"Useless Beauty" is a short story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant.

During their eleven-year marriage they’ve had seven children and the countess has fallen deaf to pointless flattery from her husband.

The Countess feels as though her husband loves her only because he asserts claim over her youth and her life, over her ability to have children.

But the Countess harbors a dark secret: one of the seven children is not his.

In the end the Countess reverses her confession and discloses that she said it to prevent herself from becoming a baby factory.