laber’s true feelings.
Even if it was expressed in all the wrong ways.
“Madame Laber, are you worried about me?”
At my question, Madame Laber’s eyes widened.
Her face flushed deeply, and she exhaled a long sigh along with cigarette smoke.
“…You’re only realizing this now? I’ve been worried from the start, haven’t I?”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“Your harsh words made it difficult to read Madame Laber’s heart. I almost started to resent you. In moments like that, just tell me it’s fine, ask if I’m hurt, express how frightened you were, and say how fortunate it is that things aren’t worse.”
“….”
Madame Laber couldn’t meet my eyes for a moment.
“Honestly… looking at the state of you, it doesn’t seem fine at all.”
When I brushed away the left side of my hair, singed by the cigarette flame, with my hand, distress colored Madame Laber’s voice.
“Do you have any idea how important hair is to a woman….”
“Still, hair grows back. Once I trim and arrange it properly, it should be fine.”
“Yes. Other than that….”
She fumbled for words before finally speaking.
“…You’re not injured anywhere, are you?”
“No. Fortunately.”
At my answer, Madame Laber exhaled in relief. Then her body trembled.
“Ugh, how disgusting. It’s so unlike me to say such things.”
The fire reignited in Madame Laber’s eyes.
“But what on earth gave you the nerve? To call that madman a madman right to his face?”
She resumed her tirade.
Crude profanities that I could barely bring myself to speak poured out without restraint. But this time, the target of her curses wasn’t me—it was Eclite.
It was certainly an improper way to express herself, but it felt refreshing to me.
The relentless stream of curses continued until sunset, when a rough-looking man knocked and entered, bringing it to an end.
Though we’d never exchanged words, his crew-cut hair and black attire suggested he was a guard protecting one of Madame Laber’s establishments.
“What is it? What’s the problem now?”
Madame Laber shot at him sharply, but the man bowed respectfully without concern.
“A brawl has broken out among the women in the Red Light District over drinks.”
“What? Why are they fighting this time?”
“It seems one woman with considerable wealth has been spreading word that she’ll become a patron’s wife.”
“Good grief, that customer may have money, but is that really worth fighting over?”
Madame Laber rubbed her temples.
“I must be losing my mind. How serious is the fight?”
“They’ve been pulling hair, smashing chairs and windows. Now they’re facing off with daggers, threatening to kill each other.”
I was left speechless upon hearing this. It seemed women’s fights truly exceeded imagination.
“Sigh, by any means necessary, separate them all and keep them restrained in different places.”
“Yes.”
The man bowed once more and withdrew.
“Dear, well. To be honest….”
Madame Laber lit a fresh cigarette.
“I’ve been trained in this business since childhood. I make money, but I’m sick and tired of witnessing this spectacle for over thirty years. Even now, if I go, someone might be dead.”
Madame Laber rose from her seat.
“That’s why I want to leave this shadowy business behind and step into the light, you see?”
As she turned to leave the study, she looked back at me.
“That’s why I opened a salon so deeply connected to high society.”
Madame Laber stopped in her tracks and muttered tersely.
Did I have any idea how much contempt the Raber Salon had endured to establish itself? She insisted I couldn’t possibly imagine what the competing establishments had said about us even just last year.
After Madame Laber left, I rested for a moment before heading to the empty service room, where I tidied and pinned up my hair myself.
I was planning to go to Walter’s Tavern.
But when I stepped outside the salon, I found someone waiting for me.

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