episode_0456

“You may look like a pathetic rascal to others, but I also care! Even if it seems like I don’t care, I care about everything.”

He must have cared a lot.

I barely managed to hold back the urge to retort with words that were on the tip of my tongue.

After living together for so long, how could I not know about him?

He was originally someone who was indifferent to such matters.

It was strange to see him so sensitive and on edge now.

“Suddenly such a large sum of money went missing, and you didn’t think to inform me?”

“Who would I report to? I handle the finances. Do you think I planted a spy among my people?!”

“A spy! I wouldn’t do something so untrustworthy!”

“Then why did you suddenly check the finances without telling me? Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Don’t expect me to believe it in such a casual tone! Maintain your dignity, woman!!”

Honestly, he seemed too complacent.

With the actions I had taken so far, it was hard not to see him as complacent.

“I thought I could get rid of them anytime I wanted.”

His nature was hard to hide, he was indeed a pathetic man.

But the problem lay with his relatives, like cockroaches infesting the estate.

They had infiltrated the territory so deeply that even if I wanted to eradicate them, it seemed impossible.

“I have to get rid of them all before taking control of the family completely.”

The problem was that even if I managed to push them out, they would unexpectedly resurface from unknown places.

They just wouldn’t be eradicated.

I was frantically looking for a solution, but it seemed that no matter how many I sent away, they would find a way back to latch onto the family.

“Since the family concerns you so much, why don’t you manage your relatives?”

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to bring that up first, but it’s convenient. Why do you keep bothering the ones who are doing well these days? They might make mistakes!”

“Your relatives are clinging to the family like parasites, sucking the blood out of it.”

“What, what?! Parasites?! That’s too much. Where do you get off talking like that?! They’re my blood!”

“Because they’re your blood, they feel no shame and keep being greedy.”

“How dare you speak like that?!”

“How dare I speak like that? Can you say that after seeing this?”

A snort escaped at the question of how much they had done.

After a brief pause, I brought out the documents.

There were too many instances of wrongdoing by my husband’s relatives to explain in just a few pages.

“By the way, I haven’t been investigating for long. It’s only been two years. And look at how much they’ve done in just two years. Do you still think I’m in the wrong?”

“….”

Even my husband seemed shocked after looking at the documents.

Even I, after gathering all the wrongdoings, was shocked, so there was no way he, as the person in question, could be innocent.

“What do you think? Do you still think I unjustly pressured your relatives? I know you easily placed the ones I kicked out somewhere else. Do you know how disappointed I was when I found out?”

“I didn’t realize it was this serious. But kicking them out was too much. I should have called them and warned them to behave. So, please stop persecuting your relatives.”

“Do you think they’ll listen if I warn them? They’ll probably just get emotional and curse me. I won’t let the blood-sucking parasites in our family go unchecked. When our son becomes a viscount, those scoundrels will try to act like family elders, and I won’t stand for it. Just watch.”

He seemed determined not to give up on his relatives, so he decided to resort to the last resort.

It was using his son as an excuse.

“Our relatives are the strong supporters of our family. There is nothing good in oppressing them. And why are you suddenly talking about our son when we were talking about relatives? It’s still a long way for our child to inherit the family.”

“It’s a problem because it’s still a long way. A needle thief becomes a silk thief. It’s already alarming now, but how much more will they steal when that time comes? Why do we have to keep tolerating these thieves?”

Even though he brought up the topic of their son, it seemed like her husband had no intention of abandoning their relatives.

“You’ve been too harsh with your words since earlier, haven’t you? And I’ve said it again, I won’t just sit still. Besides, I will protect our son by his side, so there’s no need to worry unnecessarily.”

Of course, worrying is necessary.

He is someone who needs to be removed from this family.

There was no one else in this world who would truly protect their son.

“I need to put more pressure on him. This won’t do. I have to proceed with the work even if it means taking on more risks.”

This way, nothing will be accomplished, and time will just pass by.

His heart was restless.

In a situation where he couldn’t know how long that man would keep the secret, the slow progress of the work made him anxious.

Today, her husband’s suspicion of her was also suspicious.

“Since we don’t have a good view of our own family, you could easily do whatever you want behind my back.”

Today, her husband’s normally dull and foolish eyes seemed to shine sharply.

“Let’s stop talking about work today. My head hurts. You should have some tea too.”

Her husband obediently drank the tea at my words.

It was rewarding to have brought him the tea he liked.

“Interesting. You’re smiling like that.”

Ha!

“You’re ridiculous. You didn’t smile to show me, did you? If you’ve finished your tea, would you mind leaving?”

“Fine.”

Her husband put down the teacup and got up.

‘It’s about time he collapsed, but he’s tough. It’s only the third time I’ve poisoned him…’

A colorless and odorless poison that could even bring down an awakened person.

However, despite feeding her husband the poison three times, his tough body showed no signs of weakness.

The easiest way to deal with her husband was to make him sick and unable to move.

‘He might hear something strange while wandering outside. It’s best to make sure he can’t even try.’

The poison wasn’t meant to kill her husband.

It was a poison that would gradually weaken his body until he couldn’t get out of bed when he regained consciousness.

When her husband collapsed, the relatives who had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity would pounce as if they had seized it.

‘It would be a relief to see them go when they see that.’

It was perfect because she could create a reason to kick them out of the family.

She was only thinking that the plan would proceed smoothly, so she didn’t know what her husband was up to outside.

※ ※ ※

Although she had been busy raising Ruya and Danya, Seohol couldn’t neglect the task of receiving information from the information merchant.

And she could see that Viscount Hutton’s affairs were progressing rapidly.

“It seems that the Viscountess is in a hurry.”

It was a very clever move to weed out the relatives before preparing to take control of the family.

But unfortunately, the Viscount Hutton had a strong attachment to his bloodline, and sadly, her actions all turned out to be meaningless.

“I didn’t know that Viscount Hutton would retaliate so well. Even if my wife doesn’t notice everything she does, she firmly grasps the most important parts.”

Taking care of the relatives who were supporting the family and receiving their support.

Investigating the financial affairs that his wife was in charge of and preventing them from being used elsewhere.

This should be enough to consider that the Countess successfully thwarted the scheme she had in mind.

“Could it be that the Countess will end up being the one who gets caught in the end?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that. The Countess’s schemes are just the beginning of her plans.”

“… ”

It is said that the Countess has done a lot in a short amount of time to secure her family’s position.

“There may be parts that we haven’t discovered yet. It seems she is actively helping Nam Yeo-ryung and planning to take over the family.”

“That man has quite the ambition.”

He probably doesn’t know that his presence has been exposed, so he must have some room to maneuver.

If the master’s wife finds out about the affair, she will never let it go.

Could the identity of the adulterous woman be among the sisters?

It will take quite some time for the noble family with a deep history to collapse.

Although the Countess has been speeding up due to the unbearable secret being revealed, she will have to wait patiently for the results.

“There’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“Which side do you hope will win between the Countess and Marquis Hutton?”

When two people fight, one will lose and the other will win.

I was someone who could easily influence the outcome of the two’s victory or defeat.

Perhaps that’s why the information merchant seemed curious about what I was hoping for.

“The answer was decided from the beginning.”

“??”

“They both will fail.”

“!!”

Is it right to think that the Countess is innocent?

The person who tried to kill Nege was someone who would do anything to kill him if they found out he was alive.

Not to mention Marquis Hutton, the Countess also thinks that the weight of guilt is about the same.

“Thank you for your answer. I will move forward taking that into consideration. And I will make sure to thoroughly check the progress next week as well.”

“Sure, thanks for your hard work. Here’s an additional month’s fee.”

“Thank you! Client!”

The information merchant who boldly took the additional fee and left cleanly.

I confirmed that the information merchant had disappeared and said, “Now come out.”

Although there was no response, I knew I wasn’t alone here.

There had been a watchful gaze since I was talking to the information merchant earlier.

“Danya, come out.”

“Haha, how do you manage to find me so easily? I thought you could never find me!”

“You weren’t really trying to hide, were you?”

I chuckled at Danya’s sudden appearance from the shadows.

If someone had a weak heart, they would have been startled by that.

They might have thought she was a ghost.

“Why do you keep sneaking into other people’s shadows?”

While spending time with the twins, I learned that children could use shadows to do various things.

I found out that they could secretly hide in my shadow and follow me when I took the twins out to play with Nege.