Chapter 82
Chapter 82
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: The Red Diamond Brooch
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Betty and Peter were fuming, as if they were about to chase after him right that instant and launch round two of hair-pulling with Professor Seller.
Even the nurse had her face scrunched up tight.
'This is worth pursuing.'
And as a bonus, I could help little Dennis and poor Paula too.
Having sorted out my thoughts, I unfastened the brooch pinned to my skirt and placed it on top of Dennis's bed.
It was a flower-shaped brooch that Butler Grandpa had gifted me to celebrate the success of the fruit preserves.
'Each petal embedded with a red gem—maybe not rubies, but rare red diamonds?'
Originally, it was a gift from some emperor to the duke's family, but it had flowed over to the Count Verben family during a branch split—a precious heirloom, they said.
'To give something like that to me... Butler Grandpa sure is something.'
He'd said he retrieved it from the pawnshop the moment he had money.
Paula stared at me with a slightly flustered expression, seeing an item valuable enough to buy a decent manor.
"Miss, why are you giving this to me?"
"Mariella pay heawing donation!"
"Ah, even so... something this precious must carry the history of the duke's family. It doesn't look like ordinary rubies."
Red diamonds were the same color as rubies, but their brilliance was on another level.
They shone radiantly even under dim light.
Guessing as much, Paula's hands trembled a little as she tried to hand the brooch back to me.
"Then what should I do?"
"How?"
"Take bwocch to pawnshop. Butwer Gwampa said they change it for money!"
"But how could I possibly..."
"Mariella got money! Watew, ask Daddy to get fwom pawnshop. Okay?"
Only after hearing that did Paula finally grip the brooch in her hand.
I ignored the fervent stares from the nurse, Betty, and Peter as best I could and continued.
"Pawnshop Butwer Gwampa towd me. They give wots of money."
"Could you tell me where it is?"
"Yes!"
That's why I gave her this brooch on purpose.
After handing the brooch to Paula and returning to the manor, I was walking in the garden when I ran into the practical training professor on his way out.
Unlike Professor Seller, he was famous as a doting husband, and he bowed to me.
"Are you heading out, miss?"
"Yes!"
"Looks like you had a fun outing. Your face seems brighter."
"Weally? This secwet, but I teww you onwy, pwrofessor."
I flapped my hand, and the practical training professor knelt down, bringing his ear close to me.
I whispered as softly as possible into his ear so the nurse, Betty, and Peter wouldn't hear.
"Mrs. Sewwer bought pwetty bwocch."
"Ah..."
He must have already heard about that earlier commotion, because the practical training professor smiled with an awkward expression.
"Did Paula and Pwrofessor Sewwer make up?"
"Huh? Awweady?"
Our practical training professor was famous not just as a doting husband, but for something else too.
A loose tongue.
If even I knew the type of flowerpot his wife had recently bought or his daughter's academy grades, that said it all.
"Yes! Paula wearing pwetty bwocch. Sewwer Pwrofessor gave it, I said!"
"A pretty brooch?"
"Wed gem sparkwes!"
"A ruby?"
"No. Not wuby, mowe expensive..."
"No way... a red diamond?"
I clapped and nodded, then stepped away from him.
The practical training professor wandered off toward home with a dazed, entranced look on his face after saying goodbye.
'Make sure to tell your wife when you get home.'
And spread the word to everyone you meet.
Make it so that within days, there won't be a soul around who hasn't heard.
That's how my plan would succeed!
It was a sweltering afternoon.
The lady named Karin irritably fanned herself.
The luxurious fan adorned with duke bird feathers looked beautiful but wasn't much help against the heat.
Realizing it wasn't cooling her down, Karin threw the fan down with a sharp clack.
The maid standing before her hurriedly bent down to pick it up.
"That damned philanderer bought my rival a new brooch!"
Karin had been in this state ever since her lover, the professor in charge of practical training, returned from meeting his wife.
The maid hunched down in anticipation of the next flying object.
Sure enough, the teacup nearby soared through the air.
Without sparing a glance at the shattered cup at the maid's feet, Karin bellowed.
"Did he sneak back into that house? There's no way he'd buy something that expensive otherwise!"
"N-no, ma'am. The butler said he's under investigation for violating decorum regulations and will be confined to the duke's estate for the time being, so there's no need to worry."
"Then why is that woman parading around with that pricey red diamond brooch!"
"Maybe it's fake? Like, your husband just got it to save face... Agh!"
Karin shot up from her seat and slapped the maid's cheek with a resounding smack.
The young maid doubled over, staggering, before barely straightening up.
"Fake, my foot. Would the practical training professor's wife not know jewels? Her husband brings her gems every month."
"B-but how could your husband afford that...?"
"Who knows. Maybe he got extra cash from 'him.'"
Manfret Professor's mistress—Karin's eyes flashed with rage.
Unable to contain her fury, she yanked off the ruby ring from her finger and hurled it away.
'Paula Seller.'
Grinding her teeth, Karin chewed over the name of the legitimate wife.
She figured that once Paula learned of her husband's affair through the hints she'd dropped, she'd hole up at home for a while. Wail and make a scene.
But instead, she'd wrangled a red diamond brooch out of her husband.
'That precious thing!'
Even among red gems, how dull and shabby a ruby looked compared to a diamond's radiant glow.
Just then, the manor butler came rushing in, sweating bullets.
Reading the shattered teacup and the heated atmosphere in an instant, he spoke up quickly before Karin's ire turned on him.
"Didn't you tell me before to buy up anything that woman pawns at the pawnshop?"
It had been a petty jab.
Coming from no wealthy background, the most Paula would pawn was her wedding ring or ruby bracelets from her trousseau.
The value of the items mattered less than Karin's twisted face when she saw the bracelets on her wrist.
She'd tried on the wedding ring Manfret had supposedly bought her a few times until the plating peeled and tossed it.
'How we'd laughed about him buying his legitimate wife such a cheap ring.'
That thought improved her mood, so Karin smoothed her red-painted nails and sat back down demurely.
"Why bring that up all of a sudden?"
"I stopped by the pawnshop to check today, and get this—they said that woman pawned the precious red diamond brooch."
"What?"
"She needed money for her son's healing donation, they whispered. It's not our usual pawnshop, but another one..."
Of course that woman wouldn't have the means to hold onto such a treasure for long.
Money for a sick child wasn't pocket change, and Manfret's professor salary was all spent on Karin.
Karin gripped the armrests, pondering briefly.
'It must be insanely expensive.'
No matter how smitten Manfret was with her, he'd never willingly splurge that much.
It looked to anyone like he'd been caught cheating by his wife and tried to smooth it over with an extravagant brooch—clearly signaling he was ending the affair and returning to the family.
Maybe even his excuse of holing up in the duke's estate was true.
Behind the scenes, quietly liquidating assets he'd given his mistress?
'This manor is even in Manfret's name.'
Rumors flew that he'd bought his mistress a manor, but the deed was still in Manfret's name, the purchaser.
If he came back tomorrow and told her to get out, Karin would be left with nothing.
Better to have pricey jewels that were easy to flee with, just in case.
For example... a red diamond.