Ch#58
However, some people lack the ability to sense danger. Whether from poor judgment, boldness, or excessive self-confidence.
*Laslo Criserus... No matter how I think about it, there's no better match.*
Angela had been in high spirits ever since the party.
Having been constantly pressured to marry since turning twenty, she hadn't found a man to her liking yet. The suitors who approached her were mostly second sons or lower from count or viscount families, and even if they were firstborns,
the titles and fortunes they would inherit were nothing special.
But that problem had been resolved at the party.
*Marrying him means I can become a countess right away without waiting for anyone to die?*
That mattered more than anything to Angela.
She had been raised as the 'Bliss lady' her whole life, but unfortunately, her father was the second son.
Thanks to staying attached to the Bliss Count House even after marriage, she could still be called a 'Bliss lady,' but once her grandfather, the current Bliss Count, died, they would have to leave the count's residence.
*Spoils of war*
*Duchess*
Then Angela would no longer be a 'Bliss lady,' and their standard of living would undoubtedly drop far below the current level.
*Uncle won't send us generous living expenses.*
Her upkeep costs were quite high. It was only natural for one of society's top beauties.
Truly written by Lemon Frog
But once her grandfather died, she would end up no different from the ordinary ladies she mocked. Angela couldn't bear that fact.
*So I must marry a man with substantial wealth who can definitively inherit a title.*
And Laslo Criserus fit those conditions perfectly.
She would have to endure Linia as a sister-in-law, but she could just marry her off anyway.
Moreover, now that she knew Laslo was such a handsome man, his mercenary background didn't bother her at all.
As Angela reviewed the information on him one by one, she also recalled the news from late last year.
*Oh right! Come to think of it, he was granted Edel Lancaster?*
- 2 -
.
If he kept her as a mistress, Angela might have felt tense, but rumor had it Edel was living as a maid in the Criserus Count House.
*That's fine—I can just give her severance pay! But thinking about what gossip she might have heard...!*
The fact that Laslo didn't touch Edel and treated her insignificantly also pleased Angela greatly.
Linia wanted to strangle Marsha every time she thought about what sordid talk might have gone on behind her back.
That man surely prefers a woman like me over some overly demure lady.
"Get out of my sight before I really strangle you!"
Wasn't it obvious just from his appearance oozing sexual appeal?
Imagining locking him in her arms and living a life where she made the former duchess Edel serve as a maid sent shivers of excitement down her spine. It was the very life she desired.
Linia, who had to head out soon, had driven Marsha away around then, preventing a bigger scene, but Marsha's eyes burned with rage as she slowly walked down the hall back to her room.
"I'll definitely capture that man. The position of Criserus countess is mine!
Edel, that wench is blocking my path!"
Angela smiled as she applied red lipstick over her alluring lips.
First impressions should never be ignored.
Edel, whom she disliked from the first sight, had gradually shaken up Marsha's comfortable and cozy life.
A woman in her mid-twenties had become the center of the junior maids and made the other servants dissatisfied with Marsha's dictatorship.
She had shared the communication channels Marsha monopolized with Laslo and Linia, and even snatched the position of Linia's exclusive maid.
"Miss Linia! A new Flower Water Powder product has finally come out! Tomorrow, I'll line up early from the...!"
"No, it's fine!"
*Miss Linia knows I inflated the Flower Water Powder price. Edel might even have noticed me siphoning money from the household.*
Marsha, who had rushed over upon hearing the new product sales news and sought out Linia, froze at her curt refusal.
Suspicion soon turned to anxiety, overwhelming Marsha.
However, Linia didn't stop there and glared sharply at Marsha.
She had to stay attached to this mansion until the bank debt on the Baltice district house was paid off, along with all the outstanding bills for goods bought on credit everywhere.
Marsha immediately summoned Mina for consultation.
"I meant to scold you harshly before but forgot because I was busy— if you're going to act like you know something, learn it properly first!"
"Yes...?"
"We have to drive that wench Edel out. By any means necessary!"
"You didn't know the Flower Water Powder was just a fad among the matrons, did you?"
Since she couldn't kill or harm the Emperor's gift, she had to somehow get her out of the house.
Marsha, who had tried to protest, realized that all the maids she exchanged info with served married matrons and shut her mouth.
Mina, who also disliked Edel like Marsha, racked her brains and came up with what she thought was a plausible method.
"If Edel hadn't told me, I'd still be hearing the gossip. That a young thing like her was wearing that makeup to seduce men."
"The most effective way to get rid of a maid is theft, theft."
"H-but I was doing it for the miss...!"
"Theft?"
"For me? No. Why else would you sell a 250-lingtan cosmetic for 400 lingtan?"
"Exactly. Like necklaces or earrings."
Her face paled at the thought of being caught inflating the cosmetics price, but it wasn't the mere 150 lingtan that Linia minded.
Marsha, about to snap at Mina's sparkling eyes, suddenly changed her expression.
.
