IELNDMH - Chapter 98 < Poisoned Champagne >

IELNDMH - Chapter 98 < Poisoned Champagne >

I Ended Up Living Up Next Door With My Ex-Husband

In my heart, I wanted to spend a little more time with Cedric. But I had to hurry and head to the banquet hall.

This was because there was not much time left until the scheduled announcement of the lottery winner.

As I quickly went down the central stairs and headed behind the podium at the front of the banquet hall, Anton and Mina, who were waiting, saw me and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Your Highness, where have you been? It’s time for the presentation, but since you weren’t there, I’m wondering how much I’ve been looking for!”

Mina's voice was full of complaints as she shouted with her lower lip sticking out.

“I didn’t know it was already this late! Are you ready? Are you done?”

In response to my question, Anton confidently nodded his head and stepped forward.

“We have gathered all the raffle boxes into one and placed them on the podium, so all you have to do is go up and draw for Your Highness personally!”

As expected, as long as Anton and Mina are there, any worries seem to disappear quickly.

I nodded my head towards them in satisfaction and hurriedly walked up to the podium.

“Come on, everyone! Let’s start the drawing event you’ve been waiting for!”

***

Perhaps it was because Anton and Mina planned a lot of fun events along the way, but the atmosphere was very good throughout.

As a result, even after the event was over, people who expressed interest in participating in additional agency investments also appeared.

Perhaps that's why the lottery event took longer than expected to end.

'Fortunately, I think the agency's promotion worked as intended!'

I was filled with anticipation and chatted with Anton and Mina for a while behind the podium.

And it was finally time to start walking towards the banquet hall again.

I saw a black shadow gradually getting closer and closer to the hem of my skirt.

'Who...?'

I quickly raised my head out of pure curiosity. And soon my eyebrows furrowed fiercely.

“Oh my, this father was a little late and missed the friendly greetings of His Highness the Grand Duke and his wife.”

“...”

“Your Highness.”

I don't know why, but Duke Bold raised the back of my hand while pronouncing the title 'Her Highness' with some force.

I stared down at him kissing the back of my hand, then nervously withdrew my hand.

“Are you here now?”

“It’s not like I just arrived. As soon as I arrived, the raffle event started.”

“... If you were that late, it would have been okay if you hadn’t come at all.”

As if he had already anticipated my cold reception, Duke Bold shrugged his shoulders with a weak expression.

As I was looking at him disapprovingly, I suddenly looked away and made eye contact with a woman.

The woman was wearing an artificial lemon-colored wig and a dress made of seemingly cheap fabric.

Her wig and her clothes told a lot about the unidentified woman.

"No way... Is this the woman that Duke Bold brought?”

When I asked Duke Bold, looking at him with disgust, he snorted proudly.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness. This old father has been alone for many years, so she won’t be that big of a disaster.”

As he said, the Duchess of Bold had already passed away a long time ago.

Since Duke Bold had maintained his status as a single man for many years, his new beginning may have been worthy of blessing.

But how many people do not know that the Duke of Bold had been secretly romantically involved with several mistresses even before his wife's death?

Yes, as far as he said, it's okay that he gave in a hundred times and finally decided to do it openly.

However, the story is different if the mistress's first social stage is a banquet hosted by his own daughter, Rebecca.

His actions concealed his obvious disregard for Rebecca and his insidious intention to make her a laughing stock.

What made me angry more than anything was the fact that his daughter Rebecca was now no one else but me.

As I took a quick look around, I felt numerous eyes on us, as expected.

Most of them had faces that looked astonished or disgusting, and some of them seemed to be unable to contain their excitement about the new entertainment.

“I guess that’s why you brought this woman to my banquet as a show-off.”

I said, trying hard to suppress my anger.

Meanwhile, the woman did not even lift her head, let alone greet me.

It was proper courtesy to greet the woman he had brought with him to the Grand Duchess, but she did not necessarily follow the courtesy, and the Duke of Bold was the same.

“A woman who has lost her voice.”

“It’s a shame. But even so, there is no reason not to follow the etiquette...”

“It’s very, very unfortunate.”

My words criticizing his lack of manners didn't seem to have even the slightest impact on Duke Bold.

I glanced at Duke Bold, who ignored everything I said and then turned my attention straight to his new mistress.

‘Duke Bold, you conscienceless man. At most, she looks about my age, right?'

I had often seen cases of an old man remarrying a woman of similar age with his daughter in my past life, but at most it was through dramas or movies.

I never thought I'd see something like this with my own eyes.

This is what a human being who is inevitably related to me by blood does.

'If you're going to bring her here, you should at least buy her a decent dress. Why did you bring her here like that?'

The answer to that frustrating question was rather simple.

‘It was to humiliate me.’

Without even realizing it was rude, I slowly raised my gaze from the woman's feet to her knees, and from her knees to her shoulders.

Then, golden eyes greeted me as if they had been waiting for me.

For a moment, I stared into the golden eyes of a woman who never avoided my gaze.

The eyebrows slowly furrowed.

'What is this unpleasant familiarity?'

I furrowed my brow and looked away from the woman.

And then I looked at Duke Bold indifferently again.

“Well, since you two are here, I hope you have a good time. Oh, and...”

Although I really didn't want to, I walked very close to Duke Bold.

And whispered lowly in his ear.

“I would be even more grateful if you could stay quietly and not be noticed by the guests I invited.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the muscles on Duke Bold's angular chin began to grow thick.

But he seemed to quickly regain his composure, snorting softly and slowly turning his head towards me.

Duke Bold's raised gaze was quite cold.

"This... Now that you have increased your personal wealth, you seem to be confused as to whether I am your father or a scarecrow.”

Of course, Duke Bold has never been friendly to me.

Even taking that into account, his current mood was clearly different from before.

There was murder lurking in his eyes as he looked at me, and the force was also enormous.

But since he was more than willing to die for me to find out that I was under his influence, I secretly swallowed dry saliva and glared straight at him.

“Fortunately, it looks like the news has reached the South as well. In fact, the reason I invited my father to this banquet was because I was worried that my current splendid news might not have been relayed.”

“I said let’s see, and you are... !”

Eventually, the tendons on Duke Bold's forehead began to bulge as if they were about to explode.

***

Meanwhile, right then.

Camilla took advantage of Rebecca's attention being lost to Duke Bold and stepped behind Rebecca.

The father and daughter were still exchanging harsh words with each other.

Just like the picture that Duke Bold and Camilla had planned.

Camilla stood behind Rebecca and stared at Duke Bold.

Then, a scoff and a sneer soon came out of her lips.

'That pathetic human being, who told me to just ignore him, is taking advantage of this opportunity to vent his anger, isn't he?'

His face had been turning dark red with anger for a long time, and because of the location, he couldn't even yell once, so he seemed like he was dying.

This is understandable, given how much Duke Bold has been gnashing his teeth at his daughter Rebecca.

He foamed at the mouth and swore at her, accusing her of being a bitch who used his personal wealth to show off her father.

'Yes. This will be the last time he can look at that woman's face and swear at her, so let's satisfy the old man's greed.'

The corners of Camilla's lips curved up leisurely. And she finally...

She stopped where her gaze was destined to be.

A glass of champagne.

This was the same cup that Grand Duchess Rebecca had inadvertently placed on the table a little while ago when she faced her unwelcome father.

There were about two sips of champagne left in the glass.

Fortunately, it was just the right amount to dissolve the poison Camilla had prepared.

Camilla looked at Duke Bold and pushed her hair behind her shoulder.

It was a movement that seemed somewhat comical or exaggerated, but it was definitely a signal between the two.

Duke Bold, who immediately recognized the signal, suddenly began to raise his voice.

“This is truly too much, Your Highness! How can you treat your father so poorly, even if he comes from a defeated country?”

At Duke Bold's shout, the surrounding attention began to focus on the Grand Duchess and her father.

Embarrassed, Rebecca blinked her eyes and looked around, but Duke Bold paid no attention and only raised his voice louder.

“No matter how bad I am, I am Your Highness Father! But you treat me, your real father, so poorly!”

“Father, if you raise your voice like this in the banquet hall...”

“Why, am I saying something wrong now? This old and helpless father must be so frustrated! Isn’t that right, everyone?”

Like a storyteller on stage, the Duke of Bold naturally captured the attention of the audience by asking for their opinions.

'Oh my, it's more worth seeing than you expected, isn't it?'

Camilla's eyebrows arched, drawing a tall mountain.

Before joining the Bold family, there was a rumor that Rebecca was born and raised by a mother who was a showgirl, and it even briefly crossed her mind that that might be true.

But for her, what was important now was not the kind of backstory that luxury people would like.

A poison ring on her ring finger.

Whether or not the poison contained in it could be put into Rebecca's champagne glass was a truly important question.

'Atlas... The time has come.'

Finally, Camilla opened the cover of the poison ring and her eyes flashed with joy and madness.

Her high point was finally under her nose.

The more she did, the more careful she had to be, until the very end.

She looked around her several times, but she was always preoccupied with the quarrels between the Grand Duchess and her father.

‘Right now. There will never be a chance like this again.'

Camilla immediately poured the poison into the champagne glass.

The purple poison melted transparently into the golden champagne.

As Camilla watched this, the corner of her mouth began to twitch sinisterly.

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