I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 80

“That girl is my daughter-in-law! Let go of me!”

At Donate’s words, Elai, who had been restraining her, asked Eleanor.

“Is she truly your family?”

Legally, she was still family.

When Eleanor nodded, Donate’s momentum grew stronger.

“I’ve been telling you she is!”

Breaking free from Elai’s grasp, Donate approached Eleanor.

“Now I need a servant’s permission to talk to you?”

At Donate’s icy question, Eleanor’s face hardened as she asked, “What in the world are you doing here?”

“Don’t ask if you don’t know. Because of you, I can’t show my face in the capital.”

Donate launched into an exasperated lecture.

“Our Mariche family has been loyal to the imperial family for generations. But because we brought someone like you into the house, we are now being treated as traitors to the royal family. We are only still alive thanks to the Princess’s grace. If it weren’t for her, we would have been destroyed because of you!”

Her voice was so loud that the household staff gathered in the corners to watch.

Sensing that she wouldn’t be quiet anytime soon, Eleanor decided to move the conversation elsewhere.

“I’ll hear your story in the room, so please come in. You shouldn’t be doing this here.”

“Why not? Why should I care what other people think?”

Donate shook off Eleanor’s arm and yelled.

“Don’t touch me, you low-born thing!”

The insult to Eleanor echoed loudly in the hall.

“This morning, the Princess took away your title and reinstated me. You are no longer Baroness Mariche. You are just a vulgar peasant’s daughter!”

Eleanor’s expression turned pale.

Her title was taken away.

If she became a commoner, she could no longer attend parties or host reading sessions.

She could feel the maids muttering and covering their mouths.

She was only treated well because she was a noble; if their statuses were the same, the persecution would be severe.

Dark thoughts swirled in her mind, but Eleanor tried to regain her composure.

She couldn’t afford to be in shock in a place like this.

“This is Filicity, not the Mariche estate. Even as a noble, you should not be causing a scene in someone else’s mansion.”

“A scene? I’ve come to fix what you’ve ruined! The Princess reinstated me with the intention of revealing your wicked nature to everyone.”

Donate was completely triumphant and raised her voice even higher.

“Ha, you spread so many lies in the capital. A virtuous young widow caring for her mother-in-law? A saint atoning for her husband? Haha. How can you be so shameless in human skin!”

She had used various image strategies in the capital, but she swore she never once used the Mariche family. In fact, it would be more accurate to say the family was an anchor dragging her down, as there was nothing good to be gained from being associated with them.

However, the truth didn’t matter to the utterly shameless Donate. She would not miss this opportunity to humiliate Eleanor, who had always been a thorn in her side.

“In any case, you’re the kind of person who ruins everything you touch! What is all this nonsense for a low-born peasant’s daughter!”

Donate reached out a brutish hand and pulled on Eleanor’s hair ornament.

The elegant decorative pin, which was placed on her beautifully braided hair, came out with surprising ease.

Her thick, soft, auburn hair immediately cascaded down.

Eleanor was flustered by the sudden assault.

Donate didn’t stop there and her gaze fell on the large necklace around Eleanor’s neck.

“You must have earned this by selling off our family’s title, but this doesn’t suit you either!”

“Not this. Stop.”

As Donate reached for the necklace that Lian had given her, Eleanor, who had been quietly taking the abuse, instinctively shouted.

“What do you mean ‘stop’? Give it to me right now!”

“That’s enough.”

Unable to bear it any longer, Elai stepped in front of Eleanor. It was the moment Donate was about to start her shouting again.

“What is all this commotion?”

A dignified voice echoed through the wide hall.

The Duchess of Floyd stood on the landing, frowning and looking down.

“Why are you making such a spectacle, unable to even restrain one woman?”

“My apologies, Duchess.”

As the Duchess approached, Donate took a step back from Eleanor.

“Who are you, causing a racket in my son’s mansion?”

Even the rampaging Donate seemed to be intimidated by the Duchess’s charisma. She muttered to herself, then turned to Eleanor and threatened, “You explain it.”

Eleanor didn’t want to follow Donate’s orders, but she knew if Donate introduced her, she would only say worse things.

So, Eleanor reluctantly said the words she wanted to say least.

“She is… my mother-in-law.”

The Duchess of Floyd’s brow twitched.

Eleanor sighed inwardly.

This was a scene she absolutely did not want to show the Duchess.

She genuinely liked the Duchess. She respected her not just because she was Lian’s mother, but because she was a graceful, thoughtful, and strong woman.

‘She must be disappointed.’

Even if she knew Eleanor was a commoner who had lost her husband, seeing a scene like this firsthand would be completely different. It was obvious how unsightly a squabble with a mother-in-law would appear to the Duchess, who had a noble background.

“Mother-in-law?”

As expected, the Duchess of Floyd’s face completely hardened. Soon, contempt would appear on that icy face.

In an already bad situation, Donate had hammered in the final nail.

‘Maybe it’s a good thing if we both get kicked out and die.’

The Princess was probably just using Donate to pressure Eleanor. If Eleanor died, Donate would lose her usefulness and be disposed of.

Still, Eleanor had hoped to leave on her own terms.

Just as Eleanor sighed with her eyes closed, she heard the Duchess’s murmur.

“Isn’t that me now?”

Eleanor opened her eyes at the Duchess’s words.

‘What does that mean?’

It seemed she wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand.

While everyone looked puzzled, the Duchess opened her mouth again.

“This child did marry your son, but I understand he is now deceased. The marital relationship has ended, so the mother-in-law relationship with you should have also disappeared.”

“But… that girl is still living under the Mariche family name.”

“That was because she was the head of the Mariche family at the time. But you just shouted that you had recovered the title, didn’t you?”

Donate looked blankly at the Duchess’s question.

“A marital bond is a bond ordained by heaven. Even if my son is dead, how can that bond be severed?”

“Life is ordained by heaven. If heaven severs a life, the heavenly bond should also disappear.”

Donate blinked as if thinking of something to say, but there was no loophole in the Duchess’s flawless logic.

In the end, she started to be unreasonable, just as before.

“That’s not important. We bought this child with money, so she’s like a slave belonging to the family. The mother-in-law relationship may be severed, but the debt relationship doesn’t disappear.”

“The amount of money she has returned to the Mariche estate and compensated your son’s victims with is enough to buy the entire estate and have money left over.”

“Money earned by a slave naturally belongs to the master. That’s not a matter of calculation.”

Donate replied nonchalantly and glared at Eleanor.

“Now, stop embarrassing the family and return to the estate to live a life befitting your status. Don’t be a vulgar troublemaker in the empire with that pretty face. Just go back to gathering firewood and doing chores like you used to.”

Even if she had to run away and live as an anonymous village woman, Eleanor had no intention of following Donate.

However, Eleanor didn’t even have a chance to counterattack.

“I’m warning you, don’t lay a hand on that child.”

The Duchess stood in front of Eleanor and commanded Donate.

Donate looked intimidated but didn’t back down and snarled, “It’s rude to interfere in another family’s affairs! By what right are you blocking me?”

“And who are you raising your voice in front of?”

The Duchess’s voice dropped to an icy tone.

The atmosphere in the hall became so cold it felt as if frost was forming. The Duchess raised her chin and looked down at Donate.

“A mere provincial baroness dares to behave like this to a Duchess of the Empire. It seems you don’t wish to live.”

“I, I… I am acting on the Princess’s orders…”

“Shut your mouth!”

The Duchess, who had maintained a steady tone, roared.

It was a chilling rebuke that made even Eleanor, standing behind her, flinch.

“If you dare to speak that way in front of me again, I’ll have your limbs torn apart and feed them to the falcons.”

Murder among nobles was strictly forbidden, but Donate couldn’t even utter such a protest.

“Get out of my sight right now!”

Trembling and backing away, Donate turned and scurried off, almost tripping.

Even after she disappeared, most of the people in the hall were too intimidated by her power to speak.

Blake, who had appeared at some point, spoke in a difficult tone.

“Duchess, even so, that kind of language among nobles is a bit too much…”

“If you have a problem with it, tell the Duke.”

After giving a short dismissal, the Duchess turned to Eleanor.

“Th-thank you, Duchess.”

“Don’t mention it. You just reminded me of the time the Duchess of Calabria tried to intimidate me.”

Speaking curtly, the Duchess soon changed the subject.

“I heard you were having hysterics with Crenna.”

It wasn’t exactly hysterics, but Eleanor did feel a bit guilty.

“That’s not like you, who always stood firm even with a knife to your throat. What happened?”

“I just came back from the jaws of death, and no one will tell me what’s going on, so it’s frustrating.”

When she confessed her honest feelings, the Duchess looked understanding.

“Lian has been avoiding you.”

“Didn’t you do the same, Duchess?”

The Duchess couldn’t deny it.

“Please tell me why. Don’t avoid me.”

“I can’t interfere in that matter. It’s best for the two of you to talk directly.”

“But the Count just runs away every time he sees me.”

At Eleanor’s words, the Duchess bit her lip for some reason.

“I saw the Count talking with you, Duchess. You were crying after he left… Is his injury that serious?”

When Eleanor asked worriedly, the Duchess’s expression completely crumpled this time. She touched her mouth, bowed her head, and took a moment to compose herself, breathing deeply.

“I’ll take you to Lian’s room so you can talk. That’s all I can tell you.”

As she left the hall with Eleanor, the Duchess murmured lowly, “Still, I’m a much better mother-in-law than that woman, right?”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Eleanor, Blaine, and the Duchess of Floyd passed through the hallway and arrived at a corner room on the third floor of the main building.

Just as Eleanor was about to knock, she heard a small voice from behind the door.

It was definitely Lian’s voice. He seemed to be giving instructions to the butler.

‘He can talk to other people, so why not me?’

A sudden feeling of sorrow overwhelmed her.

Eleanor flung the door open and called out to Lian.

“Count Calabria!”

Lian looked startled when he saw Eleanor. Before he could run away, Eleanor quickly blurted out her words.

“If you can talk, why won’t you explain things to me? If I’m making you uncomfortable, just say so! I’m not going to bother you anymore!”

Lian’s violet eyes widened, and he shook his head.

When he still wouldn’t open his mouth, Eleanor snapped at him.

“Fine, if you don’t want to talk. I won’t talk to you anymore either.”

Just as she was about to turn away firmly, the voice she had so desperately wanted to hear finally echoed in the room.

“That’s n-not it!”

What? What was with that child-like pronunciation, as if he had just learned to speak?

Surprised, she turned back to see a beet-red Lian and a trembling Blake.

And then Blaine exploded.

“Hahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Blake’s laughter echoed loudly through the room.

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