Chapter 14
“By now, she should be dead, right?”
If the maid sent as Amelia’s double had died from poisoning, all these problems could have been buried.
Cesar, returning as a murderer, could have been said to have killed his wife.
Perhaps that was why Cesar had remained quiet until now—maybe he assumed the poisoned one was Amelia and was trying to resolve the matter quietly.
I wish that were the case.
The Count clutched his throbbing head and entered his study.
“Ah!”
Even in broad daylight, the portraits of his ancestors and former counts seemed chilling.
“Butler!”
The Count called out to his butler, Zobern.
“Yes, my lord?”
“Take all the portraits off the walls, and remove the decorative swords. Put all the porcelain and vases into storage!”
“May I ask what has prompted this…?”
He couldn’t exactly say that his ancestors appeared in his dreams and beat him, so Count Anderson replied with a nonchalant expression.
“I plan to redecorate the exhibition for the ancestors. For now, just move the portraits into storage.”
“Very well. I will call the servants.”
The butler stepped out of the study, but soon crept back in, hesitating.
“M-my lord, the… the maid we sent to… the Mace household…”
“What is it?”
Count Anderson sat up abruptly, turning pale.
“Ugh! A ghost?”
Odette had walked calmly into the study.
A ghost? Did he really believe I was dead?
Cesar had gone through two or three rounds of locating Count Anderson’s spies among the servants.
In the process, all of the Count’s spies had been filtered out, and the information had become completely blocked.
But even so, how could he confuse the living with the dead?
Looking closer, Count Anderson’s eyes were bloodshot, and dark circles had formed under them.
He seemed to have lost a lot of weight, as his jacket, once tight to the point of straining at the buttons, now looked loose.
The nightmares must have done this to him.
Odette had entered the Count’s dreams to gather information, taking out her frustration—binding him, beating him, and so on.
Apparently, it had left him in this sorry state.
The Count trembled, staring at her.
“You… you’re not dead. What… what is this…?”
“It means your plans have all failed, I suppose?”
“You… you cunning thing! You’ve ruined all my plans!”
A murderous glint filled the Count’s pupils.
Whenever things didn’t go his way, his habit was to kill.
“You just need to die! If you went mad and voluntarily pretended to be the young lady of the house, that would be enough.”
He grabbed one of his decorative swords.
It only gleamed—he hadn’t sharpened it, and it probably couldn’t cut properly—but still, it looked painful enough to dodge.
“I already told them the maid was sent to replace Amelia since she ran away.”
“You revealed even that! I told you to stay silent!”
Count Anderson swung the sword recklessly.
Clang! Crash! Vases and documents shattered or scattered, and the study instantly became a mess.
“If I get hurt, Lord Cesar won’t stay calm. He even proposed to me, formally.”
“W-what?”
Thud! The sword flew from the Count’s hand, hitting the wall and bouncing off.
“Say that again. Cesar… what?”
“He’s completely smitten with me. He proposed marriage.”
“Damn it!”
He had planned to frame Amelia as dead, execute her, and take over the Mace household.
But the living “sacrifice” maid had become Cesar’s wife and the mistress of the Mace household.
And now she had revealed Amelia’s affair!
Cesar will never forgive me.
If it became known in noble society that the maid had been swapped with the daughter, the Count’s reputation as the Emperor’s mentor would collapse.
He wouldn’t be able to move in high society, and perhaps even lose favor with the Emperor.
Count Anderson clutched his hair in anguish.
“My money, my fortune… ugh… my honor. No, this cannot end like this.”
“You could just adopt me as your foster daughter,” Odette suggested.
She had returned to Count Anderson for the money.
She needed to escape, but had none.
To flee far without being caught by Cesar, leaving the Empire was the only option.
She would need false identification and a magical eye potion.
My eyes stand out too much.
Many people have green eyes, but gemstone-like emerald green eyes were rare.
Anyone who saw her face once would remember it for a long time.
Of course it would be easy for Cesar to track me.
She intended to take all necessary money for a perfect escape, funds for retirement, and even extra investment capital from the Count.
If time allowed, she planned to find evidence of the Count’s crimes so that Cesar’s revenge could end sooner.
The Count tried to kill me, but I can’t just step over it, right?
Of course, the Count might ignore her words and try anyway, so Odette revealed herself fully.
She wore Cesar’s shirt embroidered with the Mace family crest.
Upon seeing it, Count Anderson went pale.
“Y-you… really…”
“You slept with Lord Cesar.”
“So… confident, huh?”
“Of course.”
Odette continued with a teasing smile.
“Adopt me as your foster daughter and marry me off to Lord Cesar. Of course, you’ll need to provide a dowry.”
“If I adopt you as my daughter… I won’t even have to pay alimony. And it won’t be like I swapped a maid with my own daughter.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re cunning! Trying to get both money and status.”
Count Anderson, more fond of money than anything, tugged at his hair, unwilling to give her a single coin.
Still… I’ll have to pay.
Odette’s relentless gaze forced him to groan.
“Fine. I’ll give you ten million gold.”
“Too little.”
Odette almost felt faint from daring to ask.
“Ten million gold is too little?”
“Yes.”
Her maid earned fifty silver per month. 100 silver equaled one gold, meaning two months’ work earned one gold.
Ten million gold was an unimaginable sum, completely out of reach.
But she wasn’t willing to compromise, since part of the sum was revenge for nearly being poisoned.
“Lord Cesar planned to claim fifty million gold as alimony from Miss Amelia.”
“Oh?”
The Count’s mustache twitched. Relief? Was it not enough to shake the Mace household?
So Odette pushed further.
“Multiply that by seven.”
“What?”
“The marriage lasted seven years. Fifty million gold per year.”
“Damn it!”
The Count slammed his fist on the desk.
That was indeed the amount she had to demand.
“Three hundred fifty million gold is too much for you. So just give me one hundred million gold cleanly.”
Her heart raced at the figure, and her head spun, but remembering the moment he tried to strangle her, she calmed herself.
“How much longer will you let me consider?”
Odette pressed, and Count Anderson, tugging at his hair nervously, said,
“Seventy million gold…”
“Goodbye.”
She turned to leave the study without hesitation, but the Count blocked her path.
“Fine! Eighty million.”
“One hundred million.”
“…Ninety million.”
“Ugh!”
Odette frowned, and Count Anderson, looking defeated, said,
“Alright, one hundred million. But you must forget all the times I wronged you. Understood, my daughter?”
Wronged me?
After trying to kill her twice, he had the audacity to say that?
