Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 125

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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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“Young Duke. I’d like to meet with Viscount Litshia.”
This was the first time I’d seen Evan’s face directly since the banquet.
Elani was genuinely shocked at how ravaged a person’s face could become in such a short span of time. His features had grown coarse and haggard, with only his crimson eyes gleaming like those of a madman.
“…May I inquire as to why Your Highness seeks him?”
His voice was badly fractured.
‘He’s completely unhinged.’
Elani thought this while wearing a faint smile.
‘He’s not even trying to hide the kidnapping from the princess.’
Within her mind, the hypothesis that Laria was being confined somewhere in the Duke’s Mansion grew increasingly plausible.
“She’s my precious source of income. So let her go.”
“I will release her after clarifying a few matters.”
Elani sighed inwardly. Based solely on the atmosphere Evan was radiating, it seemed unlikely he would release her easily.
‘Still, I’m the only one who can save her from this predicament, so I need to handle this carefully.’
I had no choice but to suppress my own nature and somehow coax and persuade him.
Evan spoke indifferently, making no effort to hide his disinterest in her.
“Don’t worry and return. I’m well aware he’s not worth beating to death.”
“Of course, Simor’s confession to Laria at the royal banquet was terribly wrong. However…”
Evan’s previously apathetic face transformed into something terrifying in an instant.
“That bastard confessed to Laria at the banquet?”
‘Ah. He didn’t know about the confession.’
Elani felt her vision turning white.
‘I’ve driven my source of income to ruin with my own hands.’
Elani quickly offered prayers for Simor’s soul. Simultaneously, a fresh wave of curiosity arose. Her hypothesis that Laria was being confined because she’d received a confession from Simor had just collapsed.
Then why was Laria being confined at all? And why had Simor been kidnapped?
Having already decided from Evan’s crazed appearance that ‘this bastard is completely insane,’ Elani’s thoughts spiraled toward increasingly extreme conclusions.
‘He locked her up based on mere suspicion, this vicious bastard.’
Elani ground her teeth as she looked at the beast-like creature before her, a victim of confinement decay.
“I don’t understand why Your Highness is so fixated on Laria.”
“…Chess.”
“Pardon?”
“I need to finish our game. She was the only opponent I thought might actually beat me!”
At those words, Evan’s complexion grew even worse.
“Laria… plays chess well?”
“Extraordinarily well.”
Elani answered immediately and studied Evan’s face.
From the way he sighed, it appeared he had no idea that Laria played chess well.
So he was confining her without any genuine interest—truly a vicious creature. No wonder Laria was pushing so hard for divorce laws to be enacted quickly.
“Young Duke, let me offer you some advice.”
“I must decline…”
“No husband has the right to force himself on someone who refuses him.”
“What are you saying, Your Highness?”
“Those filthy, despicable things you’ve been doing to Laria.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed in an instant. He was gauging how much Elani knew.
‘So she knows he’s doing something filthy and despicable.’
The fact that he didn’t jump up in denial confirmed that he was indeed mistreating Laria.
Evan’s mouth slowly opened.
“So, without others knowing, in secret….”
‘Good heavens! I suspected it, but it’s true! This Olivia Rivien bastard!’
At the word “secret,” something snapped inside Elani’s mind with a sharp crack.
Her combat power ignited just as it had during that masquerade ball confrontation with Olivia. In truth, Evan had been referring to a background investigation, but Elani had completely misunderstood him. She was intelligent and enterprising by nature, but once her eyes turned red, her offensive power became absolutely ferocious.
With her eyes already blazing, Elani slammed the table with a bang and shouted.
“That’s insane! You bastard, just let me pass the divorce law. I’ll have our Laria divorced from you immediately!”
“…Divorce?”
Evan muttered as if he found it absurd.
“Did you just say divorce, Your Highness?”
“Yes!”
“Do you think I would ever let Laria go?”
“If you commit illegal confinement, I’ll make it so you can be divorced unconditionally!”
Elani stood up from her seat and even began pointing accusingly.
“Now I understand why Laria supported my dream of divorce legislation. I finally see why she asked me to move quickly on it.”
Her loud voice rang out clearly.
“Just you wait—I’ll definitely pull Laria out of this madman’s pit….”
Elani’s words, carelessly spilled based on Simor’s account, could go no further.
“…Did you just say that Laria asked you to expedite the legislation on divorce laws?”
Evan looked up at her and asked in a chilling tone.
“Y-y-y-yes!”
Only then did Elani realize that Laria was still in this madman’s clutches. But no matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t think of a legitimate reason to take the Icard Nobleman from Duke Icard’s Mansion.
Nathan, standing guard at the entrance to the reception room and hearing all of this, slowly opened his mouth. The appearance of Kail Dart Labonis—the man Laria had been secretly in love with and whom he’d considered a rival. And the word “divorce.” That combination was terrible.
But something even more terrible was waiting.
“What?”
Elani’s voice had been so loud that both Olivia and Calaudin came rushing in.
Seeing Calaudin, who had turned pale as a ghost, Elani swallowed hard once more. What on earth was happening in this mansion that both men of Icard had become like walking corpses?
“So you’re saying Laria asked you to legislate divorce laws, but when it seemed difficult, she stabbed us in the back?”
Olivia clapped her hands and shouted.
“Bravo!”
She laughed broadly, looking delighted.
“Yes! If you’re going to give the finger to a family that tried to use your death, you might as well do it properly! I was worried she was too kind, but my teaching paid off! She’s truly my great-niece! That final letter was a deception, and the truth was another man! I knew it!”
“…That family that received the finger is House Icard, Aunt.”
Calaudin spoke quietly, and Olivia slowly stopped clapping.
“Ah, I got so caught up in the satisfaction that I forgot myself. My apologies. Thinking from a godmother’s perspective, I was just so proud that I couldn’t help myself….”
Elani quickly realized that everything had gone awry because of her, but decided to brazenly push through regardless.
“Eavesdropping on others’ conversations is quite rude, Duke. Of course, Lady Rivien is fine. I’ve long known she’s rude, after all.”
Calaudin offered Elani a perfunctory bow before turning his gaze toward Evan.
“Evan, is everything the Princess said true?”
“…It’s impossible to say. I haven’t seen Laria yet.”
“If she wants a divorce… could that man you’ve been keeping locked away be Laria’s secret lover?”
At the words “secret lover,” Evan’s expression became even more terrifying, and Elani jumped up with a shout.
“No! It’s not Simor! Don’t kill my money supply!”
“Then who is it? You tell me.”
Calaudin’s cold question was directed at Nathan, who answered with a sorrowful expression at this trial befalling him.
“K-K-Kail Dart Labonis, a viscount from Hanua….”
“Kail Labonis?”
Calaudin answered reflexively, grinding his teeth, but only after speaking did something occur to him, and he raised his eyebrows.
“Wait. Hanua? Iron ore? Damn it all. So that bastard I wanted to tear apart was involved in this too.”
Olivia quickly interjected.
“You need to understand Laria. Icard wronged her so much that it’s only natural her heart might have turned to another man for a time. But you should eliminate that man.”
At the phrase “her heart might have turned,” Evan’s expression noticeably worsened. Calaudin looked at Evan and spoke with a chilling tone.
“You’ve heard talk of another man and divorce, yet when will you stop acting like a gentleman.”
“….”
“This doesn’t seem like a time to be leisurely.”
Calaudin’s meaning was simple. He was telling him not to rely solely on passive methods just because he feared being hated by Laria any further. In other words….
“If you want to see her, use any means necessary without hesitation, Evan.”
Calaudin spoke to Evan, who looked exactly like himself in his younger days. He too had so much he wanted to say to Laria. The more he retraced the past, the more grateful and sorry he felt, and it tormented him. Laria was one of the few people in this world whom he couldn’t blame for making a fool of himself because of Matilda.
“And… family shouldn’t think such things. Lady Olivia, Evan, and I—we were all just heartbroken, never thinking Father was lacking in any way.”
Yet Laria had known everything all along, and had wrapped him in her care until the very end.
When he saw her again, he would have to beg her forgiveness and express his gratitude no matter what. But for now, rather than drowning in his own regrets, he needed to watch over Evan’s choices and decisions.
“Because that’s how I’ve always been before the wife I love.”
Evan and Calaudin’s eyes met. It was the first conversation between father and son since Evan had declared he would find Laria.
“…Understood.”
Evan left the reception room without even bowing to Elani, but glanced back as he departed and spoke.
“Ah, it will be difficult to release Litshia just yet. However, out of respect for the Princess’s face, I won’t beat him to death. Be satisfied with that.”
“Yes, I’m completely satisfied!”
Elani quickly nodded her head, reading the room.
And for some reason, she thought that Viscount Labonis would suffer even greater humiliation than Simor.

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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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