Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Ah……!” Perhaps because I got up suddenly, I saw stars for a moment.

Rona immediately caught me as I stumbled. “Milady, are you sure you’re okay? I could inform Madam that Milady is still…”

“No.” I shook my head and continued my steps toward the mirror. “Rona, draw a bath for me. I want to wash up a bit.” I spoke in a solemn voice like a warrior preparing to enter the battlefield.

“Yes, I’ll heat up the bathwater.”

After Rona left the room, I walked barefoot in front of the dressing table. The face reflected in the mirror was quite familiar. I stared at that face. Excluding the overflowing confusion, the bright green eyes were quite beautiful.

Madame Louise gave the highest recognition for Selena’s appearance. The shining golden brown hair draped smoothly around the waist. The flawless skin and the reasonably voluptuous body were enough to be confident. Although a bit of a mysterious aura exuded due to the after-effects of the nightmare, overall, she was not bad. No, she looked pretty good.

I shook my head. Since I saw Amoide every day, it was natural that my standard of beauty had increased significantly without realizing it. Once, I unconsciously agreed as I overheard the maids whispering with each other.

[Since I often see the duke’s face, when I look at the other men, all of them look like squids.]

(t/n: Koreans usually call the ugly looking people as squids. Why? Well, maybe you can watch the video clip of a doctor explaining about it in running man ep 291. One thing is for sure, squids are delicious.)

The maid then told the other maids as she was about to cry. After getting the long-awaited vacation, she went on a date with her lover, but she felt that her lover had become really ugly. She saw the duke’s face every day and her eyes got used to his beautiful face, so she lamented that she did not know what she should do.

Yeah, so did I. I grew accustomed to my husband’s magnificent look and became oblivious towards my own dazzling beauty. Well, more than anything, I really loved looking at Amoide’s face. As I briefly thought about having to give birth to his child that would surely inherit his exceptionally good looks, my face heated up.

Although his series of “get lost” attacks made me forget about it at one point, I still didn’t hate Amoide. I could understand his situation well. Who in the world would like a woman that was pushed by his mother to give birth to his child?

So, unless I suddenly went mad one day and killed Amoide, it was obvious that this was probably a very deep misunderstanding. Someone whom I didn’t know must’ve framed me. I had to resolve this injustice.

At least, as long as I recognized this fact, the future could be different. Yes, indeed…and in order to do that, I needed enough authority to get my hands on everything that happened within this mansion.

Rona was almost finished doing my hair with a few hair accessories after brushing my severely disheveled long hair. I looked more decent after I changed into a new dress. Thanks to the light makeup, my dull face looked lively.

I stood up from my seat after carefully checking my reflection in the mirror and said in a solemn voice. “Rona, from now on, everything regarding my husband will be under my control.”

“Yes?” Rona tilted her head as if she had misheard something.

“I’ll take care of Amoide’s health myself. That’s what I’ll tell mother.”

Rona’s eyes opened wide when she understood what I meant. “Will Madam allow it?”

Rona asked anxiously, but I nodded with a solemn face. Just wait and see. I’ll survive and get out of here safely. With this precious neck attached to my body, it’s time to take action according to the plan that I’ve come up with for the past two weeks.

“Now, let’s go.” I got up from my seat and opened the door bravely like a knight in shining armor.

*****

“I heard that you collapsed.” Camilla asked without a hint of concern in her voice.

“Yes.” And I answered plainly.

Camilla clicked her tongue and frowned in disapproval at my answer. “If you’re weak…….”

“I heard that mother was looking for me.” I asked Camilla, pretending I didn’t hear that.

“Yes, I did.”

“Is there anything…”

“Anything happened? I’m just trying to see whether a weak and frail woman can bear a successor for our family or not.” I wasn’t worried about you at all. The meaning in Camilla’s words was not hidden, but revealed openly. “My son is already sickly. If you become sick and collapse too, then the successor will…….”

“I just felt a bit dizzy. I’m healthy.” I cut off her words before she started nagging.

“…you felt dizzy?” Camilla asked again while taking off her back, which had been leaning leisurely against the sofa. “Dizzy? How did you feel? Huh? Don’t you crave something sour?” While asking, Camilla’s eyes were glistening more than ever.

“Ah.” Looking at her eyes glistening needlessly, I suddenly noticed what Camilla was thinking.

‘Don’t you crave something sour?’

She was now harboring the most futile hope in the world.

“No, mother.”

“……no?”

We understood each other correctly without any more words. The momentary hope reflected on Camilla’s face vanished instantly.

I tried to show a healthy appearance to Camilla by straightening my shoulders. A healthy body with a sound mind. That’s what kept me going so far until this day. If I had been poor and sick, I would have been a hundred times more miserable.

If I was sick and didn’t have money to go to the hospital or buy medicine, what could be worse than that? In that respect, I expressed my gratitude towards my parents for endowing me with such a healthy body.

“Then why did you collapse?” Camilla asked while looking at me suspiciously.

But I couldn’t answer her question easily. ‘The memory of my past life suddenly came back.’ So, I couldn’t say that I’ve been distressed mentally and physically for the past two weeks. As I was thinking about what to say, I heard Camilla’s voice.

“If you don’t take good care of yourself and can’t bear a child, it’ll cause a great loss to me.”

“……” Feeling cornered, I was lost for words.

“All the time, money, and effort invested for you to conceive the successor will go to waste.” Camilla’s expression was horribly cold as she said that. “It’s obviously your fault. I will demand reasonable compensation for it, as you remember….”

“That’s what is written in the contract.” I answered first with a deep sigh. I didn’t get sick because I felt like it though.

The former Duchess of Efret, Camilla, even considered it as one of the possible outcomes and carefully drew up a detailed contract.

‘Should I get a divorce?’

The first thing that came to my mind after knowing all about this world was to break the contract and leave the mansion as soon as possible. If I gave up the duchess position and stayed away from Amoide, wouldn’t I be able to avoid the tragedy of being hanged on the gallows?

But I was hindered by the reality in front of me. As I repeatedly read the contract that I hid deep in a vault in the dressing room, I felt that my hope for divorce was shattered.

[‘B’ shall pay a penalty equal to the down payment given by ‘A’ if she runs away before the term of the contract expires or the contract cannot be continued due to other ‘faults’ caused by ‘B’.]

(t/n: A = Camilla, B = Selena)

God, did I really sign this contract? A contract full of these disadvantageous clauses? Penalty. The same amount as the down payment.

But…

[…If ‘B’ meets the requirements set forth by ‘A’, ‘A’ shall pay 500,000 Ducat to ‘B’.]

Half a million Ducat…in my previous life, this amount was about five billion. Of course, I never had such a huge amount of money. It was an amount of money that made me feel dizzy. There was no chance I would get it, let alone spending it! Offering such a large sum of money as the reward…indeed, Camilla was a real big shot.

Every single clause in the contract was really designed to choke me. I couldn’t believe that I had to be at ‘fault’ even when I got sick throughout my lifetime. What a biased contract.

However, it was none other than me who accepted the terms and signed the contract. It was a contract, but wasn’t it like a deal to take over the authority on my body?

It wouldn’t be strange for me to take the contract right away and file a complaint against it. A deep sympathy for myself arose as I thought that I had to live my whole life in the Dukedom with a leash tied to a piece of paper like this.

In fact, it was a definite give-and-take contract. Camilla wasn’t forcing it on me unilaterally either. The benefits I could get for giving birth to a child were substantial. The contract stated that while I was performing my duties as the duchess, Camilla would support my younger siblings’ living expenses and education costs.

If I asked for a divorce, it was clear that the financial support for my younger siblings would be cut off. I would’ve felt relieved if that was the only consequence. The worst consequence was I had to pay back all the money spent on me and my younger siblings, as stated in the contract.

So, I quickly gave up the idea of getting a divorce and changed my mind. I scanned through the contract to find a loophole. No matter how perfect the contract looked, it was bound to have a loophole somewhere. No, it should be. Even if it wasn’t, I would make one.

Then a faint light began to shine somewhere. On the last page of the contract, there was a part where a special clause was written.

[If the reason for continuing the contract disappears, the contract may be terminated according to the will of ‘A’.]

I read that part over and over again.