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Chapter : 2
“Your mansion is so beautiful! I’ve always dreamed of living in a place like this.”
Jane excitedly looked around the estate, while Theodore gazed at her with gentle eyes. If Rachel hadn’t been there, it felt like the atmosphere would have led to an embrace and a kiss right away.
They’re really shameless. How can they act like that right in front of his wife?
It was this obvious, so how had the original Rachel never noticed?
Even though she already knew about the affair, and even though she no longer had feelings for Theodore, irritation still surged inside her. It was unpleasant and disgusting.
But Rachel didn’t reveal her emotions. If she showed that she knew about the affair now, all her future plans would fall apart.
So Rachel welcomed Jane with the same line she had used in the original story.
“Since you’re already here, how about staying for dinner?”
“Oh my, would that really be alright? I’d love to!”
Theodore nodded in satisfaction.
“You must’ve been surprised that I suddenly brought a guest home. Thank you. Rachel, you’re truly a kind person. I’ll go upstairs and change my clothes, so you ladies chat among yourselves.”
Not chat. More like torture.
As Theodore climbed the stairs from the hall to the second floor, he secretly signaled to Jane with his eyes.
Don’t get lonely while I’m gone.
I’ll sadly endure it and wait.
It almost felt like Rachel could hear the conversation passing between their eyes.
Only after Theodore disappeared did Jane finally make eye contact with Rachel.
Rachel smiled sweetly.
“Then Jane, shall we wait in the drawing room?”
In the original story, Rachel had taken Jane to the largest and most beautiful drawing room in the mansion. It was a place reserved only for important guests, somewhere ordinary people could never enter.
Rachel, who had desperately wanted Theodore’s love, treated the guest he brought home with utmost hospitality. Even if that guest was a young woman who stirred her jealousy.
But not this time.
Rachel led Jane to the small drawing room nearest the hall instead. Later, Theodore would surely throw a fit asking why she had brought his guest to a place like this, but she couldn’t care less.
Jane came from a decent household for a commoner, but she knew little about noble estates. So when Rachel led her there, she simply asked, “Is this the drawing room?” It was disappointing.
The moment she sat down, Jane leaned forward and whispered,
“Um, Countess. There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you since earlier. May I?”
Rachel desperately suppressed the urge to say, I know exactly what you’re going to say, so don’t.
“Of course. What is it?”
“Ever since I first saw you in the hall earlier, I really wanted to say this…”
“Yes?”
“Madam, have you considered taking care of your skin? There’s a rumor that the scented oil sold at a newly opened general store makes your skin incredibly smooth. If you’d like, I can bring you some as a gift next time I visit!”
The foolish Rachel in the original story had actually been delighted to hear this.
She had praised Jane as such a kind young lady and even bragged to Theodore that Jane wanted to give her a present despite them having just met.
Without realizing Jane had subtly insulted her.
Jane was nine years younger than Theodore and five years younger than Rachel.
Rachel had been exactly Jane’s age when she was preparing to marry Theodore. It had been an age when everything about her sparkled with youth and beauty, yet before she could even properly experience romance, she had married a man like Theodore.
Though she herself never realized it, Rachel was beautiful. Pale pink hair, sky-blue eyes, soft features, and a slender figure. Unlike young Jane, Rachel possessed a mature charm.
Unfortunately, because she had never been loved, Rachel believed she was unattractive. So she followed Jane’s suggestions, taking care of her skin, wearing revealing lingerie, and forcing herself to act cute.
Just to gain the attention of a husband whose heart had never once turned toward her.
Only for that reason did she desperately try to decorate herself.
How ridiculous.
Rachel’s face hardened.
“You want to give me scented oil? How can you say something so rude?”
Startled by the unexpected response, Jane’s voice faltered.
“Uh… W-What do you mean rude? I only…”
“If you have enough energy to worry about the skin of someone you just met, then worry about your own skin instead. I’m not someone who needs skincare advice from a woman like you.”
“Ah… I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d dislike it this much… Count Theodore likes the scent, so… I thought you might like it too…”
“The scent Theo likes?”
Scented oils were commonly used after bathing.
Theodore liked the smell of something like that?
That meant the two of them had bathed, undressed, and smelled each other afterward. She might as well have openly confessed, Theodore and I slept together.
Even if she was flustered, how could she make such a slip of the tongue?
Only then did Jane realize her mistake, and her face turned bright red.
“Ah… I’m truly sorry. I would never share a bed with Count Theodore or anything like—”
Smack!
At last, Rachel’s palm struck her across the face.
“Share a bed? First you talk about the scented oil my husband likes, and now you’re mentioning sleeping together? Why? Did the two of you really sleep together?”
“Y-You slapped me?! I-I’m Count Theodore’s guest!”
“So what? Just because you’re a guest, I should tolerate hearing insulting things? Theodore’s treated you so well that you seem to have forgotten, but you’re a commoner, and I’m a countess. The fact that we’re even speaking like this is already absurd. I treated you politely, and now you’ve forgotten your place?”
Truthfully, Rachel had never intended to slap her. Until her divorce preparations were complete, she had planned to quietly act like the old Rachel.
But seeing a woman boldly flaunting we’re having an affair right in front of her made her blood boil.
Jane trembled helplessly, tears forming in her eyes.
So pathetic.
The moment Theodore appeared, Jane hurried toward him. She looked ready to throw herself into his arms, but refrained after noticing Rachel.
“Count Theodore…!”
“J-Jane?”
Theodore stared in shock at his lover’s flushed cheek.
“Rachel! What happened? Why is Jane’s cheek—”
“Jane did something that deserved it. Isn’t that right, Jane?”
At Rachel’s calm voice, Jane’s eyes filled with tears again, but she couldn’t offer an excuse. If Theodore learned what she had accidentally said, he would surely scold her too.
Dinner was prepared, and Jane, Theodore, Rachel, and Graham gathered around the dining table.
Carefully watching Rachel’s mood, Jane acted coy beside Theodore. Thanks to the man comforting her next to her, she looked far more confident than before.
“To think so many servants attend during meals—it’s amazing! So this is the kind of life you live, Count Theodore. Somehow, it feels distant from me.”
“What’s there to feel distant about? You can just visit often and get used to it.”
They really were unbelievable.
Visit often? According to whose permission?
Rachel was about to immediately say she didn’t want Jane visiting again, but unexpectedly, Graham spoke first.
“I don’t like that lady. Don’t come again.”
“Graham?”
Not realizing Graham adored his mother, Jane cluelessly spoke to him.
“Hello, Graham. I’ve heard so much about you from the Count. You’re really handsome. When you grow up, you’ll become very wonderful. You look exactly like Count Theodore.”
Though he was still a child, Graham was the future Count of Elrosa. Yet she spoke casually to someone whose status far exceeded her own. Even with her lover Theodore beside her, she was crossing the line.
More shocking was Theodore himself. He didn’t stop Jane from speaking informally to the son who would inherit his title.
Graham pouted.
“Are you stupid, lady? I don’t look like Dad. I look like Mom.”
“Uh, no. You look like your father. Your hair color and your eyes…”
It wasn’t entirely wrong, but Graham looked genuinely hurt. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes.
“I don’t want to look like Dad. I want to look like Mom.”
Graham looked at Rachel as though asking for help.
Rachel quickly nodded.
“Of course you look like Mommy. You’re Mommy’s son—I gave birth to you. To me, you don’t resemble Daddy at all. You only look like Mommy.”
“Right? I really look like Mom, don’t I?”
Graham beamed brightly.
Theodore awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Graham. Do you like your mother that much?”
“Yes! Mom is the prettiest person in the world, and I love her the most.”
“What about Dad? Dad’s pretty handsome too.”
“But Dad isn’t pretty.”
His tone sounded as if asking such a thing was ridiculous.
Theodore scratched his head awkwardly.
“Is it because I’m a man, so you don’t want to call me pretty? Then what about Jane? Jane is pretty, right?”
Graham quietly stared at Jane sitting across from him before his shoulders drooped sadly.
“Mom, this is terrible.”
“Hm? Why all of a sudden?”
“I think Dad’s gotten old and can’t see well anymore.”
His voice was so serious that Rachel had to struggle not to laugh.
“Do you think Daddy’s eyesight is getting bad?”
“Masha said old people can’t see very well. Dad thinks he’s handsome, and he says that not-pretty lady is pretty. But he never tells the prettiest person in the world—you—that you’re pretty. That means he can’t see properly, right?”
How could he say something so adorable?
And on top of that, he subtly scolded Theodore and Jane too. Truly, the male lead was still the male lead even as a child.
The expressions on Theodore and Jane’s faces, unable to properly argue with or get angry at a child’s words, were absolutely priceless.
Rachel could barely contain her overflowing joy. She desperately wanted to hug Graham tightly and rub her cheek against his.
Having to act dignified in a situation like this was truly difficult.
I want to divorce quickly and live alone with Graham already!
The moment dinner ended, Jane fled the mansion as though escaping. She looked on the verge of bursting into tears despite barely having endured anything.
How was she going to survive the far worse things still to come?
Theodore growled with a stern face.
“Don’t go to bed yet, Rachel. Wait for me. I have something to say.”
“Alright.”
It seemed he intended to scold Rachel for embarrassing Jane during dinner.
Whatever.
Theodore left the mansion together with Jane, saying he would escort her home, and only returned deep into the night. He strode toward Rachel with threatening steps.
“Rachel. Have you lost your mind?”
You’re the crazy one.
Rachel sneered inwardly.
