She Became My Friend’s Mother-In-Law - Chapter 104

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 104. The Dowager Duchess’s Turn (1)

Elise glared at Cecilia and gripped the fan in her hand tightly.

Veins bulged on her wrinkled hand.

“Show leniency to Count Osburn immediately. Write a petition for him.”

Elise commanded with her still arrogant attitude.

Though her relationship with Rosena had soured.

She couldn’t accept Jeremy being tainted with disgrace.

That child was her last lifeline.

“Must you ruin even a young child’s life to feel satisfied?”

Elise blamed Cecilia.

It sounded as if she was a cruel, cold-blooded person who was merciless even to young children.

Who was it that had abused Rainer when he was just a child?

Cecilia let out a bitter laugh.

“Has this woman gone mad?”

Elise’s face turned red.

To not even respond to her words and instead just sneer at her.

Unable to contain herself, she raised her hand again.

But this time, Cecilia had no intention of taking it.

She grabbed Elise’s wrist first.

“You…!”

“Mother-in-law, haven’t you heard the story by any chance?”

Cecilia said coldly.

“About Jeremy’s maternal grandmother you mentioned. She got slapped twice by me.”

So please be careful, Mother-in-law.

Cecilia smiled lightly with her eyes.

Her grip on Elise’s hand tightened a bit more.

“You, how dare you—!”

Elise gritted her teeth and tried to pull her arm away.

But it didn’t go as she wished.

Even considering the age difference, Cecilia’s grip was firmer than expected.

Suddenly, the same oppressive feeling she had once felt from Rainer was now coming from Cecilia.

“Let go, you insolent—!”

“Insolent, you say.”

Cecilia tilted her head.

“You raised your hand first, Mother-in-law.”

Elise’s face flushed red.

It was an expression mixed with anger, bewilderment, and anxiety.

“How frightened you are.”

Watching Elise tremble, Cecilia mockingly released her hand.

“Surely I wouldn’t actually hit my mother-in-law, would I?”

“You, you…”

“Please go ahead. It’s been a while since you’ve gone out.”

Elise gasped for breath, seemingly dumbfounded.

After clearing her throat, she spoke arrogantly again.

“Anyway! Have Count Osburn’s petition written by the time I return.”

Without letting go of her commanding attitude until the very end.

Elise turned around and left.

“My lady, are you alright?”

Wendy, who had been fidgeting anxiously nearby, rushed over.

She quickly pressed a wet cloth that another maid had brought to Cecilia’s cheek.

Then she whispered to Cecilia.

“Today, His Majesty the Emperor personally summoned the Dowager Duchess. That’s why her shoulders are reaching the sky right now.”

“…Ah. So that’s what it was.”

Cecilia nodded.

“It proceeded faster than I thought.”

“Pardon? My lady, what do you mean?”

Wendy tilted her head at the incomprehensible words.

She added with a worried expression.

“Could it be… something bad is going to happen?”

Count Osburn had just been dealt with.

She was worried that Cecilia might suffer again.

“Oh, it’s not like that, Wendy.”

Cecilia turned to Wendy and smiled lightly.

Wendy, who always worried about her first, was both adorable and precious to her.

She smiled leisurely and said.

“This time, it means it’s the Dowager Duchess’s turn.”

* * *

Inside the carriage heading to the Imperial Palace.

Elise repeatedly opened and closed her fan.

‘That’s right, Their Majesties haven’t abandoned me yet.’

Her pride as a great noble raised its head again.

Things had just gone awry temporarily because they hadn’t been going well.

Soon everything would return to its proper place.

Elise’s thin lips curved upward.

“Dowager Duchess, please come this way.”

The respectful guidance of the Imperial Palace servant further elevated her confidence.

However.

“Dowager Duchess.”

The mood that had been soaring to the heavens melted away like snow the moment she entered the drawing room of the Imperial Palace.

What was waiting for her inside wasn’t the Emperor, but Rainer.

He was standing in front of a mirrored wall set up on one side of the drawing room.

“…Why are you here?”

Elise frowned as she entered.

Though her unwelcoming attitude was obvious.

Rainer didn’t care and just shrugged his shoulders.

“His Majesty had an urgent audience and stepped away. I happened to have something to discuss with the Dowager Duchess, so I was waiting.”

“Ha! Something to discuss with me? You?”

Elise furrowed her brow.

“I have nothing to discuss with someone as lowly as you.”

“Well, you’ll think differently once you see this.”

Rainer held out a thick envelope.

The moment she saw it, Elise felt an ominous feeling.

“…What is that?”

Elise didn’t take it.

Rainer, as if he had expected such an attitude, reached into the envelope himself.

The moment she saw what came out of it.

“How, how did you…”

The color drained from Elise’s face.

The amethyst brooch with the hateful name Mariana engraved alongside Hays.

And her own letter sent to Crowley.

“Why are those in your hands!”

Elise screamed in shock.

“How dare you! How dare you rummage through my room?”

“Of course not. Why would I enter such a dirty, foul-smelling room?”

“Ha! Then it must be that precious wife of yours! That wench…”

Elise, who had been about to lash out, suddenly stopped.

Her eyes widened with belated realization.

Someone who could freely enter and exit her room.

Recently, Evan had been away at the labor camp for long periods.

That left only one person.

“Indeed, you should have trained your dog properly.”

“…!”

“Since you were such close grandmother and daughter-in-law, it would be fitting for you to fall into ruin together.”

Elise’s hands trembled at Rainer’s sarcasm.

“How dare you! How dare you threaten me?!”

Unable to contain herself any longer, her rage erupted like an active volcano.

“That wench started it first! A lowly thing dared to covet what was mine, so she deserved to die!”

In truth, the relationship between Elise and her husband Kenneth had been rocky from the start.

Kenneth had constantly struggled with Elise’s arrogant personality.

From one year after their marriage, he had consistently requested an amicable divorce.

But Elise could not accept this.

She, who was born the most noble in the world.

Should she live as an unfortunate woman who couldn’t even receive her husband’s love?

She absolutely could not accept it.

“If not for that lowly wench! None of this would have happened!”

So she poured all her twisted anger onto Mariana, who appeared later.

She believed that woman had stolen her husband’s love, which should have been entirely hers.

“It’s true that Father was not entirely blameless.”

Rainer nodded in acknowledgment.

“But that doesn’t give the Dowager Duchess the right to kill someone.”

“Ha! How dare you lecture me, knowing your place?”

The Dowager Duchess glared and took another step closer to Rainer.

“Go ahead and try to report me. That pathetic evidence is nothing but trash if I deny it.”

“…”

“It will only reveal that you’re of lowly birth. And it will advertise throughout the Empire that your mother, whom I burned to death, was also a vulgar woman who carelessly gave her body away.”

A flash of fire crossed Rainer’s eyes.

Tendons bulged in his clenched fists.

He wanted to grab that neck and twist it right then and there.

‘Rainer.’

Remembering Cecilia’s voice, Rainer desperately endured.

For her sake, who would be waiting for him.

He could not act emotionally here.

“…”

Heavy silence settled over the drawing room for a while.

Only the sound of the furious Elise’s heavy breathing could be heard.

It was Rainer who first broke this silence.

“The Dowager Duchess is right.”

He readily acknowledged Elise’s words.

“No matter what I say, people would twist it as a bastard slandering the legitimate wife.”

“Ha! You know well. Now that you know your place, hand that over to me and rot—”

“But what if it came from the Dowager Duchess’s own mouth?”

“…What?”

It was at that moment when Elise hesitated.

Rainer turned toward the mirror.

“Your Majesty, did you hear?”

“…!”

At that moment.

Swoosh—

The mirror that had filled one side of the drawing room folded and split apart.

Behind what had seemed like a mere decorative mirror.

Another space had been secretly prepared and hidden.

And inside it.

“Dowager Duchess, is everything you just said true?”

There stood the Emperor, Empress, and Crown Prince with shocked faces.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————