Divorce Manual

Chapter 93

Evangeline looks alternatively between the documents in her hand and Charles with a blank expression. She then covers her mouth with her hands.

"This is nonsense."

Catherine has said that apparently Charles is unaware of the duchess being an illegitimate child.

Therefore, he wouldn't have married such a woman.

She said that the stories did not spread in the capital, so Charles must have been tricked into taking that woman as his wife.

But if she looks at the documents Ledin has shown her...

It's not like that at all.

It seems that Charles has already known everything about Abella's origins.

The documents Ledin gave her contain all the details about Abella.

Her birthplace, the time she was enrolled as Baroness Farhan, the environment in which she grew up, etc.

All of Charles' competent aides had completed their investigation.

"Brother, are you crazy?"

Evangeline screams sharply at the absurd situation.

"If you're not out of your mind, how could you possibly not know that she's that type of woman..."

As if she's stunned and speechless, Evangeline exclaims, 'Huh!' as she sweeps up her hair.

"Duke of Diago has an illegitimate child as his wife!"

"......"

"I've never really dreamt of something like this. I really can't even imagine it. I'm sure you didn't know-"

"Have you ever known anything that I don't already know?"

After interrupting Evangeline with a cold voice, Charles sits down with his long legs crossed and stares at her.

With courage, Evangeline stares back at his figure for a long time.

"...No."

She looks away, resigned.

"By the way—"

He catches her gaze and asks back.

"Why did you think I didn't know all this time? If nothing else, it's a big deal to bring someone into this household."

He stares at her reproachfully.

"......"

Although Charles is originally a cold person, he's worse than usual today.

It's particularly scary because he doesn't usually scream or get angry.

"The duchess isn't even that important of a position as you've said."

"...Because you fell in love. You said it yourself!"

Despite Charles's appearance, he's unable to control his rising anger.

"You fell for that devilish woman."

Evangeline jumps up from her seat.

The moment when Charles's eyes follow Evangeline's movements...

Knock. Knock.

The sound of knocking is heard—

"I must have interrupted your conversation."

Abella appears.

With a smiling face that contrasts sharply against the two people already in the room.

.

.

I take a sip of warm black tea.

It's nice to drink plain tea after drinking milk tea this whole time.

Just like drinking a cup of coffee on a hazy morning, the awakening effect is minimal.

"The tea smells nice, Your Excellency."

"Ha! How can you say that you like the smell of tea when you created the mess?"

You're the one who caused the accident, so why are you arguing with me?

"Yes."

"......"

"That's what I hear."

"What!"

Instead of answering, I smile and turn away, ignoring her temper.

"By the way, on my walk over here, I heard from Ergel about the woman who calls herself my mother. She's an unknown actor."

"That's right."

Charles nods, confirming her words.

"Are you going to kill her?"

As soon as I enter the Noble Room, Ergel, who could not hide her anger, comes to mind.

Ergel, who is not emotional, really seemed to be foaming at the mouth.

"I have to kill her. I won't let it go."

Since it was the first time I saw Ergel gritting her teeth, my heart, which has been hardened this whole time, felt a bit relieved.

It's weird.

My strong heart, which usually remains unwavering, suddenly feels relieved when there is someone who takes my side.

However—

"It seems that there are many people with multiple lives."

I'm relieved, feeling better now.

Today, I want to see the end of this tedious fight, so I put the teacup down.

"Is that why her acting was so desperate?"

"..."

"Did she cut her own life and burn the last stage?"

With my arms crossed, I think about her as if I'm trying to understand the intention of the unknown actor.

"Or was it to make our duke look ridiculous, Princess?"

I've been talking to Charles this whole time, so Evangeline doesn't know I decided to look at her.

"What, what?!"

Evangeline, whose ears are red, as if she is embarrassed, suddenly raises her head.

"No, that's right. I don't think there's anyone who would have done this unless they're a really stupid person—"

"I think it must have been done with a righteous heart... I..."

After blurting out a word similar to 'justice' from her mouth—

"Evangeline Diago."

Charles softly calls her, but Evangeline raises her head higher again without showing any sign of remorse.

With her chin aiming at the sky like she's not afraid to be caught by anyone.

"I see...Justice."

I chew over her words.

Then—

"Ok."

Without even responding properly to Evangeline, I pass over her use of the word, so that she can't give a proper explanation.

After all, that arrogant girl is still not even thinking about what she did wrong.

That kind of confidence—

It's very much like, 'Am I not the daughter of the predecessor Duke of Diago? What are you going to do about it?'

It's because she has a noble status—

First of all, let's just wait.

I'll kick Catherine out and give you proper mental training.

"Oh, come to think of it, I was so busy drinking tea that I haven't told you the reason why I came."

"What is it?"

"I have something I want to discuss. I talked to Ergel, but I think it will be difficult for me to resolve this."

"Of course it is."

Ignoring Evangeline's words, Charles stares at me.

"Tell me, Wife."

I suppress the goosebumps that appear slightly after hearing Charles's words, who speaks with honorifics in an unfamiliar way, and continue.

"It seems that one of the employees took a bribe."

Charles, who has been listening to the conversation without any change of expression, suddenly clenches his jaw.

"Bribe?"

"Yes."

Is this something that has never happened before, or has it not been noticed?

As if shocked by my words, he narrows his eyebrows and raises his body slightly.

"That's the truth—"

"Ha! Really, one person enters the wrong way, and the whole family is doing really well."

Evangeline's sarcasm drips with poison.

"Evangeline Diago, shut your mouth."

Charles coldly looks at her.

Evangeline just shuts her mouth, and Charles turns his attention back to me.

"Continue."

"At first, the person started by giving a small gift because she wanted to look good, but as time went on, the demand became more and more excessive."

"Why did she pay the bribe?"

"It seems that the goal was to deliver the goods that her father sold to the castle because it could be seen as having some real power from the duke."

Since she wasn't a big shot.

Of course, in terms of the rank within the castle, the duchess deserved to be treated as the real power, but in reality, Abella had no power.

It's not much different now.

I bite down on my lips, trying to contain my laugh.

"Is she crazy? What can you get by flattering an employee or something like that?! Kick them both out right now. Shameless!"

Evangeline looks at me with a face full of bewilderment.

It's Catherine.

The name of the main character, who received the bribery due to her status, climbs up to my throat, but I hold myself back and look at Charles.

"But the problem is that the maid who gave this bribe was kicked out of the duke's family recently for an unfortunate incident."

"......"

"So, the family of the bribed maid is very upset that their daughter has been kicked out of the castle so quickly. The person who took the bribe washed their hands clean while pretending not to know."

"So—"

"They're going to file a formal complaint."

"......"

"Since she's the daughter of a merchant who travels around the country, they're planning to file a complaint directly with the capital—"

"N-No matter how strict a person is, even if it affects the reputation of the duke, aren't those people the ones who bribed the employee? Why would they be so bold to file a complaint?"

Evangeline interrupts my words and shakes her head as if it's nonsense.

"I don't know how the person taking the bribes could become a maid."

Once those words leave Evangeline's mouth, I answer with joy inside.

"Oh, how did you know it was a maid who took the bribe?"

As if surprised, she covers her mouth and turns her head.

I'm not surprised at all at the exaggerated expression, pretending to be surprised.

"Is it Ergel again?"

Evangeline puts Ergel's name in her mouth with a look of dismay.

Why is Ergel being mentioned?

How long has it been since our Ergel became a maid?

"Brother, something like this happened to Ergel before. Abusing your trust, she has a really bad habit of sneaking in people."

"The thief is Catherine."

I cut off Evangeline, who's shaking her head like she's sick of it.

"...What?"

She narrows the middle of her forehead.

Though the situation is very shocking right now, looking at her expression, it's as if she had never expected such a development.

"Catherine took the bribe."

I then remove my pretentious smile.

.

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T/N: Me reacting to Charles ignoring Evangeline's existence and listening only to Abella:

Also how precious is Ergel and Pope getting angry on Abella's behalf? Like Abella literally got people in her corner now who will fight for her and it just makes my cold, dead heart warm up~~~