Kill This Marriage - Chapter 13

The place where Nicole stood was bright, and the place where the other person stood was dark.

So the other person’s face was not visible from her perspective. After a long time, she said while she was standing far away.

“Siena, is it you my daughter?”

Nicole blushed suddenly. At the same time, her body trembled.

‘Is she the landlord? What should I say?’

She hurried over to see Nicole, who didn’t say anything.

‘This lady… Who is she?

Nicole has never seen her before. She was wearing boots, trousers, and an elegantly cut lady’s jacket.

It was as if a noblewoman and a soldier were combined in one, but it was not an awkward look and matched her very well.

And in one hand, she had a long rifle.

Her stylish and unconventional hair was cut into a short bob.

She couldn’t guess her age, and she was more beautiful and elegant than pretty.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude…….”

“No.”

She looked at Nicole vaguely. A faint disappointment came to her face when she mistook Nicole for someone else.

“Just in case. Who are you? Why are you here?”

“I wandered around the night road and somehow came into this house. I live in a nearby farmhouse.”

Since childhood, her parents have taught her to pretend to be an ordinary person in a nearby village when she meets people.

“Hmm…”

She frowned.

“Come in for now. Whether you’re a living person or a ghost. Since you came on such a meaningful day, I should treat you to a cup of tea.”

A woman living alone in the mountains serves tea to an intruder?

Nicole has never seen anyone with this guts. And soon she found out the identity of the woman with nerves of steel.

꧁꧂

‘Stuffed…?’

That was the first sight Nicole had ever seen inside the house.

Unlike the shabby exterior, the house was very well decorated. The wallpaper was turquoise with golden decorations. And the tableware on the fireplace decorated with gold frames were all used by the capital nobles.

But the most impressive thing was the stuffed animal filling the living room.

The most vivid thing that looked like a bird that seemed to have just been caught. It was a male bird that burned incense so that the insect wouldn’t get tangled.

“Hunting must be your hobby.”

“Ah, yes. I enjoy hunting at night. Precious birds are easy to catch at night.”

Nicole was horrified at the thought that if she had done something wrong, she would have been the victim of the rifle she was carrying.

“Usually, people don’t think I caught them.”

“The gun you’re holding seems to be a precious object.”

Nicole knew about the gun when she looked at it.

It was said that it could only be used by chosen people throughout the entire empire.

‘My husband from my past life…… Raul had two of them.’

What Raul had was similar in shape to that.

It is said that the shotgun is not very lethal, but it is silent and can cause injury superficially.

The stuffed animal was flawless so it might have been caught with a shotgun. The same was true of birds.

“You’re a quick-witted kid.”

She offered a seat before Nicole said anything. And poured warm tea.

“How did you get into this house?”

“The entrance… …was open.”

The smell of warm bergamot heated the room. Nicole stared at the teacup.

It was an obvious lie. Nicole took a look in her eyes.

“Well, yes. Sometimes I forget to lock the door. Because there are no people living in a place like this.”

Fortunately, she seemed to move on without much thought.

“My name is Grace.”

“Nice to meet you. Madam.”

Nicole spoke cautiously.

“I didn’t touch anything in the house. I just looked here because I thought it was a house where people live. There’s a house in a place I’ve never imagined…….”

“That’s possible. If you go around at night at this time, you are likely to be misunderstood, so don’t do that next time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Nicole replied obediently.

“But… I guess you weren’t surprised to see me. Do young female guests other than me often visit this house?”

“Sometimes, a girl who lives nearby comes to play. She’s a cute kid.”

Grace nodded.

“What’s her name?”

“She’s called Isabel. She says she lives hiding in the mountains because she has a situation at home, but she sometimes comes to see me because she has no friends other than me

“Does she come at night, too?”

“Yeah. At first, I was surprised to see a girl walking around this remote place alone. She said she had to sneak out late at night because she was hiding. I used to do something special that I had to stay awake at night. Thanks to this, I don’t sleep at night, so when she comes, I call her over and give her tea.”

Nicole grabbed the cup she was drinking. Her face turned pale.

‘Isabel, are you out of your mind?

The family was obviously living in hiding around this time. Their parents controlled their children to never talk to outsiders.

But she even told her about our situation. Maybe she even said the location of their house.

“Do you happen to know Isabel?”

Nicole realized why she was so gentle with her.

She suspected that Nicole was a family member of Isabel. Isabel and Nicole were not alike at all, but they were similar in feeling and outfit.

“Yes, I’m actually Isabel’s older sister. The introduction was late. My name is Nicole.”

Nicole frankly said her real name. As long as she knew Isabel’s existence anyway, she had no choice but to stop deceiving her.

“I thought it was like that. It just feels like that.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you honestly from the beginning. Isabel’s been acting suspiciously at night these days……. I was chasing after her just in case…….”

“I admit that this is a situation that would make you worry about your younger sister. Because I know I look strange to you. How can a person who lives in a place like this look normal? But I can tell you one thing for sure. I’m not a suspicious person. There’s evidence of that.”

“Evidence…”

“Do you know that there is an owner on this mountain?”

“……Are you?”

Nicole’s eyes got bigger.

It is said that this place used to be a place where mana stones were excavated. The mana stones were of the highest quality, so people lived near here.

The source of the mana stones dried up faster than people expected. Since then, it has become an abandoned mining town that is not worth staying in.

In addition, there were false rumors. It is said that bad energy that makes people sick comes out of the abandoned mine where mana stones were mined.

Thanks to that, the villagers would not even come close to this area.

‘If this place was a mine, there would be a mine owner.’

Don’t tell me, she’s…….

“From this mansion to the abandoned mine village, which is a long walk away. Part of this mountain is mine. It’s my family’s land that I inherited, to be exact.”

She added briefly about herself.

She was originally from the capital. Then, she must have come here to heal.

“My ancestors who built this house seem to have been quite eccentric. It was built in a dense forest where no one could notice the entrance. Actually, I heard that at that time, they created a secret exchange to embezzle mana stones. Mana stones have a lot of taxes, so they tried to smuggle some of it here. But even I’m not sure. I can’t even confirm the authenticity of the deceased directly.”

After listening to Grace, Nicole got up from her seat.

The land between here and the abandoned mine village was where Nicole’s family lived. In the first place, the abandoned cabin was also repaired by them.

“If so……. Isabel has already told you everything, so you know. It’s a big disrespect because my family lives without permission on the land owned by the landlord. Until now, we didn’t know there was an owner, so it wasn’t intentional.”

At this time, she thought their family was living in perfect hiding. In a controlled world, under the protection of their parents.

No one touched them, but the truth is, there was someone who looked at them as if they were looking into the palm of their hand.

She didn’t think they would be the remnants of the Yveschappel family, so she just didn’t touch them. Nicole really lived in a palm-sized world. She was a sinner, if ignorance is a sin.

“Sit down. It’s true that the owner abandoned that house, so it’s a good thing if people live there. How polite of you.”

Grace looked surprised. She looked at Nicole carefully.

“Who the hell taught you?”

“Nobody taught me. I’m just trying to be as polite as possible.”

“……what a strange child. I can’t believe there’s such an elegant child in this mountain…….”

Grace, who had paused for a moment, continued.

“It’s a very strange night. I felt like my daughter was going to come back, but you’re here instead.”

“Did you have a daughter?”

Nicole asked cautiously.

In her last life, she was so poor at expressing her emotions at this time that she always spoke unevenly. But she already outgrew that.

She was taken to the Grand Duke’s mansion and learned manners by half-force and exploded twisted emotions.

Now Nicole was no longer her past self.

She also knew how to express her emotions skillfully while being quiet. It was different from her past life when she was misunderstood by others for nothing.

This attitude of Nicole pleased Grace.

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