There’s No Divorce For You

Bell dragged Lisa out, so I had no choice but to change clothes myself. I only changed clothes, but I felt like I was doing hard work. I rolled over on the bed and started rewriting the contents of the diary in my head.

Her family was a family that produced priests from generation to generation. She was faithful to the point of madness and kept her doctrine to the point of disgust. 

Before swearing chastity toward each other in the name of God, she also swore fidelity and loyalty. In order not to shame the Gods, she didn’t take her budget, donated to the shrine weekly, and didn’t harm her —. 

“Damn it, that kid.”

It wasn’t because the Count was stupid or because he loved Lisa less that he put us together. He also thought that Carla couldn’t hurt Lisa. 

Swear words come out of my mouth. Yeah, if it were Carla, she wouldn’t have been able to touch Lisa. As a faithful believer, she could punish her maid for her wrongdoing, but she wasn’t the kind of person who could hurt anyone out of jealousy. Furthermore, if it was the mistress that her husband cared for, she couldn’t have touched it more. Because she didn’t want to be hated by the Count.

She must have suppressed her anger by listening to the cute and lovely maid flirting next to her. She must have looked for God with tears falling on a piece of paper. What are all these kids? My stomach was boiling. Anger erupted.

Unfortunately for the Count, I was different from Carla. I didn’t hang my neck in love to be stupid, and I wasn’t good enough to just stand still when someone hit me.

“Icarus—”

I muttered the Count’s name as if to chew. I couldn’t take out a bundle of paper under the bed for fear of anyone’s eyes, so I kept repeating Carla’s diary in my head.

Because she was blinded by love, the story of the Count was all but a useless little chatter.

‘By the way, I don’t want to eat with the Count, but I have to sleep—’

Fortunately for me, the Count didn’t ask for sleep for quite some time, making excuses for this and that. But, the thought that I might have to sleep with him one day chilled my spine.

At that moment, I jumped right into the sound of someone knocking on the door.

“May I come in?”

It was the Count. A man of honor is a man of no means. Well, he’s a nobleman. I got out of bed thinking of a silly joke. I brushed my messy hair roughly and answered arrogantly.

“Yeah.”

It was a very late answer, but the Count opened the door and came in immediately, perhaps waiting steadily in front of the room.

He was trying to contain his anger, and the sound of his wheezing breathing could tell how angry he was. As soon as the door closed, the Count scolded me.

“Your heart must be made of ice.”

If my heart was made of ice, the Count’s brain must have been made of combustible material. The brain must have been burned or melted by the fire of love.

Again, this stupid man seemed to have a hobby of betting fights he couldn’t win. His chest went up and down violently. 

I decided to listen to him for what reason he rebuked me.

“How could you throw a finger at a young maid. You’re terrible—”

Apparently, he was angry because I hit Lisa. I expected him to be angry from the time I hit the back of her hand, but I didn’t expect him to come so soon. It was funny. 

I snorted with my arms folded. 

“I don’t know why it’s a problem to punish an arrogant maid.”

I lifted my chin and looked at him. Dealing with others gave me a subtle pleasure, and it was even more interesting in that the opponent was not weaker than me, but a bad-tempered Count.

“Even if she’s warming the Count’s bed, I’m still the Countess.”

The Count clasped his hands tightly. He clenched his teeth and muttered as he snorted an angry snort as if he was about to run. 

“Y, you— you’re the woman who doesn’t know anything about shame—”

“Oh my, I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“You know how shameful it is to covet and steal an earring that doesn’t suit you.”

I just shrugged my shoulders at the remark. Shame wasn’t something I should feel. It was the responsibility of two people who were blinded by love and jumped back and forth without looking back. 

“What kind of earrings are you talking about?”

“Are you going to pretend you didn’t know?”

“Because I’ve never seen it before.”

I shamelessly pretend not to know. It was unbelievable even to me. 

However, since I returned the earrings to Lisa a while ago, I didn’t have them in my hand. So it didn’t matter whether she said she had lost her earrings or the Count just thought so.

“Where are the earrings?”

The Count answered confidently.

“Of course, you stole it, so it’s in your room. It’s hidden in a drawer, isn’t it?” 

“You can find it as you want.”

I turned around and let the Count go through my dressing table. Then, without hesitation, the Count came in and opened the drawer. I enjoyed watching him jump into the trap he made himself.

“—You must have hidden it in your body.”

I wiggled my ear back, showing the empty earlobe. The Count couldn’t even touch my body. He gritted his teeth and stepped back.

“I’ll be watching you from now on.”

“After you apologize for the shame you gave me.”

“There must have been a misunderstanding.”

The Count looked at me with a face that suppressed his anger and spat out each word as if he was chewing on it. 

“Do you know why I don’t wear earrings?”

I asked suddenly, looking into his angry eyes. Inside, I wanted him to know anything about Carla’s body.

As much as he cares about the mistress’ little earrings, I hope he is interested in Carla. But he only responded indifferently.

“Because it doesn’t look good on you! What other reasons do you have?”

“I know. I shouldn’t have asked.”

I pretended not to care and waved my hand. The Count left the room without saying a word. I waited for his footsteps to subside, then lay back on the bed. 

“That’s how it’s going to come out.”

Anger toward the Count soared. I wondered if there was any natural way to kill him. It was a thought I always had as a habit when I was stressed. 

‘Whenever the manager bothered me, I searched about that on the internet so many times.’

The easiest thing to do would be poison. However, it seemed like it could be disguised as an accidental death by secretly mixing food with allergies.

Could there be something written in Carla’s diary? There was no sign of movement outside the door. I reached under the bed and took out my hidden diary. However, no matter how scattered I looked, I couldn’t find the food he shouldn’t eat.

This bastard didn’t have any allergies or anything to hide. Damn it. 

I remembered the poison I knew in my head. Cyanide, Opium, Arsenic— Will lead poisoning kill him? No. That takes too long. 

Mercury? It’s hard to get. It’s going to be hard to feed. Why don’t I get some poisonous mushrooms and feed them to him? Dry it up and mix it in a basket, and it’ll be perfect.

No, someone else could get caught up in it. There are no CCTVs in this world, but killing people is quite difficult.

“Haa…”

I got up and walked around the room. A whole apple pie was placed on the dressing table. Bell had brought it and left it as is.

I cut the pie up at random and started eating it. The tip of the tongue was crispy because it had plenty of cinnamon.

“Huh? Cinnamon?”

Cinnamon was a spice made from the bark of a tree growing in the tropics. However, this neighborhood where I live has only good weather, and it is far from tropical. 

No, it didn’t matter. If there was a tropical region somewhere in the world, and if we traded with it, I could save the lychee. I remember seeing a glimpse in a newspaper article that one day someone who ate unripe lychee died.

“Isn’t it worth trying?’

I put down the apple pie I was eating. It reminded me of the round and soft flesh of lychee. White flesh that is crushed sweetly when lightly bitten. A cumbersome fruit that needs to be peeled. 

I couldn’t help but think of it, but my eyes went blank. How does it feel to swallow poison with your own hands? I shook my head and laughed.

‘No way, he’s probably not going to die right? At least he’ll have some diarrhea.’

There was nothing wrong with failing. I’d only recommend fruit and only snacks. I clasped my hands. I had to get stronger to the point where the Count couldn’t do it on his own. To do that, I need money. 

All I had now was pennies and a mine obtained by manipulating the ledger. Is there any other way than to bring the dowry back? 

How did I earn money? I finish the pie I were eating while thinking about it. There was no way I could kill anyone anyway.

******

The mansion was in a state of tension. The maids remained silent as if they would be in big trouble if anyone spoke. The Count didn’t bother to call me or ask me to eat. So did I. 

We pretended not to interfere in each other’s affairs on a subject full of thoughts to trample on each other. The only one who couldn’t keep a proper distance was Lisa. 

She often spouted rude remarks as if she thought the Count had greatly scolded me. Bell was losing strength, but I didn’t care. Instead, I tormented Lisa in a childish and vulgar way. 

“The tea is cold. Bring it to a boil again.”

When I got the tea, I rejected it at least twice, said I didn’t like the tea, and sent it back and told her to bring it back. 

Lisa had no choice but to obey my orders even though she was in tears. Still, she was bright and cheerful. The sound of her footsteps remained, and I couldn’t get used to the loud footsteps that rang every time she came up the stairs.