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Chapter – 18
Jane trembled all over.
The memory of Rachel slapping her across the face resurfaced vividly. Back then, Theodore had been with her—but today, he wasn’t.
“P-Please give Theodore back to me.”
“Hahaha. You’re a funny girl. You’re the one who stole Theodore from me, and now you’re asking me to give him back?”
“You hid him.”
“I didn’t hide him. Why would I hide trash like that?”
“You didn’t? Really?”
“Of course not.”
Rachel smiled with her eyes gracefully curved, and goosebumps rose along Jane’s arms.
“Hide him? I’m just waiting to grind him under my heel.”
Jane felt like she was about to cry.
Jane wasn’t very perceptive, but even she could tell that Rachel was angry. She was smiling, but it wasn’t out of joy. If Theodore showed up, she truly intended to crush him.
Theodore wasn’t here.
Jane had come to the wrong place.
Then what about Kal? She had to clear the misunderstanding that he had embezzled the Elossa Count family’s assets!
A chill ran down her spine.
Could it be… Rachel? That witch?
Jane wanted to run away from the mansion in tears immediately, but for the sake of her lover and her father, she gathered her courage. Love truly was powerful.
“M-Madam… was it you who did that to my father?”
“Your father?”
Rachel played dumb. She stared at Jane for a moment, then snickered.
“My goodness. Now you’re not only looking for your boyfriend here, but your dad too?”
Jane’s eyes welled up, and tears finally spilled over.
Her father being wrongfully arrested was already heartbreaking—hearing words like that was unbearable.
“M-Madam… how could you say something like that…”
“I don’t know what this is about, but if that’s why you’re here, leave. I don’t even want to look at you.”
“So it wasn’t you? Are you saying you didn’t frame my father for embezzling the Elossa family’s fortune?”
“Me? You really think that?”
Jane covered her mouth.
Come to think of it, Theodore always bragged about it.
‘That idiot Rachel doesn’t know anything. She doesn’t care how I use the family money. That’s why I can spoil you like this so easily. Haha.’
Kal had never stolen someone else’s money to fill his own pockets.
Rachel knew nothing.
Theodore had secretly given Jane the family’s money behind his wife’s back.
The only person who could frame Kal… was Theodore.
Jane shook her head violently, her face pale.
No. Theodore wouldn’t do something like that. We love each other. There’s no way he’d frame the father of the woman he loves.
She stifled her sobs, but then she heard Rachel muttering to herself.
“Ha… Theodore. That man was useless at everything. And I trusted someone like that as my husband…”
Useless at everything.
At that moment, the rose-colored glasses fell away.
Looking back, Theodore really was that kind of person.
A man who said he loved her, stole money to let her live in luxury, yet insisted marriage was impossible.
A coward who claimed true love, then disappeared the moment his affair was exposed.
‘Jane, I had no choice. Between insulting the imperial family, adultery, and tax evasion, I’d be ruined. Please understand. Once things calm down, I’ll clear your father’s name.’
His pathetic excuse echoed in her head.
It sounded believable.
Something Theodore might actually say.
Jane’s mind went blank. She rushed forward, dropped to her knees at Rachel’s feet, and bowed deeply.
“Madam! Please help me!”
Her face soaked with tears, she begged.
“Yes, I took the money! Theo sent it to me! He bought me things, even a house!”
“Are you bragging right now?”
“I’ll give it all back. I’ll return everything, so please help my father! You can do it, Madam. You’re the Countess!”
“What nonsense are you spewing?”
“That bastard Theodore trapped both me and my father! I was wrong! Please, just once—if you help us, I’ll never see Theo again. Please show mercy!”
She begged with all her heart.
Kal was her only family. A kind father who always wished for her happiness. She couldn’t let him rot in prison under false charges.
That wicked Theodore. He said he loved her. He said he loved her!
Rachel looked down at the sobbing Jane, then tugged her dress back in irritation.
“Go back. Even shamelessness has its limits. You expect me to help my husband’s mistress? Whatever happened between you and Theodore, deal with it yourselves.”
“Please! Madam! Countess, please!”
But Rachel turned away without hesitation and left the hall.
Jane wailed for a long time before servants dragged her out of the mansion.
After leaving Jane behind, Rachel returned to her room and began packing.
She gathered only the essentials and took the letters she found in Theodore’s study—love letters exchanged with Jane. She had almost burned them, but decided they might be useful someday.
Just as planned, Jane now misunderstood Theodore.
It was a joint effort between Kal and Rachel.
Rachel had never intended to make Kal take all the blame.
She had planned to sow discord between Jane and Theodore, then gradually shift the charges onto Theodore.
But surprisingly, Kal had turned himself in to the tax bureau.
‘I will take the blame voluntarily. Please show mercy to Jane.’
‘You think that’s an appealing offer?’
‘Yes. If I confess, you won’t have to fight a dirty battle with me.’
He wasn’t wrong.
Kal was clever and meticulous. If he wanted to, he could have made Rachel’s life miserable.
For someone like that to quietly disappear in exchange for Jane’s safety—it was an offer worth accepting.
Rachel accepted.
What would happen now? Jane would probably slap Theodore the moment she saw him.
Would he get angry without understanding why? Or try to clear things up through the power of love?
Hopefully they’d fight and ruin each other. That would complete poetic justice—a proper happy ending.
She had prepared all the annulment documents, just as Sian advised. All that remained was declaring divorce to Theodore.
After that, she would cleanly leave the mansion.
She closed her bag with a snap and exhaled.
“Ha… I feel so relieved.”
If she’d known it would feel this freeing, she might’ve left earlier. But finishing everything made it even better.
She rested her chin on the bag and lifted her left hand. The wedding ring still sparkled on her ring finger.
“I’ll finally be able to throw this away soon.”
She pouted slightly.
“But… where should I go?”
Rachel had no family or friends. Once she left the Elossa family, she had nowhere to go.
That was why, in the original story, Rachel clung desperately to Theodore.
She rummaged through Rachel’s letters and diary, hoping to find something—anything.
All she found were fragments of a lonely past.
‘A noble lady who lost her family and house in a tragic accident.’
Rachel’s birth family had once been so respected that even the strict Berengella had chosen them for a political marriage.
Count Fram was wise. His wife was gentle and kind.
Rachel, their only child, was loved excessively—so much so that she knew nothing of the world.
When her parents died in a carriage accident, she was completely lost.
It was one year after her marriage.
‘Rachel, don’t be so sad. You have me.’
She had been foolish enough to believe words like that.
She entrusted Theodore with her parents’ funeral, the family estate, the mansion—everything.
He liquidated the Fram family’s assets and gave them to Jane.
He even erased the Fram name from the noble registry.
“The more I think about it, the more of a bastard he is. Ending the title because there’s no heir is one thing—but stealing your father-in-law’s assets to give to your mistress? Disgusting.”
She had documented all of this while preparing the annulment.
Once the marriage was voided, she would reclaim her dowry, the Fram family’s assets, and even the title.
‘I’ll give everything to Graham someday. It might help when he dates Dolorosa.’
Rachel collapsed onto the bed, imagining her future life with Graham—then drifted into sleep.
Rachel dreamed.
In the dream, she wasn’t Rachel.
She was an ordinary twenty-year-old college student living in South Korea.
“Mom, Mom! Wake up!”
“Hah… hah… urgh…”
After a long fight, her father had hit her mother—and when her mother collapsed, he ran away.
After calling an ambulance, she screamed at her mother.
“Why didn’t you divorce him?! If you did, we wouldn’t have to see his face anymore! Why are you so stupid, letting yourself get beaten?!”
“You… you need a father…”
“Shut up! Don’t use me as an excuse! Do you think I’d be grateful? Don’t make me laugh!”
She never imagined her mother would die like that.
Rachel woke up gasping for air, staring at the divorce papers and annulment documents beside her bed.
“…Right. Divorce as soon as you can. You’ve already lived through this once.”
Good. You did well. You couldn’t have divorced any faster.
She bit her lip and closed her eyes again—then Sian’s voice echoed in her mind.
‘You must be happy.’
Yes. That too.
Divorce wasn’t the end—it was the beginning.
She had to become happy.
For a more perfect revenge on Theodore.
And for Graham—and for herself.
