557-chapter-160
Kallaudin’s mother died when he was five, and his father died when he was ten.
Ten years old was an ambiguous age. Since he had not yet reached adulthood, collateral vassals of Duchy Icard came to him, offering to act as regent.
“Go away, you’re all covered with greed.”
The person who came to the Capital at that time was Olivia.
Kallaudin’s aunt, his father’s older sister Olivia, had a reputation as a wicked woman ever since she was still Lady Icard.
During her unmarried days, she was eager to fit her great influence into all the salons that were fashionable at the time. However, because she could not stay in any salon for long, she ended up not belonging to any salon.
So, everyone looked after Olivia and tried to please her, but she had no real friends and no cliques formed. Of course, even if she didn’t have anything like that, she always walked around the Capital with confidence.
At that time, a surprising situation occurred when Count Livien, a great nobleman from the southeast who happened to come to the Capital to run errands, fell in love with Olivia at first sight.
“I… like…heuk, the Lady.”
Count Livien was an innocent-looking young man who evoked everyone’s protective instincts just by looking at him, and everyone in the Capital was unanimous in stopping him.
“Count Livien, it looks like you don’t know much because you don’t come to the Capital often. Think about it carefully, and don’t ruin your life.”
“Of course, she’s incredibly pretty. Besides, she is Lady Icard so her family lineage is perfect, but please think logically about why she has never received a marriage proposal until now.”
Count Livien, who had just come of age, was four years younger than Olivia. He blushed shyly and wrung his hands.
“The way she swears and gets irritated… is so cool.”
In response, the people in the Capital concluded that ‘Count Livien turned out to be a pervert’ and spoke nothing from then on.
Despite the fact that Count Livien timidly followed Olivia around, he could not bring himself to speak to her. It took several months for him to finally make eye contact for the first time when Olivia got so annoyed with him that she grabbed him by the collar.
“If you want to hit me, hit me! Why are you sneaking around and following me?”
“What? I-I, I don’t want to hit you! No! You’re mistaken!”
“Then, why do you keep chasing me?”
Olivia rolled her eyes and got angry. She had no social connections, so she had no friends who could tell her that ‘Count Livien likes Olivia.’
“Are you going to tell me some nonsense like you like me and follow me around like a scared puppy?”
“Gasp…”
Olivia, who was about to hit Count Livien, was truly embarrassed when she saw his pupils shaking.
“Wha, what?”
She gently let go of his collar.
The silver-haired young man in front of her was slightly shorter than her, yet he looked very cute. Honestly, he was her taste. She thought it would be perfect if he ended up crying here…….
“It, it, it’s true?”
“…Hu, heuk. Yees—”
Count Livien clenched his hands together.
“You came to the Capital not long ago, right? It seems like you’re captivated by my beautiful exterior, but it won’t last long.”
“….”
“No? So you want Duke Icard’s huge dowry? Still, I will use it all. I like spending money.”
“….”
“Not that too? So you covet the Duchy’s enormous power? Are you snooping around the Capital looking for something like that? F*ck, that’s all I have now!”
“Ho! I…I don’t like complicated capital cities… I plan to continue to stay in the Southeast, and there, our Livien family is the most… has a lot of influence.”
“Then, what is it?”
When Olivia shouted, Count Livien barely answered with tears in his eyes.
“…I, I think… it’s so cool when you… get angry and annoyed. I’m timid and would never… be able to do it.”
“….”
Now, it was Olivia who was speechless. She had trouble breathing as she looked into Count Livien’s tearful eyes.
‘Cu, cute! Damn it, you look at a guy and think he’s cute… F*ck, the conversation is over.’
Count Livien, unaware of her thoughts, began to speak softly as if he was letting out his heavy breath.
“The end of your voice that cracks when you scream at random, the movement of your arm when you throw an object, the frowning eyebrows when you get irritated, and the red eyes that exude murder over trivial things are all so beautiful…”
“You…”
Olivia uttered in a trembling voice.
“You really aren’t normal.”
“Hu, heuk… sorry.”
“I can’t help it. Then, let’s get married.”
She said as she stroked Count Livien’s head, who had spoken to her for the first time today.
“…What?”
“I don’t know anything else, but I can show my anger and annoyance every day.”
“Oh my God, such an honor…”
“Everyone hates that, but you say you like it. Maybe you’re the only one who can stick together with me if we both like each other.”
Count Livien fell to the ground. He couldn’t control their emotions when she said, ‘We like each other.’ Olivia thought she would never get married and that she would stay in Duke Icard’s residence, but one day she suddenly got married and left for Livien.
He was toasted at every gathering in the Capital that day, and Livien was showered with donations of unknown origins, thanking them for taking in the Capital’s wicked woman. It was the moment when the ‘villain of Icard’ turned into the ‘villain of Livien.’
After that, she came up only occasionally when something special happened in the Capital.
It had been almost twenty years since she returned to the Capital in earnest, leading several carriages. That was when she heard that her brother, who was quite a bit older than her, had died, and her ten-year-old nephew Kallaudin was left alone at the Duke’s residence.
“Regent?”
Olivia crossed her arms and glared at the vassals and the collateral relatives who had gathered around.
“It’s clear to my eyes that you came up drooling as if you were going to embezzle something!”
Now in her mid-forties, Olivia had been inactive in the Capital for nearly twenty years, so the people gradually forgot about her evil woman’s past.
No matter how infamous she was, it was a long time ago.
“Madam Livien, why did you pack all your luggage?”
One of Icard’s collateral nobles who came to act as the regent asked.
“According to Madam’s logic, isn’t it because of greed that Madam would also sit in the position of regent and control the duchy?”
Olivia folded her tiger fan with a loud thud and threw it at his head, screaming.
“Madam Livien!”
The fan hit his wig exactly, exposing his bald head. But even in that situation, she couldn’t make anyone laugh.
“I have Icard’s blood flowing more strongly than yours. At least here, I am Icard’s daughter.”
Everyone else fell silent at the sheer murder that the middle-aged woman exuded.
“Don’t call me that outside of Livien. You should know that I will personally punch you bastards in the mouths if they use that title.”
They couldn’t help but think that the ‘evil woman of Livien’ was still the same due to the unstoppable violence and random profanity.
“And I am not a regent.”
“…What?”
Olivia then looked down at her ten-year-old nephew, who looked just as horrified as she did.
“Kalaudin, just become the duke.”
There was no age limit to receiving the title. However, whether a ten-year-old could safely fulfill his duties as a duke was a separate issue.
“I may help you a little, but you make the final decision while listening to other opinions. You’re smart.”
She had seen Kallaudin a few times whenever she came to the Capital. Therefore, she knew very well that he was brilliant.
“If I say this, everyone will think that I’m the problem. Anyone who wants can stay and give Kallaudin various advice. However, the position of the regent is not possible.”
She said sharply.
“Well then, Madam Livi… Lady Olivia is staying here, too?”
“Of course. A ten-year-old can’t do it all by himself.”
“Then, Livien…”
“My son is an adult, and I have a husband. It means it can get out of my hands.”
‘My son likes his father more…’
Olivia, who could barely hold back the words due to her pride, coldly spoke to Kallaudin.
“What about that? It would be better to have a hard time now than to have something troublesome like a regent and be manipulated even when you become an adult.”
Kallaudin answered lowly.
“Yes, aunt.”
“The conversation is over.”
Olivia grinned and looked at the people in front of her.
“Those who want to help Kallaudin should stay here as a guest with me. Even if you’re not the regent, if you’re truly worried about Kallaudin, you can at least give him some advice, right?”
And she walked slowly beside the vassal whose fan hit her wig.
“Pick it up.”
“…What?”
“Pick it up, it’s mine. Hurry before I hit you again.”
When he looked at Olivia in bewilderment at the way she seemed to treat a servant, she shouted at him.
“If you weren’t bald, my fan would have caught on your hair instead of falling on the floor! Then, I wouldn’t have to bend down! So you pick it up!”
Everyone who saw that scene clicked their tongues and thought.
It was really bad… it was really bad…
…Truly, she was a devil-like woman.
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