Chapter 165 Only One Hundred Gold Coins Left
Dr. Pascal is the most famous doctor in the Soth Empire. Everyone here knows him, and they all know he's on good terms with the Virlet family. So it makes sense that Anne could ask Dr. Pascal to stay at the Titan family, and naturally she could also have him leave later.
But taking things from the Titan family...
Everyone's eyes fell on Anne. If it were anything else, they might barely believe it, but the idea that a duke would steal from a viscount, especially a duke from the Virlet family - they didn't believe it one bit.
Would the Virlet family lack money? That seemed impossible.
After all, generations of military achievements had brought rewards beyond measure. Anne wouldn't stoop to coveting things from a viscount's family. Besides, some people here had attended that disastrous wedding between Holden and Candy, and had looked into the Titan family's situation. They knew this family had been terribly poor for a long time.
If Anne really did take their things, it was more likely that she had brought many treasures when she married in, and simply took them back when she left. The Titan family had just stored this wealth temporarily.
It must be said, these nobles' pride helped them quickly see the truth. Only the old lady and Nina in front of them remained oblivious, still crying dramatically.
Anne smiled. "First, you say I took everything from the Titan family. I admit that."
Nina's heart leaped with joy. She was about to continue when Anne spoke calmly, "When I married into the Titan family, everything I brought was recorded, including the servants and guards I brought with me. Later, with His Majesty's permission, Holden and I legally divorced. I no longer had any connection to the Titan family, so of course I took back everything that belonged to me and returned it to the Virlet family."
"As for things that weren't mine, I certainly didn't touch them. But honestly, even if I wanted to take anything, I couldn't be bothered, because at that time, the entire Titan family only had one hundred gold coins left."
Someone in the crowd laughed first, then everyone started laughing mockingly behind their fans.
One hundred gold coins could give commoners a few good years, but for these nobles, it couldn't even buy a decent dress or fancy jewelry.
And this embarrassing situation was happening in a viscount's household.
Someone couldn't help but speak up, "So you chased Duke Virlet all the way here to accuse her of coveting your hundred gold coins?"
"No, I think they want Duke Virlet to go back and continue supporting this whole crowd of people. After all, one hundred gold coins isn't enough."
"Exactly! This pearl bracelet on my wrist alone costs two thousand gold coins!"
"The point isn't that Duke Virlet took her own things. The point is this family, oh, called the Titan family, right? They only had that little bit of money left. Don't tell me that during the three years Duke Virlet was there, they were living off her money the whole time?"
"What, they were actually using their daughter-in-law's dowry?"
Seeing things go awry, the old lady said quickly, her expression panicked, "It's not like that, you've misunderstood. And most importantly, she ignored my husband's condition and wouldn't let Dr. Pascal treat him!"
The crowd quieted down. Someone asked, "Can you afford Dr. Pascal's treatment fees?"
The old lady paused. Before she could speak, Nina angrily shouted, "He was living in our house, so treating us was only natural. Why should we have to pay him!"
The nobles' faces all showed indescribable expressions.
Anne smiled and spoke mockingly, "Yes, living at the Titan family - of course I was the one paying before. But I remember that before Holden and I divorced, Dr. Pascal had already refused to treat you. Later, it was the eldest daughter-in-law Trion who personally begged him, and only then did he agree to stay temporarily."
"Oh right, I heard Dr. Pascal is nearby right now. Why don't we invite him over and see whether I asked him to leave the Titan family, or whether you did something to anger him so much that he grabbed his medicine box and walked out late at night?"
"You're a duke and you control a knight order. Of course all these nobles will speak well of you. That old man Pascal will definitely say whatever you tell him to. What's the point of confronting us now!"
Nina glared at Anne. She looked at the dress Anne was wearing, and the jewelry on her neck and wrists, and was so jealous tears were about to fall. Then she looked at the other noble ladies around them - every one of them dressed gorgeously and dazzlingly. Only she herself was wearing last year's dress, completely out of style!
The old lady also spoke up, "Anne, in the past you used your status as a duke's daughter to act however you wanted in the Titan family, and we let that go. But now that you've become a duke yourself, you're using your power with these other nobles to bully people weaker than you? You used to call me mother. I never treated you badly. Even when you divorced and left, I didn't say anything. Why have you become like this?"
"Are you still the Anne I knew?"
Anne glanced at the old lady. "If I didn't divorce and leave, should I have stayed at the Titan family? Didn't you and Holden threaten me to hand over my dowry back then? You even discussed sending me to a sanatorium right in front of me. How did you forget that so quickly and make it sound like I was the one acting badly?"
"The phrase 'acting badly' should describe your precious daughter. She'd come to my room every few days, and whenever she saw something she liked, she'd just take it. She wanted new dresses every month. If I didn't order clothes and jewelry the way she wanted, I was bullying and mistreating her. "
"Then you'd play peacemaker and make me give in to her demands. This is all clearly written in the account books, and the owners of the dress shops and jewelry stores should have records too. Do you need me to send someone to have them bring them out?"
Nina pouted unhappily. "You married my second brother, so buying me things is only natural, isn't it? Why were you secretly keeping accounts? Were you planning to divorce my second brother all along, so you could bad-mouth me later for spending too much?"
The old lady also said, "If you didn't want to back then, you could have told me directly. How would I have made things difficult for you? As for Nina, she's young and just likes new and pretty things. Besides, didn't you take all your things with you when you left?"