Life After Divorce - Chapter 47

Devon, who pulled out a knife, pricked his finger and dropped blood onto the pebble. The pebble unhesitatingly absorbed the blood flowing across its smooth surface.

Taking the knife from him, I cut my finger without hesitation. The cut turned into a red line, and round droplets of blood formed.

Plop-. The droplet fell onto the pebble, flowed down, and a bright white light burst forth.

Simultaneously, we both chanted the spell and recited the oath we were to keep.

Devon’s oath was to sign the divorce papers and withdraw the lawsuit against Edmond Mifidian, while mine was to not raise issues with the will manipulation and destroy evidence. As the pebble emitted a bright red light and then faded, I closed the box containing it.

“Sign it.”

I took out the divorce papers I had brought. Devon, receiving them with a look as if wondering where all this came from, went to the desk and signed the documents.

Seeing the quill pen in Devon’s hand vibrate briefly for a few seconds, my spirits lifted. After he nervously finished signing, he handed me the papers.

With an overwhelming feeling, I took a deep breath and received the divorce papers. My hands holding the documents trembled.

Finally. At last. A fanfare sounded in my head and my body shivered slightly. The efforts of all this time flashed by like afterimages, and I almost shed a tear.

I took a deep breath and said.

“I’ll take care of the artifact. It won’t react to anyone but its owner anyway. What about withdrawing Duke Mifidian’s lawsuit?”

Seemingly displeased at following my orders, Devon snarled his upper lip and took out his communication device. He spat out words to his lawyer to handle the withdrawal of the lawsuit.

Then he glared at me with fierce eyes as if asking if that was enough.

I gave him a meaningless smile and pulled out my communication device. Devon frowned and looked me up and down.

“What are you doing now?”

“It’s over. You can come up now.”

I spoke into the communication device. Not long after, the sound of men rushing in was heard. As they climbed the stairs, the mansion shook greatly as if a herd of horses was approaching.

“Wh-what’s going on!”

Devon backed away from the desk, his eyes frantically searching for an escape route. His gaze that had passed by me returned.

He had discovered me wearing a gleeful smile all over my face.

“You…! Have you forgotten we made an oath? Do you truly want to die!”

“Who? Me?”

Ha ha, I laughed lightly and then erased my smile coldly.

“The oath was not established.”

“What?”

“An oath requires the blood of only two people.”

I opened the box containing the oath stone as if to show him and flipped over the pebble.

“Before coming here, I bought cow’s blood from a butcher and applied it. It didn’t seem to absorb, probably because it wasn’t human blood.”

I narrowed my eyes and smiled sweetly. Devon snatched the box with a pale face and checked under the pebble. A small amount of clotted blood was smeared there.

“It’s not even human blood, but cow’s blood, and with three mixed, there’s no way the oath could be executed.”

After all, they wouldn’t have made such a sloppy method for a spell where life is at stake.

“B-but it clearly glowed red as if the deal was sealed….”

“Ah, that?”

Bang-!

Finally, as the Imperial Investigation Team burst in, I turned to them with a bright smile and nodded towards the oath stone warranty sprawled on the bed.

“Look carefully at the instructions written there. Just because it glows red doesn’t mean the deal is sealed. It’s designed to glow red even if it fails.”

Devon threw the box away and ran to bury his nose in the warranty to read it. At that moment, an approaching investigator recited the ceremonial words that they would conduct a detention investigation for the safety of the empire according to the Emperor’s decree.

From the moment he received not only property but also a title through the manipulation of the will, it was no longer just a matter between an individual and a family. It was a clear challenge to state affairs and an obvious overreach.

Even as the knights grabbed both his arms and dragged him out, he continued reading the warranty with a dazed expression.

Eventually, his blank gaze moved from the warranty in his hand to me.

I thanked the investigator for their understanding and handed over the artifact, then gave Devon a smiling glance.

“You…! You…!”

Devon’s face began to contort hideously after a delay.

“You cunning woman…!”

Devon resisted fiercely with trembling intensity. As he shook off the knights’ arms and thrashed about, he seemed to have thrown out his back, letting out an “Ack!” as he threw his head back.

The knights calmly regained their grip on Devon’s arms and dragged him away. Pffft, I stood at the top of the stairs and mockingly laughed at Devon, who was groaning from the shock.

Oh my, Devon! Antra, who had rushed out alone, chased after them, asking the knights about the situation.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you vicious woman! I’ll revoke the lawsuit withdrawal right away, I won’t let this go like this…!”

“What can you do? I already talked to your lawyer before coming here. He told me that with just one word from you to withdraw the lawsuit, he could immediately file for withdrawal, and even if you sue again, it would be dismissed.”

“What?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? The lawyer who’s been cleaning up all your messes is the legal representative of the Vuel family. He’s also one of the people who’s been disgusted by your cheap management style for the past four years.”

A look of dismay spread across Devon’s face. Realizing his own blunder, he gritted his teeth.

“Etricia…!”

As he was being dragged away, Devon flashed a murderous glare. Having lost his reason, Devon was terrifyingly ferocious.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! How dare you ruin me like this!”

Devon glared at me standing at the top of the stairs, his neck bulging with veins as he spewed all sorts of vile curses.

Though the flashing, malicious glare momentarily chilled my nape, I quickly regained a relaxed smile.

“Devon, try to be a bit more humble in prison. If you strut around with confidence in your dysfunctional lower half, you might get into big trouble with your fellow inmates. Understand?”

“You…!”

Devon’s face flushed with shame as he tried to lunge at me but was restrained by the knights. See, no matter how much he struggled, I was ultimately the winner.

I leisurely smiled and even waved my hand at Devon.

“Do you think you can be happy after abandoning me?!”

“…”

“It’s because it was me that I put up with you, because it was me! If you didn’t have money or a title, I wouldn’t have even looked at a gloomy woman like you in the first place!”

“…”

“There’s no man who would truly love a woman like you!”

Aaaagh! Finally dragged to the door, Devon disappeared into the bright sunlight.

I listened to the fading screams with my head held high in various directions.

No man would truly love me… For a moment, my heart stung.

As the past years flashed by, where I lived without receiving proper respect or consideration as a wife, my eyes began to sting.

But emotions are fleeting. Looking up at the ceiling, I blinked my eyes wide as if nothing was wrong.

I don’t want to cry because of a guy like that. It’s just the pathetic final words of a loser hoping to hurt me.

By the time my eyes dried, I snorted while looking at the door Devon had been dragged through.

And who said anything about dating again? The current me was sick and tired of both dating and marriage.

I went back into the room and picked up the box containing the oath stone that Devon had thrown. It might come in handy later.

As I crossed the threshold, I met eyes with Berita, who had been clinging to the wall, glaring at me with resentful eyes. Ah, this child was still here.

“Sister… how could you do this?”

“Do what?”

“You deceived Devon…! This is fraud!”

Berita shouted with teary eyes, as if she was more upset.

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even laugh.

“It’s funny to hear that from someone who stabbed me in the back.”

“Ugh.”

Berita bit her lip and shrank back. With her spirit dampened, she looked up at me with large, wavering eyes.

“What… what will happen to Devon?”

“He’ll serve his time in prison as it is.”

I smiled crookedly and approached her, backing her into a corner. Berita’s head hit the wall with a thud. Crouching in the shadowy corner, she stared into my eyes with a terrified look.

“How does it feel to see everything you tried to take from me go down the drain?”

“Sister…”

I narrowed my eyes and smiled. In the pale corridor light, my glistening eyes must have looked as sinister as a snake’s.

“After I inherit the rights and estate in a while, I’m going to kick you out of the mansion. You won’t need the mansion my father gave me since you have Devon, right?”

At this, Berita was startled and hastily grabbed my hand. Her face, illuminated by the pale corridor light, was as white as if she had seen a ghost.

“Si-sister, you can’t, are you planning to take even that place from me?”

“Yes, as you said, what my father gave me was just an old, run-down mansion after all.”

I quoted the exact expression Berita had once used, emphasizing it, then stepped back. Revealed in the corridor light, I wrinkled my nose and said.

“Try to live well with Devon in prison and your ruined mother-in-law. I’m very curious to see if you can still love Devon when he’s penniless.”

Berita collapsed with a blank expression. Her cherry blossom-colored hair, neatly trimmed to her chin, spilled down. Unfocused, clouded eyes staring at the ground began to well up with empty tears.

I turned around, looking at Berita cynically and sighed.

Ah, I almost forgot this. I took out the wretched wedding ring from my bosom, turned around, and flicked it away.

Ping-! The ring that bounced high fell in front of Berita, tracing an elegant trajectory. Seeing the ring rolling on the mahogany floor, I smiled broadly with an unparalleled sense of liberation.

“Keep it, I don’t need it anymore.”

Finally, I left the Dien Viscounty residence, which had been like an abyss of misery for the past 4 years, dismissed the carriage, and walked under the warm sunlight.

I cheered with both arms raised, feeling the exhilaration rising to the tips of my hair.

At last, it was liberation from a long hell.