A Change of Husband - Chapter 95

Breathing heavily, Louisa returned to the banquet hall, looking around to find Countess Bonaparte. Luckily, she found her a little while later, having a conversation with the noblewomen and young ladies.

As Louisa approached her, Countess Bonaparte seemed to notice her as well.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

After asking for the other ladies’ understanding, Countess Bonaparte slipped away from the group. Louisa followed her into the hallway.

“Is everything ready?”

“It has been handled perfectly, my lady.”

“Good. Then, watch that woman closely and stay with her.”

“Understood, my lady.”

Countess Bonaparte gave a meaningful smile.

Tomorrow, Asilie would be disgracefully kicked out of the Bonaparte family, and she would never be treated like a noblewoman anywhere again. A woman who was dishonorably divorced and had lowly origins—this woman, who had dared to hold her head high and resist, would soon be chewed up by nobles, to be remembered as nothing but a scandal. There could be no greater satisfaction.

“Have you been waiting long?”

Countess Bonaparte smiled brightly and returned to the banquet hall.

It was early morning, but Asilie had woken up earlier than usual. It felt like something was about to happen, like her life was on the brink of a big change. The rain pouring down was unlike the typical autumn rain. While she couldn’t start the day with the usual bright morning, Asilie didn’t feel bothered by it.

She stared out the window at the pouring rain for a long while before opening it and reaching out her hand. The cold rain soaked her palm, but she didn’t mind and let herself feel the rain for a while. After a moment, she withdrew her hand and closed the window.

She had only extended one arm, but the rain splashed around, making her nightgown soaked. Asilie pulled the bell rope to call for a maid. Soon, a sleepy Louisa entered the room.

“What is it at this hour?”

“Prepare a bath for me.”

“Sigh, fine. Please wait a moment.”

Her grumpy tone was filled with complaints about being woken up so early.

Asilie briefly watched Louisa before asking coldly, “What were you doing last night to be so tired?”

“…What?” Normally, she would have ignored such a question, but Louisa flinched slightly without realizing it. Then, perhaps realizing her overreaction, she turned quickly and answered, “Nothing.”

Louisa quickly finished preparing the bath and left. Her usual politeness had been completely disregarded, but Asilie didn’t mind and started getting ready for the day.

Usually, she wore simple indoor clothes, but today she dressed in a way that was a bit more refined than usual. As she was picking out a necklace to wear with her outfit, the door suddenly slammed open with a loud crash.

Startled, Asilie turned around, and several knights from the Bonaparte family rushed into her bedroom.

“What is this…?”

Although Asilie had expected something would happen today, as Countess Bonaparte had planned, she hadn’t anticipated the knights barging in like this. She was taken aback.

As the knights surrounded her, Countess Bonaparte entered the room, leading her household members.

“I trusted you with the task, and this is how you repay me! I always said you can’t trust low-born people, but you insisted I should!”

Countess Bonaparte yelled, glaring at Asilie with a sharp voice.

Asilie not even attempting to hide her confusion, opened her mouth.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I allowed you to enter the archive and manage the ledgers! And now, this morning, one of the ledgers is missing. What do you think that means?”

“Are you saying I stole it?”

“Is there any other explanation?”

“How strange, my lady. There must be others who have access to the archive, not just me.”

Countess Bonaparte sneered as if she had expected Asilie to respond that way.

“No one but the duke, me, and you have access to the archive! Even Joseph doesn’t! The duke and I have no reason to steal the ledgers, so it must be you!”

“That’s an assumption. Perhaps someone else broke in and stole the ledger?”

“You’re the only one who knows when the guards change at the archive, except for the duke and me. It’s more plausible that you did it than to assume someone else managed to sneak in during the guard change,” Countess Bonaparte said with a triumphant smile, her voice filled with glee.

“It’s reasonable and logical to suspect you.”

“That’s insulting.”

“Our family has been insulted! We took you in, and this is how you repay us, causing such trouble.”

“So, you bring knights in to accuse me of a crime that hasn’t even been proven yet? This is an insult to the Grandier family as well, my lady.”

Asilie snapped coldly, interrupting Countess Bonaparte before she could say anything further.

“By the way, the Grandier Duke and Duchess have promised to have lunch with me today, and they are still in this house. I’d appreciate it if you could call them over. Wouldn’t that be fair?”

“Are you suggesting that I bring the poor people into this to prove your crime?”

“Actually, it would be to prove my innocence.”

Countess Bonaparte, realizing that Asilie was completely unaware of what was happening, smirked subtly. If it had been Monica in this situation, her response would have been different. Monica, raised in a noble family with proper education, would have known that such a strong confrontation meant there was solid evidence.

But it wasn’t bad. Asilie’s ignorance was actually helping her. If Asilie’s crime were revealed in front of the Grandier Duke and Duchess, they would have no choice but to divorce her without protest. In fact, the Grandier Duke and Duchess might even discard Asilie sooner. She wasn’t important enough to them.

“Your arrogant attitude is what’s leading you to your downfall,” Countess Bonaparte thought with a slight smile as she turned and walked toward the archive.

After a short while, the Grandier Duke and Duchess arrived at the archive, looking surprised.

“What is going on, Countess Bonaparte?” the Grandier Duke asked, and Count Bonaparte answered with a troubled look.

“I’m afraid that after allowing her access to the archive just this past week, one of the ledgers that had never gone missing before is gone. So…”

“Can you pinpoint the time the ledger went missing?”

“It seems to have happened during the time the guards changed last night. My wife checks the ledgers every day.”

The Grandier Duke and Duchess frowned at Count Bonaparte’s words. Asilie had been with them from dinner until the banquet ended the previous night.

“The Countess has been with us, talking with us the whole time since dinner. She never left our side.”

“That means…”

“Of course, we can’t be absolutely certain of the time, but if it was around the time you suspect, I can confirm she was with us. At least we, the Grandier Duke and Duchess, are not the kind of people who lie.”

Countess Bonaparte glanced at the Grandier Duke to gauge his reaction. She wanted to get rid of Asilie not the Grandier Duke and Duchess. There was no point in worsening her relationship with them.

“Of course, this is just a rough estimate. Only the person who took the ledger knows exactly when it was stolen. We don’t suspect the Duke or Duchess at all. Let’s make that clear,” Countess Bonaparte added.

Still, the atmosphere remained tense. Countess Bonaparte awkwardly reached for the doorknob and spoke.

“Well, let’s go inside.”

After everyone entered the archive, the servants closed the door behind them.

Countess Bonaparte hurriedly moved to the bookshelf where the missing ledger had originally been kept. Then, she suddenly screamed in shock.

“My goodness!”

When everyone turned to her in surprise, Countess Bonaparte bent down and picked up a strand of hair.

“I knew it. Everyone, look here. Even if we didn’t want to suspect her, the evidence is right in front of us.”

The hair she picked up was long, curly, and blonde.

And in the Bonaparte household, there was only one person with long, curly blonde hair—Asilie.

“As expected, the truth can’t be hidden. The culprit always leaves a trace.”

“You can’t accuse me of being the culprit based on just one strand of hair.”

At Asilie’s response, Monica, who had been silent until now, frowned and spoke up.

“Sister, that’s enough. It’s time to admit it.”

“Sister-in-law…”

“Mother may have been a bit strict with you while teaching you the family work, but stealing the ledger? That’s too much. How could you be so ungrateful? Even a wild animal wouldn’t behave like this.”

“That’s harsh, Lady Bonaparte.”

At the icy remark from the Duchess of Grandier, Monica let out a short laugh.

“What’s harsh is what Sister did. If she hadn’t stolen the ledger in the first place, none of this would’ve happened.”

Asilie glared at Monica, then shifted her gaze to Joseph, who was standing next to her.

Joseph had just turned his head toward Asilie but when their eyes met, he flinched and took a step back in surprise.

Then, as if realizing what he had just done, he blinked rapidly.

“What do you think, Brother-in-law?”

Monica conveniently directed the question to Joseph.

Joseph looked momentarily flustered, but soon caught on to Monica’s intention and pointed at Asilie as he shouted.

“Confess right now and apologize! How could you do something like this?!”

“See, Sister? Even Brother-in-law doesn’t trust you. You must’ve acted so untrustworthy all the time for him to be like this.”

The continuing attacks didn’t particularly hurt her, but that didn’t mean she was feeling fine, either.

With a stiff expression, Asilie looked around the room once, then stepped closer to Countess Bonaparte.

“Are you saying I’m the culprit just because of that strand of hair?”

“What else could it be?”

“As you said, I’ve had access to this archive for a while now. That hair could’ve fallen then.”

“Right in front of this bookshelf?”

Countess Bonaparte asked with a sarcastic tone.

In truth, accusing Asilie based solely on a strand of hair was incredibly unfair. In fact, at the time they suspected the ledger was stolen, she had been with the Duke and Duchess of Grandier, which made it even harder to claim she was guilty.

Fortunately, Countess Bonaparte had once ordered that no one except herself and the Count could enter the archive before giving Asilie access.

There was no way Asilie could get out of this mess.

“It’s so unfair… What is that?”

Just then, as Asilie began to protest, she suddenly pointed at the floor.

Joseph, who was nearby, picked up what she was pointing at. Then he answered,

“It’s just… a button.”

At his words, the Duke of Grandier raised his left eyebrow and asked,

“Why is there a button there?”

“Huh? I’m not sure… Someone must’ve dropped it.”

He shrugged and was about to put the button into his pocket when—

“Isn’t that a button from a maid’s uniform?”

At Asilie’s question, Joseph took another look at the button.

Nobles rarely used black buttons on their clothing. On top of that, this button was heavily worn, as if it had been bumped into many things.

It was clearly a servant’s button. Judging by the small size, it was likely from a maid’s uniform, just as Asilie had said.

“I think so…”

“Wait!”

Just as Joseph started to nod, Countess Bonaparte cut him off.

But Joseph, not realizing how the situation was turning, continued awkwardly.

“…I mean, yes.”

“That’s strange,” Asilie said with a frown.

“Mother, you clearly said that no one could enter the archive except you, Father, and me. But this looks like it came from a maid’s uniform.”

“……”

“The only people who could clean here are the head maid and the butler, but wasn’t the head maid dismissed a long time ago?”

The archive fell into silence.

Joseph’s face turned pale as he realized he was the one who had given Asilie a way out.

Panicking at the thought that he had ruined everything, he tried to fix the situation.

“W-Why is everyone so quiet? Who knows how long that button’s been there?! It might’ve fallen a long time ago!”

“But you just accused me of being the culprit based on a single hair I dropped in front of this bookshelf—even though I was given permission to be here.”

“That’s because your background is suspicious, filthy, and lowly—”

Smack!

Joseph couldn’t finish his sentence.

Before he could get the words out, Asilie’s hand struck his cheek with a sharp slap.

He stared blankly into the air, unable to immediately process what had just happened.

“I can’t take any more insults. I can no longer bring myself to stay tied to this toxic and terrible place under the name of family. It’s time to say goodbye to this shameless and senseless household.”

She knew everyone was staring at her with their mouths wide open, but Asilie didn’t care one bit. She turned confidently toward the Count and Countess of Bonaparte.

Looking them straight in the eye, she declared boldly:

“I am filing for divorce.”

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