Originally, Adeline wasn't after the Delarosa's territory and authority; she desired Chalmers' affection.
Unfortunately, she couldn't obtain it. Thus, her mentality became increasingly twisted with jealousy and envy as she watched Chalmers and Belline together.
Chalmers and Belline being able to have two daughters spanning a few years apart also made Chalmers all the more desirable in Adeline's eyes. After all, it proved Chalmers had great seeds.
Arabelle was shocked when she found out Adeline had been trying to seduce her son for years, even after his marriage.
And when Adeline couldn't get what she wanted, she secretly captured Chalmers and locked him in her hidden chamber, where she forcefully tortured and made love to him day after day, year after year. This did not stop even after Chalmers turned into a corpse.
Arabelle became livid with rage as she listened to Adeline's mind-controlled confession.
Everyone knew Chalmers had mysteriously disappeared from the Delarosa Marquisate for years before they confirmed his death through a divination spell.
However, Arabelle could have never imagined how much her son suffered prior to his death.
Unless she retrieved his body and gave him a proper burial, his soul may never rest in peace, given his body was still getting sexually desecrated until now.
Everyone thought they had already heard the worst up to that point, but it only got worse from there.
Adeline preserved Chalmers' corpse and continued receiving his seeds, even in death. Her years of effort resulted in countless successful pregnancies.
However, she suffered an early miscarriage every time without an exception. The fetus would always die for unknown reasons.
Unfortunately, Adeline never gave up on her unborn children.
She had preserved them all in jars of water and stored them in her hidden chamber, where she conducted experiments and researched ways to revive them. Although she made some progress, she only produced moving abominations and mutated corpse poison.
It was also this exact mutated corpse poison that made Belline seriously ill and bedridden without a viable treatment.
Arabelle didn't even dare to imagine the state of Adeline's hidden chamber. The sheer thought of it made her feel sick in the stomach.
"You… crazy fiend! You are more diabolical and wicked than demons and fallen witches! How could you be so inhumane and do such things to my son?! Those aren't things people would do to the people they love!"
As Arabelle condemned Adeline with shaking rage, she glared so hard that blood spilled from her reddened eyes.
"What do you know?!" Adeline retorted with a twisted expression after regaining her mental clarity.
"I was the one who met him first! I was the one who spent the most time with him! I practically raised him when you were busy managing your Vossen Household! And yet you married him to my sister!"
"How is that acceptable?! Chalmers belonged to me! Even in death, he will still belong to me and me alone!" Adeline declared wickedly before directing her gaze of hatred at Vaan as she writhed powerlessly on the ground.
"If it weren't for you, no one would have the power to rally against me and discover my secret! I would have eventually become the marchioness of this territory and continue loving my Chalmers forever! It's all because of you that my plans have been ruined!"
"If only you didn't exist—No! If only my sister didn't exist, it would have never led to this!"
Adeline blamed Vaan before redirecting it back to Marchioness Belline.
She dug into the flesh of her face with the nails of her remaining arm as if she wanted to tear off her face. She hated everyone, even herself.
Her grotesque face and self-mutilating actions made Linetta and Lillias frown with discomfort.
However, Vaan continued to look back at Adeline with cold indifference. Even if the person retained her flawless beauty, he would still be unmoved and look at her with the same gaze.
No matter how beautiful she was, it would never be enough to compensate for her rotten heart and terrible stench.
"You can blame everyone and everything, but it won't change a thing. You are responsible for your actions. You should remember this well in your next life: The more you fuck around, the more you will find out. The dildo of consequences seldom arrives lubed," Vaan cooly stated.
Adeline's hatred and anger suddenly intensified as she threw her body at Vaan with all the strength she could muster, hoping to bite off a piece of his flesh before she went down at the very least.
"Die—!" Adeline roared.
Unfortunately, it was impossible for her to achieve anything with so many High Witches around.
Arabelle's eyes simultaneously flashed with killing intent.
Puchi!
In the next moment, Arabelle directly decapitated Adeline with a swift yet simple mana blade attached to her hand. She had been unable to stand the sight and words of Adeline. Thus, she was the quickest to react.
Nevertheless, the Delarosa Household's issue was subsequently brought to an end following Adeline's death.
Even so, the truth uncovered during Adeline's interrogation continued to plague Linetta and Lillias with shock and disbelief. The two clutched their necks and hugged their chests beside Vaan as they felt sick, wanting to throw up.
"I can't believe our aunt could do such things to Father even though she sounded so in love with him…" Lillias uttered with frailty.
Thinking about it, she couldn't help but clutched onto Vaan's arm tightly. She wished the same thing would happen with her sister over Vaan.
Linetta also felt uneased as she tightly clutched onto Vaan's other spare arm.
"Love is like a fart; if you force it, it's probably shit. No wonder she stinks so bad," Vaan softly sighed with a shake of his head.
Shortly after, he wrapped his arms around the two ladies and pulled them into his tight embrace, giving them a firm sense of security and reassurance.
"Don't worry. The same won't happen to us," Vaan promised.
Unlike their father, he wasn't faithful; he was willing to share his love and treat his women equally well as long as they met his criteria and didn't break his bottom line.
He understood the pain of not having one's feelings reciprocated.
Although it might seem unfair to his women since he couldn't give any one of them all his time and attention, it was their choice to be with him.
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