The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter 5. The Wife Changes
2023.12.05.
The next morning, a knock sounded at the door, and Sella entered.
On the tray in her hands were the freshest vegetables, bread, and a drink.
Unlike before, Sella bowed respectfully to Eshika as she spoke.
“Please forgive me, my lady. My abilities are lacking, so this was all I could manage to gather.”
Eshika knew the Grand Duchess had ordered that only stale bread be thrown her way for meals.
Thus, Sella had likely used her wits to steal and scrape this together.
When Eshika gave a slight nod, Sella placed the tray upon the table.
Just as she was about to turn away, Eshika tossed something toward her.
Startled, Sella caught it and opened her palm.
A small, lustrous pearl rested there.
It was a gem worth at least three months’ wages for a maid like her.
“Bait for the chef.”
At those words, Sella’s eyes wavered.
If she offered this pearl to the head chef, he would gladly sneak out fine food for them.
“Take the paper on the table to him. It is a recipe of sorts. Tell him to prepare it exactly as written.”
Naturally, customized dishes tailored to the Duchess’s taste would also be possible.
Sella bowed her head politely.
“Understood, my lady.”
In the past, she might have pocketed and sold the pearl herself instead of handing it to the chef, but she knew better now.
There was no way the Duchess—whose keen eye pierced through every inner working of the estate, including Sella herself, and who could discern poison with a mere glance at a dish—would fail to see through such clumsy deceit.
‘How did I never realize what kind of person she truly is?’
Ever since last night, she felt as though her eyes had been opened anew.
A maid’s treatment depended entirely on the standing of the master she served, and as the personal maid to Duchess Eshika, Sella had been looked down upon even among the servants.
Yet this current Duchess might one day stand toe-to-toe with the Grand Duchess… and if so, Sella’s own standing would…
‘…No, there is no way that could happen.’
As the foolish thought arose, Sella swiftly erased it from her mind.
Once Sella left the room, the corner of Eshika’s lips twisted into a faint smirk.
There was a reason she kept Sella by her side.
As the Duchess, it was only natural to have eyes and ears throughout the household, but having left everything to Yuri in the past, she had no trustworthy hands at her disposal.
Sella was greedy, but once shown an undeniable disparity in power, she was the type to know her place and bow her head.
Besides, she had surprisingly wide connections and could sniff out information or handle various tasks.
Thus, she would prove quite useful during her stay in the Klaus Duchy.
‘Fortunate in the midst of misfortune that I kept the pearls.’
Once a month, when her oppas sent jewels from her maiden home, Eshika used to receive them through Yuri.
She had complained back then, never realizing Yuri had already skimmed off all the finest gems.
And whenever Yuri coaxed her with, ‘I will sell the remaining jewels to procure what you need,’ she had handed over the rest as well.
Of course, all Yuri ever brought back were worn blankets, threadbare quilts, and meager meals…
Yuri claimed she had bribed the Grand Duchess’s maids with the gems, yet their gazes had remained icy as ever.
Naturally, they had never received a single thing.
It was a relief that she had kept the pouch of pearls her father gave her on the eve of her wedding hidden away, without even telling Yuri.
‘For now… the key is whether the chef can brew the elixir.’
To accelerate the growth of their internal energy, martial artists often consumed spiritual elixirs.
Yeong-ryeong had been no different. Having memorized the formulas of simpler elixirs, finding substitute ingredients readily available in this era was no difficult task.
What she requested from the chef was ‘Ilyeongyak’—a blend that looked like mere juice at a glance, yet held the precise ratio for augmenting internal energy.
If it were prepared without issue and taken once daily, the rate of her internal energy cultivation would surge.
**
One afternoon, while steadily building her cultivation through qi circulation, Eshika dressed at Kalian’s sudden summons.
Though the red dress brought from her maiden home was considerably aged, it accentuated her stunning figure like an alluring rose.
“You are truly breathtaking, my lady… Somehow, you seem to grow more beautiful by the day.”
Sella had gasped in admiration as she smoothed the lace.
And for good reason—as the qi circulated through her body, purging impurities from her pores, her skin could not help but turn clear and radiant.
“Did you call for me, Your Grace?”
Standing behind Kalian, who was seated at the table prepared for tea, Eshika opened her lips.
She would rather practice her cultivation meditation than share tea with someone so unwelcome, but… until she was fully prepared, it was best to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.
‘I intend to roast them like grasshoppers in a hot skillet anyway, so there is no rush.’
“…”
Kalian slowly turned his head toward Eshika.
He paused, staring at her for quite some time.
She was undeniably Eshika Klaus, yet from the look in her eyes to her very bearing, something felt subtly, unmistakably different.
Her silver hair fluttered in the gentle breeze, a healthy flush colored her skin, and beneath dark eyelashes, her azure eyes shone with the brilliance of jewels bathed in sunlight.
“…Sit.”
At Kalian’s word, Eshika took a seat across from him.
She simply looked at him without touching her teacup.
In the heavy silence, Kalian felt a strange dissonance as he looked upon her.
“You only ever have tea with your friends. You’re so cruel. I just want to be by your side, Kalian.”
Whenever she came near him, those exaggerated round eyes, that whiny nasal tone,
and all those minor breaches of etiquette…
Tea with Eshika had always been exhausting; listening to her babble incessantly about matters he cared nothing about had been sheer torture.
“…”
Yet the Eshika before him now offered not a single pleasantry, regarding him with an air so detached it bordered on awkward.
With an indifferent gaze that seemed to ask, ‘What is your business?’
Thinking it could not be, Kalian finally spoke.
“How is your body?”
“I have recovered considerably, though it seems I will require much more rest than before.”
Eshika placed deliberate emphasis on the word ‘rest.’
Carrying the silent message: ‘I need ample rest, so do not summon me again.’
Dismissing the remark without much thought, Kalian parted his lips.
“The reason I asked to share tea with you today is to issue a warning.”
In truth, Kalian did not even wish to exchange words with Eshika.
Yet his mind had been unsettled ever since he saw Yuri weeping last night, claiming she was suffering under Eshika’s persecution.
There was no guarantee that the spiteful Eshika would not strike Yuri across the face again the moment she saw her.
“A warning?”
At Eshika’s question, Kalian suppressed the irritation rising within him and continued.
“I ask that you refrain from any words or deeds that tarnish the honor of Klaus.”
“My lady, please rein in your jealousy.”
“…”
Eshika gazed at Kalian with cold eyes, but Kalian did not look her in the eye.
He spoke curtly.
“Suspicion will only bring torment upon yourself.”
“My association with those women is purely political.”
Kalian then downed the cold tea in his cup in a single gulp.
“You need only fulfill your duties as the Duchess.”
Eshika merely stared at Kalian, her expression unchanged from before.
He had expected her to beg for his affection or curse Yuri as she always had, yet she did neither.
Instead…
“Pfft.”
The corners of Eshika’s lips curved upward as a scoff escaped her.
Soon, she chuckled softly several times, as if having heard the most amusing joke.
Watching her, Kalian’s brow twitched.
“You are not taking my words to heart.”
Kalian knitted his brows, thinking he had wasted his time.
This mocking laugh was surely nothing more than another attempt to draw his attention.
Any moment now, she would change her tune, throwing a tantrum and demanding he confess his relationship with Yuri.
Her face would flush red and pale by turns, eyes welling with thick tears.
She was truly incomparable to his friend.
Yet Eshika still did not conceal her amusement.
“…”
She let it linger so long that Kalian began to feel an unsettling discomfort.
Only after having her fill of amusement and letting a long moment pass did Eshika speak again.
“You are truly consistent, Your Grace.”
As Eshika judged it, Kalian possessed a stubbornness that would rather break than bend.
Because of the pride born of that temperament, he despised Eshika all the more for buying her way into the position of his wife with money.
Yuri had provoked Eshika by wearing Kalian’s Allet Ring, but that had undoubtedly been a calculated move.
For she knew precisely how Kalian would look upon Eshika when she rushed in to uncover the truth.
A man’s passion only truly ignited when faced with an obstacle.
“Just as Your Grace said, I shall focus solely on my duties as the Duchess.”
And at Eshika’s subsequent words, Kalian’s brow twitched.
“If our business is concluded, may I take my leave?”
“…!”
An unexpected answer and inquiry had fallen from her lips. Business concluded?
Kalian stared at her, an inexplicable stifling feeling tightening in his chest.
Within the cool contours of Eshika’s azure eyes lay an unhurried ease he had never seen before.
“Considering our current relationship, I cannot help but think even a conversation like this is a mutual waste of time.”
Eshika’s lips parted coldly.
Kalian felt even more suffocated.
Today, she felt so unfamiliar—as if Eshika were no longer Eshika, harboring an entirely different soul within.
Meeting Kalian’s fixed gaze with a haughty smile, Eshika lifted her teacup.
Then, she took a leisurely sip.
Kalian could not fathom this attitude.
“…Still, I was able to enjoy the aroma of the tea, so this was worthwhile.”
With a soft clink, Eshika set down her teacup.
“I shall take my leave now. I still require rest from my recent injury.”
Eshika Klaus—that woman had never once risen from her seat before him.
She had always begged for his love, trailed unsightly behind him, and lingered in her seat long after he had departed.
Yet in the eyes of the Eshika standing before him now, not a trace of that unpleasant clinginess remained.
No longer the gaze that looked upon a jewel she desperately desired, but an indifferent look as though gazing at a common, worthless pebble—shaded beneath dark eyelashes shimmering in the sunlight.
