Thwack-!

Antra, who had irritably thrown her fox shawl and fan onto the couch, glared at the innocent objects and grumbled.

“Aaargh!”

Antra suddenly shouted and swept all the items off the console clean, but it didn’t quell her anger.

Standing with her hands on the console, Antra frowned as she recalled what had happened earlier.

Even after mulling it over, she was so dumbfounded that words failed her.

For the past 4 years, Etricia had flinched at Antra’s every word. But overnight, she had changed. Though wearing the same skin, she was clearly a different person.

Her logical rebuttals, her spirited comebacks, her skillful command of words to gain the upper hand…

‘She seems like she’s become a real noble lady.’

Her composed posture and direct gaze even looked elegant and dignified.

Ha, no. Antra immediately shook her head.

“That can’t be.”

She was just confused by the unexpected counterattack, Antra was certain.

‘Viscountess Antra Dien, it’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time. I’ve heard about you from Devon, but I didn’t know you’d be this beautiful.’

After all, it was she who had turned the once-sparkling Etricia from their first meeting into the current wreck.

During the day, she barely spoke a few words, and even those were childish utterances to the servants.

She rarely smiled or ate, and only got sunlight during her garden walks.

For the past 4 years, fearing Etricia might reveal her cruelty to outsiders, Antra had restricted her social activities, earning her the nickname of the reclusive viscountess.

Cut off from social relationships, she had become dejected and gloomy, often even stumbling over her words.

It wasn’t something that could be changed overnight as if reborn.

Though Antra should have felt more dissonance, her shallow, excited mind didn’t reach that far.

Antra hastily concluded it was her daughter-in-law’s rebellion.

‘After 4 years, you can’t take it anymore, is that it, Etricia?’

She had thought there would be a big rebellion someday. She just didn’t know it would be today.

Antra narrowed her eyes and smiled coldly.

‘Your back must have been drenched in sweat, pretending to be bold. As if your little rebellion and protest would amount to anything. I’ll soon have you crawling back under me.’

Antra went to the bed and pulled the bell rope.

When a maid entered after asking permission, Antra beckoned her with a finger.

The red lips whispering into the maid’s ear were as sinister as a snake’s tongue.

After dismissing the maid with a gesture, Antra’s mood quickly improved as she picked up the fox shawl thrown on the sofa.

“Hm-hmm-”

Antra hummed happily, rubbing her cheek against the fox shawl.

To establish discipline, one must shake the other’s spirit with a chilling method they couldn’t even imagine.

‘I told you you’d regret it, Etricia.’

The elated humming eerily flowed out into the chilly hallway, piercing through the bedroom door.

* * *

I thumped my solar plexus with my fist.

‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten that madeleine.’

It seemed to have disagreed with me. After witnessing firsthand the scene of losing both a lover and a friend, I had uncharacteristically offered clumsy consolation on impulse.

‘Well, at least the worst is over.’

A carefree smile spread across my face.

The shabby carriage rented in town had poor suspension, occasionally jolting and bumping my head, but even that was welcome.

Now all that remained was divorce, divorce, and more divorce.

I was determined to part ways with that cursed in-law family and enjoy a glamorous single life.

Ah, of course, I had no intention of granting a divorce easily.

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

However, currently both property and title belonged to Devon.

There was only one thing I could rely on.

The Empire’s highest authority, the Emperor, who had cherished me like a daughter.

The Emperor had been especially fond of Etricia.

There were even official records of him sitting her on his knee during audiences with her father when she was young.

‘It’s understandable.’

After the previous emperor’s death, the current emperor, then crown prince, was able to win the bloody power struggle against his maternal grandfather and secure the throne thanks to Viscount Vuel, who supported the emperor and supplied mana stones at ridiculously low prices.

‘It was that mineral that turned the Vuel family, mere minor nobility, into high nobles and nouveaux riches.’

Lebrun.

A mana stone that acts as both shield and sword for its owner, inflicting tinnitus, hallucinations, and burns on nearby magical beasts.

Magical beasts, one of the primordial races that coexisted with humans since the beginning, sporadically appeared around the world.

They indiscriminately devoured humans, and humans fiercely resisted.

But it was no easy task to subjugate magical beasts that had accumulated intelligence through learning and experience like humans.

Moreover, about several decades ago, the bloodline of holy maidens was cut off, so warriors could only fight physically without support from magic towers.

Then a divine revelation came to save them:

[I bestow grace upon the family that does not doubt or test my words. You shall not condemn them, nor take it away, nor covet it.]

Such were the words of God.

That grace was the Lebrun mine owned by the Vuel family.

The Vuel family, who had gone bankrupt due to debt guarantees, received the mine as a gift after saving a holy maiden who had been attacked by magical beasts.

Previously, it had produced translucent ore with no color or luster, unrecognized in the market.

Moreover, just owning it incurred enormous property taxes, but their upright ancestor kept it as a family heirloom solely because it was God’s grace.

But then the heavens responded to that faith.

After the divine revelation, the hidden function of the stone, previously treated as a useless pebble, was revealed.

Lebrun dominated the mana stone market within a month of its release, putting the family on easy street.

Etricia’s father used the rarity of Lebrun to trade with the imperial family, nobles with private armies, and the empire’s state religion.

Naturally, the Emperor was not pleased when Etricia brought a suitor from a family he disliked.

Before the marriage, the Emperor tried to persuade her to form a direct investigation team to look into Viscount Vuel’s will leaving all assets to Devon.

Even the Emperor couldn’t intervene in family inheritance matters without justification.

Deeply hurt by the Emperor she had followed like a father, she cut off contact after marriage, and the investigation ended without even starting as the bereaved family did not cooperate.

But recently, an incident occurred where Devon angered the Emperor.

It was during an audience for the annual contract renewal of Lebrun.

‘Freezing prices for decades. Don’t you think our long relationship has become pointless, Your Majesty? Surely you’re not thinking of denying the divine revelation to “neither covet nor take away”?’

In short, he was calling the Emperor a thief.

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

‘His guts have seriously swollen, riding on the back of Lebrun.’

Tsk. I clicked my tongue.

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

But he couldn’t completely ignore a letter from the child he had cherished like a daughter.

‘I should send the letter as soon as I arrive at the mansion.’

The letter would contain a tearful account of my mistreatment in my husband’s family and the hurt caused by Devon’s infidelity.

I also plan to explain the unavoidable circumstances that forced me to cut ties due to threats from my in-laws.

‘Even if the Emperor’s heart doesn’t turn, I’ll go see him in person and beg until my knees are worn out.’

And if I can get a certificate of authenticity for the will through the Emperor’s grace, I plan to blackmail Devon into an amicable divorce as a condition for amnesty.

If you ask why an amicable divorce, it’s because I don’t want to be entangled with that damned in-law family anymore, and a lawsuit would be a mud-slinging match.

They would dig up each other’s dirty laundry in a fierce bloodless battle lasting anywhere from a few months to several years.

For me, who wanted to gain freedom quickly, an amicable divorce was the best option.

‘Ah, what should I do first after the divorce?’

I became excited just imagining escaping from that wretched in-law family.

As I was smiling brightly, twirling my hair around my finger, elated just from imagining the distant future.

The carriage had already arrived in an alley near the mansion.

The coachman got down and opened the door, making a show of it as a service. I got off and stood straight until the carriage disappeared.

I didn’t want to share the mansion’s location with a town coachman.

After standing like that for a while, watching until the carriage became a dot, I wrinkled my nose.

‘What’s this?’

A pungent smell was emanating from somewhere.

I tilted my head slightly and gazed towards the mansion. Exclamations of shock erupted from the noble residential area. I squinted at the dark smoke rising into the sky.

‘Did someone’s mansion catch fire? How unfortunate.’

I leisurely moved towards the mansion.

As I got closer to the mansion, the chaotic sounds grew louder, and the acrid smoke thickened.

Wait a minute…? I stopped in my tracks as an ominous feeling swept over me.

‘No way, it can’t be.’

My feet started moving again, gradually picking up speed until I was running.

Finally arriving at the mansion, I gaped at the scene before me.

The Vuel mansion, three times larger than the average noble residence, was burning spectacularly like a giant kindling. I could see the servants running about in unison to put out the fire, directed by the butler.

“Ha… hahaha…”

Blankly observing the scene, I burst into crazed laughter.

‘…No wonder things were going too smoothly. Right, this is how it should be in a makjang.’

I didn’t for a moment think this fire was caused by a natural disaster or the servants’ mistake.

Because.

“You’re here now, Etricia?”

I spotted Antra standing at the mansion’s main gate, stealing glances at my reaction.

‘…So this is what you meant by “you’ll see”?’

Sparks flew in my verdant green eyes.