She Became My Friend’s Mother-In-Law - Chapter 132

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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 132. Rosena’s Revenge Plan (2)
The contents written on the thick letterhead were utterly brazen.
It stated that Rainer was not Elise’s biological child, but the illegitimate son of her lover.
It questioned whether he truly deserved to inherit the Ducal Title.
It challenged the very legitimacy of his claim.
Yet in the same breath, it offered two hundred thousand crowns in exchange for his silence and departure to a foreign land.
The letter concluded with this shameless proposition.
“This is absurd.”
Rainer let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“We should ignore it. A letter like this doesn’t deserve our attention―”
“Wait.”
As he moved to crumple the letter.
Cecilia caught his hand.
She immediately called for Wendy.
“Yes, my lady? You called for me?”
“Wendy, in my room, open the bottom drawer of my desk. There should be a letter there. Could you bring it to me?”
“Of course, my lady.”
After Wendy hurried from the room.
Rainer tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
“A letter?”
“Yes.”
Cecilia gave a brief nod.
“Something about this feels familiar.”
Before long, Wendy returned with the letter in hand.
Rainer’s eyes narrowed as he recognized it.
“That’s…”
It was the very letter Rosena had sent directly to Rainer by her own hand.
Back when she had attempted to sow discord, convinced of Cecilia’s infidelity.
“You’ve kept that all this time?”
“Yes, because you threw it at me in anger. I kept it as a memento.”
Rainer’s expression grew slightly troubled.
“I don’t recall throwing it.”
“My, don’t you remember how furious you were with me?”
“Wasn’t that all part of our agreed-upon act?”
It had been theater, performed to deceive the servants’ eyes.
Now that she was blaming him for it, Rainer felt somewhat wronged.
“I’m only teasing.”
Cecilia laughed and patted her husband’s shoulder.
“I kept it just in case, and look—it’s proven useful after all.”
She then opened the envelope and withdrew the letter.
The face that had relaxed slightly with the jest grew cold and composed once more.
“…As I thought.”
She murmured softly.
“My suspicions were correct.”
She laid two letters side by side upon the desk.
And pointed to a single character with the tip of her finger.
“Look here. This letter—the habit of trailing the stroke at the end is identical.”
In the blackmail letter, she had attempted to conceal it.
But a deeply ingrained habit could not be entirely hidden.
And Cecilia knew Rosena’s habits better than anyone.
Rainer leaned forward to examine it closely.
“You’re right.”
“In truth, there’s no one else who would do such a thing but Rosena.”
It was already as I had anticipated.
No one else possessed such intimate knowledge of the Duke’s Mansion’s internal affairs.
No one else would exploit them in this manner.
It would have been strange if it were anyone but Rosena.
“Still scurrying about like a rat, I see. What are the Guard Corps doing, unable to capture a single woman?”
Rainer clicked his tongue and pushed the letters aside.
The entire Capital was searching for her.
Yet she continued her fugitive existence.
She was no ordinary woman.
Rainer looked at Cecilia.
“What shall we do with this? I defer to your judgment.”
“My judgment?”
“Of course.”
Rainer gave a light shrug.
“I learned my lesson from the Tira Russ affair. Always listen to your wife without question.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
Cecilia cast him a look that was not unkind.
But the playful atmosphere was fleeting.
Her expression settled once more into quiet contemplation.
“Hmm….”
Cecilia studied the letter, considering for a moment.
Silencing her with money might have been the simplest approach.
But the other party was Rosena, after all.
‘She would never simply withdraw.’
Rather, the moment she accepted the money.
She would use it as leverage to bite down all the more relentlessly.
“Rainer.”
She opened her mouth quietly.
“For now, let’s stay still.”
“Stay still?”
“Yes.”
Cecilia nodded.
“They’re probably stretched thin right now. As time passes, they’ll only grow more desperate.”
“What if they expose the letter’s contents first?”
“They won’t.”
Cecilia cut through the question with certainty.
Not just anyone, either.
The other party was Rosena, after all.
Because I knew her better than anyone, I could be sure of it.
“She’s not the type to abandon 200,000 crowns dangling before her eyes. The moment she exposes it, all that money vanishes.”
By now, Rosena was likely already thinking she had those 200,000 crowns as good as in her hands.
There was no way she’d let go of it herself.
‘So if we wait, an opportunity will definitely come.’
Cecilia gently squeezed Rainer’s hand.
“They’ll make their next move soon.”
Her eyes gleamed with clarity.
“We’ll strike back then.”
* * *
A few days later, in the Drawing Room of the Devlin Estate.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!”
Nancy shrieked in exasperation, stamping her foot against the floor.
Creditors’ demand notices still lay piled high across the ground.
“I’ve been waiting for a reply and we’re about to be completely ruined!”
The Duke’s Mansion had sent no response whatsoever.
Wondering if they hadn’t received it, she’d sent several more letters.
But the result was no different.
In the meantime, Nancy’s circumstances had only worsened.
“At this rate, I’ll lose even this house!”
If this estate were auctioned off, she’d truly be left destitute on the streets.
Her husband, Count Devlin, was in prison.
Where on earth was she supposed to go?
“Rosena! Say something!”
Nancy turned to Rosena, her face streaked with tears.
Rosena was equally anxious.
‘Why is there no reply? The letter was definitely delivered properly!’
She gnawed at her fingernails nervously.
No matter how she thought about it, something felt wrong.
It was none other than the very scandal the Duke most desperately wished to conceal.
Yet she was dismissing it so carelessly.
‘Should I simply sell this information to the Brisen Tribune instead?’
But I quickly shook my head.
Revealing this would certainly wound the Duke’s Family, and it would satisfy my anger.
Yet it would change nothing for me.
‘I need money. That’s what matters.’
The compensation from leaking to a newspaper would be paltry.
Compared to the substantial sum of 200,000 crowns, it would be mere pennies.
‘No, I cannot squander my final weapon so foolishly.’
Rosena clenched her teeth.
At that moment, Nancy suddenly bolted from her seat.
“This won’t do. I should go to the Brisen Tribune office myself―!”
“What?”
In an instant, fire flashed in Rosena’s eyes.
She swiftly pursued Nancy, who was hastily rushing toward the door, and seized her wrist roughly.
“Ow! It hurts―”
“Shut that mouth of yours.”
Rosena leaned her face close to Nancy’s and growled.
“You foolish woman, are you trying to ruin my plan!”
“What, what did you say? Foolish?”
“Yes, you foolish woman! Stay quiet and wait! Don’t do anything I haven’t ordered you to do!”
Faced with Rosena’s menacing presence, Nancy’s knees began to buckle.
Her legs trembled uncontrollably.
Seeing her frightened state, Rosena irritably released her grip.
“If you understand, then stay put quietly.”
She returned to the sofa and collapsed into it.
Nancy remained frozen in place.
‘Why must I endure such treatment?’
The more I thought about it, the more infuriating it became.
After all, it was I who was harboring Rosena.
By rank, it was the same.
I was still a Countess, while Rosena had already lost everything.
And yet.
She treated me as though I were her subordinate.
It was absurd and utterly infuriating.
“Um―”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s nothing….”
But still, beneath Rosena’s sharp, piercing gaze.
Nancy’s shoulders instinctively shrank inward.
She lacked the courage to confront that ferocious woman directly.
‘I should have reported her from the beginning.’
Nancy inwardly struck her chest in regret.
But it was already too late.
Now she was no different from an accomplice who had hidden Rosena.
Rosena clearly understood this well, which was why she treated her with such contempt.
‘…At this rate, I’ll die.’
Nancy gnawed at her lips anxiously.
No matter what, she couldn’t rely solely on Rosena.
She needed to carve out another avenue of escape.
‘I should probe the Duchess’s side.’

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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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