I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 98

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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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Chapter 98

Customers who had been driven out of the shop by the arrival of the House of Muzen were still lingering at the entrance.
With the Crown Princess’s lady-in-waiting visiting right after the Ducal House, the attention of those nearby was entirely focused on the scene.
Everyone couldn’t help but hear what Anny had said.
The reaction was intense.
“Wait, so you’re saying Kemel Atelier didn’t actually make the dress for Her Highness the Crown Princess?”
“You mean it was a dress designed to humiliate Her Highness instead? How shameless!”
“So you’ve been lying this whole time while selling dresses?! That’s absurd!”
“I ordered several dresses from here!”
“Me too! I fell in love with the dress Her Highness the Crown Princess wore and placed an order! I need to cancel it.”
Calls to cancel orders came pouring in from all directions.
Melissa Kemel’s complexion turned deathly pale. She clung to Anny almost desperately.
“Why, why are you doing this? To Her Highness, I…!”
She had stayed quiet for ten days—why was she causing such a commotion now?
Anny mocked Melissa’s audacity.
“Her Highness was waiting. Waiting for you to repent of your wrongdoing. She gives one final chance to those who have erred—she did the same for the Countess of Fileren.”
“…!”
“B-but we already sent Her Highness an apology gift! If you’re doing this after receiving it…!”
At that, Anny pointed to the gifts she had set down moments before.
“You mean these bribes?”
“Oh!”
She had been so shocked that she momentarily forgot she had returned these items as soon as Anny arrived.
“Her Highness does not accept bribes.”
Anny spoke with emphasis.
“Our Her Highness possesses the compassion to give one final chance to those who have committed wrongs, but at the same time, she is also a person of such integrity that she is never swayed by such things as bribes.”
Had Hillia heard this, she probably would have shrieked, “There’s no need to say it like that!”
But Anny was unashamed.
‘I’m just speaking the truth!’
Besides, how often did one get the chance to speak boldly on a crowded main street like this?
Public opinion naturally turned in favor of Anny and Hillia.
“My goodness, even someone who committed such a mistake was given a chance…!”
“Did you really think you’d be forgiven just by offering a bribe? You’ve got some nerve.”
“Right? You should have gone there yourself, knelt down, and begged for forgiveness.”
As contempt and hatred poured in from all sides, compounded by order cancellations, Melissa found it difficult to maintain her composure.
Once this rumor spread, all the orders that had accumulated over months would surely be cancelled.
‘If that happens, I’ll go bankrupt for sure!’
She tried to protest. But she couldn’t claim that what the Crown Princess’s lady-in-waiting had said was false.
To do so would be like picking a fight with the Crown Princess, who had even pushed aside the Empress.
“We were simply coerced by Evangeline! We’re victims too!”
“….”
“Still, we tried our best to show sincerity to Her Highness the Crown Princess!”
“You never once came to see Her Highness, yet you claim to be sorry? And you only throw down this bribe?”
Anny kicked the jewelry box with the tip of her foot.
“But still…!”
At that moment, something strange caught Melissa’s eye.
The second gift sent to the Prince’s Palace was odd in some way.
The dress gleaming with jewels was certainly one she had sent.
But the torso form was strange.
‘I definitely sent a golden torso form?’
In fact, that was the real bribe rather than the dress.
“W-what is this? This is just a wooden torso form coated in silver!”
Melissa grabbed Anny’s hand and whined in protest.
“How did this happen?!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I definitely sent a golden torso form! But this is made of wood, isn’t it?”
If this continued, Melissa would lose her bribe as is, and her business would be ruined.
She cried out desperately.
To announce that the Crown Princess had stripped away only the valuable part of her bribe.
“I definitely sent a golden torso form to Her Highness the Crown Princess! So why is it wood…!”
Anny looked at Melissa with a contemptuous expression, then shook her hand away forcefully.
She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her hand as if something filthy had touched it.
The handkerchief in Anny’s hand was a very distinctive and beautiful blue-violet color.
But Melissa had no mind to pay attention to such things now.
She lifted her head to seek help from those around her, and she froze.
It was because of the cold gazes directed at her.
Anny asked coldly.
“Wasn’t it enough that you deceived Her Highness with the dress? Now are you trying to falsely accuse her of not returning your bribe?”
The reactions around her were cold.
“That doesn’t make sense. Her Highness the Crown Princess returned it so publicly….”
“A golden torso form? That’s nonsense. Is she really trying to say she sent a wooden torso and now demands a golden one? She’s insane.”
“She looks ruined, so now she’s just making excuses.”
“How shameless.”
Leaving the dumbfounded Melissa behind, Anny turned away.
Then, there was a voice that stopped her. It was not the already spiritless Melissa.
It was the Countess of the House of Muzen.
The Countess approached Anny, treating Melissa like garbage dropped on the floor.
“Are you the maid of Her Highness the Crown Princess?”
Anny was surprised but responded calmly.
“I saw the carriage emblem and wondered—are you from the House of Muzen?”
“Indeed. I was planning to request an audience with Her Highness soon, but how fortunate to meet you first.”
The Countess approached with her son’s escort, her demeanor notably gracious.
“By the way… I couldn’t help but overhear, but the dress Her Highness the Crown Princess wore at that banquet wasn’t made here, was it?”
Anny answered with a gentle smile.
“No, Countess.”
The Countess’s eyes brightened as she leaned closer to Anny.
Her gaze fixed on the blue-violet handkerchief Anny held—naturally dyed with Sharinga petals.
“Then perhaps you could tell me—who created that dress?”
Anny observed the Countess anew.
A woman adorned entirely in various shades of violet. The color suited her remarkably well.
Hillia’s prediction had been accurate.

“The Duchess of Muzen will come. She’s very easy to recognize. Just look for the walking violet.”
“Pardon?”
“If she’s holding a handkerchief dyed with Sharinga petal tea, she’ll approach first.”

‘Her Highness was absolutely right.’
Anny marveled anew.
Hillia knew from her memories before regression that the Duchess of Muzen was famous as a violet enthusiast, but Anny had no such knowledge, so it was only natural.
“I could tell you, but…”
Anny trailed off ambiguously.
The Countess grew even more eager and pressed closer.
“Please, tell me. I’ll reward you handsomely.”
Anny then relented and offered a response.
“Actually, I was about to visit the atelier that made the dress on Her Highness’s orders. Would you like to come along?”
“…Of course!”
And those who overheard this conversation’s eyes gleamed.
The crowd that had been swarming like clouds before the Kemel Atelier dispersed like an ebbing tide.
All that remained beside Melissa Kemel was contempt and cancelled orders.
The golden torso she had offered Hillia as a bribe had been nearly her entire fortune.
With that gone and cancellations flooding in, only one thing remained.
Bankruptcy.
The ruined shop owner’s scream echoed miserably.
“No, this can’t be! This isn’t possible!”

* * *

“C-Commander?”
The headquarters of the Black Mercenary Corps in the Capital City welcomed its master after a long absence.
Gerald, the Mercenary King, who typically moved only at night like the black cloak he always wore, had revealed himself in broad daylight.
The mercenaries who had rushed to greet their commander warmly soon found themselves pressing their heads to the ground.
It was because of the commander’s aura—a killing intent and pressure so overwhelming that even his mask couldn’t conceal it.
Everyone was filled with questions.
‘What is this? Did we mess something up?’
‘Did a report go wrong recently? No, we handled everything properly…’
‘Who did it? Hurry up and apologize!’
Gerald, the Mercenary King, issued a command in a heavily subdued voice.
“…Bring it.”
“Sir? Bring what?”
“Information on jewels.”
What was he suddenly talking about?
A dragon appearing in the middle of the day… or rather, at night?
“Scrape together all information on precious jewels throughout the continent. Now.”
‘Why on earth?’
Everyone’s question rose to the tip of their tongues, but none dared to ask.

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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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