Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 119
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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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After hearing the full explanation, Olivia maintained a composed silence.
Everyone was exchanging glances nervously, but she smiled faintly and spoke.
“Very well, I’ll give you a chance.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m being patient right now, waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“For you to confess that this was all a surprise, that it was a lie to trick me.”
Olivia exhaled sharply, her eyes blazing with fury.
“If you tell me this was all a joke, I’ll only be a little angry. But if you drag this out any longer, know that I won’t find it amusing.”
“…Aunt.”
Calaudin sighed before speaking.
“It’s not a joke. I stake the name of Icard on it.”
“What a madman!”
At those words, Olivia stood up and struck Calaudin’s back forcefully.
“What? You’re saying you’ll resurrect Matilda through black magic? Have you lost your mind? Black magic—you shouldn’t even think such things in jest!”
Behind the shouting Olivia, the parrot cried out.
“Please save me. This black mage turned me into a parrot.”
Olivia, who had never spared her nephew even as a child, now removed her slipper and beat him earnestly, while in the midst of this chaos, Evan sat with an eerie stillness.
Calaudin had revealed everything. How he had studied black magic since Matilda’s death to resurrect her. How he wanted to unseal black magic with the permission of the Nobility and the Royal Court to summon a demon. According to his research, Matilda would have been reincarnated in another world, but he could pull her soul back.
He had planned to reverse the causality that led to Matilda’s death by turning back time and saving her.
In that process, seven years ago, facing so much obstruction, he had taken Laria—who had limited time to live—as his daughter-in-law.
But it seemed Laria somehow knew of all his plans. Perhaps that physician was also in league with her…
“So what exactly did Laria do! And she’s disappeared now, hasn’t she!”
Olivia shouted in the chaos of the flying parrot.
“So she’s exposing our family’s secrets to bring us down? Starting a campaign of public opinion to report us? Or did she perhaps strip away our assets entirely?”
“Laria is like you, Aunt.”
At Calaudin’s words, Olivia bounced up and down.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have left this cursed household standing! You brought a daughter-in-law knowing she would die, and you didn’t even tell her the truth?”
She struck Calaudin’s back once more, as if the very thought horrified her.
“If it were me, I would have cursed this wretched family to ruin and caused a scene! What will happen now! Icard is finished! Finished!”
“Laria, on the other hand…”
Despite the beating, Calaudin remained unmoved and muttered in a heavy voice.
“She told me to fulfill my wishes.”
“…What?”
Olivia blinked in disbelief.
“She said she would disappear, so I should marry Evan to Princess Elani, unseal black magic, and resurrect Matilda… in her final farewell and final letter…”
“Ha.”
Olivia collapsed into a sitting position. Then she began to rage again.
“No, why is my great-niece such a fool! She should have destroyed Icard! How can someone so clever reach such a naive conclusion?”
Evan, who had been silent until then, slowly opened his mouth.
“Father.”
Calaudin sighed as if he already knew what Evan would say, and spoke first.
“It was merely a plan from seven years ago. Back when I brought her without even knowing Laria’s face.”
“If that is what you wish, Father, I shall commit treason, ascend to the throne, and obtain approval for black magic.”
Evan’s voice had grown cold and measured, more composed than ever before.
“Therefore, I will never marry Princess Elani. My wife is Laria alone.”
And because that appearance was all the more unsettling, even Olivia held her tongue.
“Even if black magic succeeds and time regresses to disappear… that much I cannot compromise on.”
No one answered Evan’s words not because they agreed, but because they felt that whatever they said would not reach him now.
“Do you remember what I mentioned before? That it seemed as though strange fortune was descending upon House of Icard.”
“…Yes.”
“Now that I think about it, Laria always seemed to be at the center of it all.”
Duke Icard learned of young Evan being abused by Ludba only because Laria suggested they go watch him. He received the honor medal because Laria happened to cough and accidentally discovered an old manuscript. Discovering Rosalin’s schemes, the Emperor’s conflict ending appropriately over the iron ore mine matter—all of it.
Perhaps even Duke Orlando, whom I had considered my greatest rival, collapsed so easily because of Laria.
“Father! Don’t eat that! That person is suspicious! As far as I know, he’s Duke Orlando’s man!”
The fact that she immediately recognized Duke Orlando’s agent, someone even Calaudin had failed to notice, made it highly likely. The person I should kneel before and beg gratitude from was none other than Laria.
While Calaudin stood lost in thought, Evan spoke again.
“I must meet Laria.”
The one who reacted to those words was Olivia.
“How do you plan to meet someone who deliberately hid herself?”
She barely caught the parrot before speaking in a regretful tone.
“If everything you say is true, she’s an even greater schemer than Calaudin—how do you intend to find her?”
“I will find her.”
Evan answered coldly.
“And what will you do once you find her?”
Olivia asked, exhaling sharply through her nose.
“If I were Laria, I’d gnash my teeth just hearing the name Icard!”
“Once I find her, I’ll have a calm conversation.”
“A conversation? What on earth could you possibly say in such a catastrophe?”
In Evan’s hand lay a promissory note—a substantial one written by Jerdi Viscount Yeong, which Laria had left with him. To be honest, tormenting such a schemer to this degree was nothing. But it seemed to symbolize Laria’s heart.
“…I truly cannot let this rest. I cannot forgive anyone who has caused her even the slightest suffering.”
If Icard had truly hated him, why would she have done so much for him? That promissory note became his last hope, pounding against his heart.
“What conversation? Are you going to ask why she played the fool so brilliantly?”
Evan did not answer to that. He merely turned his gaze toward Calaudin.
“Father, regardless of your intentions, I thank you for binding Laria to me as my wife. Had it not been for you, I would have lived my entire life without even knowing of her existence.”
It was rare for Evan to speak at such length. So both Calaudin and Olivia remained silent, merely gazing at his cool face.
“And finally, thank you for calling upon all the physicians of the continent to save Laria. Without those words, I fear I would have found it difficult to face you.”
“Say what you wish to say. Looking at your expression, it doesn’t seem like you’ll end with only pleasant words.”
“Only.”
Calaudin’s judgment was precise.
Evan continued speaking with an expressionless face.
“I will begin searching for Laria now. I cannot let her go like this.”
“….”
“I will not attend to Duchy matters from this moment forward. Father, neither help nor hinder me. Until now, it was a psychological game between you and Laria….”
He rose slowly to his feet.
Both Olivia and Calaudin sensed they would not be able to speak with Evan for a very long time.
“From now on, it is a pursuit between Laria and me.”
After Evan left, Olivia struck Calaudin’s back once more.
“So, so!”
She clicked her tongue as if in contempt.
“According to your original plan, Laria would be dead by now, wouldn’t she?”
“….”
“Then how were you going to handle Evan! Didn’t you see his eyes roll like that? Hmm? Have you never lost Matilda? Are you even his parent? How could you do such a thing to your own child? What on earth were you thinking?”
“…Because it was a pain I already knew, at some point I lost my mind.”
Calaudin clutched his head and spoke between sighs.
“I simply could not bring myself to tell Evan. How could I say that Laria would die soon.”
“Ha….”
“So without realizing it, I drank. Alcohol I did not touch even when Matilda left….”
Olivia raised her hand to strike his back once more, but she sighed and let it fall weakly.
“Aunt, to be honest….”
Calaudin muttered in a strained voice.
[I cannot die on schedule, but instead I will leave far away, so if you could simply report me as missing, that would suffice. Please, do not search for me and kill me. I will truly live quietly, undetected, as if dead.]
After reading Laria’s letter, a small hope was born.
“…I think it is at least a mercy that Laria is alive.”
Seeing that expression, Olivia could not help but believe that Calaudin had been out of his mind for a very long time.
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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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