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36.
'Who could have entered....'
If it had been one of the servants, they would have greeted him first as a matter of course.
Zeppelin ‌‌‌moved forward with suspicion clouding his steps.
And the moment he opened ‌the door.
"Zeppelin!"
Rebecca, dressed in a thin chemise, threw herself into his arms.
Rebecca pushed him out of the room while confirming that the wardrobe door had closed.
A sky-blue dress hem peeked out slightly, but Kanna tactfully positioned ‌‌herself in front of it.
"Rebecca? You can walk ‌‌now?"
Seeing Rebecca embrace him on her own two feet, Zeppelin spoke with overwhelming emotion.
Rebecca smiled shyly.
"Don't look ‌‌‌at me like that. I've just washed off my makeup, so I'm not very pretty right now."
"Are you pushing yourself too hard? Since when have you been able ‌‌‌‌to walk?"
"Not long ago. I've been secretly practicing walking to surprise you."
"Ah, my lovely Rebecca. Seeing you makes all the fatigue of the day melt away."
Zeppelin held Rebecca tightly.
Rebecca endured the moment by counting backwards silently in her mind.
"Do you know how beautiful you are?"
Zeppelin lifted his face from where it had been buried in Rebecca's shoulder. Then he drew gloves from his inner pocket and put them on. ‌‌
Soon after, Zeppelin began to gently caress ‌‌her face.
His hand traced down her eyes ‌‌‌and nose.
His fingers soon teased her lips softly and tenderly.
Watching Zeppelin's lips draw closer, Rebecca hastily ‌‌turned her head away.
She could not hide her stiffening expression at what would inevitably follow.
"Everyone is watching. I'm embarrassed." ‌
At her averted gaze, Zeppelin paused.
A flicker of bewilderment crossed his eyes, ‌‌‌but it was only for an instant.
The corners of Zeppelin's eyes curved into a beautiful arc.
"Yes. Modesty is a woman's virtue."
Once more, Zeppelin gazed at Rebecca with lingering intensity.
Rebecca sought to break the tension by changing the subject.
"You said you'd be out for a long time, yet you've returned early."
"Your tone suggests you're displeased that I've come back so soon?"
At his keenly observant gaze, Rebecca flinched.
He had always possessed an uncanny intuition.
But without betraying her alarm, Rebecca lifted the corners of her mouth even higher as she spoke.
"How could that be? I was simply overjoyed."
Zeppelin beheld the smile of Rebecca, whom he cherished beyond measure.
Even without makeup, Rebecca was the perfect woman who captivated his heart ‌‌entirely.
Zeppelin let out a laugh and shook his head.
"I knew that. I was just joking. But I really will be gone for ‌‌a while. I only came to gather some things. I need to leave ‌‌‌‌early tomorrow morning."
So he would be leaving the house.
Rebecca felt relieved.
"So, Rebecca...."
Zeppelin grasped Rebecca's waist and pulled her close against him.
"Spend tonight with me. So that what happened last time doesn't occur again, I'll come find you tonight."
At his sweet breath, Rebecca's shoulders trembled.
"Achoo!"
The moment Zeppelin inhaled her scent, he suddenly sneezed.
He stood bewildered for a moment, then briefly wiped his nose.
"Then, wait for me."
Zeppelin left the ‌‌‌room with a meaningful smile.
"Rebecca!"
The moment Zeppelin disappeared from view, Rebecca's legs gave way and she sank to the floor for a moment.
Kanna rushed toward Rebecca with a worried expression.
Rebecca offered Kanna a faint smile.
"I'm fine. By the way, you were worried because I came back late, weren't you? I'm sorry, Kanna."
"No, that's not it. Rather, the plan you arranged has fallen through. What ‌‌if you really end up with the Count...."
"Kanna! What's wrong with your hand!"
Rebecca let out a sharp cry, cutting off Kanna's worried voice.
Blood dripped steadily from the nail marks embedded in Kanna's palm—she had been clenching her fist so tightly.
Only then did ‌Kanna realize she had injured her hand, and she hastily pulled it away from Rebecca.
"It's nothing. Blood might get on you, so it's better if you don't touch me."
"Kanna, you really...."
Kanna's expression as she grinned and said it was nothing looked impossibly tender.
Just as Rebecca was about to say something, a faint voice came from ‌‌‌inside the wardrobe.
"Um, um...."
At Susan's fading voice, Rebecca jumped to her feet and urgently threw open the wardrobe door.
Susan, buried in ‌‌dresses, was smiling sheepishly.
"Oh, Susan. I'm sorry. Things got so tangled up that I completely forgot about you."
"It's fine. But things ‌‌‌‌didn't go wrong, did they...?"
Rebecca laughed at her ‌‌‌cautious question.
"Don't worry. Everything went ‌very well."
It truly had. Today I had accomplished everything I set out to do.
'And I even met Julian....'
I recalled Julian's lips as he chewed his food.
Despite his impatient nature, he wasn't the type to eat greedily.
Rather, he ate quite demurely, without making a single chewing sound.
Moreover, he turned out to be surprisingly talkative.
He enthusiastically analyzed each dish, discussing which cuts of meat had been used and which regions the spices came from.
Thanks to his animated conversation, the brief dinner I had expected to be awkward turned out to be quite enjoyable.
It had been so long since I'd eaten a meal with such joy.
Julian's face, which had brightened with ‌a radiant smile whenever our eyes met, ‌‌‌lingered in my mind.
His large, sharp eyes appeared cold and piercing as a predator's when at rest.
But when he smiled, those eyes curved so beautifully that I found myself forgetting to chew ‌‌‌the food in my ‌‌‌mouth, staring at him in a daze.
This was troublesome.
I shook my head vigorously, trying to dispel the persistent afterimage that kept surfacing.
I ‌‌understood clearly what state my heart was in.
It was a path I had already walked once before.
The only difference from before was that I now understood exactly where this path led.
So it wouldn't happen ‌‌‌‌again—that seeping in before I could even notice.
One ‌‌tragedy was enough.

* * *
Zeppelin sat in the darkened Study, lost in thought.
Moonlight obscured by ‌‌clouds could not shine fully, casting only a dim glow into the Study.
Zeppelin, sitting with his back to even that faint light, thought of Rebecca.
He always thought of her, but today something felt different.
The scent of perspiration... ‌‌‌
When Rebecca leaned against him, there was a faint smell of sweat.
Until now, Rebecca had rarely emitted such a scent in his presence.
Of course, it wasn't the unpleasantness of the smell that had him lost in thought.
Rather, he was bewildered that he didn't dislike even that.
What puzzled him was why she would smell of sweat ‌‌when there wasn't a trace ‌‌of moisture on her.
As long as she ‌‌‌remained in this Mansion, there was no reason for her to exert herself enough to perspire.
Moreover, there was that subtle avoidance of his gaze—eyes that ‌‌looked embarrassed yet somehow cold.
Most tellingly, when he mentioned going away for a time, a smile ‌‌‌of relief had crossed her lips.
Viewed broadly, there was nothing different from usual.
His watchdog monitoring her had reported nothing unusual.
Yet this strange sense of déjà vu that arose when he gathered these tiny fragments of suspicion...
Then Zeppelin's eyes widened.
That's right—it started from the victory banquet.
From that day, strange questions began to churn through his mind.
At first, it was a small question, like a splinter ‌‌lodged beneath a fingernail.
But that splinter grew larger, and soon it began to interfere with his daily life, causing actual pain.
Rebecca wants to leave me.
His suspicion had no clear basis.
Rebecca still stood by his side, radiant as she had been when he first began to love her.
There was no way she could escape from the Count's Mansion he had so carefully constructed.
'But why.'
Why did unease keep creeping in?
It might have been because of something Rebecca had said in passing.
'Do I really look happy to you?'
At ‌‌‌first, I thought I'd misheard, but ‌‌‌the more I turned it over in my mind, the clearer it became.
Rebecca had definitely said that.
But I couldn't understand it.
There was no reason for her to be unhappy.
I had prepared everything for Rebecca—this perfect mansion and servants devoted solely to her.
And above all, she had me, a perfect husband.
That alone was enough to make countless women throughout the Empire envious of her. ‌‌
Just look at Alicia.
Alicia ‌‌always gazed at Rebecca with eyes that said she coveted everything she possessed.
Yes, Rebecca was a woman blessed with the kind of happiness everyone envied.
So why....
Zeppelin splashed cold ‌‌water on his face. Then, as if ‌reaching a decision, his eyes snapped open in ‌‌‌‌the darkness.
'There's no harm in being prepared for contingencies.'
I had hoped never to use this, but with the necessity of leaving Rebecca's side for an extended period, I had no choice.
I had always trusted my instincts, and they had never failed me.
I grasped the black cord with its tassel hanging on the Study wall and pulled it.
The cord would immediately ring a bell connected to Grace's chambers.
Before long, the Study door opened silently.
Grace entered, quietly gathering the hem of her black dress—the kind that evoked mourning attire.
I spoke.
"That thing ‌‌‌‌I had prepared before. I believe I'll need it."
* * *
The clock struck eleven at night, its chime echoing with an eerie resonance.
Zeppelin checked the grandfather clock and stepped out of his room.
Rebecca was waiting for him.
His footsteps down the stairs grew lighter, ‌‌‌‌but then ‌‌‌he stopped upon discovering a certain sight.
"Count...."
Alicia stood before her open doorway, framed by light.
The soft candlelight barely illuminated the dark corridor, so the vivid, brilliant glow spilling from her room was enough to captivate Zeppelin.
Unlike the room's bright lighting, Alicia wore plain, unadorned clothing as she gently caressed her protruding belly.
And with a distinctly seductive smile, ‌‌she spoke.
"I missed you."
Alicia's smile was brazenly enticing, yet somehow ‌‌‌it carried an innocent quality. ‌
Her unkempt lavender hair cascaded down to her waist in waves.
It seemed as though slipping a finger through those locks would cause them to coil ‌‌around it instantly, drawing the finger deeper into her embrace.
"Why are you awake at this hour?"
"I felt the baby move. Perhaps she knows her father has returned?"
At the mention of fetal movement, Zeppelin flinched and ‌‌‌trembled. His feet were still turned toward Rebecca's room.
Alicia let her ivory-like white neck droop downward as she caressed her belly.
A deep and tender smile blossomed at the corners of her lips.
The sight was the very embodiment of the benevolent mother that Zeppelin had always envisioned.
It was then that Zeppelin first thought Alicia was beautiful.
The Runaway Countess Returns
E-book Publication

January 12, 2022
Author

Long night ‌‌‌‌‌sky
Publisher

Desert fox
Published by

Woongjin ThinkBig Co., ‌‌‌‌Ltd.
Submission Reception

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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