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1.
It was love. ‌‌‌Or rather, I mistook it for love.
That day was a cold winter's morning, just like when we first met, with heavy snow falling in thick, billowing flakes.
He stood in the pristine Garden, his breath misting in the frigid air, and whispered to me.
"Will you become my ‌‌most beautiful masterpiece?"
A large diamond ring glittered brilliantly on his hand.
At his radiant smile, I felt my cheeks flush as I spoke.
"Yes, even if ‌‌I were reborn countless times, I would become your wife."
That day, I walked willingly into my own cage.
The life of a countess that he bestowed upon me was intoxicating.
Expensive clothes ‌‌‌‌‌and jewels.
Praise pouring in from all directions.
Before long, I had become nothing more than a canary, singing only for him.
When life began to grow within ‌‌‌‌my womb, I finally realized this place was a cage.
It was the child I had waited for ‌‌so desperately. And yet, I could not bear to raise this child as his.
In the end, ‌‌‌‌I fled the Count's Mansion for the sake of my beloved child's future.
For the first time in my life, I knew what labor meant. My delicate hands grew rough, and the face he had never ceased to admire began to fade, ‌bit by bit.
Yet I was happy.
For the first time since marrying him, I looked back upon myself. I even secured a Small Manor where I could live peacefully with my child.
As I waited for spring, I imagined a ‌‌tranquil future. ‌‌But it was ‌‌nothing more than a dream that would shatter in an instant.
* * *
A cool ‌hand brushed across Rebecca's cheek.
Rebecca, barely roused ‌‌‌‌from the depths of sleep, suddenly felt the familiar touch caressing her face.
With a terrible premonition, she could not bring herself to open her eyes.
"Rebecca."
When the owner of that hand spoke, ‌‌Rebecca felt a profound despair wash over her.
She had been discovered. She had returned once more ‌‌into his ‌‌‌grasp.
"I know you're awake. ‌‌Come now, get up."
Rebecca opened her eyes.
Her eyelids trembled slightly, as if unwilling to accept reality.
Eyes of blue like crashing waves, disintegrating into mist.
Golden ‌‌hair arranged without a single strand out of place.
Her husband and her master—the reincarnation of a demon from hell—stood before her.
"Zeppelin...."
Her entire body screamed in protest, as if the fever still ‌‌‌lingered.
Rebecca forced herself to rise.
As she looked around the room, she realized the baby's ‌‌cradle was empty.
"My child.... Zeppelin, where is my child?"
"What a cold greeting for a husband you haven't seen in so long. You're truly naive. Did you really think I wouldn't find you?"
"Zeppelin, please.... Give me back my child."
"Don't look at me with that expression. You're not afraid I've harmed my own bloodline, are you?"
Zeppelin laughed coldly.
He was not a man who would hurt a child. Rather, he would treasure her as though she were the rarest ‌‌‌jewel in the world.
But Rebecca found herself wishing he had killed the child instead.
Had she fallen into eternal sleep, at least ‌‌‌she could have found peace in God's embrace.
Yes, it would have been better to die than to grow up as the child of Count Zeppelin Devonshire.
"Haven't you tormented me ‌‌enough? Zeppelin, please let me go. I'll live as though the child and I are dead. I'll even abandon the Devonshire name."
Rebecca grasped his sleeve desperately.
Zeppelin brushed her hand away without ‌‌‌a moment's hesitation.
"That won't do. You are my greatest masterpiece. How could you strip away the artisan's name at your whim? Besides, the child you bore—a daughter, no less? Those golden locks and blue eyes I've always desired, so perfectly mirroring us both! She will grow into such a beautiful woman."
Zeppelin's eyes gleamed with ravenous desire.
Rebecca knew him well. When his eyes held that glint, he was most dangerous.
He was a man ‌‌who would seize everything he desired, no matter the cost.
This could not happen. My child must not live as I have lived.
"Psyche! Psyche!"
Rebecca shoved Zeppelin aside and threw open the door. She began searching frantically for the child, calling her name like a madwoman.
The Small Manor had only a few rooms, yet to her swaying body, it felt as vast as a palace.
Rebecca stumbled desperately through the halls, searching for her child.
Then she heard the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs.
Clear, crisp footsteps.
"R-Rebecca?"
"Alicia...?"
Alicia, adorned in lavish finery, stared at Rebecca with a deathly pallor.
She held the sleeping Psyche in her arms, gently patting her.
Alicia's gaze darted ‌between Rebecca and the child, her composure shattered.
Rebecca stared blankly at her daughter, dressed not in clothes she had sewn with her own hands, but in a resplendent gown.
Fire blazed in her eyes.
Rebecca's eyes widened with murderous intent as she advanced slowly toward Alicia.
Alicia instinctively recoiled, seized ‌‌by primal ‌‌fear.
"It was you. Of course it was you who betrayed me. Alicia! I trusted you! I gave you everything! I asked for only one thing—just one—and you couldn't even do that!"
"Rebecca, I had no choice!"
"Silence! Give me my child! What are you doing holding her with those filthy hands!"
Rebecca reached toward the child. She could see the infant's tiny fingers twitching.
But before she could even catch the child's scent, Zeppelin seized her by the nape of her neck.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Ahhh! You bastard, let go! Let go of me!"
Zeppelin dragged Rebecca and hurled her into the room.
"It seems the lady has lost her mind, without question."
He ‌‌‌grimaced as though he had touched something filthy, brushing off his hands with deliberate disdain.
Rebecca tried to rise and ‌‌lunge ‌at him, but excruciating pain kept her pinned to the ground.
It seemed her ankle had been broken when he threw her.
Zeppelin surveyed Rebecca's pitiful state from head to toe.
"Ah, what a pity. ‌‌‌‌You were once so brilliantly radiant. Humans are so powerless before the passage of time. Still, fortunately Octavio found your replacement. And now I have a daughter as well—the kingdom will soon be complete."
Zeppelin smiled coldly and glanced at his wristwatch.
"Well then, I must be going. I can't be late for the Duke's funeral."
"Where do you think you're going! Go to hell, Zeppelin Devon!"
Rebecca seized ‌‌his departing foot and bit down hard.
He was a man who despised having his body marked with even the slightest wound.
Vicious ‌‌kicks rained down upon her immediately.
Rebecca endured with gritted teeth until she finally saw fresh blood welling up from his ankle, only then releasing her grip.
Zeppelin's crimson blood stained his trousers.
Rebecca had always believed his veins carried cold blue ‌‌‌blood.
Ironically, it seemed ‌‌he too was human, cursed with warm blood like herself.
Rebecca spat out the piece of flesh she'd been holding in her mouth onto the ‌floor with a sharp sound.
He cried out.
"I was going to spare your life out of consideration for our past affection. Rebecca, you brought this upon yourself! This is all your fault!"
He kicked her once more and walked toward the door.
Rebecca crawled after him with relentless determination.
But the door slammed shut before her eyes.
Rebecca pounded desperately against the unyielding door.
"Open it! Open it now! Zeppelin! Zeppelin!"
Silence fell for a moment before Zeppelin's final voice ‌‌‌reached her.
"Rebecca, you were my finest doll. But now it seems the time has come to discard you. I've obtained everything I desired from you."
Rebecca's consciousness grew increasingly hazy. She heard a child crying.
Acrid smoke seeped through the crack beneath the door. Someone screamed about fire.
Scorching flames slowly engulfed her body.
The pain of burning was nothing compared to the anguish her heart endured.
She felt ‌‌death approaching.
Rebecca summoned her last strength and pleaded with the approaching reaper.
"If I could go back... if I could just go back one more time..." ‌‌‌‌
Rebecca lost consciousness and closed her eyes.
Then a white light burst forth from Rebecca's heart, beginning to envelop ‌‌her.
* * * ‌‌‌
"My lady! Wake up!"
At the cheerful voice, Rebecca's eyelids fluttered and moved.
It felt as though she had been dreaming for an eternity.
A vivid and terrible nightmare.
Someone opened the window. A cool sea ‌‌‌breeze swept in.
The salty air tickled Rebecca's nose.
As Rebecca slowly opened ‌‌‌her eyes, she stared blankly at the blue ceiling. Strangely, her body felt light. ‌‌‌
"The weather is disgustingly clear. I wish it had rained instead."
Alice set a washbasin on the table as she spoke.
Rebecca, who had been studying the freckles scattered across Alice's nose ‌‌‌bridge, bolted upright from the bed.
"Alice?"
"Oh my, you startled me! What's wrong, madam? Did you have a bad dream?"
"Why are you here? More than that, how did you—"
"Pardon? Of course I'm here to attend to you, madam. Come now, get up. There's much to be done."
Alice wrung out a clean towel and gently wiped Rebecca's face.
Rebecca stared at Alice with eyes wide with shock, as though witnessing something impossible.
'You're dead!'
Alice had been Rebecca's most trusted lady's maid.
Unlike the other servants, Alice had stood by her side for years before meeting her end ‌‌at the hands of Rebecca's husband, Zeppelin—long ago.
'Am I dead? If so, is ‌this heaven...? Or perhaps hell?'
As Rebecca sat in a daze, Alice sighed and pulled her hand insistently.
"Madam, I understand you're quite distressed, but what can we do? Just endure today, and ‌‌‌you'll be fine."
""
"Goodness. Who would want to attend their own husband's wedding? The Count is truly unreasonable."
"A wedding? Zeppelin is marrying again?"
"You're acting very strange today. Yes, today is the wedding day. The day that wretched Alicia marries the Count!"
Rebecca's eyes widened.
In that instant, countless memories flashed before her like a lantern show.
Rebecca rushed toward the wide-open window.
Far below, a blue sea rippled beneath a steep cliff.
Wedding preparations were in full swing in the picturesque Garden, where the vast ocean ‌‌‌stretched endlessly before the eye.
Rebecca stood listening absently to the cry of seagulls, watching the servants bustling ‌‌‌‌‌about below.
"That decoration would be better placed ‌‌‌over there. Ah, that's a color the Count ‌‌‌dislikes. Have it ‌‌‌discarded."
"Yes, Robert."
Robert, who had been directing the servants, suddenly felt a gaze upon him and looked up.
When his eyes met Rebecca's, he hastily turned away.
Robert?
Rebecca tilted her head sharply, turning over the familiar name in her mind.
'Robert!'
He was ‌‌‌one of many servants who ‌‌‌had died at Zeppelin's hand.
Though it had been disguised as an accident, Rebecca knew with certainty that Zeppelin had killed Robert.
He had ‌died unjustly, falsely accused of harboring feelings for Rebecca.
"Good heavens..."
My legs gave way beneath me.
Rebecca ‌slid down the window frame and collapsed onto the floor.
I had returned. On my husband's wedding day, no less.
The runaway Countess had come back.
E-book publication.

January 12, 2022
Author.

Long Night Sky ‌
Publisher.

Desert Fox
Published by.

Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd.
Submission inquiries.

naver.me/54VzzLSn
Blog.

blog.naver.com/wj_fennecfox
Twitter.

@wjt_fennecfox

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