7.
Count Athelott…
Now that she thought about it, yes—around this very time, she had met him once before.
They were not in the habit of visiting one another, yet on that occasion he had taken the initiative, requesting a meeting on the grounds that he had something of urgent importance to discuss.
By the second year of her marriage, she had already been so poisoned by spite that she invited him in—brazenly, without the slightest thought for the consequences—simply to provoke her husband’s rage.
Threats, obsession, surveillance, even throwing herself at him hadn’t been enough-she had gone so far as to drag her husband’s enemy into the house just to watch him seethe.
Was I truly insane in my past life?
With behavior like that, how could their relationship ever have improved?
“Tell the count I’ll be there shortly.”
“You mean… you really intend to meet Count Athelott?”
“And don’t forget to add that I’m unwell, so I’ll need some time to prepare.”
“Yes, milady.”
The maid slipped away with the look of one who had expected as much.
Marsha, however, lingered, her eyes clouded with worry.
“Milady, wouldn’t it be better to rest?
Word will surely reach His Grace.
If he misunderstands this meeting, what then…?”
Nina swung her legs over the side of the bed, pushing herself upright.
“There’s no helping it.
I have to speak with that man—Count Athelott.”
The thought of facing that man’s smug face and hearing his “revolting words” once again sickened her, but Count Aethlott could serve as a useful pretext to arrange a meeting with her husband.
And besides, wasn’t her husband’s plan to adopt his nephew somehow connected to Count Aethlott…?
Looking back on what the count had so pompously called a “proposal” that day, her suspicion felt less like a guess and more like near certainty.
I’ll have to use this chance to draw a clear line with Count Aethlott.
And if her husband’s push for adoption truly stemmed from the count, then it meant she could not even dream of divorce for the next year.
If that was the case, she would have to throw a wrench into that wretched man’s scheme.
***
Louis E.
Aethlott, Count of Aethlott.
The current Duke of Bayern’s uncle idly toyed with the glass vial in his hand.
Though the parlor maid had served him a cheap tea with blatant disdain, he could still afford to smile—thanks to this little item.
Soon enough, you’ll see what becomes of your master.
If the duchess was so desperate to cling to her nephew, there was no way she would refuse his help.
The thought of wiping the arrogance off his nephew’s face—an upstart born of a low-born second wife, yet presuming to claim the House of Bayern—made him chuckle to himself.
So eager was he with anticipation that even the faint fragrance of cheap tea in the air seemed almost sweet.
Not that he intended to actually drink such a thing, of course.
While Count Aethlott leafed idly through a newspaper set out in the parlor, Nina entered.
Her pale rose-colored hair was neatly coiled up, and she wore an elegant indoor gown.
He half-suspected she had kept him waiting on purpose, as if to test wills with him, and the thought had left him faintly irritated.
But judging by her pallor, it seemed true enough that her health was not in good condition.
“Uncle, it’s been a while.
I’m afraid I made you wait longer than intended—my health has not been the best.”
“Haha, nonsense.
When you’ve troubled yourself to come despite feeling unwell, how could I possibly complain?
Think nothing of it.”
Count Aethlott let out a hearty laugh, his eyes glinting slyly as they roamed over Nina’s form.
Those wistful blue eyes, that slender waist that seemed to beg for protection, and the voluptuous curves in striking contrast—
he could not decide which was more remarkable-that such a woman could fail to earn her husband’s affection, or that his nephew could resist laying a hand on such a wife.
“You said you had something urgent to discuss.
As you can see, I cannot sit for long, so I would prefer to keep this brief.”
“Ahem, well, I suppose there is no helping it.
But the matter I’ve come to raise is rather sensitive… I would feel more at ease if we moved to a more private place.”
Count Aethlott cleared his throat, his gaze flicking again and again toward the entrance of the drawing room.
The open space was hardly ideal for confidential conversation.
As his eyes darted toward the door once more, Nina’s lips curved in a faint smile.
“I’m afraid my health makes moving about too difficult.
But I’ve ensured no one is listening in.
Please, speak freely.”
Before her return to the past, she had once whispered with Count Aethlott behind closed doors in her chambers.
Today, however, she intended to speak boldly in the open drawing room
—because she wanted to be seen.
To make sure others witnessed exactly how she cast him off.
“Ahem… very well, then.”
tap
With a sly expression, Count Aethlott produced a small glass vial and set it down with a soft click.
“The reason I came is to deliver this to you.”
Nina, though she already knew what it was, feigned ignorance and asked,
“And what might this be?”
“A potion that will help your married life.”
“A potion, you say…”
Nina murmured with feigned interest.
Lowering his voice as if afraid of being overheard, Count Athelott added,
“Your troubles stem from the marriage bed, do they not?”
“…….”
“Even a weary couple in the twilight of their years can be made to feel like newlyweds again with this.
It is precisely what you, my dear niece-in-law, need.”
That her discord with her husband was common knowledge hardly surprised Nina—
after all, it had long since turned her into a laughingstock of society.
But that did not mean she was willing to have the fact thrown in her face.
Least of all when it touched on the private intimacies of the marriage bed.
“…So what you’re suggesting is that I use some nameless drug to ensnare my husband?”
Count Athelott’s lips curved into a sly grin.
“It is a tonic whispered of among the ladies these days.
Its safety has been well tested—you need not worry.”
Nina’s brows knit in the same prickling disgust she had felt in her former life.
The way his lecherous gaze crept over her figure, the suggestive smile clinging to his mouth—
it left no doubt what sort of thoughts he was entertaining.
“Unless his body stirs, he’ll never touch me in the first place.”
…Yet in her past life, it had not been long since she had heard those very words from her husband, so she had been too blinded to care.
“Just think about it.
A man who dotes so fiercely on his nephew—how much more would he cherish a child of his own?”
“…Do you truly believe he would change?”
“Of course.
Men are bound to change once they have a child.”
A child.
If only there were a child between him and me…
At the time, foolish hope had led her to clutch the vial as if bewitched.
But in that very moment, Ash burst in like a detective catching a criminal red-handed.
“I wondered what sort of scheme you two were plotting.
How pathetic.”
“D-dear, this isn’t what it looks like—”
“You claimed a man changes once he has a child?
Unfortunately for you, that’s something you’ll never have the chance to test.”
…A child, between her and him.
The fact that she had wavered, even for a heartbeat, was her undoing.
Even before that day, her husband had never treated her as a human being—but after it, he looked at her with eyes colder than if she were filth itself.
As the memory resurfaced, a rueful smile touched Nina’s lips.
But only for a moment.
Returning to reality, Nina narrowed her eyes and asked,
“So this so-called potion is meant to improve my relationship with my husband.
But somehow, I doubt you brought it here out of pure goodwill.”
“It’s nothing much.
My son will soon be filing a petition to challenge the guardianship.
I came to ask that you lend him your support.”
“Support?”
“All I need is for you to submit a statement declaring Ash unfit as guardian.”
“You want me to set myself against my own husband?”
“Against him?
Hardly.
This is for the sake of the future heir to House Bayern.
You haven’t forgotten that Ian has a claim to the succession as well, have you?”
Nina let out a sharp, derisive laugh.
For the sake of a child who didn’t even exist yet, she was expected to hand over her young nephew?
And what would they do to that boy once he was in their hands?
There was nothing more worth hearing.
“Looks like my dear husband has just arrived…”
Catching the shadow flickering at the entrance of the drawing room, Nina turned her gaze on Count Acelot’s greed-stained face and said, her voice like ice.