🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter – 02
“What?”
“All you’ve ever been good at is playing around. If I leave this house, the ones who’ll become Father’s targets will be my brother and sister. So be careful.”
It was all thanks to Laviell’s sister and Caleb that they had lived comfortable lives.
Laviell had been the scapegoat who absorbed all resentment and anger.
“That girl’s lost her mind!”
“I’m not crazy, I’m perfectly normal. Think about it—doesn’t what I’m saying make sense? So instead of me, you should quickly find someone else to take my place as the family punching bag. Good luck, brother.”
Normally, Laviell would have been too intimidated by her family to say anything back. But right now, I was saying everything I wanted, exactly as I pleased.
In a normal family, they might have wondered whether something major had happened to cause such a drastic change in Laviell’s behavior. But no one in this household cared enough about her for that.
They didn’t even try to understand the reasoning behind my actions. They simply assumed her change was just “Laviell not only being physically ill, but also mentally insane.”
“Let’s go, Mother.”
Except for the countess.
From behind, I could hear Caleb Avalon cursing, but I ignored it completely and returned to the room with the countess.
I felt sorry for Laviell, but I had no intention of living so obediently.
“I’m leaving. Do they think I’d actually marry some old rich man?”
I had no intention of letting this second chance at life end as a forced sacrifice for this cursed family.
After escorting the countess back to her room, I returned to Laviell’s bedroom—the body’s original owner—and looked around the unnaturally calm space before stuffing anything valuable into a bag.
Whenever Count Avalon was in a good mood, he had consistently given Laviell money, and she had diligently converted it into gold bars. Thanks to that, I had more than enough to live on for the time being.
Then—
“Laviell.”
The countess, whom I had personally escorted earlier, appeared at my room with a very timid expression.
“Mother.”
I quickly tossed the bag into a corner and helped her sit on the sofa. From that angle, the bag couldn’t be seen. Only then did I notice she was holding something in her arms.
“What brings you here?”
“I just… came because I was worried about you.”
Looking at how timid she seemed, I briefly searched through Laviell’s memories—and quickly reached a conclusion.
“I’m more worried about you than about myself.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
She smiled awkwardly.
“No. Don’t say that. Get a divorce.”
“Laviell. What are you saying? Divorce?”
“Do you… love Father? That man?”
Why was I doing this? It would have been enough just to run away on my own, but seeing the countess who looked so much like my own mother, I couldn’t just ignore it.
“You can’t go on being hit forever.”
In Laviell’s memories, the only person who had ever tried to protect her from being beaten was the countess—taking the blows in her place. How many people like that could exist in the world?
“But divorce is…”
In this world, divorce was considered a disgrace. Many noble families even said that if one must divorce, it was better to die to preserve honor. However, over the past few centuries, that perception had slowly begun to change.
Of course, there were still many like Laviell’s father who stubbornly insisted that women were nothing more than fertile soil for the growth of a family. But overall, the trend was shifting away from viewing divorce as shameful.
“And even you… even if people speak badly of you behind your back, it would still be better for you to divorce.”
In Laviell’s memories, Countess Herbia—the countess and her mother—was a second wife. While the first wife bore three children, the count indulged in affairs, claiming he disliked “old women,” constantly meeting different women.
After Laviell was born and the first wife died, the count brought in a suitable woman and placed her as his wife. That was the current countess.
“Even though she had no blood relation to Laviell, she was the only one who ever helped her.”
Unlike Laviell’s siblings, who looked down on her and ignored her, Herbia even sold her own jewelry to get medical treatment for a child who wasn’t even hers.
“I want you to get a divorce, Mother.”
“How could I possibly divorce? I still have these beautiful children.”
“You’ve done enough. More than enough.”
The greedy count had realized that, although Herbia’s family was only a viscount house, they were wealthy. And because she was an only daughter, he had expected her family to provide money upon marriage.
But her maternal grandfather never gave them anything, and so the count beat his wife daily, demanding money.
Calling her useless. Telling her to bring money. And yet, the countess endured and stayed.
As I said this, her expression hardened even more.
“Do you dislike me, Laviell?”
“No. On the contrary… I want you to be happy, Mother. This family is full of selfish people who only think of themselves, so someone as unselfish as you can never be happy here.”
The Avalon family was also a collateral branch of the Duke of Ruphard’s house. The count’s reckless behavior was partly due to that background—his belief that the ducal family would always back him.
Even knowing his nature, the ducal house never helped, despite the family’s cries for assistance. In fact, it was the ducal house that arranged Laviell’s marriage in the first place, meaning they were not much different from the count himself.
After silently listening to me, Countess Herbia smiled faintly with her beautiful face.
“Once you get married… I will divorce him then.”
She really was like my mother.
My mother, too, had never divorced my father despite being beaten by an alcohol-soaked man. Her reason was that having divorced parents would be a stain when her only daughter—me—grew up and married.
I had grown up watching my parents live such a miserable life together that it was only natural I had no desire to marry. No matter how much I explained my feelings, my mother insisted that being a “proper parent” until death was what mattered most, and she never divorced him.
Countess Herbia was the same.
“There’s no point in trying to persuade you no matter what I say.”
“If you ever… want a divorce, I’ll help you.”
“Thank you. Laviell, you’re the only one I have.”
Fidgeting awkwardly, she handed me a box.
“This… will you take it?”
“What is it?”
“The last piece of jewelry your father gave me when we married. I’ve used or sold everything else… this is the only thing left.”
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“At the very least, Laviell… I want you to live freely. Wherever you go.”
As if she already knew I would run away, sadness filled her eyes.
“…Wherever I go?”
Do mothers just know these things?
“You’ve been different lately. That’s why I’m happy.”
What could I even say to her saying she was happy about my changed behavior? I silently took the box and held it tightly to my chest.
“You’re really a foolish woman, Mother. Instead of selling your precious jewelry, you should ask Father to buy you real gems.”
The count had never done nothing for Herbia in front of others. He bought her jewelry and dresses so she wouldn’t look inferior at parties.
But most of them were cheap imitations dressed up to look nice. Ironically, despite his terrible aesthetic sense and tacky clothing, everything he wore was real luxury. The contrast in treatment was stark.
It was frustrating.
“Well, what can I do? This is the path I chose. So Laviell, stay healthy wherever you go.”
She stood up first.
“Mother…”
Leaving like this—running away for my own sake—felt almost like committing a sin.
Like my own mother, who stayed beside me as a child while enduring my father’s violence, unable to run away.
So this was how it felt. Leaving someone behind came with a weight on the heart.
As I quietly watched her, the countess smiled gently as if she understood everything I felt.
“Go rest now.”
After she left with that warm smile, I placed the box she gave me into my bag. And I made a decision—I would one day return this jewelry to her. I would make sure she got a divorce.
And that day, I escaped from the Avalon family.
I began staying at a small inn slightly outside the city and challenged myself to take the bar exam, which also existed in this world.
Meanwhile, Count Avalon created chaos, posting notices and searching for me everywhere.
At first, he raged through the entire town, claiming I had been kidnapped. But soon, public interest faded.
I heard that the dowry the count had received from the old nobleman in exchange for marrying me off had been enormous. But because I ran away, my sister ended up marrying him instead.
“Good for her.”
Thinking of Laviell’s sister—the selfish woman she was—made me smile involuntarily.
A month later, I passed the bar exam.
Since Laviell had been weak and confined to her room since childhood, it had actually been helpful. My knowledge from my previous life was also extremely useful in many ways.
But then, I faced another problem.
