The Villainess Lives Twice - Chapter 204

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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 204

Countess Camellia arrived at Marquess Luden’s residence and stepped down from her carriage.

Two full days had passed. Marquess Luden was still breathing. However, his consciousness had not returned.

A priest who had been secretly summoned performed last rites instead of prayers for the sick. Unless a miracle occurred, he would die like this.

Countess Camellia immediately went to meet the marquess’s eldest son.

“You’ve come. Please sit.”

Marquess Rosan’s Son greeted Countess Camellia with a haggard face.

“How is Father?”

“Not well. I wonder if he can last until tomorrow.”

“I see.”

Countess Camellia answered formally.

In truth, she wasn’t particularly curious. Whether he lived a few more days or fewer, it was already a foregone conclusion that Marquess Luden would die.

There would probably be few people who truly mourned him.

‘It’s fortunate that Her Highness isn’t here.’

Gannett, who loved her father, wouldn’t be able to bear seeing that terrible sight.

Marquess Rosan’s Son looked at Countess Camellia with a weak expression.

He was a man who had lived his entire life only as a young marquess under that Marquess Luden until the age of forty-five.

He probably couldn’t imagine himself as a marquess. He would be confused about what he should be doing now.

Knowing this, Countess Camellia didn’t wait for him to ask and told him directly.

“I’ll try to suppress the rumors as much as possible. But I can’t guarantee it. That fire was quite large and there were witnesses.”

“I, see. Still, please, at least until the funeral. If Mother finds out…”

Marquess Rosan’s Son stammered.

It was truly a terrible scandal.

It would have been fine if that place had been a house owned by Marquess Luden, and the woman sleeping with him had been his mistress.

But that house belonged to a merchant, and the woman was the merchant’s mistress.

A high noble like Marquess Luden had committed adultery with a merchant’s mistress. And he had snuck in secretly, deceiving those around him.

To fall asleep and burn to death in the end. The woman even ran out of the house naked. What scandal could be more sordid than this?

For nobles like Marquess Luden, the most terrible thing wasn’t being called cruel and ruthless. Being an object of fear and terror was rather something to be proud of.

What they hated was being called dirty and ugly. Because ugliness aroused contempt, not fear.

Countess Camellia nodded.

She didn’t think it would go well, but she intended to do her best. If Marquess Luden’s scandal spread, it wouldn’t be good for the Camellia Marquess Family either.

“Steel yourself, brother. There will be attacks.”

“Attacks?”

Marquess Rosan’s Son asked with unfocused eyes.

“Yes. Business ventures, retainers… Father had control over everything.”

Killing Marquess Luden was only the primary goal.

Since it wasn’t done out of hatred, how could death itself be the purpose?

The real purpose would be to devour the power of House of Luden by taking advantage of this opportunity.

“There was already unrest in various ways. Since Father suffered this incident, there are surely those whose hearts have changed, and there will be those trying to steal from us using this opportunity.”

“…Are you one of them too?”

Marquess Rosan’s Son asked in response to Countess Camellia’s words.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Isn’t that right? Father treated you harshly, and surely he left you nothing in his will either.”

Marquess Rosan’s Son asked with trembling hands.

“You told me about Meidelin’s arranged marriage because you wanted me to rebel against Father, didn’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Countess Camellia read the fear in Marquess Rosan’s Son’s eyes.

If he was trembling that much, he didn’t need to say things that sounded like he was testing her.

A man who became a father but ultimately couldn’t say a proper word for Meidelin. While calling her his beloved daughter.

Unable to do anything for his daughter, was he speaking up for his father?

If not that, it would be because he was afraid of becoming the next target.

Countess Camellia felt suffocated.

“I don’t need Father’s inheritance. You know that. I wrote a waiver of inheritance rights from the time I was adopted.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Then Marquess Rosan’s Son fell silent.

Countess Camellia waited quietly until he spoke up.

Marquess Rosan’s Son hesitated for a long time before finally opening his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot.

“Negil, the merchant who owned the house…”

“Yes.”

“He said that Father had a seal with a poison needle that springs out that day…”

Countess Camellia had to struggle to hide her bitter smile.

That merchant seemed to suspect Countess Camellia. Even though he knew that she was the cleaner of this house, he had deliberately met with the young marquess.

Marquess Rosan’s Son looked at Countess Camellia with an anxious face, then lowered his head.

“I spoke nonsense, forget it. I remembered hearing before that someone from the Camellia Marquess Family died from a poison needle installed in a seal.”

“You may find it hard to believe, but I never wished for Father’s death.”

Countess Camellia said so.

“As I mentioned, there’s the issue with Lady Leticia now, and the issue with Ean, the situation is complicated. If Father suddenly passes away, everyone becomes endangered. You know that much, brother.”

“Yes. That’s right…”

“It’s true that I designed the seal with the spring-loaded poison needle. But such devices aren’t the only ones I’ve made.”

This was an indulgence. Telling Marquess Rosan’s Son that he no longer needed to worry and suspect.

Marquess Rosan’s Son was quickly convinced. Because he wanted to be.

“That’s true.”

“Don’t worry. Brother, don’t think about other things and just focus on managing the household. You’re about to become the master of House of Luden.”

Marquess Rosan’s Son nodded in understanding.

Countess Camellia patted his back a few times as if comforting him, then stood up.

She encountered maids holding black cloth in the corridor. The maids couldn’t even make eye contact with Countess Camellia and stepped aside to the left and right of the corridor, bowing their heads.

Countess Camellia walked slowly. The maids made rustling sounds as they hurriedly moved after she passed.

Baroness Rosan’s quarters were quiet.

‘I thought Meidelin would be here.’

If she wasn’t here, she would be in Marquess Luden’s sickroom. That lovely young lady would be crying, saddened by the misfortune that befell her grandfather who loved her dearly.

Baroness Rosan’s maid slightly frowned upon seeing Countess Camellia. However, she didn’t block her path.

Countess Camellia quietly entered inside.

Baroness Rosan sat with an embroidery frame on her lap, looking outside the window.

“I’ve come, my lady.”

Countess Camellia respectfully knelt before her and bowed like a maid.

When she was adopted, she changed her forms of address. She called Marquess Luden father instead of master, and the young marquess brother instead of young master.

But Baroness Rosan remained “my lady.” It would be so until death.

Baroness Rosan turned to look at her with a gaunt face. No grief could be seen on that face.

The long-accumulated fatigue was also well hidden, making it difficult to notice from the outside.

“What brings you here?”

“I just came to pay my respects.”

“Not to check on me?”

Countess Camellia couldn’t help but smile.

“That too.”

“No need to worry.”

“My lady treated me well.”

Countess Camellia said in a quiet voice.

“In truth, you had no need to forgive a bastard born by a maid.”

In this world, this person was the only one who had the right to point fingers and call her very existence dirty.

Countess Camellia thought so.

But Baroness Rosan did not.

She had always turned a blind eye. Even knowing that she lived in the attic of this house, and that she secretly listened in on the young marquess’s study sessions.

It might have been escapism. It might have been more comfortable for her to pretend she didn’t know of her existence at all.

Just like she pretended not to know about all the other illegitimate children.

But she had turned a blind eye even when she seduced Gannett to use him as a stepping stone for advancement.

Baroness Rosan said.

“I have never forgiven you for being born.”

“Yes…”

“But Sara was a pitiful child.”

This time, Countess Camellia did not answer “Yes.” She did not think so.

Baroness Rosan looked down at her embroidery frame for a moment, then cast her gaze far away again.

“I know too. That Sara not getting rid of you or taking the money the butler offered to leave was because she gave birth to you hoping to change her fate.”

“My lady…”

“Being foolish doesn’t mean she wasn’t pitiful.”

Baroness Rosan murmured. She had experienced such things too many times to care about each one individually.

“My lady…”

“You don’t need to worry about me. Later… I hope you will comfort Gannett well. That child never knew what kind of person his father was, even while looking at you.”

“Father treats me well in front of Her Highness.”

“Mia.”

Countess Camellia’s body trembled.

She had changed her name when she was adopted into the family. She thought the name Mia was not aristocratic enough.

But to Baroness Rosan, she would be Mia until the day she died. Just as Baroness Rosan would always be “my lady” to her.

“You are not my daughter, and you were never Luden’s daughter. But you are Gannett’s only sister.”

“Yes…”

“So you don’t need to ask for my forgiveness or anything. Please guide that child well.”

Countess Camellia bowed her head and promised she would.

As she turned and left, her heart was indescribably complicated.

Baroness Rosan seemed to already know that she was involved in this murder.

In fact, it was Countess Camellia who had informed Count Brennan about Negil and Negil’s mistress.

‘I didn’t know he would resort to such extreme measures.’

She had thought it would be enough to create a scandal to narrow his position and turn the Prince’s Consort’s heart away from him.

This was not the time to fight over dividing the pie. They hadn’t even claimed it yet.

She could guess Count Brennan’s thinking.

If he couldn’t touch Lady Leticia, he had to set his sights on becoming regent.

But Marquess Luden, who had been working to become the Emperor’s relative by marriage, would not easily agree to that.

So he chose to eliminate him first and break his power.

Count Brennan probably intended to suppress even Duke Loigar with this opportunity and seize control himself.

‘The monarch should just remain as a powerless symbol.’

That applied equally to both Leticia and Duke Loigar. At least for Count Brennan.

Countess Camellia did not agree with that. It was natural given her position of basking in the Prince’s Consort’s glory.

Setting aside emotions, her political stance had always aligned with Marquess Luden.

‘But did I really not know he would assassinate him?’

The depths of Countess Camellia’s inner self answered the question that suddenly arose.

‘No. I wanted him to die disgracefully, so I told him everything – Negil’s house, the information, even when father would visit that house.’

That was her true feeling.

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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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