Life After Divorce (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5

Thud—!

Antra irritably tossed her fox fur stole and fan onto the chaise, then glared at the innocent objects with a grumble.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Suddenly letting out a scream, Antra swept everything off the console clean—but her anger did not subside.

Standing with her hands braced on the console, Antra scrunched up her face as she recalled what had just happened.

Even upon reflection, she was so exasperated that words failed her.

For the past four years, Etricia had flinched at Antra’s every word, yet overnight, she had changed completely. Though wearing the same outward appearance, she was unmistakably a different person.

Her logical rebuttals, her bold composure in retorting, her seasoned finesse in seizing the upper hand with just a single phrase…

“She acts as if she’s truly become a noble lady.”

Her poised posture and steady gaze even appeared elegant and dignified.

Ha—no. Antra immediately shook her head.

“That’s impossible.”

She’d merely been startled by the unexpected counterattack and had imagined things.

Antra was certain.

“Viscountess Antra Dian, I’m honored to meet you for the first time. I’ve heard about you from Devon, but I never expected you to be this beautiful.”

After all, it was she who had turned the once-sparkling Etricia of their first meeting into the recluse she was today.

During the day, Etricia barely uttered a word—only a few childish phrases directed at servants.

She rarely smiled or ate, and the only time she saw sunlight was during her daily stroll through the rear garden.

For four years, fearing Etricia might expose her cruelty to the outside world, Antra had restricted her social activities so severely that Etricia had earned the nickname “the Reclusive Countess.”

Cut off from human contact, she had grown timid, gloomy, and often even stuttered.

It was simply impossible for her to transform overnight as if reborn anew.

Thus, one ought to feel even more uneasy—but Antra’s agitated, shallow mind couldn’t grasp that far.

Antra hastily concluded it was mere defiance from her daughter-in-law.

“You’ve had four years, so you’re done playing along, is that it, Etricia?”

She had anticipated a major rebellion someday. She just hadn’t expected it to be today.

Antra narrowed her eyes and gave a venomous smile.

“You must’ve been drenched in sweat from trying so hard to appear bold. But no matter how much you resist or protest, you’ll soon crawl right back to me, groveling at my feet.”

Antra walked over to the bed and tugged on the bell-pull.

When the maid entered after requesting permission, Antra beckoned her with a flick of her finger.

Her crimson lips, whispering into the maid’s ear, looked eerily like a serpent’s tongue.

After dismissing the maid with a gesture, Antra immediately cheered up and picked up the fox fur stole she’d tossed onto the sofa.

“Hmmmm~”

Humming contentedly, Antra rubbed her cheek against the fur stole and laughed with delight.

Indeed, to properly enforce discipline, one must shake the other’s spirit with a method so chilling it defies imagination.

“You’ll regret it, just as I warned you, Etricia.”

Her elevated humming seeped through the bedroom door, drifting ominously down the chilly corridor.

[This is the timeline separator]

I tapped my fist against my solar plexus.

“Did I eat Madeline’s words for nothing?”

It seemed I’d overindulged. Witnessing right before my eyes the loss of both a lover and a friend must have made me act uncharacteristically impulsive, offering clumsy comfort.

“Well, at least I’ve survived the worst of it.”

A relieved smile spread across my face.

The shabby rented carriage from town offered a bumpy ride, occasionally jolting my head—but even that felt pleasant.

Now all that remained was divorce—first, second, and third priorities alike.

Once I severed ties with that cursed in-law family, I’d surely enjoy a glamorous single life.

Ah, of course, I had no intention of granting an easy divorce.

I planned to expose the forged will clearly, send Devon to prison, and isolate Antra from high society.

However, at present, both the estate and title belonged entirely to Devon.

I had only one hope to rely on.

Namely, the Emperor—the empire’s most powerful figure—who had cherished me like a daughter.

The Emperor had especially adored Etricia.

Historical records even noted that during audiences with her father, the Emperor would sometimes seat the young girl on his knee.

“No wonder.”

After the late emperor’s passing, it was thanks to Count Bueil that the then-crown prince—now Emperor—secured the throne by triumphing over his maternal grandfather in a bloody power struggle, as Bueil had supported him by supplying magical ore at an absurdly low price.

“That very ore elevated the Bueil family from mere minor nobility to high-ranking aristocrats and nouveau riche.”

Leblon.

An ore functioning as both shield and blade for its wielder, inflicting tinnitus, hallucinations, and burns upon any monster within range.

Monsters—creatures said to have coexisted with humankind since time immemorial—appeared sporadically across the world.

They devoured humans indiscriminately, and humans fiercely resisted.

But as monsters accumulated wisdom through learning and experience, slaying them became no simple task.

Moreover, for roughly several decades, with the bloodline of the Holy Maidens broken, even the Mage Tower’s support could not spare warriors from physical combat.

Then came divine revelation to their rescue:

[To the house that doubts not My words nor puts them to the test, I bestow grace. You shall neither condemn them, nor steal from them, nor covet what is theirs.]

That grace was the Leblon mine owned by the Bueil family.

After saving a Holy Maiden ambushed by monsters, the then-bankrupt Bueil family received the mine as a royal gift.

Previously, the mine produced translucent ore with neither color nor luster, so the market refused to acknowledge its worth.

Furthermore, merely owning it incurred enormous property taxes, yet their upright ancestor kept it as a family heirloom solely because it was “divine grace.”

And heaven answered that faith.

After the revelation, the ore’s hidden function emerged, transforming what had been dismissed as worthless pebbles.

Within a month of its release, Leblon dominated the magical ore market, placing the Bueil family on a cushion of gold.

Etricia’s father leveraged Leblon’s rarity to trade with the imperial court, nobles maintaining private armies, and even the empire’s state religion.

Thus, when Etricia brought home a suitor from a family the Emperor disfavored, his disapproval was inevitable.

Before the wedding, the Emperor had persuaded her to let him dispatch a personal investigation unit to examine Count Bueil’s will, which bequeathed all assets to Devon.

After all, even an emperor couldn’t interfere in a family’s inheritance without just cause.

Deeply hurt by the Emperor, whom she’d regarded like a father, she cut off contact after marriage—and without cooperation from the bereaved family, the investigation ended without ever beginning.

But recently, Devon committed an act that enraged the Emperor.

It happened during the annual Leblon contract renewal audience.

“Freezing the price for decades? Doesn’t such a long-standing arrangement seem futile, Your Majesty? Surely you don’t intend to deny the divine decree: ‘Neither covet nor steal it.’”

In short, he accused the Emperor of thievery.

Citing heaven’s will, Devon demanded a price increase.

“Riding high on Leblon, he’s grown absurdly arrogant.”

Tsk. I clicked my tongue.

Because of that incident, I might have fallen out of the Emperor’s favor too.

But surely he couldn’t completely ignore a letter from the girl he’d cherished like a daughter.

“As soon as I reach the mansion, I must send that letter.”

It would detail, vividly and tearfully, my miserable married life and the pain from Devon’s infidelity.

I’d also explain the unavoidable circumstances that forced me, under threat from my in-laws, to sever ties.

“If even then the Emperor’s heart remains unmoved, I’ll go to him myself and beg until my knees shatter.”

Once granted an official certificate verifying the will’s forgery through the Emperor’s grace, I’d blackmail Devon into an amicable divorce as a condition for clemency.

Why an amicable divorce? Simply put: I wanted nothing more to do with that wretched in-law family, and litigation was a mudslinging battle.

Both sides would expose each other’s dirty secrets, engaging in a fierce, bloodless war lasting months—or even years.

For me, who wanted freedom as quickly as possible, amicable divorce was the only ideal path.

“Oh, what shall I do first after the divorce?”

Just imagining my escape from that loathsome in-law household filled me with joy.

Lost in visions of a distant future, I cheerfully twirled a strand of hair around my finger—when the carriage arrived at the alley near the mansion.

The coachman dismounted, putting on a show of service as he opened the door for me. After alighting, I stood rigidly until the carriage disappeared from sight.

I had no desire to reveal the mansion’s location to a town coachman.

After standing there for a while, watching the carriage shrink into a dot, I wrinkled my nose.

“What’s that?”

A pungent smell vibrated from somewhere.

I tilted my head and stared toward the mansion. Shouts of alarm erupted from the noble residential district. I frowned at the thick, dark smoke billowing into the sky.

“Whose mansion caught fire? How unfortunate.”

I strolled leisurely toward the mansion.

The closer I got, the louder the chaos grew, and the denser the acrid smoke became.

Wait…? A sharp intuition shot through the back of my head, halting my steps.

“It can’t be… surely not.”

My pace quickened steadily—then broke into a run.

Finally reaching the mansion, I gaped at the sight before me, mouth agape.

The Bueil manor—three times the size of an average noble estate—blazed brilliantly like a giant torch. Servants scrambled in perfect coordination to extinguish the flames, directed by the butler.

“Ha… hahaha….”

Staring blankly at the scene, I burst into maniacal laughter.

“…So that’s why everything’s been falling so smoothly into place. Of course—this is proper melodrama.”

I absolutely refused to believe the fire was caused by accident or servant negligence.

Because—

“Finally here, Etricia?”

I’d spotted Antra standing at the mansion’s front gate, secretly watching my reaction.

“…So that’s what ‘we’ll see’ really meant, huh?”

Embers flew into my eyes—eyes as green as foliage.