Chapter 24: Misery (1)
“…That’s right. I never thought he would be capable of that. James Stranden was a noble, but not particularly wealthy. You know, don’t you? The nobility consists of both the very high-ranking and those who are nobles in name only, on the brink of ruin. He was the latter. But he was still upright and kind. He cared more for me as a person than for my family’s money, and I knew I couldn’t let him go. Even my father and brother, who initially opposed our relationship, changed their minds because of his attitude. At first, I thought he was just a gentle and foolishly kind man. He was the type who would wash his wife’s feet out of love.”
“And then?”
“…Suddenly, one day, he changed. Yes, thinking back, it was after my father passed away. Since I was the only family left, I became the sole heir. He started going out more and became irritable. He would bring strangers to our house. One day, he came home drunk and said, ‘Amelia, I need money.’ I replied, ‘Your brother sends us money. We also have the dowry. What happened to that?’ It turned out he had squandered it all on gambling.”
My expression grew more serious as I listened to her. I couldn’t hide the tightening at the corners of my mouth. After a moment of thought, I spoke again.
“Was he asking for your father’s inheritance?”
“Probably.”
“So what did you do?”
Amelia, as if searching through her memories, gazed into the distance and spoke.
“I rarely went out, so I didn’t know much about what was happening. But gradually, his relatives started looking at me strangely. The maids whispered about me, and I felt their eyes following me around the house. I was becoming isolated. Can you imagine? Eventually, I heard that my husband was portraying me as a madwoman, claiming that insanity ran in my blood to cut me off from the world.”