Chapter 122
“Why, why… isn’t the woman Odette?”
The woman in the dress quickly returned to a normal appearance just by letting the hem of her dress fall.
But the man was still without his pants. It was clear that he hadn’t had the chance to properly fix his clothes.
“Look over here!”
On top of that, the man panicked, flailing about, and then thud, he collapsed to the floor. But he wasn’t the one who was most flustered in that moment.
It was Rudolph.
‘H-how is the Count here?’
The man, barely managing to pick up his fallen pants, could only be recognized as Count Albrecht.
The wealthy patron who supported his newspaper, the dignified master of the Count’s estate where Dolly worked—here he was, in nothing but underwear, frantically fumbling in his pockets in front of reporters.
It was a nightmarish sight. Rudolph tightly shut his eyes.
But whether Rudolph had his eyes closed or not, the reporters were ecstatic.
Thanks to the Count hastily rifling through his pockets instead of putting on his pants, they had the perfect chance to snap photos.
The Count eventually pulled an object from his pocket. The reporters tilted their heads, puzzled by his strange action.
‘…A ring? What does he plan to do with a ring?’
The Count put on the ring and shouted loudly:
“Invisibility!”
At that sound, the previously noisy reporters froze in place.
‘…What just happened?’
Stunned by the absurd action, the reporters even forgot to press their shutters. The Count seemed to interpret it differently.
He leisurely put on his pants and walked slowly toward the main gate.
“Count!”
Breaking the silence, one brave reporter grabbed the Count’s arm.
“Is that woman your mistress? You’re famous for exemplary behavior—when did you start cheating?”
But the Count shoved the reporter aside, astonished.
“W-what… How are you seeing me? Can you even see me?!”
The reporter, who had grabbed him, became even more flustered at the retort.
“…Uh? Of course I can see… Wait, did you really shout ‘invisibility’ because you wanted to become invisible?”
The once serene exotic garden became utterly solemn. Rudolph wished that even a single bird would chirp, just a little, to break the tension.
Then, a reporter from the Brentano newspaper burst out laughing.
“Puhahaha! Invisibility! Puhahahaha!”
It was a hearty, almost cathartic laugh.
The reporter was also the nephew of the current Duke of Brentano.
After the Brentano family fell, their once-celebrated newspaper almost went bankrupt. The cadet branches, once successful in business, lost their wealth, authority, and prestige. That’s why, despite being a duke’s nephew, he was surviving as a reporter.
It also meant he utterly despised Count Albrecht.
“Invisibility… heh, heheh… invisibility, haaaah.”
He was nearly sobbing with laughter. It seemed like he was releasing a lifetime of grudge, and there was a strange sense of catharsis in his laughter.
The Count’s face turned crimson with humiliation. Bang! The main gate opened again.
Dolly appeared.
“…Rudolph? Why did you bring the reporters here so quickly?”
At the gate, the reporters were visible before even the Count or Mrs. Becker. Moreover, Dolly hadn’t imagined there would be two people inside.
After leaving with Karl, Dolly had never gone off track. There should have been plenty of time until 10 o’clock.
So why had Rudolph arrived before her?
‘Why did he change the plan without consulting me?’
Dolly furrowed her brows and asked.
“You were supposed to gather the reporters after 10, weren’t you?”
Unfortunately, everyone present overheard the impatient question, making it a grave mistake.
Meanwhile, Karl, who had been standing behind Dolly, had already disappeared without her noticing.
“Vanessa.
I have urgent matters to discuss with you. Come directly to the exotic garden.”
When issuing urgent commands, the Count used a red brooch.
The handwriting on the parchment was oddly awkward, but Mrs. Becker hadn’t noticed.
Knowing the meaning behind “urgent matters” made her both excited and tense.
‘The exotic garden… How did he open the door to such a precious place?’
In a romantic place like that, there was only one possible urgent matter: the Count must have discovered that she was pregnant.
‘A few days ago, I even had morning sickness.’
Mrs. Becker herself had only recently realized her pregnancy. She was touched that her usually slow-witted lover had prepared such a delicate setting.
So she, too, had prepared a small gift for the Count.
Even though he had said it would be difficult to obtain, Mrs. Becker had managed to get it.
Arriving at the exotic garden, she saw the Count sleeping beneath the pergola.
She waited for him to wake, drank some water because of the heat, and, enchanted by the elegant atmosphere, roused him and tried to entice him. But then the reporters suddenly stormed in.
And then Dolly’s earlier remark:
‘…This nightmare was all a scheme orchestrated by Dolly and Rudolph?’
The Count seemed to have realized as well.
“That damned woman—”
He threw down the ring and glared at Dolly like a beast.
‘Right. Dolly was the one who told the Count that the ring’s function was invisibility.’
The Count’s expression showed he wanted to strangle Dolly immediately, but with reporters continuing to photograph him, he couldn’t.
“Count! Please answer! Is the person beside you your lover?”
“I remember her as the Countess’s maid! Does the Countess know about this too?”
In the end, the Count, red-faced, fled in a hurry.
‘H-has he really left me alone?’
Mrs. Becker, left standing there, was flustered.
“C-Count?”
She called pitifully, but the Count didn’t look back and walked out the main gate.
Her hair was disheveled, her carefully applied rouge was smudged. She was left there in her soiled dress.
Alone, in this humiliating situation.
“Well, I guess only the woman ended up looking pitiful.”
“If we’re talking about embarrassment, wouldn’t it be worse for the woman? He claims to be a gentleman, but he’s utterly hopeless.”
She had confirmed how easily the Count could abandon her. Misery welled up inside her.
But her anger couldn’t be directed at the Count.
‘…I was just about to confess my pregnancy to make him happy…’
Now, she could never be abandoned. She couldn’t resent the father of her child, so she glared at Dolly.
‘Damn you, Dolly. How dare a mere housemaid trap me like this? Trying to prevent me from becoming the Countess, huh?’
Dolly’s reason for doing this was obvious: loyalty to the Countess.
‘True, Dolly has always been a loyal dog to her lady. Her attempts to impress me were all an act, and she was always waiting for a chance to mess with me.’
She should have noticed when Dolly secretly placed the diamond earrings on the nightstand.
By being too lenient after gaining power, she had only brought about this misfortune.
Her lips trembled from anger at being blindsided and from anxiety that the Count might abandon her forever instead of rejoicing at the child’s existence.
Then her eyes fell on the object she had brought.
It was something she had purchased from the Brentano household today—a gift for the Count.
“You vile thing…!”
Mrs. Becker grabbed the item and lunged at the dumbfounded Dolly.
The gift meant for the Count was fastened around Dolly’s neck, who stood frozen.
It was an ancient gladiator choker.
