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59.
Julian sat before her ‌‌and waited for her sobs to subside.
It was a painful vigil, but ‌‌‌one I could endure indefinitely.
After some time, Rebecca—who had wept for what felt like an eternity—finally found her voice, faltering as she spoke to Julian, who remained steadfastly at her side.
"That's enough. I must reek terribly by now. There's no need to torture yourself further—please leave, Julian. I'm not fit for your company in this state."
"Well, ‌‌‌my sense of smell isn't particularly keen, so I wouldn't know."
"Stop jesting and truly go. This is a matter of my pride."
"How flattering. To be deemed worthy of wounding your pride, no less."
"Mock me all you wish, but the moment you see my face, you'll recoil in horror and flee. Leave now, before I subject you to this truly hideous visage."
At Rebecca's self-deprecating words, Julian's brow furrowed.
He couldn't fathom why she spoke such things, and it infuriated him.
I had ‌‌already glimpsed Rebecca's appearance through Leo's memories ‌‌long ago.
But ‌‌‌‌what did that matter?
She was simply in pain.
Did he truly distrust himself so thoroughly that he would abandon an injured person to her despair?
Yet after all he had done, this treatment felt profoundly ‌unjust.
Julian bristled, his response curt and sharp.
"I need to see for myself. Why do you presume to judge me without even trying?" ‌‌
"Some things are known without ‌trial."
"No, there are no such things in this world."
"There are."
Their childish banter stretched on for some time.
Then Rebecca ‌‌burst into laughter first.
"At this rate, we're no different from my family's twins."
Julian followed suit, his laughter gentle and measured.
Had her resistance begun to crumble?
A fragile hope bloomed ‌‌within him.
He paused briefly before continuing. ‌‌‌
"Whatever you look like, you are Rebecca." ‌‌‌
"...." ‌‌‌‌
"You are ‌‌‌‌the woman who dared ask the Duke of Johannes for a dance. The one who brazenly proposed ‌‌a marriage of convenience and willingly cast herself ‌‌‌‌down those treacherous stairs. You freed yourself from the grasp of that despicable Zeppelin Devonshire through your own will. You are remarkable. And...."
Julian drew a breath.
"You ‌are the woman I will marry. The woman I chose. ‌That is you, Rebecca."
The sound of Rebecca's breath catching reached his ears.
As the silence deepened, Julian lowered his gaze.
It seemed best to stop here for now. Any further, and he feared she would be wounded by his words.
I lacked the strength to watch Rebecca suffer because of me.
"Julian."
Just as he rose from his seat in near resignation, Rebecca's trembling voice reached him.
Julian's head snapped up, his eyes finding Rebecca's.
Rebecca rose slowly from her seat.
Julian sat dazed on the floor, gazing up at her. Though it was still midday, the overcast sky cast the room into shadow.
In the darkness, her blue eyes gleamed like stars.
"I'm hideous, aren't I?"
Rebecca lacked the courage to reveal her face fully beneath unforgiving light.
Yet she needed to know.
Whether she—stripped of beauty, rendered worthless as a doll—could still live as Rebecca.
The reactions of those around her to her transformed visage had been varied. ‌‌‌
Zeppelin's revulsion, Octavio and Alicia's amusement, or Kanna and her family's sorrow.
In those moments, Rebecca felt herself slipping away.
She wondered if ‌‌‌losing one's beauty warranted such lamentation.
I'm still myself. I'm still....
Rebecca's eyes trembled as they met Julian's gaze.
Julian blinked his dark eyes without the slightest movement.
"No. You're still Rebecca."
Julian rose to his feet.
Without thinking, he reached toward Rebecca's face, ‌‌‌tears streaming down her cheeks.
Rebecca saw herself reflected in ‌‌‌Julian's approaching eyes.
She looked pathetically frightened.
What followed was an action Julian himself had never anticipated.
Only one thought consumed his mind.
He wanted to stop her tears.
Julian slowly drew her close by the nape of her ‌‌neck and hair.
His lips met hers, trembling and uncertain.
Rebecca's eyes fluttered rapidly in shock.
She knew she should push him away.
Yet her sharp reason soon yielded to the deep, lingering kiss that ‌‌‌entwined them.
'Where did this come from....'
Her entire being concentrated on his lips, her breath quickening without her consent.
Nothing existed beyond the sensation of his touch.
Rebecca's hands found his neck, cradling it. The height difference made the back of her neck ache.
Julian tasted ‌this rapturous kiss—his first—with tireless fervor.
Yet there was nothing rough about it. Instead, he was careful, as if caressing a fragile chick.
He tilted his head to the other side, drawing her waist closer until she was flush against him.
Their intertwined bodies burned with passion in the darkness.
The heat of his racing heart transmitted directly to her ‌‌chest.
In this moment, Rebecca forgot everything.

Zeppelin, House of Obelia, her grotesquely transformed face, and even revenge itself.
The endless ‌‌spiral of thoughts that had tormented her mind came to a halt.
It felt as though time itself had stopped, and only the two of them existed in that frozen world.
* * *
"Yes, ‌‌‌it's done well enough...."
Zeppelin leaned back in his chair with a weary expression.
The heavy downpour outside only deepened his melancholy mood.
He had dispatched the swift Hounds, so the documents would arrive without issue by tomorrow morning.
Yet why did ‌‌‌he feel such unease?
Zeppelin drew a long breath and exhaled, his gaze drifting listlessly to the flame of the scented candle.
It was a candle Octavio had lit, anticipating the coming thunder.
The fragrance of this candle would settle his turbulent thoughts and ‌‌‌bring sleep crashing ‌‌down upon him.
However, it occasionally left his mind foggy, which was why his father had forbidden its use.
Zeppelin himself did not particularly favor it, but since Rebecca ‌‌‌‌had fallen into that state, he could not sleep without it.
Without it, he might have lost his mind entirely.
Rumble— Crack—
Lightning flashed behind him, followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
Zeppelin flinched and hastily drew the wide-open ‌curtains shut.
He fumbled to turn up the phonograph's volume as loud as it would go.
As the stone disc holding the music spun round and round, the thin diamond needle read the vibrations etched into it.
To drown out the thunder, he deliberately played a grand, sweeping composition instead of his usual gentle melodies.
The orchestra's dramatic strains hammered against his eardrums.
"Much better."
Every night when thunder struck, he suffered nightmares.
The memory of that first day he had been locked in a ‌‌room twisted into grotesque forms, tormenting him through the endless ‌‌night.
His father, Jakim, would take him to the room where his toys were kept whenever Zeppelin did something that displeased him.
And before his eyes, Jakim would mercilessly tear, trample, and shatter the toys he held dear.
'Look ‌‌closely! ‌‌The weak have no right to possess anything.'

After a brutal bout of destruction, Jakim locked Zeppelin away amid the wreckage of toys.
Throughout the night, the young Zeppelin cried himself to exhaustion ‌‌‌‌‌and fell asleep among the fragments of precious things.
And it was always Octavio who opened the door and retrieved him.
"Young master, are you alright?"
Octavio would wash the trembling Zeppelin—whose body had grown cold—in warm bathwater, dress him in soft new clothes, and feed him sweet treats.
Then he would place a new toy in the boy's dejected ‌‌hands.
"They ‌‌‌are merely old ‌‌things anyway. We can always procure better items than these discarded ones. Do not grieve."
Octavio's words were a great comfort to Zeppelin.
Thanks to that, Zeppelin suffered no lasting damage even when Jakim confined him.
As Zeppelin grew, he found pleasure in tearing apart dolls while locked in his room.
Octavio had shown Zeppelin a new definition of life.
Zeppelin knew that Octavio was not a particularly good man.
When Octavio commanded ‌‌the ‌‌‌‌Hounds, there was a cruelty about him that even Zeppelin found repugnant.
But he was one of the few people Zeppelin could ‌trust, along with Grace, the head maid.
He recalled Octavio's words.
"You can simply buy a new one anyway."
Yes, people are the same. Rebecca is the same.
Zeppelin muttered as if making a vow, then conducted his hand as though leading an orchestra toward its climax.
A pleased hum flowed naturally from his lips.
It will work out. My life was planned this way.
"I heard ‌‌you divorced."
A memory that struck like a dagger brought Zeppelin's hand to a halt.
It was what Julian had said to him yesterday at the state council meeting, his smile thin and bitter.
Everyone's mouths itched to ask, but none dared speak—until Julian broached the forbidden topic. ‌‌
Questions poured forth afterward, and when Zeppelin saw the Emperor's interested ‌‌‌‌expression, he had no choice but to admit the divorce.
"How fortunate. It seems you were never meant to be together after all."
Julian's commentary was utterly tactless.
Yet not a ‌‌‌single noble present thought to challenge his rudeness.
"Still just a snot-nosed brat who carries around cats...."
Black cats were always at his side, their golden eyes gleaming.
That ‌‌‌Julian, a mere boy, should be accompanied by messengers of the divine was a fate wasted on him.
Three cats always accompanied him even before the Emperor.
The sight of such childishness ‌‌being praised as adding to his sanctity twisted Zeppelin's insides further.
Zeppelin slammed his fist on the desk.
The pile of documents stacked upon it tumbled forward with a soft rustle.
He stopped, irritably running his hand through ‌‌‌‌‌his hair.
One of the scattered documents caught his eye.
Zeppelin blinked in disbelief and picked up the document.
It was a debt repayment receipt.
The seal of the Devonshire Family was stamped boldly upon it.
"House of Obelia has paid off all their debts?"
I have no recollection of this whatsoever.
Zeppelin frantically rifled through the relevant ‌documents.
The date was today.
The desperately impoverished House of Obelia had repaid the entire sum in a single transaction today.
Every last coin, including interest.
It must have been tucked among the papers I had carelessly stamped this morning in my hazy state of mind.
"What on earth...."
I had heard that Catherine ‌‌‌was expelled from House of Obelia, but without Rebecca, there was little point in keeping watch.
So Zeppelin had not assigned another Hound to House of Obelia.
After all, House of Obelia had no prospect of redemption.
I had recently heard that Danae had taken on side work and their circumstances ‌‌had improved somewhat, but it was obvious they could not even pay the interest on time with that, let alone repay the debt.
But how on earth....
The Runaway Countess Returns
E-book Publication. ‌‌‌‌

January 12, 2022
Author.

Long night sky
Publisher.

Desert fox
Published by.

Woongjin ThinkBig Co., Ltd.
Submission ‌‌‌Portal.

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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