CH 38

Eventually, the Marquis was able to speak with his daughter Blanche just like he wanted. However, the Marquis found it hard to open his mouth. He also looked more anxious than angry at Blanche for deceiving him.

He pulled out a glass bottle the size of a thumb from his arms.

It was a deadly poison that could kill an elephant.

The Marquis handed it to Blanche.

“Take it, Blanche.”

Blanche was not surprised that the Marquis finally found out who she was. However she was still disgusted with her father.

The look on the Marquis’ face showed that his frustration was stronger than his sadness.

Moreover, he did not even try to switch Blanche and Mariette, even belatedly.

Blanche laughed.

“Aren’t you giving it too soon? I don’t think I should use this at least after Mariette gives birth.”

Surprisingly, even after his youngest daughter laughed, he didn’t yell like he used to.

It was natural. Because he knew that his anger would reveal the situation.

The Marquis sighed.

“Blanche. I don’t care what you think of me. Just know this one thing. Whatever Mariette said to you, you don’t have to deal with her business anymore.”

“No way. When the Count dies, the debt will be paid off anyway. After all, ‘Mariette’ is married to Count Juan.”

At Blanche’s sarcasm, the Marquis became furious, but later muffled his speech.

“D*mn it, if you get pregnant…!”

As expected, he was chasing after the ‘product’ called Blanche for fear that it would get scratched. The Marquis thought that he still controlled Blanche’s life like he did in the past.

That was all it was. Blanche accepted the bottle that the Marquis had offered, and poured all the contents into a nearby vase.

The Marquis was dumbfounded.

“Blanche! What are you doing! Do you know how expensive that was!”

“I changed my mind.”

“What?”

Blanche softly laughed.

“Dad. The Count must live for a while.”

‘Only then will your life be dragged through mud.’

The words lingered at the tip of Blanche’s tongue.

The Marquis looked around for a bit and lowered his voice.

“What nonsense! Remember, Blanche! Tonight, the Count must die!”

“…”

“Don’t look at me with those eyes. This is all for our family.”

“Not for the family, but for dad.”

“Tch. You’ve become an adult and yet your mind is still so immature. What a pity, Blanche. Are you going to kill the Count with your bare hands?”

The Marquis clicked his tongue again as Blanche shot him a look. He still had no doubts that Blanche would listen to him.

“Don’t blame me. You are the one who caused this situation!”

The Marquis, who had fallen into the swamp of illusion, sighed.

“You have to. Blanche. Whether you stab him in the heart or strangle him with a silk string, have him drink alcohol first, it will make killing him a lot easier.”

After finishing the conversation, the Marquis even took out the pigeon egg from his arms.

“Never sleep with the Count, no matter what. Now that you are normal, you should get married to a good place.”

He spoke as if he had already decided for her. Blanche reacted to this. She immediately snatched the pigeon egg and threw it against one of the bedroom walls.

It was regrettable that the pigeon egg flew to a place where the light of the candles did not reach.

If it had flown to a slightly brighter place, the fishy smell and fresh blood would have made the Count suspicious. If that was the case, everything would have been caught, and Blanche would be able to run away with her mind at ease.

No one will be able to stop Blanche once she gets the keys to the treasury.

The Marquis was horrified by Blanche’s ‘unlike a good daughter’ violent behavior.

“Blanche! Shouldn’t you also be against this situation?”

Her patience finally ran out. Blanche tilted her head and frowned at her biological father, who was ugly, selfish, and disgusting.

“How many more times should I tell you?”

A cruel glare emanated from her green eyes, but the Marquis still couldn’t understand his daughter.

“Blanche?”

“Marquis Marquette. You still don’t understand? Blanche, your daughter, is already dead.”

“…”

“You killed her yourself the day you forced her to marry in place of Mariette.”

“…”

“Your relationship with me has already ended.”

“You, you…!”

Blanche scoffed at the Marquis, who pointed a finger at her in anger. He no longer had any hold over his independent daughter.

Blanche declared.

“Don’t interfere with my life as if it was natural. I no longer belong to you.”

“So this is the choice you made while pretending to be good? Defiling your innocence instead of Mariette?”

The angry Marquis’ face was so red that it looked like it was about to burst.

At the ridiculous sight, wind slipped out from Blanche’s mouth.

“Do not worry. My lord the Marquis. You’ll find out after tonight.”

“…”

“Why I made this choice.”

With that, Blanche no longer gave the Marquis a chance to speak. As soon as Blanche pulled the string near her bed, people flocked back inside.

It was a mix of maids and escorts. For a moment, the Marquis, surrounded by large knights, pouted his mouth like a fish.

He could not blame Blanche.

Blanche, who pretended to be a good daughter whose true father was shameful, acted in front of everyone.

“Dad. It would be better if you left. I know you care about me, but trying to stay with me before midnight… I think that’s a little bit…”

The maid spoke for her.

“The Madam is right, Marquis. Please leave.”

He bit his clenched lower lip as if he still had a lot to say. But he could no longer teach Blanche anything.

Eventually, the Marquis realized it.

The fact that Blanche was completely out of his grasp.

Blanche added, speaking to the Marquis, who was on the verge of getting sick.

“Oh. Dad. Tell Alphonse that even if he kept looking for ‘Irene’, he won’t find her.”

Alphonse was the only one in the family who didn’t know that Blanche was Irene. The Marquis was the one who decided that he should not be informed.

He hated decreasing the time Alphonse studied. He also hated Alphonse’s inability to concentrate on his education.

The only way to raise the honor of the Marquis family, who fell to the ground, was the success of their children and marriage.

The Marquis mumbled with an annoyed face.

“You foolish daughter. One day, you will be able to understand this father’s heart. I’ve always been worried about you!”

He did. Despite all this, the Marquis was convinced.

It was impossible for Blanche to live well alone, away from her family.

Well. He would not be able to imagine it, even if he died.

He didn’t know that the daughter he had been so harsh on would lead a life that was twice as successful than himself.

Blanche laughed at her father’s curse, which would never come true.

Her laugh was mixed with ridicule.

* * *

Finally, it was the first night.

Count Juan swallowed his saliva involuntarily at the sight that unfolded before his eyes.

It was because Blanche, who sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at him coyly, was dizzying. But it was not because she was alluring. She was wearing pajamas that did not even expose her shoulders, so that she could stave off his withered passion.

Indeed there was a possibility that she may not be ‘Mariette’, who was called the most beautiful woman on the continent.

Thanks to his conversation with Giacomo, the Count was suspicious of Blanche’s identity.

‘As expected, there was no way the Marquis would give me the real Mariette. So that must have been why the disabled daughter was declared dead. What a stupid b*st*rd. If it was me, I would have taken advantage of the fact that my second daughter was cured of her disability. If you say that you have been blessed by the Goddess, it would raise the honor of the family, they are nobles after all.’

The Count smiled menacingly.

‘It doesn’t matter. After all, the shell is the same. Besides, I found out what the Marquis had been hiding, so I could use this against the upright Marquis family. I’ll let it go. Now, these beautiful twin sisters are mine.’

His self-confidence overflowed for a moment, and as time passed, his throat dried up.

It was because the dizzying beauty in front of him had paralyzed his reason. The Count could not read Blanche’s expression.

He walked slowly and stood in front of the bed.

To break the spirit of the new bride, the Count opened his mouth first.

“You’re not Mariette, are you? You’ve been trying so hard to deceive everyone.”

Blanche laughed.

“That’s right. I endured and held it in.”

“From now on, it would be better not to raise your nose by pretending to be the most beautiful woman on the continent. Because I have no intention of bending over fakes.”

“That’s a relief. I was thinking the same thing. I don’t want to have you under my feet either.”

“From now on, you will have to be obedient to me… What did you say? You?”

The Count, having assumed what Blanche was going to answer, opened his eyes wide belatedly.

Blanche emphasized once more.

“Yes. You’re nothing.”

She grabbed the Count’s collar the next moment.

Blanche’s eyes tilted like a crescent moon.

“It must have been nice playing with money.”

“Ack! I-I can’t b-bre-…!”

“The people who go to usurers came in crowds.”

“L-Let’s talk about this. Let’s have a conversation.”

The Count tried to release the collar caught by Blanche with all his strength, but it was all in vain. Her slender body did not budge no matter what the Count did.

Blanche’s green eyes gleamed coldly.

“Why do I need to talk to you? Did you speak to the people who came to you? No. I know the rumors well. They say that you somehow made it impossible to repay the money so that the women of the household were sold in the streets and the men were sold at the labor yard?”

As time went by, the Count’s face turned white.

Blanche’s strength holding his neck was beyond imagination.

“S-Spare me…!”

Blanche was going to keep the Count alive to make the Marquis’ life difficult, but she had no intention of letting him off easily.

Suddenly, the Count’s hand touched Blanche’s chest. It was a mistake as Count Juan tried to push her away.

The Count was able to escape from her grasp. But this was not achieved by the Count himself, but only because of Blanche’s whim.

Moreover, her change of heart returned with even greater violence.

The moment when the Count, who was staggering with his short breath, sat on his a*s, Blanche’s foot stomped on his leg.

Crack.

The Count’s left ankle was broken at once. She kept the Count’s mouth from screaming by pushing his face against the floor. She also knocked him down by breaking his arm as fast as a lightning bolt.