Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 113

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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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“When the 【Monita March】 plays, I suspect there will be quite the commotion.”
The piece the orchestra was currently performing was none other than the 【Monita March】.
This was precisely the commotion I had anticipated. While part of me yearned to witness the spectacle of conflict, I was far more eager to see that wretched man meet his downfall.
Upon reaching my designated meeting place with Simor, I found he had not yet arrived. I stood alone on the balcony, lost in thought.
‘How dare you wound young Evan like that? I’ll make sure you suffer for the rest of your miserable life.’
Childhood wounds never truly disappear.
I knew this from my past life, when I was an orphan plagued by misfortune and tormented by countless people. Even before my possession, my childhood was much the same. My parents did nothing but quarrel, and after they passed, I could see the fear in my relatives’ eyes as they dreaded being burdened with me. Such memories cannot be erased, no matter how one tries.
‘But really… why am I so furious?’
Even as I tried to regain my composure in the breeze, memories the Scroll Book had shown me kept resurfacing, rekindling my anger.
‘Yet Evan acts as though nothing troubles him… Wait.’
Had I ever thrown myself into someone else’s affairs like this before? I had always been consumed with my own survival, my own earnings, with no regard for anything else.
I stood there as if struck by lightning. Among all my actions thus far, there was only one that held no connection to my own interests—and that was Evan’s matter. Perhaps from the very moment I rescued him from Ludba. From the instant I saw the marks of abuse on my husband’s body, my eyes had blazed with fury.
The moment one becomes aware of loving someone differs for each person. When they appear impressive and your heart races, or when they occupy your thoughts constantly. In my case… it was when their suffering became unbearable to me, as if it were my own.
“Even I’ve forgotten about it, so why do you care so much?”
The reason I care so deeply about Evan… the reason I cannot help myself even when he says he’s fine…
Could this too be a result of the fairy’s breath stirring my emotions?
But even a fairy cannot conjure feelings that don’t exist. This emotion that I have continuously denied, absolutely refused to acknowledge, and tried only to bury.
‘Ah, I…’
At the masquerade, when I saw him looking down at me in that black cat mask, a thought began to form before I stopped it.
Even after hearing directly from his lips that it wasn’t so, I couldn’t help but constantly suspect: ‘Could Evan possibly like me?’
“Is anyone there? Summon all the kitchen maids at once! An attempt at poisoning…!”
When I first coughed up blood, Evan had gone pale, unable to think straight.
“I will be a far better family to you than all your relatives combined.”
After driving away that woman who had come claiming to be family, scheming only to strip me bare, Evan had spoken warmly of becoming my family.
“I will never do anything that troubles you. So my only wish is that you don’t leave me.”
Behind his mask, Evan had asked me not to leave him.
“If you asked me to destroy the world, I would do it without question. Yet I find there is truly nothing I can give you in return.”
Evan had spoken those words to me without a moment’s hesitation.
‘I…’
I bit my lower lip hard. Even as I entertained the thought that Evan might like me, I had unconsciously denied it, perhaps because…
‘I like Evan.’
Perhaps from the moment I found his flushed nape endearing in childhood, I had simply adored him without reason.
It was an emotion I could not explain. I had been drawn to him from the very beginning, unexpectedly. From my first days at the Count’s Manor, I had been consumed with survival, yet my gaze had always drifted toward Evan.
From the moment I alone found him adorable when everyone else dismissed him as anything but, was the game truly over?
Perhaps I had feared that as he grew, he would become indifferent to me, and on that night of the National Foundation Festival six years ago, I had begged him to remain my close friend without conflict. Even as I plotted my own escape, I had asked him to be kind to me, at least in pretense.
That I thought of Evan’s safety first during the terror attack, that I risked danger to brilliantly resolve the Count’s Manor’s affairs…
‘What do I do… I’m truly mad. I thought attachment was frightening, so I went all the way to Borotna to distance myself, yet I’ve fallen for him anyway.’
I stood frozen in panic. I had never imagined I could be so foolishly smitten with someone.
Perhaps my unconscious refusal to grow close to Elani, even though there was no harm in it, was also…
‘Ultimately, it won’t lead anywhere, but I didn’t want to become husband and wife with Evan.’
I let out a sigh and collected my thoughts. I had spent my whole life pretending to be wise, yet it took a fairy’s help for me to understand my own heart.
No… the fact that the Scroll Book showed me Evan, calling him the most difficult illusion to witness, should have been a clue enough.
‘Perhaps because he’s been by my side for so long. Maybe our relationship as husband and wife kept me from seeing it.’
Or perhaps I had been denying it defensively, thinking that even if I came to care for him, it would only wound me. So whenever he pushed me away, I felt hurt, and the more hurt I felt, the harder I tried not to acknowledge my own emotions.
Evan treated me as a cherished family member, yet I dismissed it as insufficient because I was hoping for something more. Even though I had convinced myself that I shouldn’t hope, that if he truly came to care for me, it would be catastrophic.
As I stood there, unable to process the emotions I had just discovered, the balcony door opened.
“Laria, my apologies for being late.”
Simor hurried inside.
“I was detained by Princess Elani on the way…”
“Why would the Princess do that? Is the fight already over?”
“No. Olivia said, ‘If you’re going to boast about your wealth in front of me, then throw gold at me!’ and the Princess tried to throw me. She said she was worried that real gold might actually like it.”
It seemed to be an episode that had occurred because of Simor’s middle name being Gold.
“I’ve handled everything as you instructed.”
Simor spoke earnestly as he looked at me.
“That Jerdi Viscount Yeong seemed quite greedy for money. He was saying he’d purchase iron ore right away. I advised him that he should stake his entire fortune.”
Simor and Kail had been adjusting the iron ore extraction volume by mutual agreement. The deposits were substantial, and if they released too much onto the market at once, the price would plummet.
“So I secured a promissory note from him on the spot.”
But now I was planning to gradually increase the extraction volume to stabilize the price.
This was because if the greedy Emperor became interested in the price once the urgent demand for iron ore supply was satisfied, it would be problematic. I needed to lower the price moderately before he wielded his imperial authority recklessly and forced a drastic reduction.
“Because I told him directly that Hanua’s iron ore reserves were nearly depleted.”
“I see.”
“Well, if it turns out there were more deposits than we thought, so be it.”
Having witnessed the iron ore price surge once, it was easy to tempt him with another surge. This way, Jerdi Viscount Yeong would squander even his family’s fortune.
“Thank you.”
The amount of the promissory note was substantial.
I accepted the note he offered and spoke with a slight smile.
“Then you can go now.”
“Pardon? Why?”
“You should go see the Princess. I feel bad that you’ve gone through so much trouble because of my request.”
Even as he explained the situation to me now, his thoughts were surely only on Elani, and I felt a bit sorry about that.
“Uh… why would I go there?”
Simor spoke slowly as if bewildered, and I blinked.
“The Princess is having a quarrel, isn’t she?”
To my response, Simor answered as if taken aback.
“It’s entertaining to watch, but it’s not worth sacrificing the time I spend with you to see it, is it?”
“Hmm…”
I tucked away the promissory note and chose my words carefully.
“I thought that if you received an invitation from Princess Elani and even danced the first dance together, you two must have a special relationship.”
“We do have a special relationship—we exchange money. But if you’re referring to a romantic relationship…”
Simor frowned and shook his head.
“Absolutely not. Why would Her Highness the Princess favor a mere commoner?”
“But… the first dance…”
“That was a special request from Princess Elani. She hasn’t yet secured control over the nobility, so she cannot take sides with any faction.”
He gestured with his hand as he explained.
“Dancing with a baron like me—someone with money but no allegiances—is a good way to buy time.”
That was true. If Elani danced with any noble’s son, it would carry political implications. So if she wanted to step back, dancing with someone like Simor, who belonged to no faction, was the right choice.
“We simply share the same political philosophy. Don’t misunderstand. Her Highness the Princess sees me as nothing more than a pretty source of funds.”
“Ah… um… political philosophy? You have such a thing?”
“Well, I don’t understand complicated matters at all.”
Simor shrugged his shoulders.
“But I do like the divorce-related laws.”
“Haven’t you married yet?”
“That’s…”
Simor’s green eyes wavered aimlessly. Then he stared directly at me, and answered as if entranced by something.
“Well, as time passes, someone might consider me a better match than a husband…”
Suddenly, I wondered if Simor too was under the influence of the fairy’s breath.
“At that time, I just hoped there would be at least a system allowing separation from a husband. Because…”
A very uneasy feeling crept over me.
According to the original story, Simor and Elani should already be in love. He shouldn’t be saying things about pretty sources of funds.
Elani had a fiery personality and was not the type to hide her feelings from a man she loved. And Simor too… logically speaking, wouldn’t he naturally want to go check on a woman he liked if she were fighting with someone?
“…Since you, Laria, have Evan as your husband, you would never turn your eyes toward another man, regardless of your feelings, wouldn’t you?”
My heart dropped.
Surely not. Surely not.
“I… um…”
“Of course, even if divorce laws were enacted, it wouldn’t change your feelings, Laria… but I was desperate enough to cling to even that infinitesimal possibility.”
His words continued calmly, but the emotion contained within them was anything but.
“…I never wanted to tell you because I was afraid it would burden you… I don’t know why I’m doing this.”
His eyes curved with sorrow.
“Perhaps it’s because you looked so beautiful today, Laria.”
A breeze blew from somewhere.
I gasped in panic. It was one of the most awkward moments of my life.

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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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