I Became the Wife of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 1

The shame of House Lorence.

The source of misfortune that should never have been conceived.

Evelyn, whom everyone called that, died.

Due to the curse of Louise, the Count’s legal wife, who murdered her mother Marcella, a maid of the Count’s house, and drove her to the brink of death.

‘Surely that happened…’

Did she really return to the past?

Her vision, spinning from dizziness, finally stabilized.

Evelyn, barely opening her eyes, looked around, sprawled out like a corpse drained of its soul.

Silver hair reflected in the mirror, light green eyes.

A room small enough to barely fit a bed, wallpaper that had turned yellow, moldy, and started to crack in places.

“Of all times.”

The place where she lay was the old bedroom in the Count’s house where she had stayed until early spring at the age of twenty.

“…Where did it all go wrong?”

Born as an illegitimate child, Evelyn had suffered from secret abuse and was treated worse than an animal.

It wasn’t until Louise discovered her healing ability that she began to be treated as a human being, at least on the surface.

The trouble started when she couldn’t bear to pass by a cat dying while giving birth to kittens.

Her mother’s warning not to reveal her healing power under any circumstances echoed in her ears, but misfortune had already begun.

“If the family finances falter, we won’t be able to pay for Marcella’s monthly treatment. You know how much it costs to extend a person’s life with the Saint’s blessing, don’t you? “

Louise’s smiling mouth as she said this while holding Evelyn’s hand tightly was as eerie and chilling as facing a snake with its jaws wide open.

“If you could only use your lowly ability to earn money, how much of a help you would be to your father. Our family’s prosperity means Marcella’s survival too. “

But Louise’s greedy wishes soon shattered like broken glass.

For some reason, Evelyn’s healing power, which could save even dying cats, didn’t work on humans at all.

At that time, as gates began to open near the capital and monsters started appearing, the value of healers skyrocketed. Wounds inflicted by monsters couldn’t be treated with medical skills.

Louise, who had hoped to make a big profit using Evelyn, couldn’t hide her anger.

“Useless girl! I told you to do your best, considering the grace we’ve shown in taking care of you all this time! “

Grace, she says.

Her biological father who never showed an ounce of interest in her as she was born and grew up.

The legal wife and her daughter who abused and mocked her just for being an illegitimate child – there was no grace Evelyn owed them.

Her suffering didn’t end there.

“It seems there’s a way out even if the sky falls. Someone has appeared who’s willing to buy you, useless as you are. “

“Buy… What do you mean? “

“Viscount Fairfield has proposed an enormous dowry. You’re set to leave in a fortnight, so pack your things without a word. Ah, but you probably don’t have anything to pack, do you? “

Becoming a plaything for an old man who had murdered four wives meant certain death.

Knowing this, Evelyn still didn’t have the strength to refuse.

If she didn’t obey, the family would stop paying for her mother’s treatment, and that would be truly disastrous.

She thought it didn’t matter what happened to her as long as her mother’s condition could improve because of her.

That was until she overheard a conversation between Louise and someone who had come to the Lorence estate.

“I hear the refinement of the grudge stone is in its final stages? I feel relieved thinking I won’t have to see that disgusting face anymore. How much she resembles her mother… “

“The sacrifice has been dead for three years. There’s no use in recalling it needlessly, so forget about it now. “

“Is that so easy? Anyway, the task given to me is now complete. “

Although the subject of the conversation wasn’t clear, Evelyn instinctively understood.

Her mother had already passed away, and she had been thoroughly used.