“If you want to betray, do it. If you are useless, I will kill you and hold the Ludwig family accountable.”
Even in the midst of tears welling up from the choked breath, she understood Sophia’s meaning. She should be able to make up enough to pretend that Edith was killed by someone from the Dukedom, and she will grab the pod and persistently bite the Duke of Ludwig. Because no one would imagine that Count Rigelhoff, who was famous for caring for his daughter, would have killed his daughter.
‘That’s why you pretended to love me outside.’
They were really nasty people. To the extent that the Sinclair counts seem rather human.
Just as she was about to lose her mind, Sophia let go of her. She choked like crazy and wrapped her arms around her aching neck.
“So, if you don’t want to die, do well as a pretty doll like you did before.”
Sophia’s voice was muffled. But Edith didn’t have the slightest desire to give in to her. Edith, who has been abused since her childhood, may be scared of Sophia, but she knew she couldn’t be the one to kill Edith. Because in this world, only Killian Ludwig was set to kill Edith. He’s not some random extra with no explanation of how he died.
“You will regret it, Sophia.” she said in a hoarse voice.
She thought she was going to hit her too, but Sophia just looked down at her with her eyes of ridicule.
* * *
Killian was lost in thought, tinkering with the embroidery of a light gray bird biting a laurel leaf. When he visited the Ryzen estate, it happened to be the day before the annual bazaar held by Countess Ermenia. In fact, he only had feelings about it, saying, ‘I’m tired, but I have to go there again tomorrow.’ That was, until he heard the news from his mother.
“And Edith embroidered a bird on her handkerchief. Do you know what color it is?”
“Should I know that? Is that an important issue?”
“Whoop whoop. It is the color of your eyes.”
“…what?”
“She chose the color while thinking of you. Isn’t she cute?”
It was a very unexpected answer. His mother said that Edith had told her not to tell him about it, and she laughed as if it was funny, but Killian wondered what Edith might have meant by saying that. Maybe she was just trying to impress his mother. And as soon as he arrived at the bazaar the next day, Killian knew that Edith, Lise, and Cliff had all gone to the bazaar, so he followed. However, because he had followed them too late, he had already witnessed Edith and Lise returning from the tour. Just as he was about to pretend to find them by coincidence, a group of women blocked Edith and Lise’s path.
‘Countess Breen? He went down to recuperate in the manor, so he must have returned.’
She was famous for her vitriol, but she had many followers because of the prestige of Count Breen and her personality of caring for her own people. However, she immediately quarreled with Lise, saying that she was an illegitimate child or a pet.
‘Is that woman crazy?’
He was about to approach her in anger, but Edith stepped forward to block the trembling Lise.
“I can’t adapt to the social world these days. A countryman or something like that stirs up the bazaar.”
Even Killian was surprised by the bold provocation, but the other side started to ridicule Edith. It was true that she was just going out or that she was worse than Lise. He thought it was true, but the words a woman said pierced Killian’s heart.
“So they said she was being ignored even by her own husband?”
It wasn’t a mistake. He hadn’t even thought of taking care of Edith. But he couldn’t figure out why he felt guilty.
“I heard rumors that the Ludwig family brought in an undesirable daughter-in-law, but I didn’t think she would be that bad.”
“They were forcibly brought in by Count Rigelhoff.”
“Don’t you feel sorry for Killian?”
The words the women left behind were tied to Killian’s legs. The words they uttered were like blades disguised as words. It wasn’t even a lie, so it was a sharper weapon.
‘It’s all because the Rigelhoff family is greedy.’
Killian blamed the Rigelhoffs. Even so, he was nervous the moment he looked away to check Edith’s expression. However, unlike the frozen Killian, Edith took Lise and left without incident. There was no anger, no shame, no contempt on her face. Edith was not someone who could be hurt by mean words.
‘Was she such a strong person…?’
But she suddenly remembered the woman who said she was hurt by his words. Killian, who was watching Edith return to the Duke’s tent, tried to follow her, but then turned around again. At the bazaar event, Killian found three handkerchiefs that were clearly embroidered by Edith.
‘Really… How to say… To put it mildly, it’s a simple skill.’
Among the splendid embroidered works, it was a simple work that was not much different from that of young girls.
‘There shouldn’t be a disgrace where items from the Ludwig family’s bazaar remain until the end.’
He chewed on such an excuse and bought three handkerchiefs Edith made on the spot and stuffed them into his inner pocket. And when he returned to the tent, the still beautiful Lise greeted him with a bright smile, and Edith…
“I missed you, ah, no, did you have a good trip?”
Did she mean she wanted to see him? No, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t have wanted to see him, who would only say mean things when he met her face. Besides, wasn’t he her husband who ‘ignored’ her as much as everyone else knows about her? But the atmosphere at the bazaar was good. The weather was nice, and it was nice to meet and greet his acquaintances after a long time.
They laughed together, drank iced tea, and Edith, who picked up tea food, was fine. It seemed that if she behaved like this, there would be nothing she couldn’t live with. Perhaps it was because of that thought, he even said a few words to Edith without much thought.
“More than the ones you wore before… Much better.”
“Yes? Madame Royal’s skill was quite good. You would be surprised to know what this dress looked like.”
So she knew that the dress she was wearing was not her new dress but had been mended. Right across the street, someone was complimenting Lise’s beauty and her new dress ‘again’, but while Killian was sitting there, no one complimented Edith.
‘If only she hadn’t been able to manage her reputation…’
Yes. The reason why people ignored Edith was because Edith had not cared about her own reputation. But when a group of other wives complimented Lise without even saying hello to Edith, Killian couldn’t help admitting that he was offended.
‘Anyway, she is now my wife… Isn’t this ignoring me?’
Yes, it was because of that. But just then, Edith stood up to fix her makeup and came back.
‘Have you ever been very offended?’
He didn’t even know that she couldn’t stand it any longer and left because she was being ignored to the point where it was embarrassing to even see herself next to him. So he got up from his seat watching her go inside the mansion.
“Where are you going, Killian?”
Just as he was about to leave the tent, Lise gently grabbed the hem of his clothes and asked. At the same time, the eyes of the other wives women also turned to him.
“Oh! Killian was also there! Long time no see.”
“My God, to have grown up so nicely, Mrs. Ludwig shouldn’t be worried.”
At other times, he would have greeted each one for the sake of reputation and mother’s face. However, since they had been trying to look good only to Cliff and Lise without even paying attention to him and Edith, he wasn’t too reluctant to do so.
“Excuse me, but my hands are sticky, so I need to wash them.”
Leaving those words alone, he hurried toward the mansion. He entered the mansion and looked around to see where the women’s bathroom was, and then he saw Edith’s reddish-brown hair outside the window. She was with a blonde man.
‘No way, I don’t think she is enjoying trysts with other men with a lot of eyes looking at me like this, right?’
Even Edith wouldn’t do something so embarrassing. Even thinking so, Killian hurriedly came out of the mansion and sneaked toward the corner where they had disappeared. He wasn’t even aware that he was killing footsteps. The man who had been dragging Edith pulled her over and whispered something to her and then set her roughly. And only then did Killian find out the man’s identity.
‘Shane Rigelhoff…?’
Shane glared at Edith with a gnashing expression at first glance, but then he turned and walked away. Even as he walked away, Edith stood there, shaking her body.
‘What did that bastard say?’
He took out a handkerchief and took pictures of her eyes, and it seemed that she was crying. However, Edith soon took a deep breath and took out a mirror to examine her face. Then, with her strange face, only the corner of her mouth raised a smirk, and then she put on her mirror with a weary expression and turned her body. Killian took a few quick steps away from her and pretended to have just arrived there just in time for her to come around the corner.
“I have been looking for you for a long time. Where the hell are you coming from?”
“Ah… The mansion is beautiful, so I wanted to see what it looked like on this side…”
“You have a lot of questions.”
As soon as they met, Killian noticed that one of her cheeks was flushed.
‘Is it that Shane Rigelhoff hit Edith?’
It was unbelievable. The family’s love for their daughter was a famous story in the social world. But when he thought of Shane’s unfamiliarly stern face and Edith, who had a red cheek when she met him, he could only think of that result.
Even so, Edith lightly continued the conversation in a nonchalant voice.
How do you feel?
