“What I did was right.”

A long silence flowed between the two.

Callian spoke to Esika in a miserable voice, as if sobbing.

“If you hated me…… why didn’t you just say so?”

“……”

“If you wanted to kill me, you could have at least grabbed my collar. How could you with such an indifferent face……”

Callian’s face was distorted to an eerie degree.

He seemed to be crying, and he also seemed to be laughing.

It was a painful expression of being utterly shocked by the fact that he had been betrayed by the woman he loved.

“How could you deceive me! And how could you deceive my mother and Klaus!!”

Finally, the anger carried at the end of his words reverberated loudly throughout the room.

But even at that momentum, Esika didn’t bat an eye.

Though Callian was much larger in stature than her, she had no reason to fear him.

“……Deception?”

Esika asked back, moving her lips.

As a wickedly low voice flowed from her mouth, Callian’s eyebrows twitched.

“No matter how deep your resentment, there was no need to take revenge like this.”

Esika had regained the memory of the spirit, but what was more vivid was the past from just a few years ago.

The three years of severe abuse in the Duke Klaus household.

And the tears she had to shed during that time.

The man before her eyes was a husband in name only.

No, he was the worst husband to the point where it would be better not to have such a husband at all.

“……Esika.”

The sight of Callian with his eyes bloodshot red does not evoke even a bit of sympathy.

“I…… don’t understand at all. Why you have become like this. You weren’t this kind of woman.”

Esika remembered.

The image of her past self, struggling to be loved by this man.

However, she doesn’t hate him because he didn’t love her.

She hates him because he hated her first.

“I was originally a villainess.”

“……”

“And though it’s difficult to say, let me make this clear.”

Callian’s eyes wavered at Esika’s calm voice.

“The anger of Klaus was brought on by Klaus himself.”

“No matter how much wrong Mother did to you, you published that false article for revenge? There’s a limit to what a person can do!”

Callian finally couldn’t hold back and shouted.

Riona Klaus was the only mother who devoted her entire life to raising him and making him a duke.

He thought that even if his mother had treated her badly, taking revenge in this way was no different from being unfilial.

“The one without limits is……”

Esika, not shrinking at all from Callian’s shout, continued speaking while looking at Callian with cold eyes.

“Your mother, who deceived people with a false identity for decades. Your mother went around calling herself a noble princess from Smichen and looked down on others. And she abused and tormented me. Calling me a lowly woman from a lowly family.”

The corners of Esika’s lips twisted bitterly.

And a voice tinged with laughter flowed out.

“While she herself…… was merely of common birth.”

“How dare you insult my mother?!”

Slap-

Finally, Callian raised his hand and struck Esika’s cheek.

The sound of the slap rang out loudly and Esika’s head turned sideways.

Callian, who had slapped her cheek, slowly lowered his trembling hand.

Esika’s expression was not visible, and his face was filled with a look of bewilderment.

He hadn’t really meant to hit her, but he was too angry.

“……”

After a moment, Esika slowly raised her head.

There was a scratch-like mark on her cheek.

Callian, unable to look at her face any longer, turned his gaze away.

After a brief silence, he spoke.

“……It’s your fault. You shouldn’t have said such things!”

It was a rationalization that was extremely typical of Callian.

Esika smirked and raised her hand to stroke her cheek.

Then she said to Callian.

“Now everyone will insult the Duchess of Klaus. They’ll go around talking about how your mother is of common birth. Right now, if you go outside……”

As her eyes flashed coldly with malice, Callian flinched.

“Try slapping everyone’s cheeks.”

“……!”

Esika smirked and continued speaking.

Even after being slapped, she seemed to be enjoying herself rather than backing down.

“And the price for slapping my cheek……”

Her cold voice settled.

“I’ll charge it on the divorce petition I’ll send you in the future.”

At her words mentioning ‘divorce’ for the first time in front of him, Callian’s eyes shook violently.

Boom-

Suddenly, lightning began to strike in the clear sky.

When the lightning flashed, Esika’s smiling expression was eerily beautiful.

Callian sensed it.

That he would never again find the Esika of the past that he had been longing for.

**

Riona’s hands were trembling.

No one was allowed into the room.

The reason for the mansion’s silence was probably due to the current situation.

“Now……”

Riona looked out the window where thunder and lightning were striking.

Dark clouds were hanging heavily as if ruin was approaching.

“Now…… I have only one thing left to believe in.”

Riona clasped her hands as if in prayer.

Her eyebrows were set firmly.

Riona Klaus’s honor was now as good as finished.

Her forged past has been revealed to the whole world.

Valon Cronem, that damned cousin. She had sent assassins after him several times, but he was a sharp fellow and had managed to avoid them well.

Still, she thought he wouldn’t dare to speak nonsense unless he wanted to hasten his death, but to think he would spill everything to the Torres Weekly newspaper.

It was enough to make her grind her teeth in anger.

Decades ago, all she had was her status as a citizen of a defeated country and the property of her parents who had been sent to labor camps.

But Riona, who had taken the country’s downfall as an opportunity to overturn her status, was smarter than anyone else.

The royal palace had been destroyed by fire, and all the documents about the royal family had been burned, and all the royals had died, so there was no one to verify fake royalty……

Pretending to be an ill-fated princess of Smichen and setting foot in the social circles of the Turessian Empire became the beginning of a new life.

There, she met Duke Klaus who would turn her life around, and after becoming pregnant with his son, she even took the position of the legal wife.

The moment of joy when the daughter of a mere textile artisan from a fallen kingdom became the duchess of a great empire is unforgettable.

It would have been impossible without that one instance of identity fraud.

“……”

Riona clenched her fist.

Now that it has been revealed that she committed identity fraud, she has become no different from a ghost in social circles.

No, ghosts are at least hushed up because they give an eerie feeling.

Probably, women will talk about Riona wherever they gather.

About how vulgar and low-quality a woman Riona Klaus really is.

And about how shamelessly she spoke at yesterday’s birthday party.

They will all go around saying that she is a liar and a lowly woman.

And that grim-looking count will visit again from the imperial palace.

Because identity fraud is a crime severely punished under imperial law.

But it wasn’t certain that there was absolutely no way out.

What kind of era is this now?

It’s a world where even a daughter of a lowly family like Brigitte can marry into Klaus thanks to money.

So when the announcement of the western base of Cuchen comes out soon……

A huge amount of money will flow into Klaus’s finances, and into Riona’s pocket.

With money, you can do anything.

Feed money to the investigators to quash the investigation,

The social circle…… yes, even if she can’t return to that damned social circle, she can live flaunting wealth that those women would envy.

And that bitch Esika, she’ll drive her out of the Klaus family immediately.

“……It’s not over yet……”

Riona’s eyes wavered.

She abruptly stood up from her chair and began rummaging through her drawers.

Beautiful jewels spilled out of each drawer she searched.

They were the results of draining Klaus’s finances and stripping Esika’s belongings through Yuri.

After pouring the jewels onto the floor, Riona staggered as if possessed towards the dressing room connected to the bedroom.

There were nearly a hundred beautiful dresses hanging, including the latest fashions.

Just selling the jewels on the dresses would be enough to buy a small mansion.

“Annie! Luisa!!”

As Riona shouted loudly, two maids quickly entered.

Knowing about the current situation, they observed Riona’s complexion with dark expressions.

Riona had a bizarre expression, as if half-crazed.

“Sell all these dresses.”

“……Pardon?”

“And over there, all those jewels too!”

At Riona’s words, Annie and Luisa looked at each other.

To sell the jewels and dresses she had treasured so much…… It was hard to believe even after hearing it with their own ears.

Riona muttered.

“I’ll sell these at a bargain price today, and use it all to buy land in Cuchen.”

This was the last method she could resort to.

“By tomorrow, even if I have to drag out my soul, I’ll pour everything I have into Cuchen.”

The light of a comeback victory seemed to already be unfolding before Riona’s eyes.

The corners of Riona’s lips were trembling.