The Regretful Villainess is Happily Divorced

Chapter 3

I had reached this conclusion after a lot of thought. Unlike in the original story, Oscar hadn’t promised me a life of comfort, after all. Which would make post-divorce life difficult, right?

Marlena had thrown everything away to marry Oscar. She had abandoned her inheritance as the eldest daughter of House Loewysome, and if she got divorced, she’d lose her title as duchess as well. Oscar would probably use that as leverage against her. “If you get alimony from me, you’ll have money, yes. But what about your title?” I could already hear his threats echoing in my ear.

It was an accurate statement too. It was the law of the jungle in high society. To be a key figure in business and society, you needed the clout to back it up. In other words, they wouldn’t let you in if you weren’t on the right “level.” Too low, and you’d find it harder to enter boutiques and restaurants, let alone clubs and salons. You’d effectively be giving up on a social life in the city.

That said, going back to House Loewysome was out of the question too. I could tell that they wouldn’t accept me. A disgraceful marriage, and a disgraceful divorce… Father would quiver with indignation and chase me off the premises.

Life would be hard for Marlena if she lost her status as a duchess… Or at least that would have been the case until a few days ago.

I gave a faint smile. I wasn’t being entirely impulsive when I put divorce on the table. I had been considering it for a long time, so there was nothing that Oscar could think of overnight that I hadn’t already thought of. I had a secret that he didn’t know about.

After making sure that my door was firmly locked, I opened the strongbox in my room. Most of the things inside Marlena’s strongbox were precious jewels. Her hobby was wearing large jewels that matched her dazzling features. Maybe retail therapy was her form of stress relief, because the strongbox was filled to the brim with jewelry.

I picked out a small wooden case that looked the least expensive among her precious items. It used to house a white-gold bracelet studded with rubies, but now, instead of jewelry, it held a few sheets of paper. I had received this only a few days prior—it was a letter from Marlena’s distant uncle on her mother’s side, Count Balthus.

The members of House Balthus were famously known for their weak constitutions and short lives. Marlena’s mother had passed away at a young age too. Descendants were therefore considered precious. The elderly count didn’t have any children of his own or direct nieces and nephews, as they had all died before their time.

Then he had fallen ill and was only given two months to live. Desperate for an heir, the ailing count secretly sent someone to Marlena, the troublemaker who now lived in the capital, asking if she could visit him.

The original Marlena wouldn’t have gone, of course. She couldn’t bear to be away from Oscar, even for a day. She had a terrible personality too. She couldn’t have cared less if a relative died. She would have thrown a fit, more annoyed by the request than anything.

Maybe Count Balthus had known how temperamental Marlena was, as his people looked ready to be rejected when they came to see me. However, my heart went out to him. How desperate must he have been to send men to his cousin’s daughter, the most likely person to reject him?

I had told the maids, “I’m going to make Oscar jealous by putting some distance between us,” and went to see Count Balthus for two months straight. Oscar must have been delighted by my absence. He didn’t even ask where I had been, or maybe he hadn’t cared.

When I came back, I discreetly asked a maid how Oscar had reacted. She replied that he hadn’t even noticed I was gone at first because he had been working. Even a stranger would’ve cared more, I thought. I could see why Marlena went crazy.

Unlike my husband, who was thrilled by my absence, Count Balthus was very happy to see me. Although Marlena and the count were distant relatives who rarely saw each other, he was kind to me and treated me with heartwarming hospitality. I was used to being mistreated in the Creedwell household, so this was a strange but enjoyable time for me.

I preferred spending time with my mother’s cousin rather than my own husband, which says a lot… Tears began pooling in my eyes as I thought of my distant uncle’s face, growing sicker by the day.

The count had grown fond of me as the days passed. I talked to him, read to him as his eyes failed, and waltzed with him.

“People misunderstand you,” I remembered him saying with tears in his eyes. “No matter what people say, you’re Alice’s daughter. Alice’s one and only child… with a heart so pure.”

It was all a misunderstanding. The old Marlena was gone, replaced by someone completely different inside. Of course, I couldn’t say that, so I just smiled.

Oh, right. I forgot to mention that I did have a younger brother who was the heir to House Loewysome, but he and I had different mothers. He was the son of Marquess Loewysome’s second wife, a woman the marquess married after my mother’s death, so my younger brother wasn’t related to Count Balthus. Among all of the count’s distant relatives, I was the sole surviving family member. In other words, I was the heir to the count.

Count Balthus, who must have lived a lonely life, seemed to have enjoyed his last two months with me. A few days before he passed, he bequeathed his entire estate to me, including his title. I had hidden his will, which he had given me while he was on his deathbed, along with a heartfelt letter he had written, in the strongbox. Honestly, if my husband had the slightest bit of interest in me, he couldn’t have missed these documents.

So, in conclusion… Even if I lost my title as Duchess Creedwell, I wouldn’t lose out on anything in high society. The moment I submitted these documents to the official authorities, I would become Countess Marlena Balthus, the wealthy owner of an orange orchard in the south.

However, I hadn’t submitted the documents yet on purpose. The reason was simple. It was in case the worst-case scenario came to pass—if Oscar refused to divorce me, for example. Even if that happened, I had no intention of staying as his wife. I would have no choice but to initiate the divorce.

There was only one thing in the law that worked in my favor, and that was that the alimony the divorcee paid had to be proportional to their assets. As of now, the only thing that Oscar could claim as alimony were the jewels in my strongbox. Of course, they were only a fraction of what I would get by inheriting Count Balthus’ fortune. In the worst-case scenario, I would just pay up. Then after the divorce was finalized and I inherited Count Balthus’ estate, Oscar wouldn’t be able to claim more alimony from me.

Uncle’s money will be all mine. It was a loophole in the kingdom’s law which I had already looked into.

Of course, it would get complicated if Oscar found out about my inheritance before the divorce was finalized. However, I had no need to worry about that. My husband wouldn’t even think to look. He already thought he knew everything about my situation.

How could someone so meticulous with his work at the theater be so oblivious at home? He had probably forgotten that Count Balthus was my mother’s cousin. That would have made Marlena sad, but it was to my advantage.

Still, I knew I had to be careful. I had every intention of keeping this secret and making sure the divorce was finalized as soon as possible.

I sighed. I wasn’t happy, even though I knew I would still have social status and money after the divorce. I would have preferred for Count Balthus to still be alive.

I stared at the documents with a heavy heart. Our relationship has been short-lived. I had continued to see the count knowing that our time together was limited, so I wasn’t completely heartbroken when he passed away, but he was still the first friend I made in this world. His sudden departure left a sadness in my heart. If he were alive, he would have been my only ally against Oscar, and I could have eased his loneliness a little longer.

Still… I’ll live a good life, Lord Balthus. That was probably why he left his inheritance to me, right? He even told me in his letter not to be sad, how he wasn’t lonely as he drew closer to death.

—My only regret is dying without people knowing who you really are inside, Marlena.

Jeez… It was all a misunderstanding. I read my uncle’s letter again before rolling it up tightly, placing it back in the wooden case, and locking the strongbox. Then I sat and thought for a long time.

It didn’t matter how much I thought about it, though. For both my own sake and that of my distant uncle’s, I refused to give any of his money to that piece of the trash. Not one bit.

That means I’ll have to change the situation. Oscar’s going to have to cry out for divorce first… without sensing that I’m in a hurry. I continued to ponder, and I finally had an outline of a plan as dawn began to break.

***

The next day, I woke up late and rang the bell cord.

Usually, the maids would bring me a wash basin along with breakfast. However, only Albert, the butler, showed up today. He bowed deep at the waist as he said, “His Grace wishes to have breakfast with you.”