The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Episode 30. Wavering Trust
2023.12.30.
“The peanut cookies! The Grand Duchess ate the peanut cookies!”
Beside the collapsed Grand Duchess, Yuri shrieked in frantic urgency.
Bolan and Marshall were also anxiously rubbing the Grand Duchess’s wrists, gazing down at her unconscious form with fretful eyes.
“Oh dear, she’s trembling! Good heavens, her lips have turned blue!”
“Hurry, summon the physician! Inform His Grace the Duke at once!”
A maid rushed over, carrying medicine meant to counteract the Grand Duchess’s allergic reaction.
“We have the prescribed medicine right here. If she takes this, she will regain consciousness—”
Just as she was about to administer it, Eshika strode forward and struck the maid’s hand away, sending the medicine crashing to the floor.
“Eshika!”
Yuri glared with wide, sharp eyes and screamed at Eshika.
Having just rushed into the room, Kalian caught sight of her actions. His brow hardened into a furious scowl as he marched over in broad, heavy strides.
He seized Eshika’s wrist in a punishing grip.
“Eshika, what in the world do you think you are doing?!”
At his side, Yuri reported with glinting eyes, her voice dripping with urgency.
“The Grand Duchess has a severe peanut allergy, yet Eshika prepared peanut cookies!”
Kalian’s grip tightened around Eshika’s wrist until his fingers turned white.
“And when we tried to give her the medicine to counteract the reaction, she broke it!”
“What?”
“Eshika is clearly trying to harm the Grand Duchess! How could anyone be so wicked?!”
Kalian’s fierce, razor-sharp gaze bore into Eshika.
“Is this true?”
His eyes burned with such fury that it felt as though he might strangle her where she stood if she answered yes.
Yet even amidst the raging uproar, Eshika looked back at Kalian without batting an eyelash.
Without a shred of emotion in her voice, she spoke.
“Giving allergy medicine to someone who isn’t suffering from an allergic reaction will only harm their body.”
“What?”
“So naturally, I knocked it away.”
To Eshika, Kalian’s reaction was nothing short of laughable.
She was thoroughly sick of Riona putting on such an overt, dramatic display.
Mother and son ought to live out the rest of their days together on some deserted island where no one else ever set foot. Watching the two of them perform such absurd theatrics in tandem stirred nothing but cold irritation within her.
“Those cookies merely carry the scent of peanuts; there is not a single crumb of peanut in them.”
“……What did you say?”
Kalian’s brow twitched.
“That’s a lie! They are unmistakably peanut cookies! Eshika! How dare you do this to the Grand Duchess……!”
Yuri tearfully spewed her accusations, framing Eshika with desperate fervor. Unbothered, Eshika stepped forward and picked up a cookie from the plate.
She held it out toward Kalian.
“Try it for yourself. See if there are any ground peanuts mixed in.”
Kalian’s brow twitched once more.
His mother had just collapsed after eating these very cookies; even if he did not suffer from a peanut allergy, there was no way he would willingly put one in his mouth.
Standing rigid as a statue, Kalian snapped back at Eshika.
“Are you claiming my mother faked her collapse?!”
Whenever a conflict arose with the Grand Duchess, Kalian had never once stood by Eshika’s side.
He was a filial son to a fault.
And Riona had always exploited that devotion to torment Eshika all the more mercilessly.
A bitter smile touched Eshika’s lips.
He could confirm the truth in an instant simply by tasting it, yet Kalian refused.
As though admitting he might be wrong was something he could not bear.
It was then.
“Allow me to eat it.”
Eshika flinched slightly at the sight of the man approaching.
Raven-black hair paired with eyes of brilliant, radiant gold—a man tall in stature with a broad, powerful build.
Pinned upon his dark uniform were medals honoring his distinguished service to the Empire.
“Fortunately, I happen to have a peanut allergy as well.”
A cool, measured voice brushed against her ear. What was…… fortunate about that?
Stopping right before Eshika, he raised his hand and gently wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
The heavy, solid warmth against her skin made Eshika’s brow twitch.
Two pairs of eyes, striking in contrasting hues, collided in midair.
Lesvan leaned down and lightly bit into the cookie she was holding.
Slowly, deliberately, never once breaking his gaze from Eshika.
As he chewed and swallowed the mouthful, a profound silence descended upon the room.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, that may be dangerous!”
“I shall fetch more allergy medicine at once!”
A maid moved swiftly to prepare for any potential crisis.
Kalian stared at Lesvan with a rigid, stony expression, while Eshika was inwardly just as taken aback.
’Do not add any crushed peanuts, but make sure the scent resembles peanuts as closely as possible. I will ensure no harm comes to you for this.’
She had trusted that Hemos’s culinary mastery would be more than sufficient, and indeed, he had crafted peanut cookies containing not a trace of actual peanut.
Thus, the moment it was proven that these cookies were peanut-free, Riona’s fainting act would be exposed as a complete sham.
Yet the Crown Prince’s sudden intervention was something she had never anticipated.
“……Delicious.”
Gazing intently down at Eshika, Lesvan parted his languid, crimson lips.
Having stared at him in a daze, Eshika hastily averted her eyes and slipped her wrist from his grasp, which was still loosely encircling her.
After lingering his gaze upon Eshika for a long, quiet moment, Lesvan turned to Kalian and spoke.
“There are no peanut ingredients in this cookie. Should you inquire with the imperial physicians, you will find that I do indeed suffer from a severe peanut allergy.”
At those words, Kalian turned toward Eshika with an utterly bewildered expression.
“Therefore, your wife…… is innocent of any wrongdoing.”
Eshika’s gaze remained freezing cold. Though Kalian belatedly realized he had made a grave mistake, the moment had already passed.
Yuri could only furrow her brow in bitter frustration at the absurdly abrupt conclusion to the scene she had orchestrated.
“The Grand Duchess is opening her eyes!”
Moments later, the maids helped the Grand Duchess sit up.
Seeing his mother weakly flutter her eyelids, Kalian hesitated for a brief second before stepping toward her with a somber face.
“Mother, are you all right?”
“……I felt so dizzy for a moment……”
The Grand Duchess pressed a hand to her forehead.
Eshika barely managed to suppress a scoff.
Riona was acting with every ounce of her soul, but inside, she was undoubtedly burning with the desire to tear Eshika to shreds.
She had planned to take to her bed for days on end, fanning the flames of Kalian’s hatred toward Eshika—only for the entire scheme to unravel into nothing.
“What happened, Mother?”
“I don’t know. Suddenly my head spun…… It must be my anemia acting up again.”
Bolan and Marshall Chimed in with overly worried expressions.
“Still, what a relief it wasn’t an allergic reaction to peanuts.”
“Indeed. It seems to have been a momentary bout of dizziness. You worry day in and day out over His Grace the Duke…… How could your health possibly remain sound?”
Marshall fussed incessantly, sneaking glances at Kalian’s expression all the while.
Supporting Riona so she could lean against him, Kalian said,
“I shall take you to your bedchamber myself. Would you like me to carry you on my back?”
“No, the Duke is far too busy with affairs of state to…… ah.”
As Riona swayed unsteadily, Kalian hoisted her onto his back without another word.
He then turned toward Lesvan and spoke.
“Forgive me, Your Highness. I must see my mother safely to her quarters so she may rest, and then I shall return immediately.”
Lesvan gave a cool, curt nod, and Kalian set off at once.
The maids hurried after him, trailing closely behind as he carried Riona away.
Eshika watched the spectacle unfold with detached composure, like an audience member observing a theatrical performance.
Then, she slowly turned her head to look at Lesvan.
With a faintly languid gaze, he spoke to her.
“Since the Duke appears to be occupied, it seems the Duchess will have to entertain me.”
Eshika’s heart gave a slight, quickening thud against her ribs.
**
Supported by Kalian, Riona laid herself down upon the bed with an exhausted sigh.
Noticing Kalian’s grim expression, Riona reached out and gently caressed his cheek.
“Forgive your mother for having such a frail body. His Highness the Crown Prince is visiting, yet…… I have taken up so much of your precious time.”
Kalian looked down at Riona, his gaze wavering faintly.
All throughout the walk here, Eshika’s emotionless face had remained burned into his mind.
That serene, unbothered expression—as if she had anticipated everything from the very start.
’Are you claiming my mother faked her collapse?!’
The furious words he had shouted echoed chaotically in his ears, refusing to leave him in peace.
“…….”
In the past, there had been another incident where his mother’s health suffered due to Eshika’s alleged mistake.
His mother had remained bedridden for an entire week, and Eshika had spent that entire week kneeling before her door, begging for forgiveness.
The memory of Eshika weeping uncontrollably, half out of her wits as she pleaded, ’I never knew this would happen,’ was still vivid in his mind.
What if that incident, too…… had more beneath the surface than met the eye?
“Kalian……?”
Riona called his name softly.
The warmth that always filled his mother’s eyes suddenly looked strange and doubtful to him.
A coincidence? What were the odds of a sudden bout of dizziness striking at such an impeccably terrible moment?
Of all times, right when she took a bite of a cookie that smelled of peanuts.
Riona had always been frail, and every time physicians came and went from the estate, Kalian had worried himself sick over her.
Yet even those past memories were now tainted by a surging wave of suspicion.
“Do not worry over your mother. Hurry back to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Kalian gave a slow nod and rose to his feet.
As he turned to leave, he noticed Yuri standing near the doorway, her head bowed and her fists clenched tightly.
Stopping before her, Kalian gave his instruction.
“Take good care of my mother. And……”
The calm, unyielding look in Eshika’s eyes remained lodged in his chest like an iron spike.
Only moments ago, he had been consumed by white-hot fury because she had rejected his goodwill…….
Now, he felt as though everything had been dragged back to square one.
“……You are merely the Head Maid, and Eshika is the Duchess of this house.”
Yuri’s pupils trembled violently.
“No matter if you were once friends, refrain from addressing her by her name from this moment on.”
A staggering, impenetrable wall emanated from Kalian—one she had never felt from him before.
Clasping her trembling hands tightly together, Yuri lowered her head slightly and answered.
“I shall keep that in mind, Your Grace.”
