Joseph, who had wanted to see Ines every other day, had started visiting her morning and evening ever since the news of Count Graham’s trial spread.
“Tell him I can’t meet him.”
Of course, Ines repeatedly rejected his request. After being consistently rejected, he started to send letters.
The first letter contained his deep yearning. As more time passed, he began to beg, saying he would die if she didn’t meet him.
And today’s letter even contained a threat to spread the relationship between her and him throughout the territory.
“Burn this.”
Susan took the letter with a worried expression.
“Are you sure it’s okay to just send it back?”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
Ines returned her gaze to the book she was reading.
‘Not yet, not yet, Joseph. The poison needs to build up more.’
Once Count Graham’s sentence was finalized and all his hopes were extinguished—when the Count’s neck was hanging in the air and all that he had dreamed of vanished into thin air.
Then he would come to see her, even without Ines’s permission.
Almost every dawn, Ines climbed a mountain. She completed the preparations for her own ritual. The end of her time of suffering was not far off.
“Susan, I’m going out today. Please prepare.”
“Where are you going? Wouldn’t it be better to stay at the mansion today?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go to Charlotte. I can take a guard.”
At the mention of bringing a guard, Susan visibly relaxed and went inside the mansion to prepare.
How Carson had intervened, she didn’t know, but Charlotte was to be executed without a trial. Because her husband hadn’t pressed charges, it was possible.
Considering what that man had done to his wife over the years, Ines didn’t think he had tried to gently hush the matter. So she could only speculate that Carson had exerted some influence.
After a week of treatment at Carson’s mansion, Charlotte was immediately transferred to the police. But she was said to be in solitary confinement because she was still a patient. So, Ines could visit her. It was certain that Carson had a hand in this as well.
After about an hour of driving along a secluded road by carriage, she arrived where Charlotte was temporarily staying. It was a large four-story building made of gray stone. It was said to be a place where high-ranking nobles stayed until their trials when they committed crimes.
Upon entering, the atmosphere felt less stark than it appeared from the outside. Charlotte was waiting for Ines in the first-floor visiting room, having been informed in advance.
The moment Charlotte saw Ines, she rushed over and embraced her. Fortunately, she didn’t look too unwell. The two sat down across from each other at a plain wooden table.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Much better now.”
Ines wanted to ask how she felt about losing the baby, but the words wouldn’t come easily.
“I heard they’re not going ahead with the trial.”
“Yes. A police officer came by earlier to subtly inform me about the pending verdict.”
“I see.”
“I get special treatment here. Probably thanks to the Count.”
Ines nodded, having thought the same.
“I conveyed my husband’s wish to see me, but I refused. I can’t face him.”
“Don’t see him. He’s not worth it.”
“Exactly. There’s no baby between us anymore. No reason for me to endure him.”
Charlotte gazed into the distance for a moment. The face of a woman whose life had been completely overturned in a matter of days now wore a deeper expression than before.
“I was hit every other day. There was a reason in the beginning, but later there was none.”
As she spoke calmly, tears trickled down Charlotte’s face. The tears that flowed without a sob felt somehow more desperate.
“I still endured. I thought I had to. Now, I think it’s a relief. If this hadn’t happened, I would have been stuck with him forever.”
“……”
“Ines, I praise myself every day for going to the hunt that day. What would have happened to my life if I hadn’t met you there?”
Charlotte had no need to retrace that. That fate had already passed her by. It was best not to torment oneself by ascribing meaning to every past action.
“If my husband had died there and there were no testimonies from you and the Count, I would have gone to Romfield.”
Knowing that, humans inevitably dwell on the worst mistakes they’ve made.
Finally, Charlotte began to cry audibly. Carson had gone to the police station alone to testify about the incident.
“Of course, it wasn’t without issues,” she said.
An Indifferent Woman is the One Men Desire the Most
One-line summary: The female lead is actually cold-hearted and extremely rational. She has stage-by-stage relationships and won’t two-time, but there will always be someone who secretly likes her.
This novel has the following triggers, so if you’re sensitive to these, please don’t read:
1. The female lead has had many relationships, but she treated each one seriously and broke up properly.
It’s just that the men unilaterally pestered her incessantly. For the female lead, when she doesn’t like someone anymore, she simply doesn’t like them.
(This applies to her relationships with Male Lead 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well, but she’s loyal in each 1-on-1 relationship!)
2. In this novel, Male Lead 2 and the female lead kiss in a car, and Male Lead 1 sees it and beats up Male Lead 2.
The female lead calls the police and sends both Male Lead 1 and 2 to the police station! Male Lead 1 begs the female lead not to break up with him.
3. Male Lead 1 has a gentle appearance but an obsessive personality.
Male Lead 2 has a delicate and soft appearance, slightly green tea-like (two-faced).
Male Lead 3 is a youthful college student and a smart person who has secretly liked the female lead for a long time.
Male Lead 4 is the female lead’s father’s special assistant, a business elite with deep, hidden thoughts.
4. At the beginning of this novel, the female lead has already broken up with Male Lead 1 (Chapter 4) and gotten back together with Male Lead 2 (ex-boyfriend).
5. Enter with caution if you have triggers!!!
