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3.
The cat rubbed its face against Julian's leg.
"Leo."
At Leo's appearance, Julian's rigid expression softened slightly.
As Julian lowered his body, Leo leaped gracefully onto his shoulders.
Watching Julian's expression grow tender, Croa exhaled a small breath of relief. ‌‌‌
Hearing her faint sigh, Julian's brow furrowed once more.
"What are you doing here?"
"Pardon?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said until tomorrow. Even starting now, time will be tight, won't it?"
Leo hissed toward Croa.
Two pairs of golden ‌‌‌eyes gleamed as they fixed upon her.
Croa felt goosebumps rise across her entire body, as though she had encountered a starving ‌‌‌‌lion. She wanted to cry.
"Y-yes, I'll leave at once!"
So much ‌for leaving work early today.
Croa rose from her seat hastily, her voice trembling slightly.
"She never moves unless I say a few more words."
Julian shook his head, watching the empty space ‌‌‌‌where Croa had vanished.
Leo sighed softly and descended gracefully to the ground.
Leo's voice echoed within Julian's mind.
'Why do you concern yourself with that woman so much?'
"I'm not concerned. It's just that seeing her reminds me of someone, and it puts me in a ‌‌foul mood."
Julian collapsed onto the pristine sandy beach. Only the gentle sound of waves lapping against the shore broke the silence of the desolate Coastal Shore.
'Who? The Duchess of Johannes?'
"Uncanny how you always know." ‌‌‌
Julian let out a hearty laugh.
In ‌truth, he rarely had the opportunity to meet Rebecca, as he avoided social gatherings.
Yet even in their few encounters, Rebecca had left a deep impression upon him.
Like Julian himself, she only briefly appeared at grand galas. ‌‌
From what he heard, Zeppelin kept her on an extraordinarily tight leash.
Rebecca was always adorned lavishly and ‌‌beautifully, yet she emanated no vitality whatsoever.
When conversing ‌‌with noblewomen, Rebecca invariably offered only mechanical responses.
People spoke of her as the empire's greatest beauty, but Julian could not agree.
She was like a corpse. That was why seeing Rebecca always reminded him of his mother.
A person whose very soul had withered like a desiccated branch.
'But what was that look in her eyes just now?'
Yet the Rebecca sitting in the carriage seemed like a different person entirely.
She was furious. He had thought her incapable of emotion, so it was unexpected.
Moreover, that blazing intensity in her eyes. That gaze lingered in his mind like an afterimage.
For just a moment, he could not tear his eyes away.
'Aren't you upset?'
Leo gazed up ‌‌at Julian with evident curiosity.
"What...? You! I told you not to rummage through ‌my thoughts like that."
'I didn't want to hear it either. You're the one broadcasting it.'
At his words, Julian laughed bitterly.
He then gently stroked Leo, who was resting his chin languidly.
Leo purred ‌‌contentedly.
A beloved creature, yet simultaneously despised with vehemence. A blessing and a curse in one.
Leo was precisely that to him.
The burden ‌upon his shoulders felt unusually heavy today.
He was never ‌‌alone, and yet he was ‌‌‌‌perpetually solitary.
* * *

Dawn broke once more.
With Zeppelin and Alicia away on their honeymoon, the sprawling Devon Mansion belonged entirely to Rebecca.
It was a rare respite, yet Rebecca could ‌‌‌not savor her freedom.
Zeppelin's hunting dogs—as ‌‌‌his attendants were called—watched her covertly from every corner.
"The Count isn't here today either. Won't you have another helping?"
Alice presented another plate of dessert as she ‌‌spoke.
Rebecca gazed briefly at the cake adorned with delicate raspberries.
Though her appetite had returned, Rebecca ‌‌shook her head.
If she ate more, she didn't know what accusations would follow. ‌‌For ‌now, she had to appear as she always did.
Rebecca searched her memory for what she had ‌‌‌‌been doing around this time.
"It's fine. Let's just take a walk."
Rebecca left the dining room.
The masterless mansion felt no different from usual, as though the master's absence left no void.
This was not because Rebecca performed her duties as mistress so admirably.
Rather, ‌‌it was because the capable head maid and butler were doing their utmost to ensure nothing would be amiss upon Zeppelin's return.
She was the Countess, yet that was merely an ornamental shell.
Rebecca knew nothing of household management.
Zeppelin had never entrusted her with the budgeting that properly fell to the mistress of the house.
'You need only sit like a single rose. I shall handle all the complicated matters.'
She was not even free to venture out. All Rebecca did throughout the day was embroider or play the piano within the mansion's walls.
On days when even that grew tedious, she would wander aimlessly through the Garden.
She could occasionally invite nearby young ladies or women to tea, yet for some reason, no one seemed eager to accept her invitations.
Invitations to social gatherings did occasionally arrive for Rebecca.
But Zeppelin forbade her attendance at ‌‌‌‌parties unless absolutely necessary.
His excuse was concern that pure Rebecca might be corrupted by vulgar society.
"A doll, ‌‌‌then..."
Rebecca recalled the words Zeppelin had spoken to her before her death.
A perfect doll.
He was right. The Count's Mansion was nothing but a grand dollhouse, and I was merely the beautiful doll seated within it.
A pitiful doll that could be discarded at any moment.
Lost in thought as I wandered through the Garden, I came to a halt before an exhibition hall with a glass dome ‌‌‌ceiling.
It was the place known as the Hall of Light.
The glass dome was covered with black cloth to shield it from the sun.
The black cloth was only removed when guests arrived.
The House of Devon had long been renowned for its deep artistic refinement across generations.
They had acquired an enormous collection of invaluable artworks throughout the ages.
In particular, Zeppelin had amassed more pieces than any Devon count before him.
His obsession with art was so compulsive that he had constructed a separate building with climate control to preserve his collection.
I imagined destroying the Hall of Light.
And I pictured Zeppelin in despair. A smile formed unbidden on my lips.
But soon I shook my head bitterly.
The Hall of Light was heavily guarded. Even now, knights in gleaming armor stood sentinel at the exhibition entrance.
Several of the knights noticed me and bowed their heads in greeting.
I nodded toward them and turned my gaze away.
I still possessed no power whatsoever.
Had I a strong family to rely upon, I would have divorced him long ago.
But my family, merely a humble baronial house, had gone bankrupt after my marriage.
Even before my regression, ‌‌‌‌my family had barely managed to survive ‌‌by depending on the House of Devon.
"The sun is particularly strong today. Do be careful not to get sunburned." ‌‌‌
Alice brought a shawl and draped it over my shoulders, then raised a parasol to shield me from the sunlight.
"Alice, your arm will ache if you hold the parasol for too long. Shall we ‌‌‌‌go inside instead?"
"No, ‌‌ma'am. For you, I can endure far more than this. You seem so restless lately. A walk like this is just what you need to ease your mind, isn't it?"
In my previous life, on the ‌‌‌‌day Alicia gave birth to her second child, Alice had taken me to the Village Festival, hoping ‌‌to lift my spirits.
I had enjoyed genuine happiness for the first time in ages, but the price was steep.
When Zeppelin discovered I had left without permission, he beat Alice to death.
I recalled Alice's final moments, bloodied and dying before my eyes.
I felt as though I owed her a debt I could never repay.
"If you have a wish, tell me anything, Alice. I will grant whatever is within my power."
"If I have a wish, it's to spend peaceful days like this with you, ma'am."
"Don't lie. Tell me honestly. Jewels? Or shall I raise your wages?"
"Ma'am."
Alice set down ‌‌‌‌‌the parasol and took both my hands in hers.
"I truly need nothing. I only wish to remain your devoted companion for all eternity."
At Alice's affectionate smile, I found myself smiling in return.
I felt grateful to have returned to the time when she was still alive.
In this desolate mansion, Alice was the ‌‌only person I could trust.
"Yes. Thank you. There's truly no one but you, Alice. Come, let us walk a bit more, then we shall return inside."
At Rebecca's words, Alice smiled warmly and nodded in agreement.
Alice's smile was the only warmth that seeped into the House of Devon, which remained as cold as ice even beneath the spring sun.
* * *
Upon returning to the mansion, I climbed the stairs slowly toward my room on the second floor.
Then I lifted my gaze to the third floor, where Zeppelin's room and Study were located. ‌‌
Most couples shared a bedroom, but Zeppelin and I were different.
After intimacy, Zeppelin always returned to his own room to sleep alone.
He worried that my sleep habits might leave scratches on his face.
Moreover, he desired to keep everything beneath his feet.
Zeppelin began each day from the top floor, looking down upon everyone below.
No one could set foot in his domain without permission.
The third floor was off-limits to anyone, and that included me.
I took particular interest in the Study on the third floor.
Zeppelin disapproved of me accumulating knowledge.
Since all the books were in his Study, I could not read ‌‌‌‌without special cause.
'Everything about the House of Devon must be kept there.'
Whenever Zeppelin went out, ‌‌‌‌he always locked the Study door securely.
Given how strictly he forbade outsiders from entering, it was certain that some significant secret lay hidden within that Study.
I gazed up at the Study door.
'If I search carefully, surely something will turn up.' ‌‌
Seizing a moment when Alice was absent, I crept toward the third-floor staircase.
"Entry is forbidden beyond this point, madam."
There had been no one ‌‌‌there moments before. ‌‌Yet a sturdy-built servant appeared from nowhere, ‌‌‌‌blocking my path.
"I understand. I simply took a wrong turn."
I reluctantly turned my steps back.
Alice, who had been bringing up an afternoon dress, silently witnessed the entire scene. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she fell into thought.
"Madam, do you wish to visit the ‌‌‌‌Study?"
"What?"
I startled and stopped my embroidery needle in its tracks.
"I saw you heading ‌‌toward the ‌‌staircase just now. Shall I help you?"
Looking into Alice's ‌‌gleaming green eyes, ‌I recalled an old memory.
'If we just go to the festival for a moment, no one ‌‌‌‌will know! Let's go, madam!'
I could not allow such a thing to happen again.
I shook my head.
"No. It's far too dangerous."
"The Count won't return for a week anyway. With security relaxed as it ‌‌is now, this is the perfect opportunity."
Alice was ‌‌‌‌right. Who knew when such an opportunity would come again?
But this was a gamble.
As I hesitated, Alice whispered quickly.
"Listen. ‌‌‌Right now, only Hans is guarding the third floor. Fortunately, I'm somewhat acquainted with him. I'll coax him to the kitchen. In the meantime, you slip up to the third floor."
"But Alice...."
"I'm really fine with it! You wanted to read, didn't you? The Count will ‌‌‌‌be away for a while, so it would be good for you to read a book or two to pass ‌the time."
Faced with Alice's persistent persuasion, Rebecca reluctantly nodded her head.
My heart raced just as it had on the day I fled the Count's Mansion.
The runaway Countess had returned.
E-book publication.

January 12, 2022
Author.

Long Night Sky ‌
Publisher.

Desert Fox
Published by.

Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd.
Submission received.

naver.me/54VzzLSn
Blog.

blog.naver.com/wj_fennecfox
Twitter.

@wjt_fennecfox

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please ‌‌‌‌read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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