“Are you saying now that Mother was involved in Father’s accident?”
At the direct question, the Countess flinched and shrugged her shoulders.
Riena got a complete answer from that one small action.
“How could you do that, Mother? You two had an arranged marriage, and although your relationship has deteriorated recently, Father was your husband and the father Aaron loved!”
“No, I didn’t…”
The Countess tried hard to make excuses, but they weren’t particularly credible.
In the first place, Riena had no intention of listening to her.
“This is why you acquiesced when I asked for Father’s accident to be reinvestigated! How could you commit such a heinous act…!”
“Ria.”
Unlike the highly agitated Riena, Cassel spoke in a calm voice as he grabbed her shoulder.
He patted her shoulder as if to say it was okay, and spoke to the Countess instead.
“Can you tell us the details?”
“Before that, promise…”
“As Ria said, we cannot cover up your wrongdoing. All we can do to help is to ensure that you three return safely to the estate. Wasn’t what you asked for in the first place personal protection?”
“But…”
Cassel took a hard line, not backing down an inch.
“If that’s not to your liking, we can consider this deal null and void.”
The Countess repeated the word Cassel had used in a dumbfounded voice.
“…Deal?”
“Yes. You proposed a deal to Winkler, and we simply accepted it. The only reason we accepted it in the first place was because you are, after all, Ria’s parent. Otherwise, we would have ignored it.”
“…”
“If you don’t like this deal, you can refuse and go back. In that case, Winkler will no longer interfere with Dyke.”
Cassel completely erased any expression from his face.
“It’s up to you to judge which will be more advantageous.”
Riena now realized that the rumors about Cassel circulating in the world were not entirely baseless.
The Cassel confronting the Countess was completely different from the person she had seen so far.
Even the minimal courtesy he had shown because Riena was family had completely disappeared. Now he was the perfect Duke of Winkler.
The Countess must have noticed the change in his attitude, as she no longer insisted.
Instead, she gripped her skirt tightly with trembling hands and was lost in thought.
Cassel silently watched her without saying a word.
Finally, the Countess opened her mouth as if she had made up her mind.
“Okay. I will accept the punishment I deserve. It will be better than dying. But.”
She glared at Cassel, looking him straight in the eye.
“I swear Bianca and Aaron know nothing. Please don’t let my mistakes affect those children.”
“That depends on the severity of your wrongdoing.”
“Let me tell you in advance! Although I have done things that deserve criticism as a mother, I have not abandoned human decency. Strictly speaking, it was not me who killed him!”
“…Is that so?”
Riena interjected. As if she had given up everything, the Countess shouted in desperation.
“It was Count Belliard who killed him!”
For a moment, a chilling silence descended upon the drawing room.
The Countess had a face as if she was pondering whether she had really made the right choice, while Cassel quietly went over what she had said.
And Riena just blinked, not understanding the Countess’s words at all.
“Why on earth would Count Belliard kill Father…?”
As if she had given up everything, the Countess answered right away.
“Why else? Because of you, Riena.”
“…Me?”
“Count Belliard wanted to marry you. But your father refused his marriage proposals every time. Both of them were really persistent.”
“What do you mean every time? Count Belliard said he only sent one marriage proposal to me. And even that, Father never gave any answer…”
Of course, she didn’t take his words at face value. But she also didn’t think Johannes was lying.
She just roughly guessed that Count Dyke’s reply must have been lost in the middle, as he couldn’t have ignored such an important letter.
Of course, there was something a bit fishy about Johannes’ words.
The Countess snorted.
“Is that what he told you? Anyway, his acting was superb. Well, I can’t say much since I was also fooled by that angelic face.”
“Mother.”
When Riena urged her, the Countess continued her explanation.
“I think your father must have noticed Count Belliard’s true colors. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have refused the marriage proposal so unilaterally without even telling you.”
“So?”
“One day, Count Belliard called for me. It must have been more than half a year before your father died.”
Riena was impatient but listened to the story in silence. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, the Countess’s words would be interrupted.
“He knew all about my debts. He also knew that your father and I had friction because of that. And…”
The Countess closed her mouth for a moment to organize her thoughts.
“He said he would pay off my debts and help me gain the real power in the Count’s family soon. All he wanted was one thing. Once I had the real power, he asked me to promote your marriage to Baron Rothman.”
“Right now, that’s…”
Riena felt dizzy even while sitting and held her forehead.
“Helping you gain real power in the Dyke family. Don’t tell me that’s…”
Unable to utter the words, Riena just breathed heavily, and the Countess knelt before her and begged.
“Riena, I swear I didn’t know what that man was trying to do. I admit that I was blinded by greed and didn’t properly grasp the meaning of his words.”
“…”
“But if I had really known that man was after his life, I would have refused the offer and walked away! No matter how blinded I was by money, how could I participate in murdering my own husband?”
It was a lie.
Of course, during the conversation, Johannes did not openly state his plan. But the Countess had a rough idea of what he was going to do.
She just didn’t know the method and wasn’t directly involved in the Count’s death.
However, she decided to hide any facts that could be even slightly disadvantageous to her.
After all, she hadn’t been told by Johannes that he would kill the Count, so there was no inconsistency in claiming she didn’t know his plan.
“I only understood Count Belliard’s words belatedly after he suffered such a fate. You don’t know how much I regretted it since that day.”
“…”
“The reason I told you to stop investigating further was because I was afraid. I was worried that if someone found out that his death was involved, I would be the first to be suspected… But Riena, I swear to God I never wished for your father to come to harm.”
The Countess gasped and shed tears.
“As you said, he was my husband and Aaron’s biological father, right? How could I abandon the bond of nature? What kind of punishment would I receive in the future!”
Riena shook her head, denying the Countess’s words.
“If you had thought about it a little, you would have known what it meant to help you gain real power in the Count’s family. But you didn’t know? How do you expect me to believe that?”
“I was having a very hard time back then, being harassed by creditors. You may not know well, but Count Belliard had the tongue of the devil. He deceived me with that wicked tongue and angelic face. Anyone would have fallen for him.”
Riena bit her lips roughly.
“But you promoted my marriage to Baron Rothman after Father passed away. Just as Count Belliard demanded, if what you say is true.”
“That’s…”
“Even if you really didn’t know Count Belliard’s plan, the result is no different from being complicit with him. How can you commit such an act and shamelessly ask me to save your life?”
Riena abruptly stood up and pointed to the door.
“Please leave now. As you said, I will let Bianca and Aaron stay at the mansion for now. But not you, Mother. I would appreciate it if you could leave now.”
The Countess clung to Riena’s skirt, pleading.
“Riena, how can you be so cold-hearted? You clearly said you would protect us in exchange for telling you the whole truth, but you’re kicking me out after extracting the information!”
Riena wiped her tear-soaked cheeks roughly with the back of her hand and said fiercely.
“I told you that you have to pay the price you deserve. Consider this the price.”
“Riena!”
“Ria.”
Cassel, who had been silently listening to their conversation, stood up.
He gently stroked Riena’s cheek with a sympathetic face and whispered.
“You should go to your room for now. I’m worried you might collapse at this rate.”
“But, Cas.”
“There’s still more to hear, isn’t there? From now on, I will talk to the Countess alone.”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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