The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Chapter 3. A Petty Thief Coveting a Friend’s Husband
2023.12.03.
Knock, knock—
With the sound of knocking, the door to Eshika’s room swung open.
Leaning against the bed as she read, Eshika cast a frigid gaze toward the intruder.
“Eshika.”
Clad in a neat, sky-blue dress, the woman was none other than Yuri.
Looking at Eshika—sitting alone in a cold room barely touched by sunlight—with mock pity, Yuri walked up to the edge of the bed.
“How are you feeling? The physician said you might have injured your head… Do you recognize who I am?”
Though that contemptible smile grated on her nerves, Eshika calmed her mind.
A laughable bird’s neck could be wrung slowly, at her leisure.
Only after shattering the cage it meant to flee to into miserable pieces.
“Yuri Anesis. My one and only friend.”
At Eshika’s stiff reply, a smile gathered at the corners of Yuri’s lips.
She was surely thinking, ‘Did she lose her memory after hitting her head?’
Eshika continued. Letting her wallow in such a delusion was… far too cliché for her liking.
“And… a petty thief coveting her friend’s husband with a shameless, brazen face.”
Yuri’s brow twitched and hardened.
The reason she was called a ‘petty thief’ rather than a true thief was simply because the man she had stolen possessed so little worth.
“A vulgar, uneducated, pathetic homewrecker.”
As she watched Eshika speak without so much as a flicker of an eyebrow, every trace of Yuri’s earlier smile vanished.
It was Eshika who broke into a smile first.
“Why? Should I go on?”
It was only natural that Yuri was flustered.
Eshika’s reaction was entirely different from what she had anticipated.
The Eshika she knew would have lunged forward, clawing to grab her hair.
Yuri had even brought a small dagger hidden on her person just in case such a situation arose.
Leaving a small scar across that pretty face would have been a rather delightful sight.
Even if the deranged duchess had suddenly run wild with a blade, no one in the Klaus Ducal House would have bothered to uncover the truth.
“Or should I call you… Cinderella, Yuri Anesis?”
Yet Eshika showed not the slightest interest in a physical brawl, scratching at Yuri’s raw nerves with words alone.
At that blatant jab, deliberately evoking the childhood she had spent cowering beneath the prestige of the Brigitte Barony, the tips of Yuri’s eyebrows shot up.
“Eshika!”
Yuri ground her teeth.
Eshika Klaus was not supposed to look so composed.
Hearing that Eshika had not stepped out of her room for over ten days, Yuri had assumed the shock had reduced her to a broken invalid.
Given that only rotting bread had been rationed under the Dowager Duchess’s orders, she should have looked utterly wretched.
Yet Eshika’s complexion was brighter than it had been before the injury, and her eyes sparkled with a sharp, lethal vitality.
As if she had become an entirely different person.
“You!”
Yuri pointed an accusatory finger straight at Eshika.
“You’d better watch how you speak to me. Just recently, the Dowager Duchess appointed me Head Maid.”
A glint of triumph flared in Yuri’s crimson eyes.
In an ordinary noble house, a mere head maid could never dare raise her head before the lady of the manor.
However, the internal authority of the Klaus Duchy rested solely with one person: Dowager Duchess Liona Klaus, the mother of Duke Kalian.
A single word from the Dowager Duchess dictated the budget, provisions, and the right to receive or invite guests.
As a duchess in name only, Eshika had once been forced to walk on eggshells even before the former head maid.
“Of course, we share the bond of having once been friends, but…”
Smirking, Yuri carried on.
“As Head Maid, I intend to devote myself entirely to honoring the Dowager Duchess’s goodwill. Isn’t it only natural to offer absolute loyalty to the one who recognized my worth?”
It was a declaration that she would do everything in her power to torment Eshika.
“Besides, one day… the Dowager Duchess will become my mother-in-law.”
It was a remark deliberately added to provoke Eshika.
Yuri considered herself the victor.
Eshika, who had nothing going for her except a wealthy background and a pretty face—the girl who had possessed everything she ever wanted—was now deteriorating inside the Klaus Duchy, and watching it was immensely entertaining.
Above all, seeing her despair after losing her husband’s heart was just compensation for all the years Yuri had spent enduring the fool’s complaints and playing the comforter.
She intended to savor the spectacle even more actively from now on.
“Rest well, then. His Grace will be returning from the hunt soon, so I must prepare fresh garments for him.”
When Eshika remained silent, Yuri let out another smirk, turning around as she thought to herself.
‘I can always carve a scar onto her face later.’
Duke Klaus already despised Eshika; how much more revolted would he be once that face was ruined?
Now that she was Head Maid, opportunities would be plentiful.
“Yuri.”
Wondering if she was about to beg at last, Yuri heard Eshika’s voice from behind.
Halting her steps, Yuri turned back to Eshika, maintaining her haughty smile.
In the dim room, Eshika’s azure eyes shone with an incisive brilliance.
“About my maiden family… My older brothers used to send me jewels every month. But upon reflection, I realized I no longer need them, so I sent a letter saying I won’t be receiving them anymore.”
At those words, Yuri’s hand flinched.
“What… do you mean by that?”
“You used to receive those jewels in front of the main gate on my behalf, didn’t you? I’m saying there’s no longer any need for you to do so.”
Eshika leisurely watched the corners of Yuri’s mouth tremble.
“Now that you’re Head Maid, all the more so. You shouldn’t have to handle such menial chores anymore.”
Panicking, Yuri hastily protested.
“St-Still… it’s support from your family. Wouldn’t it be better to keep receiving them?”
Her red eyes wavered uncontrollably.
Eshika had already deduced why Yuri had suddenly been elevated to Head Maid.
She also understood why the Dowager Duchess had been summoning Yuri so frequently of late.
Every month, the Brigitte Barony sent high-quality gemstones for Eshika.
And Yuri had undoubtedly embezzled the finest grade among them…
“No, I don’t wish to. I’ve grown tired of jewels.”
“……”
“The letter should have reached my family by now.”
At Eshika’s calm words, Yuri gripped her skirts tightly.
Every single embezzled jewel had gone into bribing the Dowager Duchess.
And the Dowager Duchess never kept anyone by her side who offered no profit.
What she demanded of Yuri was a continuous supply of top-grade jewels.
“At any rate, do your best as Head Maid.”
When Eshika smiled brightly, Yuri’s brow quivered.
Seeing her face already drained of color, Eshika nearly laughed aloud.
In the novel, Yuri Anesis was able to marry the Duke of Klaus one year from now because she was carrying his child.
Until then, she had likely flattered the Dowager Duchess by misappropriating the gems meant for Eshika.
Yet for Yuri to retain the Dowager Duchess’s favor, Eshika’s jewels were an indispensable piece.
“……”
All her earlier arrogance gone, Yuri turned on her heel with a rigid expression and stormed out.
‘That fool will scramble to take measures to ensure the jewels don’t stop flowing.’
Without realizing she was digging her own grave.
**
Once Yuri left and deep night descended, Eshika sat cross-legged on the floor.
While teaching lessons to those who didn’t know their place was important, what required Eshika’s utmost devotion right now was forming her internal force.
The ambient qi here was richer than in the Murim, but for Eshika’s body—which had never undergone a single day of physical training in this life—there were countless hurdles.
Drawing breath through the dantian, gathering internal energy, and guiding it through a complete circulation to open the meridians.
She had already poured an entire week into this very first step.
‘Not easy at all.’
Cultivating through the Demonic Cult’s methods would be far faster and smoother, but forcing internal force into such a frail vessel carried an overwhelmingly high risk of qi deviation.
To put it simply, this body was far too weak; attempting an impure cultivation technique could very well drive her mad.
Thus, though it was unlike her, she had resolved to build her strength gradually using the orthodox methods of the Righteous sects.
Now that the intimidated Sella was dutifully serving decent meals, Eshika could nourish her body with good food and cultivate with an unyielding spirit.
Of course, once her internal energy properly broke through, the pace would accelerate.
Retracing a path once walked was never difficult.
‘Even the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains are crossed one peak at a time.’
Focusing her mind on her dantian, Eshika drew together her internal qi.
Then, slowly circulating the inner force, she began forging open the blocked pathways of qi.
Like clearing a path through a dense thicket, it was an arduous ordeal, yet Eshika remained completely centered.
Along with sweat, the accumulated impurities within her body began to seep out through her pores.
“……”
After cultivating through the strain for what felt like hours, Eshika’s expression gradually relaxed into serenity.
She had succeeded in opening the first meridian pathway within this agonizingly weak body.
To think even this initial step had been such a trial.
A moment later, Eshika opened her eyes to the moonlight pouring through the window.
Her clothes were damp, but her skin had become clearer and smoother than before.
Stretching lightly, Eshika murmured to herself.
“I need to wash.”
**
Seeing off his uninvited guest, Kalian spoke.
“I shall escort you to the Imperial Palace.”
At the customary offer, Lesvan raised his left hand in refusal.
“I appreciate the thought, but I must decline.”
Lesvan Deon Lusane, Crown Prince of the Thuresian Empire.
Possessing a tall stature and robust build comparable to Kalian’s, he was an unmatched beauty with pitch-black hair and striking golden eyes.
Even at the age of twenty-nine, he remained unmarried.
Various rumors circulated as to why he remained unwed despite having passed the customary age, but the most credible was that he had yet to find a woman as alluring as war.
Following the Eunibus Conquest, Lesvan had been branded a ruthless warmonger.
The reason this warmonger had stopped by the Klaus Duchy today was by imperial decree: to inspect the relief supplies the Klaus Ducal House was sending to Sorbet.
The Dowager Duchess’s scheme to mix large amounts of chaff into the relief grain had been reduced to ash.
“The only thing that requires rigorous vigilance is the relief supplies.”
At Lesvan’s frigid tone, Kalian’s brow twitched.
It was a warning to manage his affairs properly so that no further scrutiny would be necessary.
Shortly after, Lesvan mounted his white steed with an agility that belied his massive frame, his blue cloak billowing grandly in the night air.
Watching Lesvan with a sour expression, Kalian bowed his head in deference.
“Then have a safe journey, Little Sun of Thuresia.”
With a slight nod, Lesvan spurred his horse forward.
The cool night wind whipped through his black hair.
The steed galloped ahead as the landscape of towering trees shifted endlessly around him.
The roads of the Klaus Duchy were exceptionally well-paved.
While maintenance had been neglected before the Duke’s marriage, Lesvan had heard the family’s wealth had grown considerably afterward.
‘Was she the daughter of the Brigitte Barony?’
Using marriage to mend a house’s deficiencies was hardly extraordinary.
Frowning as he rode, Lesvan suddenly pulled back hard on the reins.
“……”
He had sensed a presence nearby.
As the horse came to a halt, Lesvan dismounted lightly, landing without a sound.
Even though this was still the Klaus estate, an instinct urged him to investigate.
It was when he pushed deeper into the dense undergrowth.
Tucked within the lush forest, a lake reflecting the crescent moon and the vast expanse of the Milky Way revealed itself.
And right in the middle of the lake, the silhouette of someone’s back came into view.
“……”
Silver hair fluttered in the gentle breeze, and the water droplets falling from her soaked white garment sparkled like jewels.
As if sensing Lesvan’s gaze, she slowly turned her head.
Shadows cast over her straight nose and elegant jawline, and beneath delicately drawn eyebrows, azure eyes shimmering like blue stars flickered in the moonlight.
Though he could only see her profile, Lesvan stood frozen, his brow furrowed as he stared at her.
And in an instant, with a soft splash, her figure vanished beneath the surface of the lake.
“……!”
Lesvan immediately strode forward to the water’s edge.
As if the woman he had just witnessed had been a mere illusion, the lake was utterly tranquil.
Not a trace of her remained anywhere.
With those deep golden eyes set in a sharp gaze, he stood for a long time, taking in the scenery of the silent lake.
