“So it would have been nice if you could accept me then,” Sophia said bitterly. She blamed the count for everything that had happened.
Sophia had fallen hopelessly in love with the handsome and charming count. Even though he didn’t know about her existence, she was convinced that he would eventually fall in love with her. As time passed, Sophia’s infatuation with the count grew stronger and stronger. However, her world came crashing down when the count married a beautiful lady from an aristocratic family. Sophia was filled with rage at the count’s happiness.
“How dare you leave me, who loves you?” she seethed.
The new Countess Diverto was kind and gracious, and she quickly won the affection of all those around her. Soon, Gabriel, the count’s heir, was born, followed by a sweet little girl named Freya Morsiani a few years later. Sophia, who was already obsessed with the count, began to act increasingly erratically and became fixated on the newborn baby.
“I’ll give you all these gold coins if you help me destroy the family somehow,” she implored a woman named Milady, who had offered her a substantial sum of money.
Sophia wanted to exact revenge on Count Diverto, who had rejected her love. She wanted to make him suffer for the rest of his life. One dark night, when the moon was obscured, Sophia snuck into the room of Count Diverto’s second child, Freya Morsiani. The baby was sleeping soundly in her crib, dressed in fine clothes that Sophia could never hope to afford. When the nanny momentarily stepped away, Sophia took the opportunity to sneak into the room.
“You’re sleeping soundly,” Sophia muttered to the baby as she looked down at her with an expression of anger and resentment.
“I need to change my plans,” she said firmly.
Sophia’s face lit up with a smile as she scooped up the baby and left the writer’s home. “It was pretty good at first,” she reminisced. “I went to the casino every day, thrilled to have stolen the Count’s veins and made a lot of money. The baby stayed in the hotel room alone, but he didn’t seem to mind. However, it didn’t take long for me to lose all my winnings, in less than three days.”
“That’s half and half. What can you do to pay off your debt?” A man with a grim smile appeared in her life.
It was the first time.
“The person who shows interest in me and gives me a helping hand.”
Sofia had a relationship with Shylo and brought Freya, who had been left in the hotel room, to the orphanage. She remembered the night vividly; it was pouring cats and dogs.
“You couldn’t even recognize your daughter when she was right in front of you,” Sophia said, scratching the floor with her nails and writhing in agony.
“What are you talking about? Do you mean I met my daughter?” the count responded, shaking his head.
Sophia smiled wider at his trembling voice.
“A scar with a rose pattern on the left arm and three moles behind the ear. Need I say more?” Sophia recited the clear evidence given by Freya Diverto, then opened her small pocket and threw an old cloth at the Count.
“Do you remember?”
It was a piece of what the baby was wearing on the night she disappeared.
“Oh, my God,” Count Diverto knelt on the floor, holding the cloth. Sophia smacked her lips in ecstasy as she watched the count crumble before her. Seeing her first love fall apart at her fingertips brought her immense satisfaction.
****
She couldn’t move due to her shaking legs.
Freya approached the bed with tears in her eyes. She needed to hear the truth from Lucius himself, even though she could already see it with her own eyes.
“Lucius, you’re not really in love with Selena, are you?”
Freya had hoped that Lucius would say he was only pretending to love Selena because he had a plan. But his response was not what she had expected.
“Miss De Bua, did you give me permission to speak informally?”
As soon as she met Lucius’ cold blue eyes, Freya found herself unable to even blink.
“You are so naive. Did you think the person who would become emperor would fit in with someone as humble as you?”
“I had no choice but to use a girl like Selena to protect you.”
Lucius held Selena tightly from behind and kissed her slender shoulder.
“……Ah.”
The book Freya was holding fell to the floor with a snap. She had thought that maybe Lucius and Selena did not get along well, but it was worse than she could have imagined.
“Selena, give birth to my child.”
Lucius’s voice, filled with lust, was unconcerned, even though Selena was right in front of him. Soon, the two tangled under the blanket and began to wriggle.
“But I didn’t know it would be this bad.”
Freya turned her back on them and was too miserable to shed tears.
“Ha……”
Freya didn’t even know what state of mind she was in when she returned to her room.
“I have to leave.”
She gathered the gold coins she had received that month and a bundle of things she had collected. Freya sighed at her reflection in the mirror. Her swollen eyes, flushed cheeks, and tight lips made her look ugly.
“I don’t like this; I look like a broken aristocratic lady.”
She removed her fine clothes and changed into a brown dress and cape that she had prepared in her closet. Fortunately, it was time for Bell and Miriam to prepare snacks.
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