Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 66

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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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Episode 66
Urigella subtly redirected the conversation.
“What have I ever done to my precious granddaughter? Even when the child was ill-mannered, I never struck her, never starved her.”
In truth, Urigella couldn’t afford to divulge much information.
More precisely, she couldn’t mention how the other party had obtained the Custody Waiver Document.
She’d signed a Confidentiality Agreement.
Breaking it meant not only indefinite imprisonment in the detention house, but also risking the displeasure of Duke Rakan, who stood behind Marquis Rivandel.
‘I might even be kidnapped if I breathe a word of this—I’d be lucky to be buried alive.’
Urigella’s body trembled.
The memory of insects crawling over her body while she slept in the detention house, of rats leaving their filth on her Dress—it was unbearable.
Through all this, Asha tilted her head with an innocent expression, genuinely puzzled.
“That’s odd, though.”
“Are you suggesting I should dodge the issue because you’re in a weak position?”
“Mother, but you signed the Custody Waiver Document yourself, didn’t you? And it wasn’t even I who asked you to sign it.”
…….
At those words, Urigella fixed her gaze on the man behind Asha, tears rolling down her cheeks like bird droppings.
The man standing protectively at Asha’s side was her second husband, Marquis Rivandel.
Moreover, this was the first time he’d made his presence known at a proper ball, so all eyes were already on the two of them.
And now a former mother-in-law appeared demanding the return of a child—a child who wasn’t even the Marquis’s biological offspring. It was prime entertainment for the onlookers.
All of this made for a fascinating spectacle.
“What weight could my words possibly carry? I’m old, I’m weak.”
Urigella spoke only words laden with implication, then sealed her lips.
Though she had disclosed nothing directly, she was hinting that external pressure had been brought to bear.
Urigella’s friends, not to be outdone, began shrieking.
“See! My dear friend would never give up her granddaughter so easily!”
“Rough as she may be, how tenderly she loved her children and grandchild.”
“Just look at how she’s being slighted by her former daughter-in-law now that she’s married into a marquessate.”
The support of her friends seemed like heaven’s blessing, and Urigella began murmuring in a voice grown thin with suffering.
“Yes, I’m guilty. I sent away a child in the prime of life and disciplined her, saying I’d raise my granddaughter well. If only I’d known, I would have just said yes to everything.”
Urigella’s appearance—choking on her words, unable to continue—was truly pitiful enough to deceive anyone who didn’t know her.
Asha drew closer to her.
But Urigella flinched at the sight of her—contrary to expectation, Asha was smiling.
She had anticipated that this would prompt some show of distress or point-by-point rebuttal.
What Asha did instead was—
“Mother! Good heavens, why didn’t you tell me such things all this time!”
She took her mother-in-law’s hand with an equally tender expression and fell to her knees before her!
Urigella looked down at Asha with a blank expression on her face.
“Mother, I was unaware of the love you bear for your granddaughter!”
“Yes, yes. Linea is the most precious child in this world to me!”
“You’ve said that as long as you have grandchildren, you’d do anything for them, haven’t you?”
As Asha spoke, gazing up at her with those clear eyes, Urigella’s neck went stiff for reasons she couldn’t fathom.
‘Whenever she acts like this, nothing good ever comes of it.’
After several encounters with Asha, Urigella had come to understand that the girl was no ordinary person.
Sensing the crisis in an instant, Urigella faltered.
“Well, I suppose that’s true, but…….”
“The portion of the Inheritance my late husband left behind—you’ll be returning that to your granddaughter as well, won’t you?”
“What?”
“When your granddaughter comes home, surely such a pittance couldn’t matter! How could I not understand a mother’s heart like yours! I’ve been wrong, truly!”
Urigella’s gaze slipped toward the Marquis standing behind Asha.
Unexpectedly, the Marquis merely stood in silence, as if waiting to see how far this would go.
‘This is troubling.’
As Urigella thought this and began to withdraw her hand, Asha’s grip tightened, holding fast.
“Mother! Then, if my late husband’s child were to return, would you promise before everyone here that you could do more than the marquessate would do for her?”
Urigella was confused—was the girl truly going to return Linea?
Her friends, oblivious to the danger, burst into encouragement.
“That’s right! That’s how one must treat one’s elders!”
“Young women shouldn’t stand up to their mothers-in-law like that. It’s quite unbecoming.”
Only Urigella sensed instinctively that something had gone terribly wrong.
Yet she was swept along by the cheering of the friends she’d invited.
“Say you’ll do whatever it takes, dear. Surely reclaiming a blood relative is the priority, isn’t it?”
Hearing this, Urigella finally opened her mouth and answered uncertainly.
“Yes, yes. You know how dearly I hold blood relations. It’s my late son’s blood—what wouldn’t I do for it?”
“So you’ll provide the child with the finest education, buy new clothes each season, and ensure they participate in society?”
“Isn’t that the bare minimum? How else could one claim to be raising a child properly?”
Carried along by the mood, Urigella continued.
“Every year I’d have twenty new garments tailored for the child, and whatever they wished to learn, I’d hire tutors.”
“I’m truly moved.”
At the sight of Asha’s emotional expression, Urigella recognized the warning her instincts were screaming.
“That is, however…….”
As Urigella began to carefully retreat, Asha raised her voice to ask.
“So, Mother, I’ve brought a special guest for you!”
“Linea?”
“Oh, surely you wouldn’t bring Linea here at this hour. Children need their rest to grow.”
Asha playfully tilted her head with a coy smile.
Suddenly, a woman who had been mingling among the guests timidly stepped forward.
She was a stranger to everyone present.
A slender woman with coarse golden hair and blue eyes hesitated.
Asha sprang to her feet and extended her palm toward the woman, asking.
“Mother, you remember her, don’t you?”
“……You, you!”
Urigella recognized the woman, of course.
How could she not? She was the woman her own son had kept hidden and treasured!
“She is Doris, my late husband’s paramour.”
When her son—Count Delmore, no less—had brought this common woman to her, claiming he’d fallen in love, Urigella had naturally opposed it.
But for Asha to brazenly produce the woman before everyone, Urigella could only gape in shock.
“How dare you bring that woman here? Do you know what this place is?”
“She’s the woman you’ve been longing to meet so desperately. Didn’t I do well?”
“What is your intention?”
Over the past two months, always outmaneuvered by Asha, Urigella now suspected her true purpose.
But Asha, who had been tracking every move Urigella made from the start, had orchestrated this entire scene.
“Mother, congratulations!”
Asha approached the hesitant Doris and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“You’re about to gain a grandchild. The last blood descendant my late husband left behind.”
“What?!”
At the words “last blood descendant,” those around them let out soft gasps as if watching a melodrama.
“Even so, the child is of Count Delmore’s line. Do you know where she’s been all this time?”
Asha shook her head slowly at the trembling, wrathful Urigella.
Her expression was genuinely sympathetic.
“She was in Tusarek. A pregnant woman, alone, in a dangerous slum—even a healthy man would struggle there. Can you imagine how she suffered?”
“What do I care where that woman lived?”
“Still, to strip away even the house my late husband had provided and cast out a pregnant woman with nothing—that was cruel, wasn’t it?”
Urigella’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
It was bad enough that her son had died from sudden death during his affair with this secret lover.
Now not only was that shameful secret being exposed, but the existence of an illegitimate child she’d never known about was being revealed.
Suddenly terrified of what further outrageous things Asha might say, Urigella cried out.
“I, I don’t acknowledge that woman’s existence at all! So what exactly are you asking of me?”
Hearing this, even Asha’s brow furrowed slightly.
“What am I asking? You should take responsibility as you promised. Provide your grandchild with the finest education, living expenses, and a portion of my late husband’s Inheritance.”
This time, Asha too had lost her smile.
Her face twisted as she asked in a tone of utter bewilderment.
“Blood relations matter that much to you, don’t they?”

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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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