When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

Chapter 1

Prologue.

“You will marry the duke, Laritte Brumayer.”

The older man had adopted a habit of the previous head of the house, tapping on his desk with his finely crafted quill as he spoke. Laritte stared at the gloved hand holding the quill.

Memories from her childhood rushed to her head, for Laritte feared those white gloves. Any mistake she made resulted in a beating.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Of course, father.”

She replied to the Count in a clear, meek tone with no hint of malice. Her half-sister, Rose, stood behind the Count and observed the situation.

She burst into a fit of laughter.

“Did you ever dare to dream that you’d become the duchess? You’re an illegitimate child… be grateful to father.”

Laritte, who’d only been watching the Count’s hand, finally looked up. Her strange yet sparkling blue eyes stared at Rose.

Rose hated those eyes. Those eyes were of a color that did not belong to the Brumayer family, and yet they felt so piercing.

‘Laritte will answer obediently, as she always has.’

That was the type of person this illegitimate child was. No matter what Rose did, in the end, Laritte would always respond obediently. She was like a straw doll with no choice but to remain in its house, even if that meant it would be torn and broken by its cruel owners.

But this time, Laritte reacted differently and retorted in a clear yet soft tone,

“Of course. Thank you, father. The Duke I will marry has been robbed of all his wealth, accused of treason, and has died on the battlefield. How can I dare to be devastated about my marriage to such a ghost Duke?”

For the first time, the doll rebelled against its owners.

Rose’s eyes widened, expression panicked. Laritte laughed at her.

‘Are you shocked?’

They really believed she’d continue to act stupid though she no longer had any obligation to be obedient to this family.

This was it. Laritte Brumayer’s life would soon end. Because, just as they said, her marriage was a lost cause.

Rose, who was a year older than Laritte, was originally marrying the Duke.

Unlike the bastard child Laritte, Rose’s mother was the Countess and Rose was the beloved daughter of the Brumayer family. She fell in love with the Duke at first sight and proceeded to ask her parents to

marry him.

At that time, Duke Reinhardt was someone everyone respected.

A minor flaw of his had been that he had no interest in any woman before his marriage. But Rose was sure she could melt his heart with her beauty.

The Count’s family struggled day and night to fulfill their daughter’s request, and at last the marriage contract arrived.

But there was one problem.

As a swordmaster, Duke Reinhardt spent most of his time on the battlefield. Adding to that, he had been killed by a prisoner while preparing to come home from the war. Rose had only just been married legally, but ended up losing her husband before she could begin to live with him.

This wasn’t the end.

A butler brought forth evidence of the Duke Reinhardt’s plan to rebel.

Fortunately, the Brumayer family was cleared of those charges. However, the Brumayers had already received a huge sum of money from the marriage contract. Count Brumayer wished to expand his business, and in order to invest, he needed this marriage contract to be fulfilled.

In order to uphold the contract, he had to send a bride. But the household couldn’t let their precious Rose go.

That was why Laritte would be getting married instead.

She had been born to an unknown mother and was neglected by the Count. Laritte spent her whole life as if she were an uninvited guest trying to eat at a dinner.

Now, Laritte would no longer be tormented by her half-sister. Instead, she would spend the rest of her life alone with a dead husband.

Rose didn’t even feel an ounce of guilt for her sister. Rather, she was glad that the bastard child she had seen as a speck of dirt would be leaving the house.

Therefore, she didn’t even hesitate to hit Laritte who spoke back to her.

“Are you using a sarcastic tone with me? You lowly wench!”

Pak! Smacked by the furious Rose, Laritte’s cheek turned red. However, no one in the office was surprised.

Since the beginning, the option to ‘hit Laritte’ had always been there for her family. Although there were words unsaid, even the maids had never dared to strike Laritte before.

It was then–

Shockingly, Laritte who had lived under the Count obediently for seventeen years, had done another unexpected thing.

She clenched her slender hand before striking Rose right on the head.

“Ack!”

“I’m not the lowly one here. It has always been you who hits people recklessly, Rose.”

Laritte no longer needed to obey her. Marrying a ghost of a Duke meant death. It meant being kicked out of this house with nothing. Laritte was sure this family would not give her any support.

“You are absolutely insane!”

Rose flew at Laritte. The two pulled and yanked on each other’s clothes before the Count jumped out of his seat. He grabbed at Laritte’s hair.

“We fed you and gave you a roof to sleep under, yet you dare touch your sister?! You know nothing about respect!”

“Kyaa!”

The Count dragged Laritte who was screaming over the carpet and started beating her. He mercilessly stomped on her with his feet.

“Dad, beat that wench until she’s on her last breath!”

Rose was heaving in her fury, unable to control her breathing. Laritte bit the Count’s ankle as he approached her.

“Aak!!”

“I wonp mwet anywann weat ee ike dog swit no mwar! (I won’t let anyone treat me like dog shit no more!)”

Laritte put all of her strength into her jaw as she bit down.

The Count violently stomped on her head with his other foot and she fell off of him with an unidentifiable lump of flesh and blood mixed in her mouth.

Ptui! She spit it out as she glared at him with a blue glow in her eyes. Now, Laritte Brumayer was a beast that no one could touch.

The Count and Rose sat in confusion as they witnessed Laritte’s transformation. She was no longer the meek girl who accepted being treated like trash.

After that, Laritte became the Duchess.

Laritte arrived at a house placed right in the heart of a mountain of a secluded, rural region.

This old and abandoned house was the final estate left to the Dukedom. Larritte had to live here alone.

“Hey, get your luggage.”

The Count’s coachman threw the baggage to Laritte’s feet. Before she could even reply properly, the coachman scurried back to the carriage and spurred the horse.

Used to being ignored, Laritte didn’t give it much thought. She had just decided to leave, so she had few belongings.

Laritte picked up a large stone from the ground and threw it at the carriage’s wheel.

“Hiiiiing!”

“Uwak!”

Both the carriage and the driver toppled to the ground. Terrified, the horse got loose and fled. With no idea what caused the carriage to flip, the coachman gave chase and limped after the horse.

“What the everlasting fuck! Asshole, where are you running off to?!”

She watched the back of his head and listened to his insults before walking over to the house.

‘It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be,’ she thought.

Her husband was accused of treason, though his estate itself did not disappear.

The Reinhardt estate was punished by the imperial family after the Duke died, on grounds of treason. Some of the involved family members had been executed, and most of the estate’s assets confiscated.

Of course, it was to set an example.

The Reinhardt family’s servants were fired and forced to scatter. Since the Duke’s wife could not produce an heir, Laritte was on her own.

Anyways.

The royal family didn’t ‘seize all the estate’s assets’ since this two story villa still belonged to the Dukedom!

‘This is my house. My very own house lies here.’

Even if it took half a day to get to the nearest village. Even if the house itself was old, filled with cobwebs, kinda leaky, and a little drafty since no one had lived in it for a time.

Where’s the roof though?

Thinking it wasn’t as bad as she expected, Laritte moved in.