Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 58

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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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Upon entering the Banquet Hall, I began systematically dismantling each person who approached me, like breaking through a succession of barriers.
“I heard your family had some debts? You’ve paid them all off, haven’t you?”
“Well, even if some remain, it should be fine. Couldn’t we settle everything just by selling the diamonds attached to this dress hem?”
I dispatched the first challenger simply by lifting my skirt slightly.
“You don’t seem to be in much pain, though. Surely this isn’t exile disguised as recuperation?”
“Now that I think about it, Count Leban left his betrothed behind at Lake Esbantes… No, never mind. You might prefer to keep that secret.”
“…What? What are you saying?”
“Well, one can hardly expose others’ secrets while recuperating. Though if it were exile, that would be different.”
“I apologize, Duchess. Of course it’s recuperation. Exile—my tongue must have run away with me. If I’ve offended you, I sincerely apologize.”
I dispatched the second challenger using the romantic scandal Serena had informed me about.
“The fact that you came all this way suggests life at Duke Icard’s Mansion has been difficult. Well, it’s hardly surprising that an unremarkable daughter-in-law wouldn’t be welcomed…”
“Isn’t it rather warm in here? I find it quite stifling. I happen to have a fan I received as a gift…”
“No, that, that, that’s the ‘Tiger of Rivien’!”
Without further ado, I sent the third challenger away by simply waving the fan Olivia had given me.
Dealing with these small fry wasn’t difficult. Though I was a gentle person by nature, even when I crushed them so easily, my heart felt… absolutely delighted.
In the end, winning was fun. Exhilarating. This was it. Pretending to be virtuous while gradually seizing control—this was my true calling.
There were people watching as I effortlessly repelled each person sent my way. They were Bieti and Bern’s faction.
“Duchess, would you mind joining us for conversation? Please come to our table.”
“Of course.”
When Bern approached and invited me, I followed him to find a group already seated at the table. Though he said he wanted to talk, instead they launched into old stories without addressing me at all.
“So last winter, thanks to Princess Owerin, we had such a wonderful time.”
“That’s right. We couldn’t sleep that night.”
Hmm, this was… one of the intentional snubbing techniques: ‘telling inside jokes among themselves while making the invited person look foolish.’ It was a common tactic—giggling over pleasant past memories to create a sense of exclusion.
‘This kind of thing can be countered with proper research.’
I smiled brightly and interjected.
“Yes, I heard about it. An unexpected ghost disturbance—it must have been quite entertaining.”
They all stared at me in astonishment. Bieti, who was leading this atmosphere, cleared her throat several times before changing the subject.
“Do you remember when Karen visited last time? It was really ridiculous.”
“Right. Why on earth did she show up looking like that?”
This was it! A higher-level technique: ‘mocking an absent person to ensure no one unfamiliar can participate.’
The intent was identical to the previous tactic, but there was a barrier to entry—one cannot mock someone they’ve never seen. And it carried the added effect of ‘if you’re not careful, you’ll be criticized like this too.’
I smiled and interjected once more.
“Still, I heard that style is fashionable in the North. Wasn’t the fur hat rather charming?”
Based on my prior research, all I needed to do was gently defend the absent person. Seeing that I wouldn’t be isolated after all, Bieti smiled slightly and finally asked.
“Duchess, how do you know all of this? I heard you had little social activity in the Capital.”
Ah, so she was criticizing me for having no friends in the Capital.
“Due to various circumstances, I married at such a young age. While the House of Icard carries prestige, I’m still quite young, so it’s difficult for me to form close connections with people.”
First, she was mocking my family’s debt-ridden state, and second, she was implying that despite everything, I remained unaccepted by House Icard. I shrugged nonchalantly and replied.
“It seems my father-in-law has been preparing an elaborate banquet on my behalf.”
In other words, contrary to what he said, it meant that I was favored by House of Icard.
“Since I came here, I’ve been exchanging letters with various people.”
Everyone knew that I exchanged invitations to banquets and various letters with many people.
“I’ve made a friend who tells me all sorts of things.”
Though truthfully, it was Serena who told me.
My words cast a chill over the table. Everyone tensed at the thought that there might be a spy among them.
Especially Bieti seemed eager to root out whoever had become close enough to me to share such detailed information.
“By the way, Princess Kaite isn’t here.”
I smiled brightly and stood up.
“Viscount Bern keeps confessing to her, so she must find it uncomfortable?”
“W-what!”
Bern jumped in surprise.
“I’ve been taking lessons from the Eldspie Viscountess lately, and I saw a crumpled letter rolling around.”
“What?”
Bieti looked at Bern as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Perhaps you were annoyed at being rejected and used Princess Bieti to isolate her… No, that’s not it. I was overstepping. This is just my opinion, after all.”
As I tilted my head and added this, Bieti began grinding her teeth in fury at Bern.
“How dare you… use me?”
She was clearly doubly upset. Not only had he sent love letters to someone he was isolating, but now the word “use” had been brought up.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Well then…”
The bombs had all detonated; now it was time to leave.
“I’ll go see Princess Kaite.”
With the top two members of this clique about to fight, the rest would naturally fracture on their own.
Of course, some of them would become aware that someone had sided with me and would search for a third faction.
Cliques always lost their power once torn apart. Groups that originally relied on numbers were finished once they split.
Kaite had originally been quite an influential princess, but she’d simply been isolated and pushed out. It meant that with just a little help, she could reclaim her position.
If a Duke’s daughter like me and a Marquis’s daughter like Kaite joined hands, it would have far more impact than Bieti, a Count’s daughter. Until now, Kaite had walked alone because she wasn’t skilled at politics, but if I worked behind the scenes, that would be easily manageable.
‘That’s enough for today.’
After announcing the prelude to collapse, I deliberately approached Kaite and engaged her in warm conversation.
“Your teacher is doing well, I hope?”
My teacher was none other than her mother, the Eldspie Viscountess.
“I wish Mother could have come, but her mobility isn’t easy these days.”
The Eldspie Viscountess had been consistently providing me with lessons in refinement and etiquette at my request.
She was highly respected in many ways and possessed great learning, but she was very advanced in age. That’s why she couldn’t properly support Kaite, her youngest daughter and late-born child, in her social circle activities.
Of course, it was also because Kaite, who had strong pride, hadn’t spoken about it in detail to others. She had such strong pride that she wouldn’t even tell others about receiving love letters from Bern.
Indeed, she hadn’t originally lacked friends—she’d swept through the social circle but suddenly became isolated when she fell out of Bieti’s favor, so she must have acted even more aloof.
‘The rest of the work can be done gradually.’
Now, if I carefully selected members for the formal tea time invitations, I could rapidly expand my influence.
Looking beyond the Banquet Hall, Evan was surrounded by even more people. I noticed he kept checking on me from the corner of his eye, but I met his gaze with a smile and then quietly slipped out of the Banquet Hall.
I had detonated the bomb in Bieti’s group as planned, but it didn’t feel particularly satisfying.
In truth, I had merely recited my lines mechanically according to the script and left. Most of my mind was elsewhere, after all.
‘Of course, I still did it quite well.’
I didn’t forget to praise myself in the midst of it all.
‘Even doing it half-heartedly, I managed this much. If I truly put my mind to it, how well could I do? I could hold the entire Social Circle of the Empire in the palm of my hand.’
But that was one thing, and my melancholy was another. I left the Banquet Hall and settled myself alone in the empty Garden for a moment. In truth, I needed time to think by myself.
‘Why is this.’
I tried to quietly examine my own heart.
The reason my spirit felt so withered, regardless of controlling the Social Circle or whatever else I had thought, was obvious. The fact that Duke Icard was still planning to use dark magic continued to linger in my mind.
‘What does Duke Icard’s plan have to do with me? I can just disappear if I want to.’
After sitting alone for a while, I finally realized why my heart felt so uneasy. When I had known nothing of Duke Icard’s objective, it seemed I had unconsciously been hoping for a different ending.
“You said it yourself. That this place is happier than Rostri Manor. Don’t cling so much to blood relations.”
“I will become a far better family to you than all of your relatives combined.”
After the Karen incident, the words Duke Icard and Evan spoke were honestly warm.
To be honest, it was the first time I had felt so loved. Having no expectations whatsoever of family, I felt my heart flutter a little at those words.
Of course, it was true that my inner materialism was pleased each time I received various gifts, but I was human—my heart couldn’t help but be moved.
Even while always thinking that Duke Icard could kill me, I secretly harbored hope for Plan B. I was glad to be bound together with Evan and Olivia under the name of family.
So I thought of it as lottery-level luck, but in truth, my feelings toward Plan B had grown without my conscious awareness.
I had diligently prepared my escape, but such things could be abandoned in an instant. It was still difficult to be sincere with Duke Icard, who deliberately didn’t mention my illness, but I still harbored hope.
So when I felt that he genuinely adored me, or when he gave excessive gifts.
I was constantly vigilant, but sometimes I truly thought he was doing things for my sake.
Whatever Duke Icard desired, perhaps he wouldn’t kill me and could resolve it differently. If I just did my best to prevent things from flowing according to the original story, wouldn’t that work….
So perhaps that’s why I was so curious about Duke Icard’s objective. Whatever it was, I would fulfill it for him and then just settle down. It was a thought utterly lacking in pride, but I never had any pride to begin with.
But if that objective was Matilda, then there was absolutely nothing I could substitute for her.
‘I will definitely be killed if I don’t disappear on time. During that time, affection accumulated from appearing pretty might cause me to hesitate for a moment, but….’
No matter how well I did. No matter how hard I tried. Apart from everything else, I could never surpass Matilda, who was already gone from this world.

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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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