A Change of Husband - Chapter 97

Although she had asked for the cooperation of the Grandier Duke and Duchess, Asilie didn’t think staying at the Grandier estate would be comfortable for her.
However, unlike what she had expected, the duke and duchess seemed genuinely grateful that they were able to obtain a high-performance gun through Jonathan. They were considerate in many ways to make her stay as comfortable as possible.
Thanks to their kindness, Asilie was able to spend her time much more at ease than when she had lived at the Bonaparte estate.

“To be honest, seeing how Lord Joseph acted during the last meeting, I had a feeling he might do something reckless. But to think he had that kind of relationship with Lady Monica… truly unfortunate.”

“It’s all right. I’ve endured this far, and things like that don’t hurt me anymore. But what kind of attitude did he show at the meeting?”

At Asilie’s question, the Duke of Grandier lifted his teacup and took a sip of the freshly brewed, fragrant tea before speaking.

“Even though the mourning period wasn’t over yet, he asked His Majesty to take a consort. What made it even more absurd was that Count Mirk agreed with him.”

“…He asked him to take a consort?”

“It was an unreasonable demand. What’s worse is that even though they had to know how absurd the situation was, they still pushed it. I assume such talk was going around among the conservative nobles, so they acted on it.”

“So what did His Majesty say?”

“He refused at the time.”

Asilie quickly grasped the deeper meaning in his words.

“At the time?”

“…It’s not certain, but I think he may be considering the former queen, Cordelia.”

He seemed to be on edge.
Asilie barely managed to hide her expression and forced out a response.

“Her?”

“Given her connection with Velkoz, she isn’t a bad choice.”

“Still… I heard the former queen was close to the conservative nobles.”

“Even so, she’s a foreigner, so it’s said she doesn’t fully align with either the conservative or progressive factions. And personally, I don’t think she’s a bad choice. Especially when considering many other factors.”

Asilie could understand what the duke was saying, but understanding with her head and accepting it with her heart were two different things.
She felt like she couldn’t breathe.
She had thought that man might be Esperad—but was she wrong after all?
If he really was the Esperad she knew, he would never consider taking Cordelia as his queen.

“…I see.”

“You don’t look well. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Ah, I should be going now. I have something scheduled.”

She had an appointment with Sophia that afternoon.
She had planned to stay at the Grandier estate until the divorce process was finalized, but discussing whether the ledger had been properly delivered via letters felt too uncomfortable.
This was an unavoidable outing.

“Take care.”

“Thank you for your concern. I’ll see you again at dinner.”

Asilie stood up, returned to her room, got dressed for her outing, and came to the front of the mansion.
The coachman was already waiting for her in front of the carriage.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“Not at all. Shall I take you to Shop Sophia?”

“That’s right.”

With the coachman’s help, Asilie boarded the carriage.
She had no idea that once she left this estate, she wouldn’t be able to return by dinnertime as promised with the Duke of Grandier.

Bang!
“Aaah!”

A loud bang rang out, followed by a scream—and someone died.
She knew it the moment she heard the sound. It was a gunshot.

It happened less than 30 minutes after she had left Shop Sophia and boarded the carriage back to the Grandier estate.
She tried to crouch down to hide, but the attackers already knew she was in the carriage. They violently opened the door and found her.
They grabbed her hair, dragged her out, and threw her to the ground.

She had experienced something similar before. In another world, in another life.

“Ah…”

The sudden stop of the carriage had already flung her around inside. Now that she was thrown to the ground, pain surged through her entire body.
She groaned as she clutched her abdomen, the pain as if she had been severely beaten.
Trying hard to stay conscious, she glared up at them.

The men, who looked rough and dangerous even at a glance, pointed their guns at her with mocking smiles. She didn’t recognize any of their faces.

“We were told to bring her alive, right?”

“Yeah. Bag her!”

That was the end of it.
Asilie lost consciousness, surrounded by the smell of old mold, damp straw, and an unidentifiable stench.

When she opened her eyes again, it was already getting dark outside.
The old shack was filled with dusty air and heavy dampness, and barely any light came in.

She quickly looked around, but there was nothing to see.
She could sometimes hear footsteps, so it seemed like someone was outside. But at least inside the shack, she appeared to be alone.

Normally, she would have been terrified to be left alone in an unfamiliar place—but now, it was almost a relief.
Asilie realized that for now, she was alone in the shack.
And since those outside seemed intent on leaving her be for a while, she gently tried to move her arms and legs.

When she carefully lifted one leg, the old floor creaked, but luckily, no one came in.
Her arms were tied, but her legs weren’t. That was a small relief.

‘It’s a good thing I brought it, just in case.’

Apparently, the gun strapped to her right thigh hadn’t been found while she was being moved.
It was still securely tucked inside the garter belt.

Asilie raised her left foot and started nudging at the gun tied under her skirt.
After a moment, with a soft thud, the gun dropped beneath her skirt.
Unfortunately, she still couldn’t grab it just yet.

Bang!
Just as she was wondering what to do next, the door burst open with a loud crash.
She looked up, but the torchlight was too bright at first to see anything.

She only realized who had kidnapped her when she heard that cruel voice.

“What a lovely sight.”

The one who had kidnapped her was Joseph.
What an ironic situation. Even in the parallel world, her first abduction had been Joseph’s doing.

What was sad was that, back then, Esperad had come to rescue her—but now, that seemed hopeless.
Her heart ached at the absence of the man she loved, even in this moment. But Asilie forced herself to push away thoughts of him and glared at Joseph.

“…Even if you were served divorce papers, this is a ridiculous act of revenge. To plan something like this—do you think the Grandier family is a joke?”

If he had cared at all about the Grandier family, he never would have done this.
Still, Asilie tried to remind him that they were watching over her.
She knew that if she made one wrong move here, she might not get out alive.

“Hah. A joke? You must think the Bonaparte family is a joke too, huh? Pulling that kind of stunt.”

“What stunt are you talking about?”

“It was strange from the beginning. I should’ve been suspicious of your lies. Why didn’t anyone question your claim about losing your memory?
Maybe it was because they unconsciously thought a lowborn woman like you wouldn’t even have a proper memory to begin with.”

It was clear there was no way to deny it now.
No—if he had planned this kidnapping, he had probably already confirmed everything in advance.

Asilie stared silently at Joseph, then curled her lips into a cold smile.

“…And that’s what led to your downfall. Looking down on others so Asilie, arrogantly believing you were above them—that arrogance was your mistake.”

At her words, Joseph brushed back his golden hair with a look of annoyance and asked,

“Where’s the ledger?”

“If I answer, will you find it?”

“Do I look like a king to you?”

Asilie’s face stiffened.

She might have noticed that the ledger was missing, but she never expected that her connection with Esperad would be discovered.

This was dangerous. If they realized that Esperad was investigating them, the conservative nobles might take further action.

Right now, the conservative nobles had solid financial support and great influence. Going against them recklessly could never end well for Esperad.

She had to let him know—about all of this.

“From your expression, you must have thought you could hide everything completely.”

Joseph, unable to read what Asilie was really thinking, assumed she was simply shocked that her secret had been found out. He chuckled quietly.

“Unfortunately, you can’t win against me. Maybe you were under a little delusion for a while.”

“…So? What exactly do you want me to say?”

Joseph didn’t like her bold reply.

But that confidence wouldn’t last long anyway.

Besides, what was the point in trying to outwit a woman who wouldn’t leave here alive?

Joseph tilted his chin arrogantly and asked,

“First of all, why did you come back?”

What really puzzled Joseph wasn’t the stolen ledger, but the fact that she had returned on her own.

Especially if she remembered everything—it made even less sense.

Even for him, killing a woman he’d once slept with wasn’t easy. But the woman who had nearly died pretended to remember nothing and returned to the family—it was too strange.

Maybe that’s why everyone failed to see through Asilie’s lie for so long.

“Is that really important?”

“I asked why you came back.”

“If I hadn’t returned and stayed at the Grandier duchy, you would’ve tried to kill me anyway. Because I could be the start of future trouble.”

It was a cold and calculating answer. But Asilie didn’t stop there.

“Maybe you fooled yourself into thinking I came back because I couldn’t forget you, but not a chance. Every single day was hell for me—having to call the man who tried to kill not just me but even our child, my husband.”

“………”

“For the first time, I lived saying what I wanted to say, doing what I wanted to do. And I wondered—why couldn’t I live like this before? I regretted the days that had passed. But at the same time, I finally understood. I wasn’t the one who was wrong. It was all of you—you were just horrible people.”

At first, she started talking just to buy some time.

If the Grandier duchy noticed her absence, they would surely start searching for her.

But as she kept talking, all the emotions she’d kept buried came rushing up at once.

“Nothing I did after returning was too much. Maybe you were shocked that someone you always looked down on dared to rebel. But I wasn’t wrong. It was all of you who were wrong from the beginning.”

“How dare you say—”

“Dare?”

Asilie cut him off with a mocking laugh.

“Sometimes I wonder—how do people like you manage to become worse with each passing day? How can you wear a human face without even a trace of guilt or shame?”

She was tied up and couldn’t move, and she knew he could kill her at any moment. Still, Asilie wasn’t afraid at all.

Joseph had expected resistance from a bold woman like her, but Asilie was standing up to him with more strength than he anticipated, and his expression twisted.

Of course, there was no need to listen to curses from a woman he would soon kill, but he decided not to waste any more time.

“Where’s the ledger?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“If it’s your ledger, shouldn’t you have kept better track of it? Why are you asking me?”

She wanted to avoid being hit if possible.

She didn’t want to look like a petty man holding a grudge over being hit by a woman.

But Joseph couldn’t hold himself back—his hand rose before he knew it.

Smack!

With a sharp sound, Asilie’s face snapped to the right.

The taste of blood filled her mouth—her lip had probably split from the slap.

“The ledger. Where is it?”

“And if I told you where it was, could you even find it?”

Her sarcasm twisted Joseph’s face once again.

She knew better than anyone what usually followed that look on his face.

Smack!

Violence like this wasn’t rare or unusual for the woman she had once been.

“I asked where it is.”

“You might as well just kill me. I’m not going to answer.”

“You bitch.”

Joseph cursed and stood up in front of her.

Or rather, he tried to stand up.

Until Asilie suddenly spat in his face.

The bloody spit landed on his pale cheek and dripped down.

Even in a parallel world, he looked the same. That horribly distorted expression, too.

“What, surprised?”

Asilie looked at Joseph’s twisted face and said mockingly,

“You’re a bastard.”

Just like before, murder flashed in Joseph’s eyes.

He had always cared about his own safety more than anything. Without any hesitation, he reached out with both hands and grabbed her throat.

The pressure was intense. Asilie could feel herself suffocating, her mind growing hazy.

This really felt like the end. Strangely, though, she felt at peace.

Maybe she had been more exhausted than she admitted—even if she pretended not to be. Trying to survive in this world that was hers, but didn’t feel like it anymore.

She had done her best, after all. She couldn’t say she hadn’t tried. Even if she died now and met her lover again, at least she wouldn’t be ashamed.

That thought brought her close to tears. Though it seemed she wouldn’t even have time to cry.

“Aagh!”

With a scream, the pressure on her neck suddenly vanished—just as her thoughts had reached that point.

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