Chapter 64
Alicia finished her recollection, squeezed her eyes shut, and rubbed her temples as if the pain from that time had come back to life.
“Do you have any idea what kind of suffering I endured to get here? So you mustn’t die here. It would cause me no end of trouble.”
Alicia looked coldly down at Zeppelin, who lay unconscious on the bed.
It had already been days since he hovered on the brink of death.
Alicia watched the dying breaths of Zeppelin, whose life was flickering out.
Even today, there was no sign he would wake.
She gave a small sigh and slowly rose from her seat.
Her legs were stiff from sitting for so long.
Alicia tapped her rigid waist and looked around Zeppelin’s lavish bedroom.
It was full of ornaments so expensive that selling just one would be enough to live comfortably for a month.
Her gaze, while fiddling with a jade angel statue, turned toward the mirrored room with the golden doorknob.
With Zeppelin unconscious, she was now as good as the mistress of this luxurious room.
Alicia lifted her chin.
Imitating Rebecca’s stately gait, she crossed the bedroom.
Then she took hold of the door handle clutched in the mouth of a brave golden lion and pulled.
The mirrored room slowly revealed itself.
At the sight before her eyes, Alicia gasped and briefly covered her mouth.
Smooth, undistorted mirrors hung on every side.
She reached out toward one of them; a cool sensation traveled up her fingertips.
In the mirror, a strange woman stared back at her.
A stranger with blonde hair and blue eyes—herself—awkwardly imitating the Rebecca whom Zeppelin had loved so much.
The clothes she wore now were Rebecca’s as well.
They had all needed to be altered because the size didn’t fit, but one way or another everything that had belonged to Rebecca was now hers.
It wasn’t a style she particularly liked, but that didn’t matter.
If Zeppelin wanted Rebecca, then becoming Rebecca was enough.
Of course, this was nothing but a gamble.
When Zeppelin came to his senses, he might fly into a rage upon seeing her imitating Rebecca.
If her luck was bad, she might be thrown out after suffering something terrible.
But if he accepted her?
Rebecca was never coming back.
That night she had tried to kill Rebecca, the look in the woman’s eyes had been anything but longing for Zeppelin.
On the contrary, Rebecca had despised him bitterly.
She had crossed a river she could never return from.
Alicia now realized that the seat of the Countess of Devonshire had been left forever empty.
Zeppelin would never be able to bear Rebecca’s absence.
Just look at him now, bashing his head in despair and lying unconscious—anyone could see what was happening.
And so, might he not give the Countess’s place to her?
This wasn’t greed.
It was the rightful result of competition.
If he needed a new Rebecca anyway, she—carrying a child—was more suitable.
That slim hope of “if” was what drove Alicia.
“My place…”
Fixing her eyes on her unfamiliar reflection, Alicia turned back to the bedroom.
And she carefully nursed Zeppelin.
Even if the place granted to her was an empty, loveless seat, it didn’t matter.
Until a husband formally acknowledged his child as his bloodline, a second wife—even if married—had no more rights than a mere mistress.
It was a law born from fears about the first wife’s shrinking influence when polygamy had been permitted.
Most first wives were daughters of noble houses.
It had been the protest of powerful fathers—“I won’t hand my daughter’s dowry over to some concubine”—that created this law.
So if Alicia, a woman without a father, gave birth before Zeppelin died, the child would only be illegitimate.
And the Count’s title would pass to his close relatives.
“So you mustn’t die. You must live and save me.”
Alicia spooned medicine into Zeppelin’s mouth.
He couldn’t swallow it properly.
So she held the medicine in her own mouth and poured it into his.
Days went by like that.
At last he woke.
But he had lost his memory.
He had forgotten Rebecca, forgotten her, forgotten this beautiful Devonshire estate entirely.
Considering how much of his skull had been exposed, it would have been stranger if there were no brain damage.
“Then, Alicia… you’re my lover?”
His question was so innocent it stunned Alicia into silence.
She held her breath for a moment and looked at him.
His unfocused eyes were pleading for an answer from her.
The beautiful eyes of her husband—who had always been indifferent, who had never once really looked straight at her—were now turned toward her.
Those eyes, always filled with someone else, were now empty.
She wanted to fill that emptiness with herself.
Alicia’s big eyes widened.
This was like a revelation. For the first time, God was siding with Alicia.
A precarious smile of hope trembled on her lips.
Gripping his hand firmly, she spoke with resolve.
“Yes. I’m your wife. Alicia, Countess of Devonshire.”
“Isn’t it hot?”
Rebecca, sitting on a swing reading a book, looked up at Kanna’s question.
In fact, sweat was beading on Kanna’s own forehead as she asked.
Rebecca gave a quiet smile.
“Kanna, I’m fine, so stop fanning me. You must be hot too.”
“But…”
“It bothers me more to see you keep doing that. I’ve told you many times, you’re no longer a maid. Come and sit here instead. Father’s grapefruit juice is so cool and sweet.”
Kanna hesitated, then finally set the fan down and sat beside Rebecca.
She seemed very unsure whether it was acceptable to sit next to her like that.
Rebecca handed Kanna a glass of grapefruit juice. Kanna hesitated a moment, then accepted it.
It had already been a week since Kanna came to this house. In that time the Obelia estate had become a full summer scene.
Rebecca lifted her head to look at the lush trees.
The leaves that had been light green were now deep green.
She smiled briefly at the freshness.
“I’ll do it!”
Having emptied the juice in one gulp, Kanna hurried forward.
She had spotted Theo carrying a basket full of laundry.
Even from afar, it was obvious what sort of exchange they were having:
Her father refusing firmly, and Kanna insisting just as stubbornly on helping.
In the end, perhaps Theo won, because Kanna walked back to Rebecca empty-handed.
But then Helena and Livia popped out of the mansion like springs.
The lively girls clung to Kanna’s arms, begging her to play.
Kanna looked helplessly back and forth between the twins and Rebecca.
Rebecca waved, signaling that it was fine.
Soon, the laughter of the three running across the fields floated back on the breeze.
Kanna was gradually becoming part of the Obelia household. She felt comfortable, like family who had always been there.
Please, keep your promise never to leave again.
Rebecca remembered the hands that had gripped her back, trembling violently.
Thinking of that moment tickled her heart with a strange and nostalgic feeling.
It was a feeling she had forgotten for a long time, but once received, it was familiar and dear—a worried gaze afraid of losing her.
It was certainly not Zeppelin’s.
Julian, too, sometimes looked at her like that.
With a face that seemed unable to speak the words rising to his throat, he would quietly gaze at Rebecca.
She knew Julian had wanted to say something similar to Kanna’s words.
Thinking of Julian, Rebecca snapped her book shut with a loud clap.
Come to think of it, it had been a week since she sent a letter.
Yet there had been no word from the Ducal House.
Unlike the old days, when replies came swiftly after she sent a letter.
And unlike before, Julian’s visits to the Obelia estate had completely stopped after that rainy day.
Rebecca propped her chin on her hand with a sulky expression.
He was definitely avoiding her.
It was surely because of what had happened that day.
At first she too had been ashamed to see him.
It was true she had toyed with his sincere feelings.
But avoiding her like this was no solution. She still had a mountain of things to do with him.
They even needed to start discussing the wedding.
She had mustered her courage to send a letter, and yet no reply?
Rebecca grew hot with anger.
He’s the one who kissed me first.
If he hadn’t done that, she would never have mocked him like a drunkard.
But it was also true that his kiss had comforted her.
Rebecca let out a long sigh.
“I can’t just keep waiting.”
The situation had changed. She no longer had to sit in her room anxiously waiting for news.
Rebecca rose slowly from her seat.
“Then maybe it’s time to move.”
Meanwhile, Julian was dreaming a long dream.
It hurt. It hurt so much. Pain that twisted his limbs and felt like his insides would all burst.
It was pain no child could bear.
Leo…
Julian sought the messenger of God who held his lifeline.
Was it because he had spoken harshly to him?
Because he had not feared him like the other Dukes Johannes?
Was that why he was given this ordeal?
Was this God’s judgment to kill him?
One comfort was the thought that his father might be sharing the same pain.
Just imagining that man writhing made a smile bloom on Julian’s lips even as cold sweat poured down.
Still, nobody’s coming.
In a cold, empty inn room, young Julian lay sick and alone.
You’d think an innkeeper would find it strange for a child to stay alone, but since Julian had paid a month in advance, the innkeeper paid him no mind.
A moment ago he had been burning with fever, but now he was freezing.
Bone-chilling cold swept over him.
He pulled the worn blanket over his face and trembled.
Was he going to die like this?
It didn’t matter. He had a father.
If he died, his father would just produce a new heir.
A Duke Johannes with no heir could not die as he pleased.
It was said that even on the verge of death, as long as procreation was possible, he would remain a half-corpse—a vessel of sacred power—until a son was born.
So maybe it was better to die now, thought the young Julian, as his mind drifted into darkness.
And at that moment, warm air wrapped around him.
