She Became My Friend’s Mother-In-Law - Chapter 126

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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 126. A Life on the Run
“I did find her.”
When Margaret was mentioned, the Guard Captain’s expression grew troubled.
“She despaired of her circumstances and threw herself into the river. Her body was discovered in the Brisen River Lower Reaches this dawn.”
“…Good heavens.”
A heavy silence fell for a moment.
With the culprit dead.
The explanation that my death would also be concluded here scattered into the void.
Covered in white cloth, unable to speak, I appeared somehow forlorn.
Cecilia’s gaze dimmed.
‘How could such an end come to pass?’
An ending mourned by no one, claimed by no one.
When it was always going to end like this.
Why had he pursued such endless greed?
Then the Guard Captain asked carefully.
“What shall we do with the body? Shall we bring it to the Duke’s Mansion?”
“There’s no need for that.”
Cecilia shook her head firmly.
No matter how miserable my end was.
She had no intention of stepping forward in the role of a saint.
“He is already unrelated to House of Hays.”
Once he had been her lover.
And once he had been family.
But now her heart held nothing for him.
Rather, the Guard Captain looked slightly flustered.
“Then he will be processed as having no relatives, and the funeral will be conducted simply…”
“Do it that way.”
Cecilia’s voice was calm.
“That seems fitting.”
“Let it be done as my wife wishes.”
Rainer agreed with her judgment as well.
In the end, the Guard Captain had no choice but to nod.
“Yes. Understood.”
It was the moment I finally closed the chapter on the bitter karmic connection with Evan that had spanned from my previous life.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a corner of the Capital Brisen.
The alley where no one’s gaze fell was filthy beyond measure.
This was the district where the lower classes gathered.
Rosena crouched within it.
“Sigh…”
My hair had gone days without being combed, matted and tangled.
The robe I’d wrapped around myself to hide my identity was stained with filth in places.
In my past life as a noblewoman, I could never have imagined such a state.
But despair alone wouldn’t fill my belly.
I needed bread to eat today.
“….”
I watched the passing woman intently from my hiding place.
A woman in a tattered skirt walked by, holding a child’s hand.
In her other hand, she carried bread wrapped in newspaper.
Likely purchased with wages earned from a full day of menial labor yesterday.
‘Good. Now’s the time.’
As the woman and child drew closer.
I darted forward swiftly.
“Eek!”
The startled woman cried out.
I drew a dagger from beneath my robe.
The gleaming blade stopped inches from her face.
“P-please… spare us….”
The woman’s face drained of all color in an instant.
I grabbed the child by the hair and spoke in a low voice.
“Stay quiet. Make a sound and you die first.”
“H-hic….”
The woman swallowed hard, paralyzed by fear.
The child couldn’t even cry, only trembling as it clung to its mother’s skirt.
I gazed slowly down at the woman’s arms.
Between the newspaper, I could see golden-brown bread.
The aroma of freshly baked bread struck my nose, and my mouth flooded with saliva.
I couldn’t hold back any longer.
I snatched the bread and shoved the woman roughly away.
“Ahhh!”
“M-mommy!”
The child’s wails echoed through the alley.
I spun around and fled.
“T-thief!”
The woman’s cry erupted behind me.
“She stole the bread for my child! Thief!”
But the alley was so narrow and winding.
Her shouts scattered uselessly into the air.
I gripped the bread I’d barely obtained tightly in my hand.
Running until my breath came ragged and burning.
“Haa, ha….”
How long had I been running?
After a long while, I finally hid myself deep within a narrow alley.
With my back against the wall, I collapsed to the ground.
‘Good, this should hold me until lunch today.’
I giggled softly as I peeled away the newspaper wrapping the bread and crumpled it carelessly.
Then I immediately bit into the bread.
The taste of this hard-won food was sweet.
I shoved the bread into my mouth desperately.
Without anything to drink, I choked and had to pound my chest with my fist to force it down.
I was devouring it like a starving beast when it happened.
“….”
Suddenly, my hand stopped.
My mouth was still full of partially chewed bread.
But abruptly, my throat felt so tight I couldn’t swallow anything.
“Uh….”
I slowly lowered my head.
Soon, strange sounds leaked from my mouth full of bread.
A tear dropped onto the ground with a soft plop.
“Sob….”
Then, like a dam breaking, all the resentment and sorrow I’d been holding back came pouring out.
“Sob, sobbing!”
My shoulders trembled.
Bread crumbs from my mouth fell and scattered across the ground.
I wiped my tears away roughly.
‘Why do I have to suffer like this?’
Born as the only daughter of a noble family.
Raised since childhood under the care of maids.
And now I’ve become so wretched and poor that I steal bread from some filthy woman just to survive.
‘This is all Cecilia’s fault.’
Unable to contain my rage, I stomped my feet furiously.
Even now, I was chewing the bread reluctantly, pitying its waste, and it made me feel pathetic.
Thud.
In my anger, my foot carelessly kicked a crumpled ball of paper.
It was the newspaper that had been wrapping the bread moments before.
‘What’s this?’
I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and gazed at it absently.
I was about to brush past it without much thought.
‘…Huh?’
A name I simply couldn’t ignore was emblazoned in the headline.
“Evan Machi, attacked on the bridge…”
‘Evan?’
Rosena’s eyes widened as she frantically grabbed the bundle of newspapers.
She had no time to wonder why it said Evan Machi instead of Evan Hays.
‘Attacked? Surely not, surely not….’
Rosena urgently unfolded the newspaper.
And in that instant, her body went rigid.
“Evan Machi, killed in an attack on the bridge”
“…What?”
Rosena’s lower lip trembled violently.
She hurriedly read through the article.
Her mind went blank and the words wouldn’t focus, forcing her to read the same passages over and over.
Still, she could piece together what had happened to Evan since I fled the Hays Ducal House.
He’d been deceived by a woman and squandered his inheritance.
He was eventually disowned by the Hays Ducal Family.
He was murdered by Margaret on the bridge.
No one claimed his body, so an unclaimed funeral was to be held.
“…Ha.”
Rosena let out a hollow laugh, as if all her strength had drained away.
So Evan was finally dead.
“Serves him right. Stupid fool.”
Rosena muttered mockingly to herself.
Learning that the man who abandoned me had met such a miserable end felt utterly satisfying.
And yet.
Even though her heart felt lighter.
“….”
Knowing that Evan no longer existed in this world.
Tears inexplicably continued to stream down her face.
She couldn’t explain why, even to herself.
It should have been amusing and exhilarating.
“Huu….”
Rosena’s shoulders trembled again.
No matter how roughly she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, the tears wouldn’t stop.
After sobbing for a long while, Rosena finally lifted her head again.
“Cecilia, you terrible creature.”
Now her resentment turned back toward Cecilia.
Cecilia, who had even refused to claim Evan’s body, seemed cruel and hateful.
‘What did we do so wrong?’
If only Cecilia had been satisfied from the beginning.
I would have dismissed my relationship with Evan as a mistake and found another match long ago.
It would have been better for Cecilia not to know about the affairs of Count Panning and his wife.
After all, her family had provided for her within the walls and roof of a home, hadn’t they?
They hadn’t cast her into these filthy alleys like they had done to me.
So Cecilia was far worse and more vicious than I was.
I genuinely believed this with all my heart.
‘And there she is, living as the Duchess, parading about as if she owns the world.’
In a warm manor.
Attended to by devoted maids.
Dressed in expensive clothes and eating fine food.
Walking through life with her head held high, as if nothing had ever happened.
“Hah!”
My hands tore through the newspaper viciously.
The shredded paper scattered across the floor.
“This cannot continue.”
Something writhed deep within my chest.
I could not go on living in such misery alone.
I could not let Cecilia live happily while I suffered.
“Yes, Cecilia.”
My lips twisted into a cruel smile.
“When a rat is cornered, it will bite the cat’s nose.”
By any vile and filthy means necessary.
I would drag Cecilia down beneath my feet.
My eyes gleamed with sinister resolve as I made this vow.

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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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