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5.
Would she ‌‌‌then become endearing?
Hatred. I was so furious I could have throttled her on the spot.
But Rebecca concealed her true feelings and rose to her feet.
"That's not true. Why would I hate Alicia?"
"Look ‌‌at this. You're being so formal again! You hate me because I took the Count away from you, don't you?" ‌‌‌‌
"Took? I never gave Alicia anything to begin ‌‌‌with. But the fact that you've come to apologize to me like this suggests you're at least ashamed of your own actions."
Rebecca spoke with icy coldness.
Alicia hesitated for a moment, but then continued speaking in rapid ‌‌succession as if ‌‌‌she had been waiting for this moment.
"Rebecca, I swear to the heavens, I truly had no choice! A powerless maid cannot refuse the Count's ‌‌‌advances."
Alicia recalled the countless excuses she had rehearsed while Rebecca lay unconscious.
There were plenty of reasons that would make the softhearted Rebecca forgive her.
'Rebecca, I had no choice either.'
Suddenly, the words Alicia had spoken in her previous life when she betrayed Rebecca flashed through her mind.
Rebecca clenched her fists tightly.
"Enough."
"Rebecca!"
"That's why I gave you another choice. But you chose this. As you said yourself, you're an adult, so take responsibility for your choice."
When ‌Rebecca learned that Alicia ‌‌‌was pregnant, she had urged her to run away.
She had offered to find her a modest home and give her enough money to live comfortably for life.
But Alicia refused. What Alicia wanted was not such an ordinary life.
'I'm sorry, but I'm an adult too. Don't treat me like a child anymore. I will make the decisions about my child and my life.'

Alicia recalled her own words and pressed her lips firmly together. ‌‌‌Then she studied Rebecca with an embarrassed gaze.
This was not the ‌‌Rebecca she had known before.
Rebecca merely had to flutter her eyelashes and I granted her requests far more easily than I did Zeppelin's.
'Something feels off.'
Alicia's suspicious eyes swept across Rebecca.
Noticing her intent, Rebecca quickly shifted her expression.
"Let's leave this matter here. Since things have come to this, there's nothing to gain from being hostile toward each other. Our husband wouldn't like it anyway. We may not be able to live as we did before, but I have no intention of fighting with you."
At the mention of Zeppelin, Alicia reluctantly nodded.
Though she hated to admit it, Zeppelin cherished Rebecca. Whenever Alicia spoke ill of her, it was Alicia who ended up being scolded instead.
But time flows onward.
When Rebecca grew old, Zeppelin would lose interest in her.
Alicia decided to hold back ‌‌‌for now.
Rebecca watched as Alicia quickly backed down and began watching her ‌carefully, and I suppressed a laugh within myself.
Looking at it this way, she was merely a somewhat cunning child. To think I had been played by such a girl all this time.
Rebecca spoke with a benevolent smile on her face.
"By the way, have you been nursing me all this time, Alicia?"
"Yes? Oh, well..."
"Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to recover like this. I'd like to give you a gift ‌‌‌as a token of my gratitude. Alice, would you bring my jewelry box?"
At Rebecca's words, Alice limped on her right leg and opened the wardrobe door.
Then she retrieved several antique jewelry boxes decorated with laurel leaf designs.
At the mention of jewelry, Alicia's eyes sparkled.
"Pick one from here."
Rebecca slowly opened the jewelry boxes.
Zeppelin spared no expense when it came to adorning Rebecca's body.
Because of this, Rebecca had no ready cash to spend, but she possessed ‌‌an abundance of expensive ornaments and dresses.
These were items ‌‌‌the newly married Alicia did not have.
Alicia was clever, but before temptation she sometimes lost her reason.
Rebecca remembered this about her and dangled the glittering, expensive ornaments before Alicia's eyes.
Alicia gazed vacantly along Rebecca's hand, ‌‌‌scanning the jewelry boxes, until her eyes stopped before a certain necklace.
"My goodness, it's so beautiful!"
At the end ‌‍‌‌‌‌of the luxurious necklace densely decorated with diamonds hung a large blue diamond.
Admiring the brilliant blue radiance, Alicia reached toward the necklace as if enchanted.
But before ‌her fingertips could touch it, Rebecca quickly closed the jewelry box.
And she offered an ambiguous smile, as if quite troubled.
"Oh my, why is this here? I'm sorry. This is a family heirloom that Zeppelin gave to me, so I cannot give it as a gift. Would you ‌‌‌like to choose something else instead? Don't you think this pair of earrings is quite beautiful as well?"
"A family heirloom?"
"You didn't ‌‌‌know? The House of Devon has many wonderful treasures passed down through generations. The Countess ‌‌‌‌can receive one of them. Zeppelin gave this to me on our wedding ‌‌day, saying it resembled my eye color."
"Then could I receive one too?"
Seeing the violet eyes gleaming with greed, a smirk rose unbidden to my lips, and Rebecca covered her mouth with her hand.
"Well, it's only possible for the Countess... I'm not sure if a second wife could receive one as well."
At Rebecca's words, Alicia's brow furrowed sharply.
She had wanted to claim the title of countess herself, but she didn't dare voice such a thing in the presence of the first wife.
"Were you all gathered here?"
Zeppelin entered through the door.
Alicia greeted him with a radiant smile.
He ignored Alicia entirely and approached Rebecca first, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Only then did he approach Alicia ‌‌and kiss ‌‌‌the back of her hand.
Alicia's face gradually hardened as she registered the difference in his treatment.
* * *
Zeppelin pulled on a pair of cotton gloves and carefully cupped Rebecca's face in his hands, examining it from different angles.
"I heard the fever had spiked, but fortunately there's no scarring. Though your skin does look ‌‌‌‌rather dull—I'll have to remind you ‌‌‌to pay attention to skincare before the victory banquet."
"A victory banquet?"
When Rebecca asked, Zeppelin irritably ran his hand through his hair. His expression made it clear that even the thought annoyed him.
"The Duke of Johannes has apparently returned, sounding his victory drums. I wish he'd died on the battlefield instead."
At his rather violent words, Rebecca looked at Zeppelin.
Now that she thought about it, even in her previous life, Zeppelin had never been fond of the Duke of Johannes.
Alicia excitedly cried out.
"A banquet means a ‌party will be held, doesn't it? I've never been to such a party before! I'll need a dress then! What kind of gown would be best, my lord?"
Zeppelin stared at the excitedly chattering Alicia before letting out a scoff.
"What are you talking about? Alicia, you have no need to attend the ‌‌‌banquet."
"Pardon?"
"It's an event arranged by the Emperor himself. ‌‌‌There's ‌‌‌no way you could attend. Not with your commoner background."
Alicia's face flushed red. Her eyes trembled ‌as though she might burst into ‌‌tears at any moment.
Zeppelin gently grasped Alicia's shoulders.
"Don't make that face. Instead, I'll give you a jewel you like. Play with that and stay home quietly."
"Then give me a heirloom piece."
"A heirloom?"
Zeppelin looked at the jewelry box spread open on the bed.
Rebecca spoke to him with an awkward expression.
"Ah, I told her to pick one as thanks for nursing me, and I accidentally ended up showing her ‌‌the heirloom collection..."
A long sigh followed.
Zeppelin pressed his hand to his forehead.
"Alicia, these are only for the countess—that is, the first wife, Rebecca."
"Why not! I'm the countess too! We had a proper wedding ceremony!"
"That's—"
Zeppelin, about to raise his voice, glanced at Rebecca. Then he forcefully pulled Alicia's arm.
"Rebecca needs to rest before the banquet. Let's talk about this outside."
"It hurts! Let go!"
"Wait!"
Rebecca called out to stop the two as they headed ‌for the door.
"I'm curious about one thing. Why did you return from your honeymoon so early?"
Alicia shot Zeppelin a resentful look as she spoke.
"Why else? Because this noble count here sold the Villa—which holds such precious memories—to the Duke of Johannes for merely a few paintings."
"Alicia! What is the meaning of that insolent tone!"
Zeppelin dragged Alicia out of the room. Beyond the closed door, her ‌‌‌voice, brimming with discontent, could be ‌‌‌heard.
Meanwhile, Rebecca fell into deep contemplation.
'The Duke ‌‌‌of Johannes, then....'
* * *
"You look absolutely ‌‌‌‌beautiful!"
Alice gasped in admiration as she beheld Rebecca standing before the mirror.
Grace, the head maid, ‌smiled with satisfaction as she fastened a necklace around ‌Rebecca's ‌‌neck.
Zeppelin enjoyed displaying Rebecca to ‌‌‌‌others.
He paraded her about as though showcasing a ‌‌‌‌‌beautiful work of art.
Yet such a ‌thing was only possible when accompanying Zeppelin.
He permitted no other man to approach her. Even when accused of pathological jealousy, Zeppelin remained indifferent.
Rebecca was Zeppelin's treasure. Others were permitted only to admire her with their eyes.
Only he, Zeppelin alone, was allowed to touch her.
The beads embedded in the blue dress glimmered brilliantly. ‌‌
Rebecca toyed with the large blue diamond hanging from the necklace's end.
Ordinarily, she would not ‌‌‌have worn such a thing carelessly, but she had deliberately put it on to provoke Alicia.
'I'm quite beautiful, aren't I?'
Just days ago, she had been a middle-aged woman approaching her fortieth year.
After leaving the Count's Mansion, she had endured hardship, and her face had deteriorated considerably.
Yet now, the wrinkles and scars that had marred her skin had vanished without ‌‌‌a trace, replaced by smooth, luminous skin as ‌‌pristine as a peeled egg.
Her blue eyes, deep as the ocean itself, sparkled with vitality, and her blonde hair, once perpetually tangled, now flowed with a soft, lustrous sheen.

During this period, Rebecca had fallen into a vicious cycle of self-loathing, constantly comparing her appearance to Alicia's.
Yet now, looking back, she realized that while perhaps not quite as striking as ‌‌‌Alicia, she possessed ‌‌‌a beauty that would not pale in any setting.
'Is it always the case that one's present self seems the most dreadful?'
Rebecca found herself ‌‌‌‌lamenting the years she had squandered in self-reproach.
As she lingered in these memories of her youth, a forgotten moment surfaced in her mind, and her hand stilled.
That night, Zeppelin had been thoroughly intoxicated.
Though he ordinarily abstained from alcohol on nights when marital duties were scheduled, on this occasion he had ‌‌‌drunk far too much.
After their obligatory intimacy concluded, Zeppelin examined Rebecca ‌‌‌‌carefully and noticed a single wrinkle etched at the corner of her eye.
He traced the line with his fingers, then spoke with cold derision.
'A flaw has appeared.'
Without another word, he rose from the bed and departed, slamming the door shut behind him without so much as a farewell.
From that moment forward, he never sought her out except on those nights when duty demanded their union.
It was a moment of revelation, in its own way.
On solitary nights thereafter, Rebecca would sink into contemplation, methodically revisiting the past.
And she came to understand that what she had believed to be ‌love was nothing more than the affection one bestows upon a decorative ornament.
Not long after this realization, she discovered she was carrying the child ‌‌‌‌Zeppelin had so desperately desired.
There was no time to delay. Before the child's existence could be discovered, Rebecca fled from the prison that was the Count's Mansion.
The runaway countess has 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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