She Became My Friend’s Mother-In-Law - Chapter 138

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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 138. The Fall of Osburn (2)
At that moment, in the Imperial Palace Prison.
“My life has been ruined because of your daughter! How will you take responsibility!”
Nancy Devlin was shrieking at Trisha Osburn.
Whether by cruel fate or deliberate arrangement by someone’s hand.
Nancy had been confined to the same cell as Trisha Osburn since her arrest.
And ever since, she had poured her resentment upon Trisha Osburn daily.
“Take responsibility! I’m telling you to take responsibility!”
“Ugh, here we go again.”
Trisha Osburn clicked her tongue with a look of disgust.
At first, she had pushed back against Nancy, telling her to stop her incessant squawking.
But engaging with her was only bearable for a day or two.
Now she was utterly sick of it.
“Stop your whining! What kind of ruined life are you talking about when you married a gambling-addicted husband?”
“What, what did you just say?”
Nancy’s eyes widened dramatically.
Her face twisted with fury.
“How dare you!”
The atmosphere turned vicious in an instant.
Nancy lunged at Trisha Osburn without hesitation.
“You dare speak to me like that when your entire family are criminals?”
“Hey! Let go! Will you let go!”
Nancy seized Trisha Osburn by the hair and shook her violently.
The two women tangled together and rolled across the floor.
Hair was torn out, and sharp screams echoed through the Underground Prison.
Bang!
The door burst open roughly.
A Guard rushed in and struck the bars hard with his baton.
“Stop this at once!”
But the two women paid no heed to the Guard’s roar.
They clawed and tore at each other desperately.
Only after several more Guards arrived and forcibly separated them did the commotion finally subside.
After the brawl ended, both women looked utterly disheveled.
Trisha Osburn breathed heavily and glared with fierce eyes.
Droplets of blood beaded on the scratches left by fingernails on her hands.
“She started it first, I’m telling you!”
“Quiet! Be quiet!”
The Guard tapped the bars again with a sharp rap.
At that sound, Trisha Osburn flinched.
“Trisha Osburn. Come out. You have a visitor.”
“…What?”
Trisha’s eyes snapped open.
A visitation.
It was the first time since being locked away in this place.
‘Could it be my husband?’
I had heard that the Emperor was deliberating over the execution of the Baron.
And wasn’t the Crown Princess pregnant with the Crown Prince?
‘Perhaps I was released on that pretext!’
Trisha’s eyes gleamed.
It was a thought that made no logical sense.
But after being confined in the dark Underground Prison for so long, Trisha’s judgment had grown clouded.
‘Yes! I must have been released!’
That thought had hardened into certainty.
If so.
Perhaps I too would be freed soon.
A faint hope blossomed in my chest.
Trisha entered the Visitation Room brimming with anticipation.
Creak.
But the moment the door opened.
“…!”
That hope shattered into fragments.
“It’s been a while, Trisha Osburn.”
“You…!”
Trisha’s face went rigid.
The person waiting for her was not her husband, but Cecilia.
Why had this wretched woman come to see her?
As she sat across from her, Trisha glared at Cecilia.
“Trisha? You call me that? Have you truly lost your mind?”
“There’s no other way to address you. Evan was disowned from House of Hays before his death, so we’re not even in-laws anymore, are we?”
Cecilia’s lips twisted upward.
In the past, Trisha would have trembled at the mere widening of her eyes.
But now, watching her not even blink, Trisha’s insides churned.
“That’s not true! I am still rightfully the Baron’s wife―”
“Ah, the Osburn barony was stripped today.”
“…What?”
“The family head’s execution was carried out this morning.”
Cecilia spoke matter-of-factly.
“The House of Osburn no longer exists.”
It felt as though someone had struck her cheek hard.
Trisha’s eyes wavered and her lips trembled.
She staggered, gripping the table for support.
“…You’re lying.”
The words escaped through gritted teeth, strained and desperate.
She muttered softly, her expression vacant.
“That can’t be true.”
Her voice grew increasingly fractured.
“You’re mocking me, aren’t you? Laughing at me trapped here, cut off from all news!”
“…”
“You think I’d believe such nonsense? Don’t spout such ridiculous lies!”
“…”
“It’s a lie. It has to be a lie…”
Even as Trisha continued to crumble.
Cecilia offered no response.
She simply gazed at her with an impassive expression.
That silence itself was the most definitive answer.
“…No.”
Trisha’s hands trembled violently.
“No, no…”
She shook her head vehemently.
There had been only one thing sustaining her all this time.
The pride of still being nobility.
But that pillar was crumbling now.
“No amount of denial will change it,” Cecilia said coldly.
“Count Cloud Osburn is dead.”
“…”
“He ascended the Guillotine Platform before everyone’s eyes.”
At the words describing how he had struggled until the very end before finally perishing beneath the heavy blade.
Trisha nearly lost consciousness.
All strength drained from her body as she collapsed into the chair.
“You!”
She suddenly jerked her head up.
Her bloodshot eyes fixed on Cecilia.
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t existed!”
“Seize her! Stop her!”
As Trisha lunged savagely toward Cecilia.
The guards swiftly restrained her.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll curse you! You won’t die peacefully either!”
She shrieked with malice, her voice raw and vicious.
Then her breathing grew ragged and labored.
And finally, she broke down into tears.
“My dear, my dear…!”
She wailed, pounding her chest with her fists.
Cecilia simply looked down at Trisha with cold eyes.
Even watching her weep so pitifully stirred no compassion within me.
‘How irritating! Why do you keep seeking your dead parents? Stop your pathetic whining!’
Those words I had spat at Cecilia when she wept remembering her departed parents
remained vivid and clear.
Had I merely refrained from beating her so savagely then, perhaps I might have felt even a shred of pity.
But Trisha had already committed far too many sins.
Now she was simply receiving the karmic retribution she deserved.
‘It’s time to leave.’
I had finished all my business here.
Cecilia rose from her seat.
At that sound, Trisha’s head snapped up in alarm.
“…What about Rosena?”
Her voice trembled violently.
It seemed her mind had only just returned to her.
“Where… where is that girl? You know, don’t you?”
Trisha asked desperately.
“I was wrong. I was wrong, child. Please, just tell me where Rosena is. Please? I’m begging you like this.”
With a face smeared with tears and mucus,
Trisha clasped her hands together and pleaded.
The fierce shouting from moments before had vanished without a trace.
“…”
Cecilia said nothing, simply gazing down at Trisha.
In that silence, Trisha grew increasingly desperate.
“Child, please…”
She wrung her voice as she begged.
“I’m asking you. Please tell me. That girl has to survive… that girl has to…”
“No. I won’t tell you.”
But Cecilia spoke with icy resolve.
Trisha’s eyes widened in shock.
“Why! Why won’t you tell me!”
“Because that is your punishment.”
Trisha froze.
Cecilia looked down at her with cold eyes.
Once I left this place, I would give separate instructions to the guards and sentries.
They were to tell Trisha nothing of the outside world.
Day after day, she would tremble in uncertainty, imagining what might have become of Rosena.
Whether she lived or died, where she was, what she had become.
All manner of imaginings would gnaw away at her.
Of course, I had no intention of leaving her in that state forever.
Cecilia intended to show mercy in her own way.
“Twelve years.”
Cecilia spoke slowly.
“Endure it for twelve years.”
“…What? Twelve years?”
“Yes, just as I did.”
Cecilia’s voice turned glacial.
“For as long as I lived not knowing the truth of my parents’ deaths, you shall live the same way.”
“…!”
All strength drained from Trisha’s body.
She collapsed onto the floor in a heap.
Her mouth hung open, but no words came.
‘Strictly speaking, it’s longer than twelve years.’
Cecilia reflected for a moment.
Not counting the time from her previous life was the final mercy she would grant.
After all, Trisha, imprisoned in anxiety, would lose her mind long before twelve years had passed.
“We shall not meet again.”
With those words, Cecilia left the Visitation Room.
“W-wait! Cecilia! Cecilia!”
Behind her, Trisha’s bestial cries erupted anew.
But they could not hold back Cecilia’s footsteps.
‘…Next is Rosena.’
Rosena was now designated for special management, making visits impossible.
She would likely face her only when the trial began.
Yet Rosena’s guilt was already as certain as if the verdict had been rendered.
Cecilia’s vengeance now had only the final act remaining.

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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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