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12. "I will do it." Yet Kanna answered without a moment's hesitation. Among those at ‌‌‌‌Liberta, Kanna was willing to do anything—even assassination, provided it aligned with her will. The Count's Mansion did not select its handmaidens carelessly, especially not Rebecca's personal attendant. Exceptional talent took precedence over lineage. For this reason, Kanna had spent countless years performing every conceivable task, waiting for the day when her name would reach Zeppelin's ears. Compared to those trials, this was remarkably simple. Rebecca flinched ‌‌‌‌at Kanna's answer, delivered ‌‌‌without the slightest hesitation. Kanna's eyes gleamed as they had in childhood. Rebecca hesitated before finally speaking. "If... if you truly stand with me..." "I am on your side, Rebecca." The words were warm. Rebecca smiled softly. "I may have little to ‌‌‌offer, but I shall stand with you as well. So Kanna, ‌‌‌‌do not betray me." Kanna felt sorrow wash over her. Rebecca seemed desperate. Each word she spoke struck painfully deep. And simultaneously, anger surged within her. In Kanna's world, Rebecca was the one who deserved to be happiest. Tap, tap— A sound struck the window. Kanna glanced over to find a black cat perched upon the sill. Upon spotting the black cat, Rebecca hastily ushered Kanna out. Kanna asked nothing and obeyed without question. "Phew." Rebecca pressed her ear to the door, waiting until all ‌sound of footsteps faded. Hearing nothing further, she took a deep breath and approached the window. The cat waited with patient composure for the window to open. "You've waited long. So you are Leo." As the window opened, Leo stretched languidly with a long yawn before padding into the room. A small box hung from Leo's neck on a delicate collar as he curiously surveyed the space around him. Rebecca poured water for Leo and withdrew the note from within the box. The note bore a single line written in concise, forceful script. 【Let us meet and speak.】 It was unmistakably Julian's style of response. It was not a definitive commitment, ‌yet she had succeeded in capturing his interest nonetheless. Rebecca longed to ‌‌cry out in joy. But it ‌‌was too early to celebrate. Rebecca deliberated carefully before beginning to write her reply on paper, then folded the note neatly and returned it to the box. Leo seemed to have taken a liking to Rebecca, rubbing against her legs affectionately. Rebecca smiled serenely as she stroked Leo, the sound of his purring filling her with contentment. "It's a very important note, so I'd appreciate it if you could deliver it accurately." Leo nodded toward Rebecca. Soon after, Leo nimbly vaulted through the window. They say all cats are God's children. Leo, the foremost among God's children, was ‌‌truly a clever feline. * * * 【Please come to Liberta Orphanage this Wednesday at three o'clock. You must arrive discreetly, dressed as plainly as possible.】 "Telling me to come and go as she pleases—what an amusing woman." Julian chuckled softly after reading the note Rebecca had written. "Leo, you've worked hard. You must be tired." Julian snapped his fingers, calling Leo over. Leo pretended not to hear him. "Are you really ‌sulking just because I sent you on one errand?" Leo turned away silently and lay down with ‌‌‌his back to him. Julian stared at Leo with exasperation. ‌‌With a soul-bound cat, he could share thoughts. However, he couldn't force his way in if the other party didn't wish it. Julian concentrated, trying ‌‌to read Leo's mind, but Leo blocked his intrusion. "Leo, there's no helping it. You know how important this is. I couldn't ask another cat to do it." Julian groaned and pressed his forehead. Leo was usually cheerful, but once he pouted, it was difficult to ‌‌appease him. 'That woman... she resembles that child from back then.' Suddenly, Leo's voice pierced through his mind. Julian, who had been examining Rebecca's note, froze and looked at Leo. This was the first time he had ‌‌ever brought up what happened back then. "That's impossible. That place is a remote forest. You saw her yourself. She didn't look like she'd ever left the capital in her entire life." 'I'm just saying what I felt. Either way, she doesn't ‌‌seem like a bad person.' "Well, that's fortunate then. But are you really sure about this? If that woman's words are true, the curse can be lifted. Then you would..." 'It's fine. It's a life that was already abandoned anyway.' "You always have to phrase things so..." 'I've said all I need to say. I'm leaving now.' Leo rose and walked out with dignified indifference. Three black cats followed in his wake. Even while sharing thoughts, it was impossible to fathom ‌what resided in that small head of his. Rebecca ‌‌‌too resembled Leo in that regard. Divorce? ‌‌And on top of that, marry him instead? It was ‌absurd, yet simultaneously an enticing proposition. Gradually, communications from the Temple had begun arriving. For now, they were merely inquiries about his well-being. But soon, they would begin pressing him to father an heir to care for God's messenger. Being in the Temple, the fact of being a divorcée posed no real issue. The Defrian Church was relatively liberal regarding matrimonial bonds. Polygamy or polyandry mattered little. Divorce too was more lenient than in other nations. Though the national religion's doctrine was thus, openly taking a second wife remained rare. The Defrian Church, which valued freedom of pleasure, existed ‌‌within Rotandus's traditionally conservative culture. Thus, people indulged in various pleasures but hesitated to display them openly. A ‌‌‌‌tradition valuing propriety and a faith pursuing freedom had achieved a peculiar ‌harmony. Unless succession was complicated like in the House of Johannes, most affairs remained at the level of a mistress. Zeppelin was an exceptional case. Despite having no children for ten years, Rebecca was still young. Taking a second wife when the first was still in her youth was a blatant ‌‌‌disrespect to the first wife. 'That bastard deserves to be divorced.' The old thought surfaced, and Julian's brow furrowed. Zeppelin had rubbed him the wrong way from the first moment they met. Because his ‌mother was sickly, Julian had been raised almost entirely by his nursemaid. The nursemaid was an immigrant of humble origins. Yet she appeared in nearly every precious memory of his childhood happiness. But Zeppelin had scorned her. He'd openly called her filthy. 'A worthless piece of human refuse.' Julian recalled ‌what Leo had told him about last night's events at the Count's Mansion. The very concept of punishing one's own wife was absurd enough. But that punishment involved whipping someone she held dear right before her eyes. How vile could one be? He couldn't even imagine what other horrors she might have ‌‌endured. "Ah. Now I understand why she's been walking around like a corpse." Julian recalled Rebecca at the Ballroom. The face ‌‌‌he'd seen in the Forest last night was no illusion. Rebecca was not the woman Julian had known until now. Her eyes shone with clarity, and her voice carried strength. She seemed like an entirely different person. Julian thought of Rebecca. ‌‌Her delicate neck and luminous golden hair cascading like a waterfall. ‌‌‌Her voice—soft yet resolute. And her remarkably slender waist. 'She was incredibly light ‌‌‌when I lifted her.' Even accounting for her being a woman, it was a lightness no person should possess. 'She's definitely being starved.' Julian clicked his tongue ‌and ‌‌resolved that if Rebecca became the Duchess of Johannes, he ‌would start by ‌‌feeding her ‌‌‌properly. Julian was a natural epicurean. The House of Johannes employed several of the Empire's most skilled chefs. * * * Count Zeppelin Devonshire's mornings always unfolded ‌‌identically. At six in the morning, a maid entered, drew back the curtains, left washing water, and quietly departed. Upon waking, Zeppelin savored the morning sunlight, completed a simple wash, lightly applied cologne, and rose from bed. Then he entered the mirror chamber adjoining his bedroom and performed his mirror ritual for precisely one hour. Within the room whose walls were entirely mirrors, Zeppelin examined every inch of his naked form. He, who loved all beautiful things, ranked humans—especially beautiful women—as the highest. But exceptionally, there was a man he considered beautiful. That man was himself, Zeppelin Devonshire. Throughout ‌‌generations, only ‌‌‌beauties had occupied the position of Countess Devonshire. Zeppelin was the crystallization of such obsessive bloodline. His golden hair flowed softly. His pale sky-blue eyes evoked the image of light shattering across water. Overall he possessed an androgynous beauty, yet his high-bridged nose and strong jawline were unmistakably masculine. ‌‌Moreover, his meticulously sculpted physique contributed to his beauty. Zeppelin hummed pleasantly as he entered the mirror chamber ‌as always. Unlike yesterday's gloom, ‌‌‌today's weather was splendid. I thought it would ‌‌‌‌be lovely to go on ‌‌‌a picnic with two such beautiful ladies. Of course, I would ‌need to bring a specially crafted parasol to protect my face from the sun's rays. Zeppelin, who had been running his fingers through his hair while gazing at the mirror, froze. Wondering if he hadn't fully ‌awakened, he left the room and returned. "Aaaahhhhh!" A horrific scream reverberated through the mirror, filling the entire room. Zeppelin's knights ‌‌‌‌came rushing in frantically. "Count! What has happened?" "My hair... my hair!" His golden locks, which should have shimmered gracefully past his ears, had been cut off terribly. One of Zeppelin's knights widened his eyes upon ‌‌seeing his jagged haircut. He desperately bit the inside of his cheek to suppress his laughter. ‌‌‌"Who did this! Which bastard did such a thing! Was it you?" Zeppelin seized the knight who was struggling ‌‌‌to contain his laughter ‌‌‌by the collar. The burly man was helplessly dragged along by Zeppelin's grip. "N-no, sir. How could I possibly dare..." Upon seeing ‌‌‌Zeppelin's murderous gaze, the ‌‌knight never smiled again. Cold sweat streamed down his ‌‌‌temples. "How do you do your jobs! Call all ‌the guards who were on duty yesterday!" * * ‌‌* Rebecca cracked open her door at the commotion upstairs. Zeppelin's agitated voice reached her even here. Alicia, equally curious, ‌‌‌‌had stepped out of her room and was looking upward. When Alicia, who had been questioning a passing ‌‌‌‌‌servant ‌about the details, caught Rebecca's eye, she hastily shut her door and retreated inside. Seeing this, Rebecca's eyes narrowed. Ever since ‌‌‌‌Zeppelin had taken only Rebecca to the Ballroom, Alicia had been relatively well-behaved. She must be plotting something. Rebecca had a vague suspicion of what that scheme might be. Savoring Zeppelin's screams with satisfaction, Rebecca ‌‌entered her room. A small wooden box sat atop the side table. The Runaway ‌Countess Returns E-book Publication January 12, 2022 Author Long night sky Publisher Desert Fox Publisher. Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd. Submissions. naver.me/54VzzLSn Blog. blog.naver.com/wj_fennecfox Twitter. @wjt_fennecfox

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