Translator: Nox

The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Episode 20. A Benevolent Mother and a Wretched Wife

2023.12.20.

“You must mistake me for a slave.”

At Eshika’s icy words, Kalian’s brow twitched.

“Or an unfeeling object.”

He looked like a man whose entire world had crumbled beneath him.

His face was pale, his eyes filled with an uncontrollable surge of anxiety and fury.

“You were the one who refused to be bound to me.”

“……”

“And yet now you intend to bind me?”

His behavior was unseemly, like a man frantically mending a cage the moment the bird he neglected remembered how to fly.

“You are the Duchess of Klaus. And the Duchess……”

Kalian’s breath came ragged.

“……must not conduct herself in such a manner.”

Even he must know it.

That what he was doing made no logical sense.

Yet Kalian had never once uttered the words ‘I am sorry’ to Eshika.

In the Klaus Ducal House, only Eshika was ever the deficient, terrible wife.

Only Eshika…… it was always her fault alone.

Eshika looked straight into his violet eyes and spoke.

“Your Grace was suspicious of why I disguised myself as a maid. But are you not curious about the circumstances that forced me into this maid’s uniform?”

“……”

“My only dress was soaked when the Grand Duchess sent her maids to douse me in water. It seems she took great offense at my daring to confront you during our tea. So I tried this on, and as it turns out, it is rather comfortable.”

Kalian’s eyes wavered.

“That cannot be…… Mother would never go so far.”

In the early days of their marriage, she had wept before Kalian several times.

Saying that the Grand Duchess was tormenting her. Every time she spoke of it, Kalian had shown immense displeasure.

Not toward the Grand Duchess, of course, but toward Eshika.

He told her it was because she failed to conduct herself wisely that the Grand Duchess punished her.

And he dismissed every grievance Eshika had as mere overreaction.

“You must have misunderstood Mother’s rightful discipline meant to educate you.”

Kalian had not changed in the slightest.

“Call the butler and see for yourself how many living necessities are actually allocated to me. See if it is an amount fit to maintain the dignity and fulfill the duties of the ‘Duchess of Klaus.’ See whether the Duchess, dressed in a maid’s uniform, was impoverished enough to go out and buy what she needed with her own hands.”

With every word Eshika added, Kalian’s gaze trembled.

A look that seemed to harbor the desperate thought, Mother would never be so cruel.

As expected. Kalian never changed.

“I will say this for the last time, Your Grace.”

Eshika’s lips parted softly.

“Your Grace has no right to treat me like this.”

Those frozen words drove into Kalian’s chest like an iron stake.

As always, Kalian wanted to argue back, to vent his anger at her to his heart’s content.

But knowing that rage was utterly futile in this moment made everything feel meaningless.

Eshika would no longer cry. Whatever he said, she looked as though it could never hurt her again.

That icy gaze had not been an illusion.

It was not a tantrum, nor was it any petty grievance.

“I wish to rest. Would you please leave my room?”

Eshika’s voice reached him.

The exhaustion in her tone made his heart sink.

**

Having dismissed him, Eshika slammed the door shut with a frigid gaze.

Soon, she reached up and touched her chest.

A dull ache throbbed near her heart.

As if proving that Kalian Klaus had once been the man she passionately, unrequitedly loved.

It felt disgusting.

‘If only I had regained Yeongryeong’s memories sooner.’

Eshika looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Radiant silver hair, blue eyes, flawless fair skin, and crimson lips…… everything was perfection.

‘I never would have married.’

Especially not to a man like Kalian, who bore an uncanny resemblance to the emperor of Cheon Yeong-ryeong’s past life.

To repay what was given in kind was Yeongryeong’s principle of life.

The sins of the Klaus family, who had tormented Eshika, would never be forgiven.

Rather than watch one’s enemies live in comfort, it was far better to go through the trouble of setting their house on fire.

Revenge only begets revenge? Nothing feels satisfying after vengeance?

That was merely self-consolation whispered by those who had never tasted revenge.

One day, this Klaus house would be uprooted and shattered into pieces, and Eshika fully intended to stand atop its ruins.

A banquet held over an enemy’s grave was always delightful.

‘It’s too late. I will dance while watching you all weep, Klaus.’

Looking at herself in the mirror, Eshika wore a chilling smile.

And just as she turned around—

Thud.

Something dropped to the floor.

Eshika narrowed her eyes and bent down to pick it up.

It was a golden ring set with a green emerald.

It was sized for a man’s finger…… yet she had never seen Kalian wearing such a piece.

‘Could it be…… the Crown Prince’s ring?’

When leaving after having tea, the Crown Prince had caught her.

Their bodies had collided, and the ring must have slipped into her clothes then.

Eshika stared intently at the ring.

‘Should I return it?’

But returning it would mean meeting him again.

Eshika shook her head. Even if she returned it when the opportunity arose, she had no intention of going out of her way to seek him out.

Knock, knock.

After she tucked the ring into a drawer, the door opened and Sella entered carrying a large tray.

“My Lady, I’ve brought your dinner.”

Seeing that she made no mention of Kalian, she had evidently not crossed paths with him.

“It is the exact same dinner served to His Grace and the Grand Duchess. And look, there is even an elixir here.”

The food on the plate was quite magnificent.

Sous-vide cooked meat, fresh vegetables, soup, and even dessert.

In the three years since marrying into the Klaus Ducal House, she had never even dreamed of such food.

The Grand Duchess had criticized Eshika’s table manners and forbidden her from even dining alongside Kalian.

And after being relegated to the back room, all she had ever received was spoiling scraps.

“Not bad at all.”

Without winning over Hemos, the head chef, such a meal would have been impossible.

Slowly, the tide was turning.

Of course, the reality remained that even eating a proper meal required watching others’ reactions for now.

But Eshika was certain. Before long, they would be the ones walking on eggshells around her.

Clink.

Eshika continued her meal.

Sella attended to her, occasionally refilling Eshika’s glass with water.

‘I must have been utterly out of my mind before…… To fail to recognize such a dignified lady.’

When the Grand Duchess spoke ill of Eshika, she always brought up her lowly family background.

Thus, the maids felt there was little difference between their own lowly status and Duchess Eshika Klaus, which led them to join in the Grand Duchess’s torment even more eagerly.

Thinking it unfair that, despite being equally lowly, one was a maid while the other was a duchess.

Watching Eshika dine, Sella realized just how wrong she had been.

From the gaze in her eyes to the way she handled the utensils, she was the picture of noble perfection. If anything, she carried herself with far more poise and discipline than the Grand Duchess.

To slice meat so cleanly with a single stroke of the knife…… it was nothing short of astonishing.

**

“Is this all of it? The ledger of the Duchess’s budget expenditures?”

At Kalian’s rigid voice, Butler Hans broke out in a cold sweat.

He truly had not anticipated this.

Was it not time for him to be having dinner with the Grand Duchess?

Yet out of nowhere, he had sought him out and demanded the Duchess’s expenditure ledger.

“……”

Flipping through the thin book, Kalian’s brow remained furrowed.

“One hundred mops, fifty barrels of oil, one thousand burlap sacks…… Why are these listed under the Duchess’s budget expenditures?”

Caught off guard by Kalian’s inquiry, Hans flinched.

“Ah…… they must have been inserted by mistake. I will correct it immediately.”

Kalian scrutinized the records starting from the day she first arrived at the ducal mansion.

The Grand Duchess had always criticized Eshika’s extravagance.

Therefore, this expenditure list would surely contain the records of her lavish spending.

“Call the butler and see for yourself how many living necessities are actually allocated to me. See if it is an amount fit to maintain the dignity and fulfill the duties of the ‘Duchess of Klaus.’ See whether the Duchess, dressed in a maid’s uniform, was impoverished enough to go out and buy what she needed with her own hands.”

‘There is no way those words are true.’

Searching for evidence with harsh eyes, Kalian’s gaze stopped at a certain entry.

A list of dresses and jewelry caught his eye. Lobelia Dress Shop, Antoine Jewelry Shop.

Countless records of dresses and jewels purchased from these two establishments.

Kalian’s eyes flashed.

‘Telling such abominable lies right to my face again.’

“Hans, summon the proprietors of these two shops at once.”

At Kalian’s command, Hans looked at him with bewildered eyes.

Kalian smiled, a sharp gleam in his eyes.

“The Duchess purchased thirty-seven dresses from the Lobelia Shop and twenty-six pieces of jewelry from the Antoine Shop over the course of three years.”

“……Ah……”

“So they will certainly remember. What kinds of dresses the Duchess purchased.”

And when he found them in her wardrobe and thrust them before her, Eshika’s face would turn pale as a sheet.

The thought of that insolent Eshika—who wore a maid’s uniform claiming thirty-seven dresses were not enough—kneeling in belated repentance filled him with satisfaction.

However, Hans maintained a somber expression and did not answer.

“Um…… Your Grace.”

Kalian’s brow twitched.

“Th-the truth is…… those are not items purchased by the Duchess……”

Even Hans could not cover it up any longer.

For Eshika would not even know the names of the Lobelia Shop or the Antoine Shop.

“……They are dresses for the Grand Duchess.”

Kalian’s face hardened.