Chapter 30
“Therese.”
“…Yes.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yes.”
“Go draw some water. I want to wash. Since the Viscount is away, I’d like to wash with warm water.”
“Ah, yes! The butler is busy anyway, so that much… I’ll be right back! Will you head upstairs first?”
Evina nodded, pulled her gown tighter, and left the drawing room.
Xenobius had vanished without a trace, but his thick, heady scent lingered long after, surrounding her.
* * *
Just as Xenobius had said.
Not long after trespassing into the estate, he departed again for a monster subjugation. It was a long expedition, crossing the continent all the way to the opposite end of the Empire.
And Viscount Derise, who dealt in war supplies, became extremely busy once the subjugation began.
Before long, the days he spent away from the estate far outnumbered the days he was home, and eventually, he had to leave on a long journey altogether.
And then, a few months later.
“M-My lady!”
It was tragic news.
“My lady! V-Viscount Derise, he…!”
The butler, his face pale as a sheet, rushed over and handed Evina a single letter.
Holding the letter, which bore only two words, Evina shuddered.
[Death Notice]
Viscount Derise was dead.
And Xenobius had kept his promise. Evina had gained much.
The vast assets Viscount Derise had amassed.
Both of her parents were already dead, and the Viscount had two former wives, but both had passed away. There were no children from those previous marriages, and surprisingly, despite his obsessive philandering, not a single illegitimate child had ever surfaced.
She had diligently taken contraceptive tea, terrified of bearing Viscount Derise’s child, but truthfully, she had long suspected he was shooting blanks.
The Viscount was not a cautious man by nature. He loved to drink, and once he started, he routinely drank himself into a stupor.
And yet, not one bastard child had ever appeared…
What cemented this suspicion into near certainty was the fact that Evina had only learned about and started taking contraceptive tea three years ago.
For the first two years, she had trembled in fear of pregnancy but had no choice but to endure relations with him. Not once had her cycle ever been late.
In any case, with no parents and no children, the Viscount’s entire fortune fell into Evina’s hands in an instant.
Not long after the death notice arrived, the coffin bearing the Viscount’s body followed.
‘Will you open it? The state is so gruesome that it would be better for you not to look, my lady. The late Viscount would not have wished to be remembered this way.’
Naturally, Evina did not open it.
Even when he was being placed into the burial chamber the Viscount had prepared for himself in life, she didn’t look properly.
And the only person who attended the Viscount’s funeral was Evina.
She sent word that the family wished to quietly lay to rest the husband who had died tragically, caught up in a monster subjugation, and invited no one.
Besides, no nobles took any interest in the young widow who had lost her title upon the Viscount’s death. Not a single soul showed their face from the riding club or riding house or whatever it was that the Viscount had attended so eagerly in life.
The Viscount would have been furious if he had known.
He was someone who loved attention.
In any case, the Viscount’s coffin was quietly buried before the eyes of Evina, the butler, and a few servants.
‘…Here it is.’
And after everything related to Viscount Derise’s funeral was settled, the butler, with a deeply disgruntled face, handed over the Viscount’s ledgers.
‘…Thank you.’
‘Not at all, my lady.’
He might have felt a little wronged.
The butler, after all, didn’t have the kind of impressive career or background suited to serving a prestigious household. So why would things like basic butler etiquette or loyalty matter?
With the Viscount dead, screaming his last on a battlefield, all that remained was a young woman barely twenty. It would have been tempting enough to try some mischief.
But the Viscount had been more thorough than expected.
Even though they had spent ten years together, he had never shared the truly important information, the bank accounts, or the location of the safe.
The only one who knew those things was Evina.
And from the moment news of the Viscount’s death arrived, a knight order bearing the Grand Duke’s banner had been guarding her side at all times.
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