Further down the novel they explain why he wants to off his husband in the first place right? Now ur making me question myself tf. Otherwise his actions make no sense. Why claim a husband from a failing, penniless family, why would u bring him alone in the middle of nowhere just to kill him after that and why would you NOT kill him and bring him to the castle. Why would you torment a random dude for no reason, like what a waste of time, energy, money and resources when you could have done a better political marriage and gained more profits. I'm pretty sure it was for revenge against something the blondie's father did to the uke bruh.

Me when I want to take revenge so I pick the one person in the family that had nothing to do with it