The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 184

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 184

Countess Camellia looked at Skyla with a face full of worry.

She knew that Skyla did not like Marquess Luden.

But today’s attitude had gone too far. It wasn’t just rebellion – she had brought up Duchess Loigar, which would have further fueled Marquess Luden’s anger.

“Still, you shouldn’t have done that, Skyla.”

“Why? Are you afraid that if grandfather’s approval disappears, mother and father won’t be the masters of the Camellia Marquess family anymore?”

It didn’t seem like a problem that could be resolved with a few soothing words.

Countess Camellia looked at her husband. The Count quickly caught his wife’s meaning and stood up.

“I’ll have them bring some tea.”

“Please do.”

Count Camellia closed the door as he left.

Countess Camellia sighed. Then she spoke in a gentle voice as if trying to soothe her daughter.

“Skyla. I understand why you’re angry.”

“No. I’m not being angry – I’m trying to give you advice.”

Skyla said.

“No matter how hard mother tries, no matter how obediently you act, grandfather will never treat mother as more than a servant.”

“Skyla…”

“Mother’s attitude like that is what makes the Camellia Marquess family lower than vassals of the Luden Marquess family. You know it too, mother. Grandfather doesn’t make trusted vassals stand in servants’ positions like he did to mother today.”

Marquess Luden was probably deliberately humiliating Countess Camellia in that way.

He must think that making her keenly aware of her position was the way to keep her under his control for a long time.

“Grandfather is using mother’s desire for recognition. You know it yourself, mother.”

“…”

“No matter how hard you try, you will never be acknowledged.”

Skyla said coldly.

Countess Camellia herself must have known this. However, this was a desire she had harbored since she was very young, so she simply couldn’t abandon it easily.

Countess Camellia sighed.

“It’s natural that he treats Her Highness and me differently. And it was grandfather who made your father Count Camellia.”

“That doesn’t mean grandfather owns the Camellia Marquess family.”

“I’m not simply talking about borrowing the Luden Marquess family’s power during the inheritance process. Even if your father had inherited the title, without the Luden Marquess family’s support, he wouldn’t have been able to set foot in social circles.”

Noble society is exclusive.

If one could become a noble just by having a title, what would nouveau riche nobles worry about and struggle so hard for?

The most important thing is bloodline. If there’s no blood relation, there should at least be academic connections.

If one studied under the same teacher as traditional nobles from childhood or completed their education with the patronage of great nobles, they could be incorporated into noble society in a position like a vassal of that family.

If even that doesn’t exist, there should at least be regional connections.

Only after becoming a landowner, exchanging greetings in local social circles, and forming connections with influential people in the region for about three generations could one finally be called ‘so-and-so from such-and-such region.’

The Camellia Count couple lacked all of this.

A Count who was the son of a commoner’s second wife, and even an illegitimate child at birth, and a Countess who was also of illegitimate birth.

Things were fine now. Countess Camellia knew this too.

Even if they severed ties with the Luden Marquess family, the power they currently held wouldn’t disappear immediately.

Countess Camellia was well aware of her own usefulness.

Duchess Loigar wasn’t the type of person who could suddenly abandon her sister just because she fought with their father.

Duke Loigar would rather be satisfied with his subordinate forces being divided and use the Camellia Marquess family as a check against the Luden Marquess family.

However, the Camellia Marquess family would be excluded from the marriage networks of noble society.

The greatest goal of noble families is to preserve their bloodline and pass prosperity on to future generations.

Being excluded from marriage networks means one can no longer be called a true noble. No family can survive as a lone wolf for this reason.

They would no longer be a traditional marquess family but become the household of illegitimate children who rose to power overnight. Then they couldn’t truly act as great nobles unlike before.

Just like how the current House of Liagan became the ruler of the south by being loyal to the Emperor, but still doesn’t receive treatment as a ducal family from other nobles.

It was something that required just a little patience. At least until all the children were married.

All secrets would end between Marquess Luden and Countess Camellia.

The young Marquess Luden, soon to be the eldest son of Marquess Luden, was weak-natured and far from conspiracies or secrets. His children were the same.

By Skyla’s generation, the Camellia Marquess family would remain as a traditional family purely connected to Marquess Luden through marriage ties.

Enduring wasn’t such a difficult task.

Compared to the time when she slept and woke up in a narrow room under the attic with the laundresses, worrying about how to catch her father’s eye, this was no hardship at all.

But Skyla spoke with an upright attitude.

“No. That’s also something mother has thought wrongly about. The world has changed. Look at what the world is talking about now.”

“…”

“Is being a disgraceful relative of the Luden Marquess family really that desperately important to the Camellia Marquess family?”

Countess Camellia sighed again.

“Skyla, it’s not such a simple matter.”

“Mother. I just want mother and our family to receive proper respect. Mother has already served the Luden Marquess family sufficiently.”

Countess Camellia was silent for a moment and looked at Skyla.

She knew her daughter well. So she realized that what Skyla had just said wasn’t just idle talk.

“What are you trying to do?”

“…Nothing.”

Skyla closed her mouth.

She had met Ian Camellia today.

But she couldn’t tell Countess Camellia about that conversation.

At least not until Countess Camellia cut herself away from Marquess Luden.

Countess Camellia said.

“Don’t have pointless thoughts. Right now, pushing Prince to the Emperor’s throne is the top priority.”

“Yes, I know.”

Skyla answered.

They had been getting by, crushing all conflicts with those words.

That’s why Skyla felt even more frustrated. Even if they won, it wouldn’t be the Camellia Marquess family’s victory.

Ian Camellia couldn’t completely hide his anxious heart and paced around. Then he sat down heavily again.

The hotel that served as his lodging was luxurious. More than twenty guards protected him thoroughly. There were three servants attending to him directly.

The fragrant scent of abundant summer fruits filling the basket made the drawing room fresh.

But his heart, which Skyla had stirred up before leaving, was not the same.

“I came to propose a political marriage.”

That’s what Skyla had said.

At first, when he heard that a female cousin he’d never seen was visiting, he didn’t think much of it.

He thought at most she would ask him to drop the lawsuit.

If they wanted to have a proper negotiation, Count or Countess Camellia would have come.

He thought she was a woman who took the world lightly and met her planning to make her cry and send her away.

He had intended to tell her point by point whether she knew what her parents had done.

However, Skyla listened to everything Ian said with a cold face, not even lowering the corners of her eyes.

Then she said.

“I understand the resentment you have. That’s natural. Is that all?”

Ian was flustered.

“There must have been someone who provided the money. Someone who helped hire trustworthy guards too.”

“…”

“Ian, you’re a party involved, yet you don’t even know what this is all happening for.”

Ian tried hard not to let Skyla catch on that he didn’t know.

Even Ian, who had no experience in such matters, knew that information was the foundation of negotiation.

But Skyla seemed to have figured out the answer just from Ian controlling his expression.

Ian couldn’t help but react.

“Are you saying you know?”

“If you don’t know why this is happening or who’s causing it, you won’t be able to survive even if you become Count Camellia.”

Those words struck precisely at Ean’s anxiety.

Who was behind him?

He had thought he knew before. Ean had been certain it would be someone from the Lawrence Faction.

However, Lawrence had fallen from grace. Ean didn’t know the exact reasons. But he had been dismissed from his position as Minister of State Affairs and placed under house arrest.

Then who exactly was behind him?

Was it Duke Riagan, whom Lawrence had tried to bring down? Or was it an internal struggle within Duke Loigar’s faction?

Was it Duke of Evron, who supposedly had no connection to conspiracies? Or perhaps someone who held a personal grudge against Marquess Luden and Marquess Camellia?

Ean couldn’t make that judgment. He lacked too much information.

The capital’s social circles had sent him countless invitations. But they were all sent out of curiosity.

Was Ean real? How much of the lawsuit’s contents were true? How much damage could this lawsuit inflict on the House of Luden and the Camellia Marquess Family?

It was difficult to extract information and make correct judgments from conversations where ulterior motives and schemes were hidden behind smiles.

In fact, Ean found it difficult just to remain within those circles.

Skyla’s words were right. Even if he won the lawsuit and reclaimed his title, he wouldn’t be able to survive as Marquess Camellia.

So Skyla’s proposal was rational.

To survive as a noble, one needed both real power and legitimate bloodline.

Ean, as the legitimate heir, had legitimacy but lacked practical ability. Skyla, who had been raised as Camellia Viscountess, had real power and ability but her legitimacy was damaged.

So this union was complementary. At least if one only considered the title and family.

However, the House of Luden was entangled with the Camellia Marquess Family, and behind Ean was someone with their own agenda.

“What is your purpose, my lady? Even if my purpose isn’t revenge, the fact remains that this matter opposes the House of Luden and your parents.”

“Yes. My purpose partially overlaps with that. To drive out the House of Luden and claim the Camellia Marquess Family entirely for myself.”

“Do you have issues with the House of Luden?”

“I trust you understand well what power struggles within great noble families are like, Mr. Ean.”

Skyla said this and stood up.

“I’ll be going down to the Southern Region soon to accompany my aunt. Know that you don’t have much time to think.”

Ean’s mind was incredibly complicated.

The noblewoman who had brought him here had refused to make him part of her faction.

He had neither connections nor information.

So he felt as if he was groping for a path with his hands in the darkness.

In that case, it might be better to accept Skyla’s proposal, even if it meant sleeping with the enemy.

Of course, first he would need to understand exactly what Skyla’s purpose was and see if there were mutual points of compromise.

Before that, he had to decide what his own purpose was. If it was revenge, he also needed to determine the scope of that revenge.

The lingering fragrance Skyla left behind drifted in the drawing room for a long time.

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