How To End This Marriage-Chapter 142: The Duchess in Chains

"You bitch!!! You still haven’t come to your senses!!!!" the mistress pushed her into the cell.

"Ha ha, sense!!!! Do you think I have sense? If I had sense, I would have chosen to be here? No, no, Princess Libena or the previous duchess of Ablia. If I were a sense, I would have never ever chosen to be here in this rotten place," the duchess said, pushing her face into the bars.

"Ha, you are crazy!!!" the mistress said.

"I’m crazy? Ha!!! You all made me crazy. You all used me like a scapegoat and pushed me into this. You all are the reason why I am crazy!!!!!" she shouted and spit on the face of the mistress.

"How dare you!!!! You crazy bitch!!!!" the mistress instantly unlocked the door and went inside, pulling the duchess by her hair.

"You bitch!!! You dare to spit on me!!!! Did you forget who I am, or have I given you so much space to make you behave this way?" she said, grabbing her hair tightly, making her smile even further.

"Now did you feel what it means by anger?" the duchess asked.

"I still think you don’t!!!! Because whatever you are feeling is nothing compared to what I’m feeling. I’m so angry that I wish this mansion should burn right away. I’m so angry that I curse every person here to rot to their bones and still they don’t die. I’m so angry that I want everyone here to burn while their skin scorched but they don’t die and enjoy the pain every moment. This is what I wish," she said, pushing the mistress back.

"Do you think all of this can come true? If yes, then how amusing it might look," she said, smiling.

"But will I be here to see my curse working on you? If I don’t, how would I know if my curse is fulfilled or not!!!!" she said, tilting her head.

"You seriously lost your mind. I shouldn’t be in the same place as this crazy person," the mistress said, coming out of the cell while locking her up inside.

"Locking me up is not going to change my curse I have placed upon you."

"Locking me up is not going to change what I have been through because I’m someone who never forgets my own pain but returns them with ten folds which I have gotten," she said.

"Stay silent here!!!! In the morning, your execution will take place here in Ablia. You won’t be taken to the empire as you have done a crime here, so the royal law doesn’t work here," the mistress said.

"Doesn’t work here, or do you think I will be saved if you take me there? You are so scared of your own decision, right? That is why you are hurrying so much for my execution?" she laughed.

"Don’t get so cocky. Because no prince is going to come here to save you. Because there is no proof that you didn’t commit the crime. So either way, you will be in the execution," the mistress said and left.

As the mistress emerged from the underground chamber, she declared, "No one is to go near her. If I see anyone disobeying this order, the consequences will be severe."

With that, she departed, leaving the maids to their hushed whispers.

"Now, I have doubts about the duchess’s guilt," one maid ventured.

"How so? Did you not witness the scene yourself?" another countered.

"I did, but I also saw the princess present there. And didn’t the moaning come from above, leading everyone to believe that the duke and the princess were engaged in an act that should have involved the duchess? Don’t you think this whole thing looks like a conspiracy to ostracize the duchess?"

"Yes, now that you mention it, I think you may be right. We were so consumed by anger that we failed to see things from another perspective and allowed ourselves to be swayed by the princess’s accusations."

"Indeed. I don’t believe the duchess murdered the maid. It was the princess. After all, she was the only other person present with the duchess. She should be considered a suspect, but she cunningly manipulated the situation to make it seem as though she had no involvement."

"What are you all gossiping about?" the head maid interjected.

"Head maid, I believe we’ve made a terrible mistake! I fear we’ve misjudged the situation." one maid confessed.

"What do you mean?" the head maid inquired.

"Head maid, when we entered the room, the princess was also present." the maid explained.

"So?" the head maid prompted.

"So, head maid! Consider who would benefit most from removing the duchess from the picture. It’s the princess! Didn’t you hear the moaning coming from the floor above? It proves that the duke and the princess were engaged in an intimate act while the duke should have been tending to the duchess. However, the situation is shrouded in confusion. I suspect that the duchess has fallen victim to a carefully laid trap."

"I heard the sounds as well, but we still lack concrete evidence to identify the perpetrator," the head maid admitted.

"Head maid, I am certain that the princess is responsible. They are all attempting to cover up their actions by falsely accusing the duchess, and we, in our anger, have allowed them to succeed."

"I will speak with the mistress in the morning and request the release of the duchess. We must rectify our error and prevent further harm."

The head maid turned to descend the stairs to the underground chamber when another maid cautioned, "Did you not hear the mistress’s warning? She forbade anyone from approaching the duchess. If you go now, I fear she will react harshly again."

"Yes, we shall discuss this further in the morning," the head maid conceded.

***

As the morning awakened, all the maids walked toward the mistress’s study together.

"What happened? What has gotten you all here? Are you here to talk about the execution? It is already decided!!!!!" the mistress said without even looking at the maids.

"Yes, we are here to talk about the mistress, but the context is different, Mistress," they said.

"What do you mean?" the mistress asked.

"Mistress, we take back what we have said. As we don’t think the duchess is at fault!" the head maid spoke.

"What do you mean?" the mistress asked again.

"I think someone is conspiring all of this against the duchess, and she has not committed this murder," the head maid said.

"Can you prove what you said?" the mistress asked.

"We can’t, but we can still say that the duke and the princess have committed adultery when he is already married. So we think this is all happening because of the conspiracy against the duchess," the head maid said.

"Look!!! The execution has already been prepared. And this can’t be changed because the maid is already dead to tell who killed her," the mistress said.

"No, Mistress!!! Everything will be destroyed if something happens like this. She is innocent, spare her. This happened because of us, so we take back what happened just a day ago. We think that the duchess is innocent," the head maid said.

"These things can’t be reversed, and your wishes can’t be fulfilled."

"You all can be dismissed now!!!" the mistress said, walking toward the underground cells.

"What should we do? When we say that the duchess is the criminal, they all agreed so easily, but now no one is listening to us, as if we are being the pawns in their game, and now, as their objectives are fulfilled, they don’t want us anymore or want to listen to our request," the maids said.

"Why? We could have come to a conclusion when the truth would have come out, but we all did everything in a hurry, and now the innocent duchess is suffering. I can’t see her getting executed," the maid said.

"Yes, it is our fault. Because she is suffering. If we didn’t press the matter further, then this situation would have never occurred," the maid said while the mistress reached the underground cell.

"So you are still alive? I thought you would be dead by now, committing suicide on your own," the mistress chuckled.

"Why would I do something heinous and ruin my name? I’m a Balliol. I was never taught to do this. I was never taught to run away from something I have not done. And do you think I will do this? No, I will never do this. I am not you, Libena Agnes!" the duchess said.

"Your cockiness is still there. I thought your cockiness would have come down, but the more I see you, the more I know you. You are surprising, Bernice Balliol. I must accept that you deserve your father’s legacy more than your brother!" the mistress agreed.

"I know!!! If you hadn’t said it, I still know I’m worthy of the legacy!!!" Duchess said proudly.