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71.
The fresh, tangy flesh of the peach filled her mouth abundantly. The crisp texture ‌‌and succulent juice were exquisite.
I devoured the peach without hesitation.
"Are you alright?"
Danae asked with ‌‌‌‌a look ‌‌‌of concern, studying my complexion carefully.
I nodded.
There ‌‌‌was no itching, no rash ‌‌on my skin, and my breathing felt completely normal.
"Does that mean you're fully recovered?" ‌
Livia beamed with joy and bounded over to my side.
Livia had been disappointed that I alone couldn't eat the peaches gifted to us days ago.
"Sister! Does that mean you can eat this?" ‌‌‌‌
Helena rushed back from the kitchen, grunting as she carried in a large jar of jam.
Helena's name was written prominently across the jar.
It was ‌‌‌peach jam that the entire household had made together, given the abundance of peaches.
But I had ‌‌‌only been able to watch from a distance.
"You said you wanted to try the jam ‌‌I made."
Helena quickly spread jam onto a scone and offered it to me.
I felt a chill run down my spine—it seemed my food surveillance committee had just expanded.
Yet I couldn't bring myself to refuse Helena's sparkling eyes, so I took a bite of the scone. ‌‌‌
I stroked Helena's hair.
"It's truly delicious, Helena. Thank you."
I smiled brilliantly.
Helena stared at my face in a daze, then her cheeks flushed. She murmured quietly to herself.
"My sister is really so beautiful...."
"Sniff.... How ‌moving! Isn't this truly moving?"
Tears streamed down Eustaf's silvery-gray eyes as he watched the scene.
"Are you ‌actually crying? The Eustaf Macfin I know?"
Julian burst into astonished laughter.
"I never knew you had tears left in you. That a devoted ‌‌‌mad scientist like yourself possessed such warmth."
Eustaf brushed back the silver hair that had fallen before his eyes with a ‌‌‌gentle motion.
The gesture was so graceful that everyone in the reception room turned their attention to him.
He removed his glasses and brushed away the tears clinging to his long eyelashes with ‌‌‌his fingertips.
"Ah, ‌‌of course, Rebecca's family affection is moving ‌as well, but I was referring to how moving my intellectual prowess is."
"What?"
"Ha. What am I to do with such genius talent? I've made a truly remarkable discovery. I have! I, Eustaf Macfin! Shouldn't this moving moment be widely known?"
Julian regarded Eustaf with a look that said, "I knew it."
While he considered himself somewhat accomplished in self-admiration, he was far from matching Eustaf's level.
After praising himself for a while, Eustaf suddenly spoke to Julian.
"Your Grace. This must be made clear. The patent will absolutely be filed under my name. You are merely an investor, Your Grace. Do you understand?"
"Fine. ‌‌‌‌Do as you wish. ‌‌But if you're going to undertake anything, you need my permission first. You're still a researcher under the House of Johannes, after all."
"Of course there is!"
Eustaf's mind had already conjured a vast field of flowers blooming across his future.
I ‌‌couldn't fathom how such remarkable discoveries had emerged from such simple reasoning.
Rebecca found him remarkably easy to handle.
Though he didn't seem to think the same of himself.
"Then, Eustaf—am I completely recovered now?"
Eustaf answered Rebecca's question with a radiant smile.
"Yes. There are still scars remaining, but they are merely scars. You are now in excellent health."
"Enough to engage in ‌active pursuits immediately?"
"Of course. You could gallop across those meadows all day if you wished."
Julian tilted his head at ‌‌Rebecca's question.
"Do you have plans today?"
"Yes. I'm meeting someone. Someone ‌‌‌very important."
Having finished speaking, Rebecca took another bite of the scone topped with peach jam.
She noticed a gentle smile spreading across Helena's lips and lifted her head.
Her gaze met Kanna's.
Kanna nodded, understanding Rebecca's ‌‌meaning.
* * *
"How are you managing this? I told you to take ‌that chair to the lounge. There! Move it carefully!"
Devonshire's autumn ball was fast approaching.
As always at this time of year, Grace moved about frantically, carving time even from her sleep.
Nothing was difficult for her. Rather, she was enjoying this bustling activity.
There was ‌‌‌‌nothing better than such ‌‌‌a grand event to dispel the unsettled atmosphere that had pervaded the mansion since Rebecca's departure.
Moreover, watching the Devon Mansion she so dearly loved transform into something beautiful was one of life's greatest pleasures.
However, this year's autumn ball at Devonshire held one unexpected variable.
Grace found that variable utterly unbearable.
"No, that doesn't look elegant. Replace it with this one."
Alicia ordered the maid to exchange the silver candlestick Grace had personally chosen for a gold one encrusted with various jewels.
"B-but..."
The maid who had received Alicia's command glanced ‌‌nervously at Grace.
Just as Grace's eyebrow began to rise, Alicia struck the maid across ‌the cheek.
Crack—
At the sharp sound, the bustling hands decorating the ballroom froze instantly.
Over the frozen silence, Alicia's harsh voice rang out.
"Who do you think is the mistress of this household? Are you suggesting that a mere head ‌maid's opinion matters more than mine?"
"N-no! I have committed an unforgivable sin! I shall change it at once!"
"Madam."
Grace glided quietly toward Alicia.
Then she blocked the maid's ‌‌‌hand as it reached for the silver candlestick.
"The ballroom ‌‌is already sufficiently ornate. If we add more decorations beyond this point, we risk appearing ‌‌‌gauche. Though if that is your preference, there is little to be done about it."
At the word "gauche," Alicia instinctively shrank back.
But she quickly straightened her chest with confidence.
'Alicia, you're beautiful today as well.'
After regaining consciousness, Zeppelin devoted himself entirely to Alicia.
He became the most tender-hearted ‌‌‌husband in the world—so much so that everyone in the Devonshire household dropped their jaws in astonishment.
While strolling through the Garden, Zeppelin would think of Alicia and pluck flowers to bring her.
And when he enjoyed delicious desserts at a restaurant, he would carefully package them himself to bring to Alicia.
If any servant showed disrespect to Alicia, he would scold them until tears streamed down their faces.
Moreover, Zeppelin no ‌‌longer whipped the servants as he once had.
Instead, he conducted himself with far greater restraint in all matters.
He did not speak down to the servants or treat them as mere objects.
Since Zeppelin lost his memory, the torture chamber beneath the Hall of Light had enjoyed its longest period of rest.
The people of the Devonshire household initially feared this version of Zeppelin as though he were a ghost.
They wondered what mad scheme he might be plotting next.
But one day became two, and two days became several.
Zeppelin's memory did not return.
The servants gradually grew accustomed to ‌‌his kindness and gentlemanly demeanor.
There was an unspoken atmosphere of approval for his transformation.
Paradoxically, because Zeppelin ‌‌had lost his memory, a ‌‌precarious peace had descended upon the Devonshire household.
The one who benefited most from this situation was undoubtedly Alicia.
Zeppelin would grant Alicia anything she asked for.
He believed without question that she—the golden-haired woman with blue eyes—was the woman ‌‌‌‌from ‌his dreams.
'That's right. As long as Zeppelin acknowledges me as the Countess, even a head maid is nothing.'
Alicia lifted ‌‌her chin with aristocratic pride.
"It doesn't appear that way to me. The dignity of House Devonshire should be reflected in every single ornament. Therefore, the candelabra I selected is far more fitting."
Grace's face crumpled with irritation.
"It seems Your Ladyship is unaware, but...."
"Have you forgotten that my husband granted me all authority? Are you now daring to defy the orders of the Earl of Devonshire?"
Grace regarded Alicia in silence for a moment.
Alicia's golden hair gleamed in ‌‌‌the light of the chandelier.
Her blue eyes fixed upon Grace with undisguised hostility.
Her golden hair and blue eyes appeared entirely natural, as though they were her natural coloring, without any artificial quality.
But Grace let out a scoff.
Regardless of the exterior, the ‌‌‌‌essence remained that lowborn country girl Alicia.
'Octavio must have used some scheme.'
When Alicia first appeared in that state, ‌‌Grace had been shocked and filled with contempt.
To go to such lengths just to survive—Grace thought she would have hanged herself from shame rather than endure such humiliation.
But fortunately, Zeppelin lost his ‌‌‌memory.
Alicia seized the opportunity and, with her detestable three-inch tongue, usurped Rebecca's position.
The stories Alicia whispered into ‌‌Zeppelin's ear were utterly preposterous.
Rebecca, Zeppelin's ‌‌first wife, was wickedly cruel—she tormented Alicia out of jealousy ‌‌‌‌until Zeppelin, unable to bear it any longer, divorced her for Alicia's sake.
And on ‌‌‌the very day the divorce from Rebecca was finalized, Zeppelin suffered an unexpected accident and lost consciousness.
Alicia, dragging her heavy body forward, tended to ‌‌‌‌‌Zeppelin with utmost devotion, and without batting an eye, she spun the lie that he had miraculously returned to life.
Grace's gaze fixed upon Alicia's ‌‌‌protruding belly.
Though she was nearly at full term, Alicia showed no signs of fatigue as she dragged herself through the mansion, poking into every corner.
'If only there were no child in that womb....'
A woman like Alicia would never have dared to ‌‌‌covet Rebecca's position otherwise.
The position of Countess of Devonshire was a noble station.
It was a seat that only someone of Rebecca's caliber could be said to befit.
Grace recalled Rebecca's hideous face from their last meeting and sighed.
How had ‌‌‌such tragedy befallen them?
Yet ‌‌‌she could not simply stand idle and lament.
Alicia was cunningly stripping away Grace's authority bit by bit.
This autumn's ball was originally an affair that Grace would have ‌‌overseen.
But with merely a few blinks of her eyes, Alicia had secured the authority to preside over the ball from Zeppelin.
'I understand that managing major household events is the duty of the mistress of the house. It was strange that the head maid has been handling it all this time.'
The Runaway Countess Returns
E-book Publication

January 12, ‌‌2022
Author

Ginnamilbamgil
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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