I Am Trying to Divorce My Villain Husband, But We Had a Child - chapter 10
Episode 10
Having heard Ann’s story, Elisa sent the child away and sat back by the bedside.
Elisa’s gaze towards Richard was intense.
“The one who hurt the Marquis is a Marquis himself.”
“What?”
A while ago, as I was coming out of the kitchen, a guest arrived looking for the Marquis.
“At this late hour?”
“The guest… It was that man. The man we saw with a scar on his eyebrow in the hunting grounds today, with Madam.”
“….!”
“So, I followed him secretly. Listened to the conversation in the Marquis’s study.”
Upon hearing Ann’s story, the most perplexing part of today’s incident became clear.
Why an event that could easily be guessed who was behind it happened in the imperial hunting grounds, why Albert requested an investigation from the Emperor regarding this incident, and further, why he orchestrated such a thing.
And also, the reason why Albert didn’t properly examine Richard’s condition.
“He did this to showcase Roubelin’s power.”
Using Richard to show that Roubelin is still intact.
“This is insane. How could the grandfather do such a thing to his grandson…”
Elisa bit her lower lip.
Her teeth were trembling. Even though she knew that Richard would be injured, or perhaps intentionally injured to the point of not dying. This was blatant abuse.
“Should I tell Richard about this?”
Elisa hesitated.
“If Richard knows, he might leave the Marquisate. If that happens, I…”
If Richard leaves the Marquisate, Albert will have no reason to keep her here.
If he is driven out of the Marquisate, she will end up in an orphanage. Or maybe wandering the streets.
The cozy life will come to an end.
“But still… I have to tell him.”
Even if this cozy life comes to an end, even if Richard is hurt emotionally.
She couldn’t let Richard live without knowing that his only family is exposing him to some danger.
Such a life is too cruel.
At that moment, Richard’s fingers trembled, and he opened his eyes.
Even in the dim firelight, his vivid red eyes were revealed.
Richard, who had been staring at Elisa, moved his eyes to look around, and then, as if understanding the situation, looked back at Elisa.
Elisa asked, “How is your body?”
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
About to say that she heard a story that kept her awake, Elisa quickly changed her words.
“Well, you know. Because my husband was sick, I was taking care of him. Aren’t you grateful?”
At times like this, you have to score some points.
Elisa tried to make her efforts seem natural. In fact, all she did was watch over him from the next bed.
“Well, this is the only place I stayed, so let’s skip that.”
Upon Elisa’s words, Richard hurriedly avoided eye contact.
His ears turned red as he averted his gaze, but Elisa couldn’t see it due to the darkness.
Avoiding Elisa’s gaze, Richard bluntly said, “I don’t need it; just go to sleep.”
“Anyway, I did take care of you.”
Elisa bit her tongue at Richard’s grumpiness. Then suddenly, an idea struck her about something she needed to tell Richard.
“Richard, you know, there’s something you need to know.”
“Go ahead.”
Richard replied indifferently without turning around.
After hesitating for a moment, Elisa spoke.
“The person who hurt you… it’s your grandfather.”
There was no reaction from Richard. Elisa couldn’t see what emotions or expressions he had since he had turned his back.
After observing Richard’s reaction for a moment, Elisa continued.
“I saw a suspicious person when I went to the valley. The ones who attacked you. One of them came to the mansion a while ago and met the Marquis. Ann told me.”
“…”
“It seems… you should know.”
“…I know.”
“What?”
“I know. What that person is thinking, what kind of person he is.”
Richard’s voice, speaking like it was someone else’s story, was dull. Contrary to Elisa’s expectation that Richard would be shocked, it was Elisa who was shaken by this conversation.
Looking at Richard blankly, Elisa cautiously asked, “You still stay in this house, knowing that?”
“I came to this house.”
“What does that mean?”
Unlike before, when Richard responded promptly to Elisa’s words, this time he remained silent.
Elisa waited for Richard to speak while feigning sleep.
“…I am a bastard.”
“…”
“Half-breed with commoner’s blood.”
Richard was a bastard born between a Marquis and a commoner.
Born in such circumstances, Richard was raised by his step-uncle outside the Marquisate.
His step-uncle, wanting to earn money from the Marquisate, brought Richard to the Marquisate, but Albert pretended not to know, claiming that Richard was not his blood.
“When my supposed father was alive, the Marquis couldn’t kill me and was forced to tolerate me.”
Then, on the day his step-uncle came to the Marquisate, intruders attacked their home. The mastermind was clear.
Albert wanted to eliminate the flaws in his lineage.
Although Richardt dramatically survived, his terrified step-uncle abandoned him and fled.
Left alone, Richard concealed Roubelin’s power and wandered through various guilds to survive.
One day, when he was fourteen years old.
The grandfather, who had tried so hard to kill him, came looking for him.
“But after my father died, he came to find me, asking me to be his successor.”
He needed a grandson to continue the family line, as there was no direct heir of his blood.
It wasn’t a family that had devoted their lives to pass down the lineage to a minor branch like Richard.
Moreover, if Richard, with the blood of the deceased son, inherited the family’s power, it would be advantageous both to threaten the imperial family and to showcase to the nobility.
The inner thoughts caught by Richard made him smile.
The one who had tried so hard to kill him was now in fear for his own life. Isn’t it amusing?
He wondered what would happen if he were to end that life before him, but Richard changed his mind.
“I came here to break the family line with my own hands.”
Elisa stared blankly at Richard, who casually shared such a story.
‘I just thought he was being irritable during this stormy period.’
She felt sorry for having misunderstood without knowing anything. At the same time, she felt grateful to Richard for sharing such a difficult story with her.
Telling me such a story means he trusts me.
‘I can’t believe they forcefully took in such a child to have an heir….’
Elisa pulled Richard’s arm toward her. Startled, Richard turned to look at her.
“What are you doing?”
Elisa shook his hand she grabbed as if shaking hands.
“I’ll be on your side.”
Elisa smiled as she shook the hand she held.
She wanted to be a support for her young husband who endured only for revenge, even though there was no one on his side in this Marquisate.
“Count on me.”
Richard looked at Elisa, who held his hand, with a somewhat bewildered expression.
However, he couldn’t push away that small and warm hand, and that face smiling brightly at him.
*
“Did you call for me, Your Majesty?”
Early in the morning, Felice Marquis, the prospective son-in-law of the Emperor, entered the Emperor’s bedroom.
Emperor Roam was alone, dressed comfortably in a robe, placing chess pieces on the board.
“Have a seat.”
Felice Marquis gave the appropriate greetings to the Emperor and took a seat across from him.
Quite a few pieces on the chessboard were already scattered on the floor. Among them, what stood out was a pawn that had advanced right up to the closest square to the enemy.
Roam stared at the pawn thoughtfully, recalling the events of the previous night when Christian had been possessed by evil.
“That monstrous child said we should kill it in advance, Father! He said that if we leave it alive, it will surely become a threat to us.”
Roam recalled the fierce storm Richard unleashed a few days ago in the hunting grounds.
The violent tempest that easily dealt with several skilled soldiers. It was undoubtedly an overwhelming power.
‘Rubelin of the Storm. The monster fitting that title.’
Roam felt a sense of crisis from that power.
And not only did he feel that sense of crisis, but he also heard that after the incident, more nobles flocked to the Marquisate of Rubelin than before.
‘Like foxes.’
Nobles were cunning like foxes, sniffing out the scent of power and aligning themselves with whoever had a more significant advantage.
That they were gathering at the Marquisate of Rubelin meant that they judged Rubelin to be stronger than the imperial family.
Roam’s finger flicked the pawn. Felice Marquis’s gaze naturally followed that direction.
“Raymore. What would you do with a pawn that might become a queen someday?”
Felice Marquis’s eyes gleamed cunningly as if he had been waiting for this. However, he calmly smiled and replied.
“Of course, you should get rid of it. If left alone, it will undoubtedly become an obstacle on Your Majesty’s path.”
“But if there is no justification, and you can’t force it like that?”
“If there is no justification, then create one.”
“Create a justification?”
“Use the brotherly pact, Your Majesty.”
The brotherly pact referred to the pact made among the four major families that contributed to the founding of the Arencia Empire.
The contents of the pact were as follows:
Kairot, Rubelin, Seriet, and Esther share a brotherly bond.
If the three families rise in rebellion for a just cause, the imperial family cannot exterminate them. Moreover, if the imperial family seeks help, the three families must protect the imperial family no matter what.
Using that pact, although he couldn’t directly kill, he could indirectly push the Marquis into death.
Felice Marquis smiled cunningly like a sly snake.
“I have a good way to use that pact.”