The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Chapter 33. Prove Your Own Worth
2024.01.02.
“You truly are…… quite amusing.”
It was as though Lesvan’s voice still echoed in her ears.
The reason he showed such interest in her…… must surely be linked to the name from the note: ‘Hasetz.’
Around the age of eight, there was a brief lapse in her memory.
‘I will have to ask Schwert oppa about this once I meet him. Or even before that…… if only there were a way to find out.’
Lesvan was unlikely to tell her easily.
He seemed merely to toy with her, twisting the corner of his lips into a dizzyingly sharp smile.
Like a child peering into an aquarium.
“…….”
Taking a walk through the garden, Eshika reached out toward a blossom, then gently closed her fingers.
When she opened her hand, a white butterfly rested on her palm.
As she gazed softly at the white butterfly and its delicate wings, a faint smile gracing her lips, a low voice spoke from behind her.
“Eshika.”
Kalian stood there watching her, his expression rigid.
In truth, she had known he was approaching several minutes prior, yet she asked in a dry, dispassionate tone,
“It seems you have free time on your hands today.”
At those cool words, Kalian’s hand gave a slight start.
Had it been a few weeks ago, he would have instantly furrowed his brow, but he was well aware that he had no right to do so now.
Kalian took a few more steps toward her.
Yet, despite closing the physical distance, the emotional gulf between them felt as unyielding as ever.
Instead, the closer he drew, the more her gaze seemed to step back.
Kalian’s chest ached.
“……I misunderstood things yesterday.”
In the quiet garden, Kalian’s voice rang out.
After a moment of silence, he parted his heavy lips to convey his sincere thoughts.
“I am sorry for pressing you without trusting you, Eshika.”
A warm breeze drifted between the two.
Yet Eshika’s gaze remained utterly chilled.
Mocking him inwardly, Eshika thought to herself:
‘Would you have apologized to me had the Crown Prince not eaten the cookie to prove my innocence?’
Certainly not.
Kalian had grown up under the teachings of Liona Klaus, who rationalized his every action.
Because of that, he believed whatever he did carried justification, convinced of his own reasonableness.
This apology was merely the superficial manifestation of a defeat forced upon him.
“I have received your apology well.”
At Eshika’s uninflected voice, Kalian started, his eyes fixed on her.
The old Eshika would have shed tears, acting coquettishly about how hurt she had felt, or soothed him by telling him never to say such words.
Yet the Eshika standing before Kalian’s eyes now possessed a chilling gaze that gave no hint of the emotions stirring within.
“This evening…….”
At some point, that look in her eyes had begun to make Kalian uneasy.
Because it felt as if she had truly become an entirely different person.
Though he still believed, of course, that it was merely a short-lived whim.
“……If you have no other engagements, I would like us to share dinner together. What do you say, Duchess?”
He spoke with an awkward demeanor.
He believed that, this time at least, she would accept.
After all, none other than he himself had offered an apology.
And in the past, Eshika had always yearned to share an evening meal with him.
“I apologize, but I have yet to properly digest my lunch, so I intend to skip dinner tonight.”
“…….”
Kalian’s hand twitched.
With a look of sheer discomfort, Eshika continued,
“That is why I was taking a stroll like this.”
A wave of nausea churned inside Kalian.
To have an offer he never anticipated being rejected turned down—a dizzying haze washed over him, as though his worst fears had become reality.
A distinctly unwelcome expression was painted across Eshika’s face.
For a fleeting moment, an impulse surged within Kalian to seize her wrist and order her to join him, even by force.
“……Very well.”
Yet doing so would only make a mockery of his dignity as the Duke of Klaus.
Begging a wife who refused to dine with him? Preposterous.
With darkened eyes, Kalian turned away.
Irritation began to simmer fiercely in his mind.
‘How did I end up like this?’
**
Inside the dim storehouse, Hans scanned his surroundings before spotting Eshika.
Moonlight bathed her as she sat beneath the window.
With her beautiful silver hair and deep blue, shimmering eyes…… she exuded an aura of chilled poise, as though stepped straight out of a fairy tale.
‘It was no illusion. The Duchess has changed.’
Hans had not sided with Eshika right away.
Only after witnessing her defeat the Grand Duchess at the tea party had he become certain.
If she had truly changed…… it was a hand well worth betting on.
After all, the Klaus Duchy’s finances were growing more perilous by the day.
Even if the wager he placed went awry, as Eshika had said, Hans would incur no personal loss.
“Duchess.”
Hans bowed his head in greeting to Eshika.
He saw Sella standing behind her.
Sella was watching Hans with mistrustful eyes.
“As you commanded, I advised the Grand Duchess regarding the investment in Zühen, and it appears she intends to proceed even if it means taking out loans.”
Now, the fate of Klaus rested on the investment in Zühen.
Watching the corner of Eshika’s lips curl upward, Hans felt a pang of confusion.
He simply could not read her moves.
“There is something I wish to ask. Did you not say…… that you intended to claim Klaus for yourself?”
“I did.”
“The reason you had me advise the Grand Duchess to invest in Zühen must be because you believe the investment will fail. Yet if it does, not only the Grand Duchess, but the entirety of Klaus could fall into another’s hands.”
Given the Empire’s current political landscape, the likelihood of failure seemed slim.
“Furthermore, Zühen holds high investment potential, making this a venture difficult to fail.”
Zühen was, after all, a candidate in the spotlight for the Western Stronghold.
“The Grand Duchess will fail.”
Yet Eshika’s voice cut across Hans’s words.
Neither high nor low, her tone was composed yet cutting.
“However, I will not fail.”
At Eshika’s declaration, Hans flinched.
Her chilly, clear voice brought his logical train of thought to a halt.
The conviction struck his mind as though it would inevitably come to pass.
Where did such certainty in Eshika’s blue eyes, gleaming in the dark, come from?
“If you would share your thoughts and intentions with me in greater detail…….”
“You do not yet fully trust me. Nor do I fully trust you.”
Eshika’s words struck right at Hans’s weak spot.
Though Hans had managed the ducal estate’s finances for well over a decade, dealing with countless figures both inside and outside the family, the changed Eshika was difficult to handle.
No, rather than ‘difficult,’ it was more accurate to say her depths were utterly unfathomable.
“Therefore, I cannot tell you everything.”
“I placed my trust in you and acted according to your will, Duchess. Yet to say you do not trust me…….”
Though Hans deliberately showed a hint of disappointment, Eshika offered a faint smile.
“Just as you calculate and judge me, I am merely judging you as well.”
At those words, Hans’s brow twitched.
Had Eshika not demonstrated her caliber at the tea party, Hans would have relayed her words to the Grand Duchess verbatim.
“After all, empty words of trust are hardly what you desire from me, are they?”
The foolish Duchess who let everyone walk over her was no more.
Only a woman who saw right through Hans’s inner motives with sharp, icy clarity remained.
Though currently occupied merely with cleaning up after the extravagant Grand Duchess, Hans was originally a man of ambition.
“What I can tell you clearly is that I will swallow Klaus whole and cast out the useless.”
“…….”
“So prove your own worth. Only then will I allow you aboard my ship.”
The red corners of Eshika’s mouth lifted.
Beside her smiling figure, the moonlight shimmered like a veil.
**
Knock, knock—
Admiring the moonlight alone on the balcony, Kalian turned around at the shadow casting over his side.
Yuri stood there, carrying a tray with the liquor and cheese he favored.
After a brief silence, Yuri spoke with an awkward air.
“Your Grace, you seemed troubled today, so…….”
Stepping a pace closer to him, Yuri continued,
“I brought something you might enjoy at your ease.”
Watching her, a bitter smile touched Kalian’s lips.
Why was it? For a fleeting moment, he had held a glimmer of hope.
That the door would open, and Eshika would appear just as she used to.
The past him would have been repulsed and told her not to disturb him…… yet today, he might have spent that time together with her.
Taking Kalian’s bitter smile as a sign of consent, Yuri stepped onto the balcony where he stood.
She then placed the drink and sliced cheese onto the table.
“If it is no bother…… may I keep you company?”
At Yuri’s words, Kalian looked at her.
With delicate features, radiant blonde hair, and crimson eyes, her beauty was certainly wasted on being a mere maid of the ducal house.
Though, of course, she fell short when compared to Eshika.
Had she not been summoned here by Eshika, Yuri was at an age where she would have married some man by now.
