Meanwhile, Berita, who had climbed the stairs, clung to one of his arms.

“Devon, I heard you were back, but why didn’t you let me know? Do you know how upset I was?”

She whispered in a low voice, occasionally glancing at the open doors.

Devon raised an eyebrow and glanced at the ample bosom pressed against his arm. Berita was a woman with a seemingly sorrowful gaze and a charming voice that was tantalizing. Yet she easily crumbled to desires and was self-destructive. Hadn’t she betrayed Etricia, her only ally in the world, to have him?

How long could a relationship built on layer upon layer of small and big lies last?

The sense of sin from being his wife’s sworn sister had been stimulating, but now that Etricia had abandoned him, that value had disappeared. Now, Etricia seemed more attractive instead.

Etricia, who seemed like she would be boring for life due to her submissiveness, had suddenly become very alluring with her newfound hatred.

Just thinking about how she had humiliated him made his blood boil to the tips of his hair, yet imagining her return sent shivers down his spine.

Her haughtily raised chin and hostile gaze were quite appealing. Even his taunting remarks about her becoming another man’s woman and being attractive were partly sincere.

Devon, recalling the seductive Etricia at the bar, looked down at Berita again with a coldly indifferent gaze.

Pah-! He roughly shook off her arm. The recoil caused Berita to hit the wall, and she groaned, clutching her shoulder.

“De, Devon, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t do anything rash and go back. Don’t try any shallow schemes.”

“Devon…?”

Devon shook off Berita’s arm that was reaching out to him again as if entranced, and quickly descended the stairs. Berita stood with her mouth agape, blankly staring at Devon’s receding back.

It felt as if she had suddenly been hit on the back of the head. The gentle man who had whispered that he loved her while accompanying her on business trips until recently was nowhere to be seen.

Berita began to interpret the situation with a face sinking into darkness.

‘Th-that’s right, right now sister is giving him a hard time by demanding a divorce, so he must be psychologically unstable…’

For a moment, Etricia’s voice saying she would take everything away struck her ears. Her heart pounded as fear that no one would be left around her and anxiety that she had made the wrong choice overwhelmed her.

The only one who could immediately allay her anxiety was Antra, who was favorable to her. Her presence was the link to Devon and the lifeline for improvement.

“Lady Dien! Lady Dien…!”

As Berita hurriedly climbed the stairs, there was Antra, pacing while nibbling on her nails. She looked anxious and unstable. She kept muttering something, but it was too low to understand. Berita approached closely behind Antra, hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth in an anxious mood.

“Um, Lady Dien, what’s happening with my party? There’s no letter that arrived for Lady Wickley-”

“Shut up! How should I know about such things!”

Antra glared fiercely at Berita with bloodshot eyes. Berita closed her mouth, suddenly frightened by the gaze that scanned her up and down with twitching gray eyebrows.

She looked at the fuming Antra for a while, then finally left the Dien mansion wiping away tears. Seeing the harsh atmosphere, she realized that her party invitation was now out of the question.

After sending Berita away, Antra paced for a while before sitting heavily in a chair as a thought crossed her mind.

‘I’ll crush your spirit so you can’t even open your mouth at the party, Etricia.’

No matter how much she had shed her skin and become a different person, the fact remained that she was the reclusive Etricia who had crawled at her feet for 4 years.

What could that wench with no social standing do?

She had let her guard down for a moment and lost a shallow battle of wills, but it wasn’t difficult for her, who had survived in high society through psychological warfare, to put a naive girl who had lived her whole life under protection in her place.

Antra curled her lips and her eyes gleamed viciously.

“Did I tie my hair too tightly?”

I wasn’t sure if the throbbing in my head was due to the maid’s mistake or because of what happened at breakfast.

It happened this morning.

Lilien was chirping like a wren, as if trying to realize her shocking statement from the previous day.

When Edmond and I picked up our water glasses at the same time, she clapped her hands saying we were soulmates; when Edmond and I reached for bread simultaneously, she made a fuss about us being of one mind; when Edmond and I couldn’t stand it anymore and stood up from our chairs, she exclaimed that we were twin souls.

Edmond looked around at the maids who were trembling with suppressed laughter, then gritted his teeth and quickly left the dining room, but then stopped.

It was because of Lilien shouting at Edmond’s back.

‘Edmond, don’t just do office work, train occasionally too! Especially where you need to…’

‘Sister…!’

Edmond turned around abruptly and shouted for the first time. With his teeth gritted and his ears burning bright red.

Eventually, he glared at me with fierce eyes before leaving the dining room. I felt twisted inside, wondering why he was angry at me, but after apologizing to Lilien, I followed Edmond out. It was to clear up the misunderstanding.

And there he was, standing in front of the door with his back heaving as he tried to control his anger. Like yesterday, it seems Cupid Lilien’s actions were quite unpleasant to him.

‘Please take it as just a joke. It happened because Lady Lilien likes me too much. I’ll calm her down.’

Edmond glanced at me and said roughly while loosening his cravat.

‘It’s fine, she was often like this when we were young too. It seems my sister has come across something strange, but she’ll stop with time.’

‘…Then that’s good.’

I wanted to ask why he got so angry and red-faced if that was the case, but I decided not to in case he blushed again.

Eventually, as Edmond was quickly climbing the stairs, he suddenly stopped as if something occurred to him. Then he looked down at me standing at the bottom of the stairs with an incomprehensible gaze.

‘There’s something I want to ask.’

‘You can ask me anything, Count.’

‘If you say so, I’ll ask without reserve.’

Edmond, who seemed about to ask without hesitation, hesitated a little before opening his mouth.

‘Why did the Countess choose…’

‘Hm? Choose what?’

He stared at me intently, then irritably ruffled his hair as if frustrated.

‘…It’s nothing.’

Then he disappeared abruptly, leaving me curious. Even when I asked Lilien, she only said otherworldly things like she hoped the two of us would work out well.

Even after that, despite close maids trying to dissuade her or servants including Rail expressing disapproval, Lilien insisted like a rhino’s horn that we were soulmates.

‘Edmond must have had a hard time when he was young because of his stubborn sister.’

He probably let himself be dragged along by his weaker and more innocent sister, pretending to give in while sighing deeply with that handsome face of his.

“Pfft.”

I burst out laughing at the imagination of a precocious boy being dragged around by his wrist by a lively girl.

“Ahem.”

Afraid the coachman beyond the wall might hear, I quickly composed my expression and turned my head towards the window.

The warm May sunshine poured through the window, and the commotion of the square could be heard. By now, the image of the sinister Edmond who killed me in the original work had eroded. It was because I came to know that while he was cold-blooded to others, he was infinitely weak to his own people as I spent time with the Mifidian siblings.

That pure reaction that made me want to tease him more and more probably played a part too.

‘By the way, I wonder what he was trying to ask this morning. He seems to have gotten over his anger.’

Tilting my head in curiosity, I brushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen onto my nape as I got off when the carriage stopped.

After walking for a while, I arrived at Rain Burton’s still shabby and old law office.

It was to do a mid-term check on the property division matter I had entrusted to Rain Burton.

As I climbed the stairs entering the building, I sighed deeply.

‘I should tell her to relocate her office first with the retainer fee.’

Finally arriving at the office, I knocked out of courtesy before opening the door and then paused. Did I come to the wrong place? After checking even the slightly worn signboard, I looked straight ahead again.

Papers scattered haphazardly and a woman collapsed on the sofa with both arms stretched out, glasses fallen below her face.

It looked similar to a murder scene.

“Ms. Burton?”

“Urgh!”

Startled by my call, Rain Burton jolted up as if struck by lightning, trembling. Then the documents that had been on her abdomen fell. She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and blinked her eyes. It seemed she had been quite jobless.

“Ah, Countess, you’re here?”

“Should I come back later?”

“Ah, no. This way please!”

Rain Burton hurriedly dusted off the papers piled on the sofa and guided me there. I lightly perched on the edge of the sofa and asked.

Rain Burton picked up the glasses that had fallen under the sofa and sat down opposite me, wiping the lenses with the end of her shirt.

“Shall I bring some tea?”

“No need, I came to hear directly about the progress and if things are going well.”

Rain Burton picked up one of the documents strewn on the console and looked it over as she spoke.

“It’s in progress and there are no major issues. It was easy because your husband had many irregularities. They came tumbling out with just a little prodding. Soon his assets will be seized and investigators will search his private office. He won’t be able to avoid penalties, but is that alright with you?”

“I can accept that much.”

Rain Burton smirked.

“Then I can proceed without hesitation.”

As I smiled slightly in approval, she rubbed her forehead and then looked at me with a surprised expression.

“Oh right, has the certificate verifying the authenticity of the will come out yet?”

“Not yet, but I received word that it will be out soon, so it’s just a matter of time.”

“Well then, congratulations in advance.”

I shrugged my shoulders smugly.

“It’s not over yet though.”

“My, I witnessed public opinion tilting in your favor though?”

Rain Burton tilted her head and then gestured towards the window with her chin.

“There, on your way here, did you see the rows of parked carriages? They’re partly for attendees of the party coming up from various regions, but I hear they’re all gossiping about your in-laws?”

I chuckled softly and lowered my eyes.

Not to that extent.