Chapter 163: CHAPTER 82 (1) – Thank You for Asking

Patrizia had a welcoming expression on her face when she finally saw Petronilla, who had arrived at the Empress Palace late in the afternoon.

“Nilla, you came late?”

“…”

However, despite her clear greeting, Petronilla had a dark look on her face. Nevertheless, Patrizia smiled calmly, and asked Petronilla, “Looking at the expression on your face.”

“…”

“It seems there was some progress?”

“Lizzy, Your Majesty the Empress.” Petronilla hesitated, and then replied in a firm voice, “We may be able to completely ruin her.”

“Alright.” Patrizia smiled brightly as she nodded. “I do not know what you have managed to discover… But I expected as much.”

The relationship between the Duke of Efreni and Rosemond. But it did not end there. Petronilla spoke in a troubled voice, “If we make sure to finish Rosemond, the Duke of Efreni will also be over.”

“… Is it that extreme?” Patrizia was briefly interested in what Petronilla said, but soon spoke without a care, However, it does not matter. All I want is the destruction of Rosemond. If even the Duke of Efreni is ruined in the process, then that would mean that he has also committed a crime.”

Patrizia laughed in a relaxed manner, and muttered to herself, “So, even if the opponent was the Duke of Witherford, and not the Duke of Efreni, I would not care.”

“It would be better to read it once, than listen to it a hundred times.”

Petronilla sent out all the maids around the vicinity, and then handed over all the letters she had taken from January’s room to Patrizia. In January’s jewelry box had been the letters that Rosemond had scribbled roughly.

After Patrizia received a total of seventeen letters from Petronilla, she slowly began to read up and down each one. Her originally calm expression began to slowly distort after she read the fourth letter, began to show disbelief when she reached the ninth letter, and finally after she finished reading the last letter…

“Ha.” She burst into empty laughter. There was quite a reason for that. Patrizia started laughing like a madwoman. “Ha ha ha ha ha.”

As she laughed like that, her facial expression was mixed with an acknowledgement of ‘touché!’ as well.

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The death of the successor brought deep sorrow to the Duke of Efreni’s estate. Since the Young Master Henry had been a warm person, and kind to all, everyone in the Duchy paid their respects for his death.

However, one person was excluded.

“Ahahaha!”

January quietly killed the sound within her room, and then burst into a low laugh. Henry was dead! He was the only successor from the Duchess! Although Henry had not been overly friendly to January, he had usually treated her with the utmost courtesy possible, but she was not a woman with enough affection to be able to praise Henry in this situation.

She just laughed happily just thinking about the situation, thinking about how the future with her son becoming the official successor of the Duke, and after raising Rosemond to the position of Empress, she would be able to drag the Duchess down from her title. Of course, if this situation was revealed to anyone else, the perpetrators would be the ones chased out more than anything, so she had to laugh quietly.

Knock knock…

At the sound of the knock, January quickly organized her laughing expression into a terribly sad expression.

This kind of behavior was extremely abominable, so if anyone who was by her side observed all this from start to finish, it would be enough for their teeth to chatter angrily and curse such shamelessness. She made a tear mark by applying saliva around her eyes to appear like she felt she had lost her own child, and then rubbed her eyes roughly to redden them more. Only then did she open the door and face the butler.

She asked, “Butler, what is the matter?”

“…”

He handed over a single letter without a word. It was a letter from the Imperial Palace, specifically, Rosemond. He said to her, “It is a letter from Marchioness of Ethyller, Madam.”

“Oh my, the Marchioness?”

She accepted the letter with a surprised expression. She closed the door, still not erasing the sorrow showing in her eyes. But as soon as the door closed and the butler’s face was hidden from view, she smiled as she ripped opened the letter, and hummed a tune to herself internally.

Rosemond, why on earth did this woman send letters so often? January, read the contents written with fancy penmanship on a white envelope, and soon laughed again without concern.

“Three days from now, three days from now she says…” January quietly muttered to herself, and soon began to write a letter to an unknown receiver. It was a short letter with the following information: In three days, please make sure the Empress’s footsteps will never return to the Imperial Palace from the Marquis of Grochester’s home.

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“It seems the Young Master Efreni has passed away after all,” Petronilla said in a gloomy voice. The Young Duke of Efeni had still been young. The news that he had passed on to heaven at such a young age depressed Petronilla anyway.

Patrizia expressed her condolences briefly, “Oh dear.”

The Duchess of Efreni is probably out of her mind, Patrizia thought, and told Petronilla, “Then the Duchess should be returning immediately.”

“With her son’s body. The funeral is going to be held in her home country, it seems.”

“Oh dear,” she said once again, and turned the wheels in her head. The Duke’s only successor had died. If that was the case, this meant that the only remaining heir was the mistress’ young son.

“Lizzy.”

“Hm?”

“Is Madam January’s young son going to become the next head of the household?”

At Petronilla’s words, Patrizia looked thoughtful, and then called out, “Nil.”

“Hm?”

“Right now, if the content of this letter is the truth…” She stretched out the tail of her words, and continued, “Then it may not end up becoming like that.”

“What do you mean?”

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Translated by Haeli

Edited by RED