39. A Turn to the Terrifying
Some years into her wealthy widowhood, Darya Saltykova met and was swept off her feet by a handsome, younger, and poorer man, Nikolay Tyutchev. She carried on a torrid affair with him, which raised her usually gloomy spirits. Unfortunately, Saltykova discovered that her lover was cheating on his Sugar Momma with a younger woman. Worse, Tyutchev had gone and secretly married the other woman.
Something inside Saltykova snapped. Infuriated by her boy toy’s betrayal, she nearly killed her unfaithful lover. Tyutchev and his wife fled to his relatives’ estate near Moscow, and soon left the region to escape the widow’s wrath. Deprived of the opportunity to violently vent her frustrations on her betrayer, Saltykova turned around and vented her rage on her hapless serfs.