KFBRV Ch 126
- Mar 16
- 6 min read
[Becker] "Don't touch me! I said I'm pregnant! I'm sure it's a son!"
Sasha, who had momentarily frozen at Mrs. Becker's shocking statement, barely managed to scream with a pale face.
[Sasha] "Don't spout bullshit!"
[Becker] "Call a physician. Because it's true, I'm pregnant. It's been two months! We spent nights together every single time without a single empty date, so how could I not conceive?"
[Sasha] "It's a lie!"
Sasha reflexively retorted. However, her eyes were already dazed.
[Becker] "It's certain, pregnancy. I even started morning sickness a few days ago!"
At her words, the strength drained from Sasha's hands. Not just her hands; she seemed to lose strength in her entire body in an instant. Like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
[Becker] "Goodness, how vulgar. How can you grab someone else's hair?"
Then she tidied her hair and adjusted her clothes. Toward the completely dazed woman, she let out a pfft snort.
[Becker] "I'm not alone in this body, so you shouldn't touch me, right?"
Then she drove the wedge in with a triumphant voice.
The Countess wore a hollow smile and looked at Mrs. Becker's hand.
[Sasha] "The ring, give me that ring..."
Her voice trembled as she spoke the last words. Even she didn't know why she was obsessing over the wedding ring now.
It might be nothing more than an obsession that she didn't want to have anything else taken by that woman.
[Becker] "Ha, really. Who said they wanted it?"
She took the ring off her ring finger.
[Becker] "You take it. Such a ring."
Then she threw it onto the dirty floor of the pier with a clink. The ring hit the ground and rolled away. Rattle, rattle.
The Countess, bending over to pick up the ring, suddenly felt a sense of futility and burst into a hollow laugh.
To think she was in this state just to pick up a wedding ring that would mean nothing to her husband.
What was the use of retrieving the wedding ring? The Count had already placed another woman by his side.
[Sasha] "Damned bastard."
Tears fell to the ground. A ridiculous figure betrayed by her son, her husband, and her only maid.
Reporters, whom she had brought herself, were excitedly taking pictures of her miserable appearance.
And, seizing the moment when the reporters were briefly distracted by Mrs. Becker's pregnancy, the Count barely managed to get into the carriage.
He ordered the footmen waiting outside the carriage.
[Ulrich] "Lock Sasha in the monastery again. Lock her up perfectly so she can never come out of the monastery again."
The footmen looked at the Count in surprise at his blatant and base tone, as if he had taken off a mask.
[Footman] "Pardon?"
[Ulrich] "Tell the reporters that Sasha has gone completely mad. Say that due to her delusions, she came all the way to the port and caused a scene, so it was an unavoidable measure for me."
[Footman] "Will the reporters actually believe that...?"
The footman asked back in a reluctant tone.
Although the Count sometimes showed a strict and cruel side, the footmen had always considered it the fault of the person who angered the Count.
Thinking, would my master, a man of character, get angry for no reason?
[Ulrich] "Just repeat it until they believe it. If it really doesn't work, bribe them with money."
However, now that they knew the full context of the affair, the Count was inwardly disappointed. But footmen were ultimately bodies that had no choice but to follow the Count's orders.
The footmen dragged the Countess, who was once their mistress, to a barred carriage and locked her in. Throughout the process, she merely stared blankly into the void.
But as the Count's carriage procession left the port, she pressed her face against the bars and shouted curses at the carriage at the top of her lungs.
[Sasha] "You dared not to use contraception?! Ulrich, are you human? I will curse you for the rest of my life. From the monastery! In the name of God! You damned bastard!"
[Footman] "Madam, please be quiet—"
[Sasha] "Vanessa! Because you are such a terrible human, your father sold you off instead of his debt! Let's see how well a child born under a mistress grows up!"
Then she cried loudly all the way to the monastery.
Father will surely... kill Mother.
Paula, who was watching this entire situation, bit her nails.
Gisella was right. Even coming to the port, there was nothing she could do.
She had neither the strength to defeat the footmen, nor the money or power to bring her mother back, nor the justification to protect her.
To save Mother, I must do as she said.
The method Gisella proposed was as follows:
[Gisella] "Drag your grandfather into this and make your mother divorce the Count. Then, bankrupt the Count with an alimony lawsuit."
Making her mother divorce him would not be difficult.
If she became a noblewoman officially confined in a monastery as a madwoman, that noblewoman could exercise no rights alone without her husband. But there was one exception.
If the noblewoman expresses her intent to divorce her husband, and her father agrees to it.
It was a legal device prepared in case the noblewoman was framed.
Because Count Albrecht was not the only husband in Imperial history who tried to frame his wife as mad. Shylock must have learned of his daughter's confinement in the monastery through this incident.
[Shylock] "Promise me just one thing. No matter what happens, do not make my daughter a divorcée or frame her as a madwoman and lock her in a monastery. Treat my daughter only as a legitimate legal wife. If so, I will not suddenly withdraw this investment."
Since he had once exacted such a promise from the Count, he was a human who would willingly agree to his daughter's divorce.
The problem was finding a representative for the lawsuit.
Gisella said Viscount Köndel would willingly represent the lawsuit, but it wasn't as easy as it sounded.
Participating as a representative in another's marriage breakdown lawsuit would inevitably cause talk. People would arbitrarily infer a private relationship between Viscount Köndel and the Countess.
How could it be easy to ask for something that would tarnish the Köndel family's reputation?
I never thought I'd bring up such a topic to a man I wanted to look good for.
Though shameful, Paula gritted her teeth, recalling her poor mother's face.
Then, asking passersby for directions, she mustered her courage and headed for Köndel's townhouse in the capital.
Paula didn't know.
Full House.
The signal Odette had sent to Damian some time ago. It was the sign announcing the success in winning over the real Viscount Köndel.
No matter how long-accumulated the fortune and glory were, they never lasted a month inside a gambling house.
Having incurred massive debts at the Wolfgang Casino and blown his entire estate and mansion, the real Gustav Köndel caused a suicide commotion inside the casino.
Goetz, who had been waiting for him to be driven to the extreme, immediately won him over. If the real Köndel died, things would actually become complicated.
What task could be easier than winning over someone who wanted to die because of debt?
He willingly allowed a "mysterious someone" to exercise all of Köndel's rights for four months. He handed over his seal and identification with his own hands.
He also willingly accepted Goetz's surveillance in a closed casino VIP room throughout that period.
The reason Gustav Köndel was selected in the first place was that his connections were extremely limited. As the sole member of the Viscount family, he had no family or relatives, and even few close acquaintances.
Even the old servants who knew him had long been fired by the "real Köndel."
In that townhouse, the fake Köndel was eagerly waiting for Paula. Along with newly hired servants who knew nothing.
The sound of the Countess cursing faded away with the sound of the carriage.
After Mrs. Becker, who had been left alone at the port, and the reporters all left. Only after the port became quiet did Ferdinand decide to disembark.
[Ferdinand] "Odette, Father said earlier that he would stop by the villa first before coming. So let's go separately."
[Odette] "Yes. Brother."
Despite her docile answer, he furrowed his brow. It was because of Karl's presence, who had come to stand beside Odette in the meantime.
Due to the Count's wariness, Karl had to travel locked in a narrow, solitary cell, wrapped in chains all over his body throughout the voyage. Yet, he didn't look tired in the slightest.
[Ferdinand] "Hey, slave. Must you stick to her like that?"
As if he couldn't hear his words, Karl merely moved his stiff neck left and right, making cracking sounds. Crack, crack.
Even though he was bound in chains, Ferdinand felt somehow threatened. A feeling that he himself had become small and puny.
Annoying. Why does that bastard feel so huge?
Reflexively looking away from the unpleasant thing, he turned his gaze to Odette, wearing the light blue lace dress he had recommended.
Then, Karl's red eyes, which had been ignoring Ferdinand the whole time, turned directly toward him.
[Ferdinand] "Stand close to me, not a slave, Odette."
It was the moment Ferdinand roughly grabbed her arm and tried to pull her toward him.
Clang—, with the sound of chains breaking, his arm was instantly seized by a tremendous force and bent backward.
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