Chapter 885

Chapter 885: Broken Trust

‘Do I deserve to be treated this way?’ She swallowed her sobs to not attract any attention from the maids and servants who might be in the corridor outside this room.

The blow she received after learning those alarming truths from her closest maid was enough to almost drive her to the point of no return.

Everyone watched her make a fool out of herself for a man who did not respect her in the least bit.

This revelation pricked her heart and she felt suffocated every moment she spent in the room they shared as a married couple.

Therefore, she immediately asked her maid to move her to a different room.

Though she had been annoyed with this maid as well for keeping her in the dark despite knowing everything, she chose to forgive her after the maid explained her reason for doing so.

The maid had known how much her Madame worshipped the Earl and thus thought that she would not be able to bear this news.

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For this reason, the maid had unwillingly kept this matter a secret from her Madame to save her from the heartache she was experiencing right now.

While the maid’s heart was in the right place, the Countess still wished that she had been told about what was going on in her own house.

She had never mistreated any of the servants from the time she had first married into the Blaise family.

Unlike other noble ladies she knew of, she had not once tormented or humiliated them for not doing their tasks properly.

Therefore, she could not grasp how they had the heart to keep such crucial matters concerning her life a secret from her.

Now that she had learned everything, she could no longer look at them in the same way.

Except for her two children who were as clueless as she was, the Countess refused to place her trust in the rest who resided in this mansion.

This was especially true for her husband and the butler whom she had trusted blindly in the past.

The maid who revealed everything to her was the only one exempted as she was from the Countess’s maiden family and had followed her into the Blaise household after marriage.

Since she needed at least someone whom she could place her trust in, she chose this maid who had begged for forgiveness and assigned all important duties to her.

Right now, no one knew of the Madame’s reason for acting this way except for her loyal maid who had been with her all along.

However, Countess Blaise did not know that her husband had already learned of this matter from his Butler.

Since she had not yet confronted him about his infidelity, he had pretended to be ignorant of everything.

He played along with her excuse of changing rooms due to her illness but kept trying to get back on good terms with her by approaching her when he got the time.

The Countess was unaware of this fact and stayed inside her room just as she had been these last few weeks.

The only visitor who had shown up today was her son as the Earl had not tried to approach her all day which was now giving her both positive and negative feelings.

While she was glad that she did not have to send him away today as well, she was also aggrieved that he had given up trying already.

Their marriage had not been based on love but was arranged by their families.

However, she loved him sincerely and did everything in her power to keep him happy and satisfied with her.

She was a daughter from a lower noble family, belonging to the side branch which wasn’t too prominent.

Since the main branch did not have daughters, to establish political connections with the Blaise family, they had married her, the second child of the side branch, to the young Earl.

Back then, everyone had praised her for being born with good fortune because she had been able to marry the heir to an Earl’s family whereas her elder sister had married a mere Baron.

The age gap between the sisters was close to a decade and it was a well-known fact that her elder sister had been married to a man who was a decade older than her.

The elder sister’s marriage was also a part of a political exchange to gain profit for their maiden family’s main branch.

However, the difference in their statuses was immense as one was a Baron while the other, was an Earl.

Thus they were often compared because despite being given in marriage for political reasons, one’s fortune was greater than the other.

Even if the two sisters could become Madames of influential families of their respective main branches in the future, they would have such contrasting statuses.

The elder sister would only be a Baroness while the younger one had turned into a Countess of higher ranking.

Thus they viewed the younger sister as the winner among the two with her status being two ranks higher than her elder sister.

Now thinking back to these memories, the Countess believed that they were wrong to assume so.

It was clear to her that her elder sister was the lucky one due to numerous reasons which she had failed to notice previously.

Though her brother-in-law was just a Baron, he loved her elder sister and treated her right.

He might not be the best-looking man in Rosenhyde and even had a few vices which included his drinking habits which could get excessive at times and also his greed which surpassed many limits.

However, not once had those vices brought harm or distress to her elder sister.

While she was just a Baroness, her sister was happy with the man she married, and the two, despite being childless even after so many years, were leading a blissful married life.

On the other hand, she was a Countess and had given her husband two beautiful children yet could not keep his attention and love all to herself.

Was it not enough that she had to share his love with some commoner woman?

Now she was made aware of his indiscretions with the maids serving their family as well.

These thoughts brought both grief and fury to the Countess who realized that she was just a meaningless existence in this mansion where everyone treated her as air.

‘Will anything change even if I lock myself in this room?’ She pondered over the decisions she had made in the last many days.

Recalling her husband’s absence today and his declining visits in the past few days, she already had a faint idea of how things would progress if she persisted on this path.

However, she still could not bring herself to forget everything she had learned and feign ignorance of his infidelity.

Burying her face into her arms, the Countess muffled a groan that expressed her cowardice and her inability to take action.

She wanted things to change but knew of no way to make it happen.

Thus, for now, all she could do was try to diminish her presence while also trying to sort out these depressing thoughts that filled her mind each and every waking moment of her day.

___

Contrary to the gloomy air surrounding this Countess, the only other Countess of the Rosenhyde Kingdom was enjoying all of the attention of her beloved husband.

There were only three Earls in their kingdom and since Earl Mikren had not yet gotten married, right now, there were only two Countesses present.

Raylene St. Claire, the only other Countess, blushed when she saw her husband placing freshly baked cookies onto her plate.

By the time she had awakened from her afternoon nap, she noticed that the other half of her bed was empty and cold.

This meant that her husband had left the room a while ago so after washing up, she went out in search of him.

Thankfully, she met him along the way and asked him to join her for tea.

To her surprise, she found her father there as well which implied that they had been together until now.

Following this encounter, the two men were invited to have tea while waiting for the children to return from their evening practice.

She was busy caring for her father, pouring him tea, and ensuring that he had everything he needed that she had forgotten about herself.

Only when she was done serving him did she turn to pour tea for her husband but was pleasantly surprised to see what he had been up to while her attention was elsewhere.

A fresh cup of tea was handed to her the moment she met her husband’s gaze before he began stacking up cookies on her plate.

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This made her smile sweetly while admiring how considerate and thoughtful her Ruthy was.

If her father had not been around then she surely would have pounced on him to give him a tight hug.

Sadly, the man could only wait until they were alone before he could enjoy being in her embrace.

When Rutherford noticed the glint of admiration and love flashing across those beautiful pink eyes, he grinned to himself.

He had been upset that his Ray was focused on the old man but looking at the way she had just gazed at him, he applauded his mind for coming up with that idea.

Thanks to his silent actions, he had just made a good impression for himself in his wife’s mind.

Therefore, he did not care about the nasty look his father-in-law was shooting in his direction but smiled at his wife instead, urging her to eat more.