The Wicked Wife's Dark History Keeps Coming Back To Haunt Her - Chapter 208

‘Ah, right.’

A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she asked Melanie,

“Have you assigned anyone to keep watch over the repairmen?”

The repairmen.

She’d mentioned them to Ash the other night, but in the confusion of his strange gaze she’d completely forgotten to ask.

When she’d spoken with him the day before yesterday, he’d said not to worry and that he already had plans for that matter.

Still, she couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

“Master already gave instructions about that very thing.”

“He personally did…?”

“Yes. He instructed the butler and me the day before yesterday. He said to keep a strict watch on any outsiders entering the house, so rest assured. We’ll make sure nothing happens at the young master’s party.”

“Good. That’s a relief.”

Nina let out a breath of relief and Melanie smiled.

* * *

On a night when the moon gleamed a sickly blue, Count Azelot walked down an alley with several torch-bearing men, a bitter smile on his face.

Count Azelot.

Before gaining his independence, he had once been a young master of House Bayern. Born the second son of the third former Duke, he’d spent half his life enjoying the honor and power of that illustrious house.

The title ‘Count Azelot’ originally belonged to the Duke’s family. The territory of Count Azelot had once been part of the Bayern Dukedom.

Thus he understood Melanie’s family—who had served as head housemaids for generations—very well.

That household had been tightfisted for generations. Even now, frugality was praised as the lady’s virtue, but a few generations back that ethos had been extreme.

It was incomprehensible to someone who believed status rose with luxury. Still, the Bayern house, despite its unimaginable wealth, ran its household with stinginess. Melanie’s kin had been recognized for their thrift since their great-grandmother’s generation and thus continued serving as head housemaids.

‘The repairmen that stingy lot uses are obvious.’

He’d quietly cultivated long-standing trade with House Bayern, supplying cheap but plentiful labor.

So he’d been keeping those men under discreet surveillance, and his guess proved correct.

At some point Count Azelot’s steps halted.

A signboard embossed with a hammer.

It was the shop of one of the repairmen summoned by House Bayern.

He glanced up at the sign, gave a signal, and one of his men turned the doorknob.

Clack, clack.

As expected, it was locked.

They draped thick cloth over the door and, with the hammer, shattered the lock in one blow.

In the still night, the intruders stepped through the doorway without making any unnecessary noise, dirty boots leaving prints on the floor.

It was late at night.

“Wh, Who’s there? Is someone there…?”

Woken by faint noises, the repairman’s wife came down from the second floor holding a lamp, fear on her face.

She was subdued in an instant.

Before she could scream, the men pinned her limbs and gagged her mouth.

“Ugh…!”

Count Azelot ordered the remaining men,

“Quietly pull the others down from upstairs.”

A short time later.

Those who had slept unaware were likewise dragged down, mouths gagged.

One middle-aged man and a child of perhaps eleven or twelve.

Count Azelot looked down at them with a satisfied smile.

A wife and a child. What a convenient composition for hostages.

“Take the woman and the child for now.”

“Yes, sir.”

The men obeyed and slipped out the back door with the child and the woman.

The repairman thrashed and resisted, eyes trembling in fury.

But how could he hope to overcome trained guards by himself?

“I’ll untie your mouth. But if you resist foolishly, you’ll never see your wife and child again. Understand?”

The repairman nodded slowly.

When the gag was finally removed, the man watched his family vanish as he sobbed in despair.

“W-What do you plan to do with my wife and child?!”

“If you carry out the task I give you safely, I’ll help you reunite with them as if nothing happened.”

“Wh, What…?”

“But if you disobey my orders, you will never see them again.”

Count Azelot’s eyes gleamed with a vile light as he watched the repairman’s face drain of color in the darkness.