My Husband is so carefree and constantly Cheats on me, so I Kept making him Suffer as Payback, but somehow, he’s started to seem Kind of Cute. - Chapter 1

“Our marriage is over. I want a divorce.”

Ah, good morning, everyone.

My name is Yuffie Freinert Crusroden.

Though I am a woman, my parents passed away due to illness, and as a result, His Majesty the King granted me the title of Countess of Crusroden.

People often say that it’s impolite to ask a woman’s age, but I find that inconvenient, so I’ll just tell you upfront—I’m 24 years old.

The so-called blooming years of girlhood are long behind me. I graduated from the academy without any issues, married the fiancé my parents had chosen for me, and have been living my life as such.

Of course, there are no problems with the management of my estate.

If there is a problem, it would have to be this person standing before me—my dear husband.

Even this morning, he’s once again declaring something as ridiculous as a divorce.

“Oh? And if we divorce, what exactly do you plan to do? Do you even have a place to go?”

“W-What?! You’re the one who has to leave! You’re divorcing your husband, after all!”

Ah, I see. There’s another problematic individual present.

Judging by her behavior, she must be my husband’s mistress, though she seems to have made a spectacular misunderstanding.

“And why would that be? This house belongs to me, the Countess. The butler, the maids, and every servant here serve the Crusroden family. The wealth and assets also belong to the Count’s estate. In other words, my dear husband, the only reason you have been able to live here is because you are married to me. If we divorce, you no longer have any right to remain in this house.”

“W-What?!”

“H-Huh?”

Wait a moment… Did he really start an affair and demand a divorce without even knowing this?

For that matter, dear husband, have you ever done a single thing related to running the Count’s estate?

I tolerated this marriage simply because it was arranged by our parents, but truly, his lack of intelligence is exasperating.

The only merit to this man is that he happens to be the son of a Duke.

Of course, since I was fortunate enough to gain such a connection, I have been conducting business with the Duke’s family, and it has been highly profitable.

“If I leave, you’ll lose your connection to House Arzenberg, won’t you? That would have a significant impact on your domain’s economy. If you don’t want that to happen, you should hand over the manor and your title to me. That would solve everything.”

“That is absolutely impossible.”

What is this idiot saying?

Titles are granted by His Majesty the King. Even if I were to propose passing my title to my husband, the King would simply scoff.

In fact, the only way I could relinquish my title would be to formally return it to the royal family.

Oh? And where does my head butler think he’s going?

Please don’t walk out of the room with such an exasperated expression.

As I glared at him, he noticed my gaze and reluctantly returned to stand in the corner of the room, looking utterly displeased.

“You—how could you say it’s impossible? Are you really going to let the Count’s estate fall into ruin just because you’re too greedy to give up your wealth?”

Could someone kindly remove this fool from my sight?

“Fall into ruin? Hardly. As I just said, I am not permitted to pass my title to anyone. The only thing I can do is return it to the royal family.”

“I see. Then return it. Once you do, I shall go to the royal palace and claim it for myself.”

…Is this some kind of new comedy act?

This would be an unprecedented scandal for the royal family.

If I were a commoner or a merchant, I might find this entire situation amusing. But since the fool saying this nonsense happens to be my own husband, perhaps I should lodge a formal complaint against the Duke’s family for their failure to educate him properly.

“As expected of Lord Erald! Now we have nothing to worry about!”

Ah, yes. He’ll be perfectly safe… in a prison cell.

After all, demanding a noble title from the royal family without a single accomplishment to his name would make him a laughingstock for the rest of his life.

“My dear husband, can we conclude this little comedy act now? I have a meeting to attend.”

“What?! A comedy?! You—!! Hey, butler, what are you doing?! Listen to me! I won’t forgive this! You’re fired! You hear me? Fired!!”

My dear husband has always been prone to childish tantrums, but having never once put in any effort toward self-improvement, he is physically quite weak. The butler easily grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him away.

“Apologies, but you do not have the authority to dismiss my capable butler. Please reflect on your actions in your chambers. Oh, and I’ll be filing a formal complaint with the Duke’s family, so don’t expect any help from them.”

“Let go of me! I am a Count! This is outrageous! Let go!”

Would it be acceptable to have him arrested for impersonating a noble?

“How could you?! How dare you have your own husband detained? Are you even a wife?!”

Ah, I had nearly forgotten about this idiot.

A gaudy woman—clearly either a low-ranking noble or even a commoner. Is this truly the kind of person my husband is interested in?

If so… how utterly disappointing.

I had, at the very least, assumed he had some semblance of artistic taste.

“Let go of me! What do you think you’re doing?! Let go!!”

As for this fool, I had no reason to be polite, so I simply called for the knights and had her thrown out.

After witnessing such a bizarre little farce first thing in the morning, I composed myself and returned to my duties.

Later that day, I received an immediate letter of apology from the Duke’s household, along with a gift.

As expected of their impeccable taste and intelligence—somehow, they had used their network of informants to determine exactly which artist’s painting I had been wanting.

The current Duke is my husband’s elder brother.

How is it that my husband has none of his brother’s talents?

Did the Duke inherit all of their family’s capabilities, leaving my husband with nothing?

As it turns out, the previous Duke had spoiled my husband so thoroughly that he neglected to educate him.

Normally, if a noble son were to marry into another family, it would be his parents’ responsibility to ensure he was properly trained for his future role.

Meanwhile, the Crusroden retainers had wisely chosen to stay out of my husband’s affairs. After all, it was not their duty to educate him—only to train the next head of the estate.

Perhaps that was why they sent such an extravagant gift.

Oddly enough, I also received an invitation to a private soirée with a select group of close acquaintances.

Attending alone, I had a delightful time, free from any unnecessary distractions.