The Sixth Plan. To Know Thy Enemy. (7)
As she tugged on the rope, the head maid began to arrange for tea. I took a sip of the red tea that was poured into a white teacup and Charlotte took a sip of hers as well. As the hot tea had warmed up her cold insides, Charlotte then calmly proceeded to tell about her and Count Petrika’s original plan.
“My orders were to have you kill the baby by using that poisonous weed. After it was discovered that the cause of the baby’s death was your own breast milk, Count Petrika said that he would then poison you and stage a suicide in due time.”
I was already saddened by the sudden loss of Theodora and the fact that my baby died because of my breast milk—because of myself—made it really hard for me to handle. A wave of sadness was soon followed by my self-deprecation and that had exactly been what Count Petrika aimed for. The grief-stricken Duchess who had lost her child through her own mistakes eventually committed suicide by poisoning herself. What bastards, no, they were worse than dogs. Charlotte, who spoke of such a terrible plan without a speck of guilt at all, did not seem like the real one who had actualized the first step of the said plan.
“And you will be the Duchess in return?”
“Yes. Once you’re gone all of a sudden, the Duke of DeMancier will be twice bereaved of his wife. Besides, since the Duchess Dowager cared for me, I thought that she would recommend me as the next Duchess. And on the other hand, Count Petrika hoped that a child who could threaten Carlos’s succession would never be born—just like this time. It’s like our interests are all aligned together.”
With a graceful gesture, Charlotte had lifted her teacup and taken a sip of her tea before setting it down. Then, she added a slice of apple that didn’t even look like an apple at all.
“I’m so sorry about you, Amanda. But I swear that I never once had hated you. If only things had worked out with Merilyn, none of this would have ever happened.”
“Merilyn and you were friends.”
“We were. As the daughters of Counts, we understood each other a lot.”
It reminded me of Merilyn’s letter, which she had probably stolen before. What was the content of that letter? With a soft smile, she slowly ran her hand through her wavy brown hair. She usually listened to everything by the Duchess Dowager’s side, but when she had become the talker herself, she was quite loquacious.
“There are a number of Count Petrika’s men who reside in this castle. Merilyn had to be watched and interfered with by her father, even when she came over to her marriage book due to the ducal writing. The Count knew the few words that Merilyn had uttered to her husband during dinner as well as the expressions that she had thrown to him. He also knew the time when she had gone to bed. I’m also sure the Count knew what kind of attitude Merilyn had taken upon her husband in order to produce the heir.”
Merilyn’s strange request which was relayed to Gellerhard that she did not want the maids to serve their meals immediately came to mind. Charlotte’s words were so terrible that I did not want to believe them, but they still seemed to be quite circumstantial.
She said that the only moments when Merilyn and Gellerhard would ever meet up were during the time she would have her meal or during their copulating session, but Merilyn would have wanted to avoid the Count’s interference at all costs. Nevertheless, in order to stop the attendants, she had to borrow Gellerhard’s mouth for she would be at odds with the Count instead. Just as if it was what he had really wanted anyway.
“Merilyn did have a bad relationship with Gellerhard.”
“It wasn’t a very friendly relationship indeed…”
Charlotte’s eyes blurred as she ran her hand through her hair while recalling the past which she had before. Then, a sarcastic sneer crept across her face.
“Merilyn had always wanted to leave the Duchy. And I wanted to be the master. Merilyn did say that she envied me—whose position could be changed at any whim of an aged old lady. On the other hand, she had a husband who, no matter how cold and ignorant he was, still made her live a good life.”
Charlotte’s right lip suddenly went upwards. As she crossed her legs together, she brushed off her twisted evaluation of Merilyn.
“I couldn’t become a Duchess since I wasn’t able to bear any children while she had to give birth to a Duke’s heir through the blood of Count Merilyn Petrika. Merilyn declared that she would run away once she had the baby. And I will be taking her seat as the Duchess in return. However, the Duchess Dowager left the Dukedom before Merilyn had given birth to the baby and I, who followed her, was forced to leave with her. Unfortunately, Merilyn died soon after she had given birth and you became the Duchess instead. If our plan had worked, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened at all. I’m sorry.”
Were Charlotte’s words that uttered about Merilyn had been true? I became Carl’s mother only at Merilyn’s request. If Merilyn had made such a pact with Charlotte, then during the days before her death, she would have called Charlotte—not me. Perhaps, while giving birth to Carl, Merilyn’s thoughts about her might have changed all of a sudden.
Merilyn’s death left me to wonder if Charlotte was actually involved, but I could never doubt her at that moment in fear that Charlotte might have changed her attitude capriciously. I eventually asked about the letter without questioning anything else any further.
“Merilyn had already kept your letter privately. Did you really have to steal that letter, then?”
Her eyes flinched and continued to twitch under her slightly trembling pair of brows. She looked as though she was remembering Merilyn back, but I could see her eyelids growing bigger along with the movement of her own pupils just like she had been thinking about something else instead.
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