What’s Wrong With My Marriage? I Was Bought as a Wife, Yet My Husband Is Madly in Love With Me! - Chapter 36

Distorting her lovely features, Mirella screamed.

“I went through all the trouble of asking my friends to invite you, and yet you ignore us? How ungrateful! On top of that, meeting a man in a place like this! You’re having an affair, aren’t you?!”

As usual, she began ranting based on her own wild delusions. Luce tried to explain that these were her friends and their family, but Mirella refused to listen.

“Sister, just because no one wants anything to do with you doesn’t justify such lies. Don’t tell me you’ve decided they are your ‘friends’ all on your own? I’m sure they are quite troubled by it.”

“Mirella, that is enough.”

“What? …How spiteful. Sister Cassandra was so worried about you that she went to check on you herself. It’s completely improper for you to be out playing instead.”

Mirella projected her voice with a calculated tone, loud enough for everyone around to hear. To any bystander, it sounded as if Luce was out gallivanting irresponsibly.

“The reason I sent Sister Cassandra away was because she showed up out of the blue without any notice. It seems she has forgotten even the most basic of manners. Mirella, please be sure to remind her of that.”

(As usual, my words are the only ones that don’t get through.)

No matter what, Luce was always in the wrong. That was the unshakable premise. Consequently, no matter how Luce argued, Mirella would never accept it. To a passerby, it might seem that Luce was at fault simply for losing the argument.

(Trying to communicate with someone who refuses to understand is so draining.)

Luce felt a wave of revulsion; she wanted to stop talking altogether. Seeing Luce grimace, Mirella delivered a parting shot.

“If you keep making that face, even your husband will abandon you. Why don’t you try being a little more charming? Perhaps I should introduce you to my friends?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

The refusal did not come from Luce. It came from Adelheid, who had been watching the scene unfold.

“I’ve been listening for a moment now, and you have quite a rude mouth on you, girl. To interrupt a conversation with a friend’s family and then hurl such bizarre accusations… are you out of your mind?”

“Wh-how dare you be so…!”

“The rude one is you, girl.”

“Indeed. By the standards of the Kingdom of Ghoolam, you are an incredibly ill-mannered young lady.”

Adelheid’s mother and brother, who had been silently observing, also threw sharp words at Mirella.

“Why are you saying such horrible things?! It’s Sister Luce who’s bad! Even though I invited her to a tea party…”

“You… do you truly not realize how nonsensical you sound?”

Mirella winced for a second under Heutrauda’s piercing gaze, but she immediately shrieked that it was her sister who was the strange one.

“I’m worrying about my sister because she’s gloomy and all alone! Why do I have to be insulted?! Everyone my sister knows is crazy!!”

“Mirella! Retract those words at once!”

(How can she insult people she doesn’t even know?)

Luce immediately stood up, intending to bow and apologize to Adelheid and her family. However, she was stopped.

“She may be a blood relative, but you were merely being one-sidedly berated. You are not her governess, nor are you her parent. There is no need for you to apologize.”

“B-but…”

“That girl’s insolence is a debt she must pay herself. You are already the Countess of Bart.”

Moved by those steadying words, Luce swallowed her apology.

(…I am no longer a member of the House of Orlov.)

Time and time again, she had told herself that those people weren’t her family. Yet, finding herself once again trying to clean up their messes, Luce felt a growing sense of misery.

Suppressing her helpless emotions, she turned her gaze toward Mirella, who was glaring back with a twisted expression. Her face practically screamed that it was Luce’s fault for not apologizing.

(I married into the Bart family because I wanted to get away from them.)

And yet, even now, she couldn’t break free. From the moment her brother and older sister had begun harassing her, Luce had realized something.

(As long as I am in the Royal Capital, these people will keep coming to hurt me.)

As if it were their natural-born right.

After thinking it through, Luce reached a single, firm resolution.

Klaus’s face twisted in profound annoyance; he was supposed to be discussing business today.

Invitations to “talk over a meal” were almost always trouble. He usually declined such offers out of caution, and yet…

When Klaus heard that his beloved wife, Luce, was having tea with friends at a cafe, he had decided to take the opportunity to look into opening a cafe that women would enjoy. He had just purchased a prime location that had gone up for sale and was heading to a shop with a chef he was interested in when it happened.

Earl Feinen, an acquaintance of an acquaintance had called out to him.

Or perhaps “schoolmate” was the word.

Because he was an associate of Klaus’s grandfather, Earl Feinen (then a young lord) had frequently approached Klaus when he first entered school.

“My, it’s been a while, Lord Barth.”

Earl Feinen tipped his hat slightly in greeting, the very picture of noble decorum.

(…Maybe that’s why I find him so utterly insufferable.)

“You’ve become quite the proper noble yourself. It’s as if you were truly born a Count.”

As usual, he spoke down to people. Even during their student days, he would act like he was looking out for Klaus while subtly insulting him.

“It’s amazing how much you know about noble etiquette, considering you’re a mistress’s child.”

“You’re so diligent to practice your dancing, even though no one will likely dance with you at the ball.”

“I’m sure no one else will deal with you, but I don’t discriminate; if you want to start a business, I might lend you a hand.”

(He’s the kind of guy I’d normally punch but I promised I’d stay quiet in that noble school.)

If he had caused a violent incident, he wouldn’t have been able to graduate. And since graduating was the condition for inheriting the title, Klaus had endured it. Without that title, Klaus wouldn’t have been in a position to propose to Luce.

However, now that he had graduated and made Luce his wife, he had no desire to actively associate with the man.

“I’d like to speak with you for a moment, if I may. …It’s regarding an important matter concerning your wife, Luce Orlov.”

It was likely just some more nasty rumors. Untrue, twisted nonsense. While it wasn’t a conversation worth having, a thought suddenly occurred to Klaus.

(If I confront Earl Feinen directly and threaten him about these baseless claims, perhaps the rumors about Luce will finally die down a little.)

It was a mistake.

Failing to realize this, Klaus followed Earl Feinen into a nearby establishment as prompted.