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54.
'Discard what is unnecessary.'
Octavio's words swirled through my ‌mind like an incantation.
All those days ‌‌‌I had ‌clung to so desperately, afraid of losing Rebecca, now seemed meaningless—moved by nothing more than a small blemish.
Yes, hadn't Rebecca herself asked me to abandon her just yesterday?
Zeppelin summoned his servants with grim resolve.
At the mere sound of his cough, three servants ‌‌‌‌waiting outside the door came rushing in like hounds.
He commanded them ‌‌‌‌to open ‌‌‌‌the wardrobe.
Zeppelin meticulously combed through the expansive array of garments within.
Finding no suitable attire for a day like this, he clicked his tongue in frustration.
The servants busily retrieved garments and presented them to Zeppelin.
As he continued shaking his head, a tuxedo hanging on one wall caught his eye.
It was the suit he had worn the day he proposed to Rebecca.
Imbued with symbolic meaning, he had worn it only once before carefully ‌‌‌‌preserving it ‌‌like a museum piece.
Zeppelin smiled with satisfaction.
It was the perfect garment to frame both beginning and end.
* * *
"You've come to see me again today."
"Yes, you were worried about me? ‌How thoughtful of you."
"...Tell her that."
As Zeppelin reached for the elegant golden doorknob to turn it, he paused at the soft sound of Rebecca's voice.
Her voice remained unchanged—still sweet, graceful, and lovely.
Though he had resolved firmly to abandon her, the remnants of memory clung stubbornly to his feet.
Zeppelin deliberately crushed those feelings underfoot and threw the door wide open.
"Zeppelin?"
Rebecca's eyes widened as she looked at him.
Zeppelin moved toward Rebecca but frowned.
The increasingly warm ‌‌‌weather had intensified the foul stench emanating ‌from her, but more than that, he had discovered a black cat nestled in her arms.
"Another cat? I should order more thorough pest control measures."
Rebecca hastily sent Leo out through the window.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she adjusted her appearance and straightened her posture.
"Surely you ‌‌‌‌needn't be so upset over a single cat." ‌‌‌‌
A brief silence fell between them.
His nose bridge itched, so Zeppelin covered his nose with a handkerchief.
He inhaled deeply the fragrance of cologne clinging to the handkerchief before tucking it back into his pocket.
Rebecca observed his every gesture and smiled faintly.
"Is there something you wish to say?"
"Do you remember this outfit?" ‌
Zeppelin showed Rebecca the suit he was wearing.
She watched him with an expressionless face.
How could I ever forget it?
The day I walked into the coffin of my own volition.
Rebecca remembered even the sound of Zeppelin's breathing on that day.
"Of course. Isn't that the very gown you wore when you proposed to me? Ah, I do miss those days."
Rebecca genuinely longed for the past.
If only I could return to that time—then ‌‌I wouldn't have to resort to such absurd measures. ‌‌
I could have rejected his proposal and lived as ‌‌‌the carefree eldest daughter of House of Obelia.
Zeppelin lowered his gaze as he watched Rebecca's eyes drift into memory.
The pustules that had erupted across Rebecca's skin were becoming increasingly grotesque.
He had to admit it now.
His beloved had been irreparably ruined.
"Doesn't it pain you, Rebecca?"
Rebecca flinched slightly at the melancholy in Zeppelin's sky-blue eyes.
It was rare for him to show concern for her in this manner.
Does it pain me?
Not a single day of my entire life has been free from pain. Because of you.
The truth rose to the tip of my tongue, but Rebecca spoke differently instead.
"If this is my fate, then there is nothing to be done."
"Yes. Fate. Let us blame fate, you ‌‌‌and I."
"What do you mean?"
"Become a saint, Rebecca."
Rebecca opened her eyes wide in response, then narrowed ‌‌‌them again.
It was as though ‌‌‌she were asking what he meant.
Zeppelin furrowed his brow for ‌‌‌a moment, then exhaled and spoke plainly.
"Let us divorce. I cannot bear to watch you deteriorate further here."
"You've made your decision, then."
Rebecca laughed weakly. ‌‌
Divorce. At last, he had spoken the word himself.
"Though I requested it, hearing it now leaves my heart aching nonetheless."
I should at least put up some resistance.
The original Rebecca would have shown reluctance.
Rebecca swallowed her joy and grasped his arm gently with a sorrowful expression.
"You have no intention ‌‌of reconsidering, then?"
Zeppelin stared at Rebecca's hand touching his body, his face deeply contorted.
As though burned by fire, he coldly brushed her arm away.
Her ‌‌arm was covered with pustules swollen to the point of bursting.
Rebecca gazed at her rejected hand with a wounded expression.
Zeppelin found her pitiful, but he would not change his mind.
No—rather, he felt certain.
I, Zeppelin Devonshire, do not love the Rebecca before me now.
Pity ‌‌‌‌‌is not love.
Zeppelin seated Rebecca before the mirror. ‌
"Look at yourself, Rebecca. This is what you are now."
Rebecca spoke with a smile that would vanish in an instant. ‌‌‌‌
"How ghastly."
"Yes, ghastly. What husband in this world would welcome such a face? And you—you're barren."
...
"I cannot bear an heir, nor am I patient enough to live with a wife afflicted by ‌such a terrible illness. So you must divorce me, Rebecca."
Rebecca slowly lifted her head.
She wanted a more definitive answer.
"Are you abandoning me, then, Zeppelin?"
Zeppelin hesitated, for Rebecca's deep blue ‌‌‌‌eyes were clearer and purer than ever before.
But soon the foul stench emanating from her brow awakened him.
"Yes. Blame me if you wish—it changes nothing. But remember this: you abandoned me first. You deteriorated the moment I left."
Helpless. How this household seemed so full of helpless circumstances.
Rebecca let out a hollow laugh at Zeppelin, who blamed only himself to the very end.
Zeppelin turned away.
He could not bear to look at her any longer. ‌‌
Fearing his resolve might waver, he hastily opened the door.
Rebecca cried out toward his broad back.
"You abandoned me. Regret will change nothing."
Zeppelin stopped and spoke without turning around.
"I do not regret."
Behind the door that slammed shut came the sound of Rebecca's voice, overcome with emotion.
Zeppelin took it for weeping, but it was laughter.
Laughter born of uncontainable joy. ‌
'I did it. At last I can escape this place.'
Yet the jubilant footsteps gradually slowed. Rebecca lifted her ‌‌‌head and exhaled a sigh tinged with ‌‌‌lamentation.
"But why does this feel so vile?"
This was surely what I had longed for.
I had even begged him desperately last night when we happened to meet, as though administering a final confirmation that he would not falter.
Yet why did such a terrible feeling grip me?
Revulsion weighed heavier than any ecstatic liberation.
Ugh...
Rebecca retched. Nothing came up, for she had eaten nothing.
Breathing in the acrid smell of gastric acid, Rebecca collapsed in dismay.
Was it because of the hesitation that flickered ‌‌in Zeppelin's eyes—so unlike the final moment of my past life?
Or was it the confirmation that he had truly loved only my body?
Tap—tap—
Leo appeared in Rebecca's line of sight as he tapped against the window.
"Leo, haven't you left yet?"
As Rebecca opened the window, Leo padded in with a ‌single flower held between his teeth.
"This is... a celebration flower."
The celebration flower bloomed with petals of blue, crimson, and gold intertwined together, ‌evoking the image of fireworks dancing across the night sky. ‌‌‌‌
The people of the Empire exchanged these flowers whenever they had cause to rejoice.
A smile as radiant as the fully opened blossom spread across Rebecca's lips.
It wasn't even the ‌‌‌season for them, making them difficult to find—she couldn't fathom where he'd procured it.
Meow.
Leo pressed the flower toward Rebecca once more, as if offering his congratulations.
Rebecca accepted his blessing with genuine delight.
"You're right. This truly deserves celebration."
Rebecca pulled Leo into a tight embrace. He let out a contented purr.
The sound resembled the shallow sighs Julian would emit whenever she stroked him.
* ‌‌‌* *
The following morning, two carriages awaited outside the Devonshire Estate.
"Go."
Zeppelin spoke as he boarded one of the carriages.
His expression made clear he had no desire to share a carriage with Rebecca.
Dressed ‌‌‌‌‌in a black gown that rose to her neck and her face concealed behind a veil, Rebecca appeared as though attending a funeral.
No one came to see her off.
The household was occupied with disposing of Rebecca's jewelry and clothing.
Only Grace gazed forlornly at Rebecca's departing silhouette through the window.
Rebecca ascended into her own carriage.
Since she had brought nothing upon arrival, it was only fitting that she depart with nothing in hand.
Zeppelin had offered to provide her with a settlement, but Rebecca refused.
She wished to take nothing that belonged to him.
The journey to ‌‌‌the Cathedral proved remarkably smooth.
The divorce proceedings were simpler than anticipated.
Since the vows had been sworn in the name of the goddess Defria, the priest's ‌‌‌‌permission was required for dissolution as well.
Rumors spread throughout the Empire that Rebecca ‌‌‌was a saint and had fallen ill with divine sickness.
The grounds for divorce were reasonable enough ‌‌‌that anyone hearing them would nod in understanding.
The priest affixed ‌‌his ‌‌seal to two documents and handed one each to Rebecca and Zeppelin.
After a fortnight of reflection, once the documents were sent to ‌‌the appropriate imperial department, they would cease to be husband and wife from that day forward.
"It's finished."
"It's done."
A long marriage had ended in a brief moment.
Both fell silent for a time.
Zeppelin glanced at Rebecca. Behind the black veil, her expression remained unreadable.
"I hope you ‌‌find happiness."
It was a conventional farewell. Yet it was sincere.
Zeppelin waited for Rebecca's response, but all that returned was her heavy silence.
'Yes. I will be happy. And your misfortune is only just beginning.'
Behind her ‌veil, Rebecca concealed a bitter smile directed at him.
As it seemed Rebecca would say nothing more, Zeppelin sighed and spoke.
"Then I shall take my leave...."
He departed. He left Rebecca alone.
Unable to believe ‌‌‌this fact, Rebecca blinked her eyes.
In that moment, a large iron die rolled toward her feet with a heavy ‌‌‌‌clatter.
"What is this...."
Rebecca ‌‌picked up the die, forged from solid iron.
It seemed someone had ‌‌‌hurled it in a fit of excitement.
Rebecca held the weighty die and stared at the back of Zeppelin's head as he receded ‌‌‌‌into the distance.
The Countess who fled 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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