Episode 10
But she didn’t deny it outright.
April turned her attention back to the ledger and asked weakly.
“Do I have to pay all this back?”
She asked again, her voice desperate.
“There’s no disinheritance or anything…….”
“It’s impossible.”
Gordon replied in an apologetic voice, shaking his head as if in confirmation.
“Why, the death sentence hasn’t even been pronounced on Count Falcon yet, and if you do that at the same time……!”
April raised her voice, looking up at Gordon with a tearful face.
“I know the death certificate hasn’t been issued, but the marriage license has already been filed.”
“So who filed it!”
“Norma filed it at…….”
Again! Again! Again!
April’s temper was rising.
She felt like she couldn’t settle this without a face-to-face duel.
This isn’t even Korea.
“No, it’s Korea, so what else is it?
No matter how much of a Confucian girl she was, she wondered if she could at least hold her own in a situation like this.
April swallowed hard and asked in a low voice, “What’s with the old man?
“Who is this old woman, and where is she, is she in this mansion?”
“No, she’s in a townhouse in the suburbs, in Eastern Montpelier.”
“Where is that, damn it.”
April’s temper flared, and she threw the ledger roughly across the desk.
She stared blankly at the numbers on the open pages and sighed.
The situation was already digging a hole, not a bottom.
“Whoa. Really……. I guess I’m going to have to move.”
“…… Yes, ma’am, I know what you mean.”
April brushed a stray strand of hair behind her head with her hand, pulling the corners of her red mouth up.
“Whatever, I think I’m going to have to be a hussy.”
There are a lot of ways to be selfish if you don’t want to be a hussy.
April thought. I don’t want to be a prodigal daughter, so I’ll at least live like a villainess.
She was alone when she made up her mind.
The maid, who had gone downstairs to fetch water, came back into the room with a look of dismay on her face.
“Ah, cold water. Thank you. Give it to me.”
April stretched out her hand.
Mrs. Nora, who carefully set the glass of water down in front of her, looked at it for a moment, then spoke.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
“What is it?”
April, who had just drained her glass of water in one fell swoop, said impatiently, wiping the moisture from my lips with her thumb.
“That’s me…… Norma’s here. Norma would like to see you urgently, Mr. Deacon……..”
“What? Who? Norma, are you talking about my mother-in-law?”
“Yes…….”
“Ha!”
April burst out laughing wildly.
What was it about her that made her so confident that she could drive people to the edge of a cliff like this?
Well, whatever the reason, there’s no reason I can’t see your face from this side.
April pushed her chair back and stood up.
“How does he find a butler with his daughter-in-law in tow, I’ll never know.”
“My lady.”
“Well, since you’re such a fine gentleman, I’m sure it’s not because you don’t recognize my face.”
She jerked toward the door with a defiant look.
“Butler. Lead the way. The big man of the house has come to visit, and it’s only fair that I should greet him.”
Let’s take a look at the face that caused all of this.
*** *** *** *** ******.
I thought I could just head to the parlor on the first floor, as I had done this morning with Rikke.
But Gordon and Mrs. Nora led April past the stairs leading down.
“Where are we going?”
They both looked apologetic, realizing their explanation had been inadequate.
“This mansion has Deborah’s…… ah, I mean Norma’s room, which she always used when she came to the capital, so we’re taking her there.”
“How could she leave such a big, splendid house and live separately?
“That’s why I can’t afford it.
The maintenance would cost twice as much, and of course, the living expenses and the hired help deposits would double.
The more she heard about Norma, I mean Deborah, the more April couldn’t help but think she was going.
“This is the place.”
“I’ll go in by myself.”
“But still…….”
Ignoring the butler’s hesitant voice, April opened the door herself and stepped inside.
“Oh, Gordon. Is this…… coming?”
“I’ve never met you before, Godfather. I’m April.”
“Oh, my. I wasn’t expecting you to come…… Yeah, I wasn’t expecting you one bit.”
Deborah unfolded her fan and waved it gently, hiding half her face.
The two eyes that peeked out from the top of the fan were working overtime to study April.
April walked over without hesitation and sat down across from Deborah.
Deborah was a little surprised by this behavior.
She hadn’t expected April to sit down so effortlessly.
“I’ve heard she’s a pretty girl, but she’s young.
She’s a little more assertive.
“But she is young.
I’ve dealt with all sorts of socialites.
I’ve dealt with all sorts of socialites, and I’m sure she’ll be a little slow, and then she’ll swallow her fear and do what I say,’ Deborah thought lightly.
“Well, did you? I purposely didn’t look for you because I thought you might find me difficult, and also because I didn’t think you’d be able to get out of your room today. It was kind of me.”
April squared her shoulders, aware that Deborah was watching her intently, but she didn’t flinch from the stare.
“I don’t see why you can’t come out, and it’s not like crying in your futon is going to change anything.”
April spoke again, a wry smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Why are you sneaking around like a thief this early in the morning looking for Gordon?”
Deborah froze at that moment.
Her gaze quickly shifted from April’s to the other woman, and she spoke up.
“What do you mean, when have I ever come like a thief……. I always come as usual.”
Deborah took off her watch.
“Oh? I didn’t realize I’d never met you before.”
April forced down the urge to click her tongue and smiled.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I’m visiting my son. I don’t see why you need a special reason.”
The words were spoken, but their bodies were playing. Deborah snorted lightly and pulled something out of her bag, setting it down on the table.
“Well, whatever, it’s good, and it’ll be quicker for you to take care of it than through Gordon. Honey. I need you to take care of this.”
“What’s this?”
April reached out and picked up the paper, her smooth brow furrowing slightly.
Deborah had brought payment documents.
“I can’t run up more debt here.
April sucked in a breath, smiled, and slammed the paper back down on the table.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“……what?”
Deborah’s eyes widened at the mild but direct rejection.
She folded the fan she’d been fluttering with a snap. Then she spoke in a frightening voice.
“You’ll do as you’re told unless you want to go back to being a poor girl again.”
Then Deborah’s eyes crinkled again as if they’d been there forever, and she spoke in a sweet voice.
“You’ll be a good daughter-in-law if you do as you’re told, won’t you?”
The tone was subtly pressuring, but April didn’t flinch in the slightest.
She let out a small laugh, then spoke up, her voice filled with mischief.
“Uh-oh. What am I going to do with this?”
“……hmm?”
“I think you’ve got it wrong.”
This time, April rolled her eyes and laughed.
Then she lifted my right hand to eye level.
She closed the gap between her thumb and forefinger, squinted one eye, and then opened it again.
“I don’t have the slightest intention of being a good girl.”
“What, what……!”
April’s smile grew even more seductive as she looked at Deborah, who was flustered.
“So I can’t give you this.”
With slender fingers, April picked up the payment request from Deborah’s hand.
Then, in a very graceful motion, she slowly snapped the paper in half.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Deborah stared at the sight, dumbfounded, like someone who’d lost their mind and came to her senses when the paper was torn in half.
“You! You……!”
Deborah snapped at April, her face bloodshot and pale.
She looked ugly and devoid of any semblance of dignity.
“Are you crazy!”
April smiled broadly at me.
“Yes, I’m crazy, of course I’m crazy!”
“……what?”
“My mother-in-law.”
She hadn’t exactly recognized Deborah as her mother-in-law. The title was more of a condescending gesture, and Deborah must have sensed it because she frowned.
“Think about it. How can a wife be sane when her husband isn’t dying?”
April’s strategy was to counter illogic with illogic.
Show him that he can’t reason with her, and he’ll never talk to her again.
She laughed like a mad woman, then wiped the smile from her face.
Her expressionless face was eerily beautiful.
Then April glared at Deborah, my mother-in-law, and spoke in a cold voice.
“Of course she’s crazy.”
The words were spoken with a tightly clenched fury.
