Chapter 71
The fresh, tangy fruit filled her mouth abundantly. The crisp texture and juicy sweetness were exquisite.
Rebecca devoured a peach without thinking.
“Are you okay?”
Danae asked, worry flickering across her face as she examined Rebecca’s expression.
Rebecca nodded.
No itching, no rashes, and no trouble breathing. Everything was fine.
“So, does that mean you’re completely cured now?”
Livia bounced over to Rebecca, her face lighting up with a radiant smile.
A few days ago, she had felt sorry that Rebecca couldn’t enjoy the peaches she had received as a gift.
“Sis! So now you can eat this?”
Helena dashed back from the kitchen, straining under the weight of a large jar of jam.
The jar had Helena’s name written on it in bold letters.
It was peach jam, made by the whole household because there were so many peaches.
However, Rebecca could only watch from a distance.
“You said you wanted to try the jam I made.”
Helena had spread the jam onto scones and handed one to Rebecca.
Rebecca felt a chill run down her spine, as if the number of people monitoring her meals had just doubled.
But she couldn’t refuse Helena’s sparkling eyes. She took a bite of the scone.
Rebecca stroked Helena’s head.
“This is really delicious, Helena. Thank you.”
Rebecca smiled brilliantly.
Helena stared blankly at Rebecca’s face, then blushed and murmured quietly to herself:
“My sister is truly beautiful…”
“Ah… I’m moved! Isn’t this really touching?”
Watching this, tears rolled down Eustace’s silver-gray eyes.
“Are you crying? You, Eustace MacPhin?”
Julian burst into an incredulous laugh.
“I never thought you had any emotions left to shed tears for. Who would’ve guessed a mad, money-obsessed experimenter could have that much warmth?”
Eustace gently pushed his silver hair, wet with tears, behind his ears.
The movement was so graceful that everyone gathered in the parlor’s attention instantly focused on him.
He removed his glasses and flicked the tear droplets from his long eyelashes with his fingers.
“Ah, of course, Rebecca’s family love is moving, but what I mean is… isn’t my intellectual ability moving as well?”
“What?”
“Ha. How should I handle such genius? I’ve made an extraordinary discovery. Me! Eustace MacPhin! Shouldn’t this touching moment be widely known?”
Julian looked at Eustace with a ‘just as I thought’ expression.
He prided himself on self-admiration, but compared to Eustace, he was far behind.
After basking in his self-praise for a while, Eustace suddenly addressed Julian.
“Duke, you must be clear. The patent will be filed under my name. You are merely the investor. Understood?”
“Fine. Do as you please. But whatever you plan, get my permission first. After all, you’re still a researcher under the House of Johannes.”
“Permission? There’s no need!”
Eustace was already imagining the vast field of flowers that awaited his future.
It was hard to understand how someone with such a simple mindset could make such a remarkable discovery.
Rebecca thought he was quite easy to handle.
Though he didn’t seem to think so himself.
“So, Mr. Eustace, am I now fully recovered?”
Eustace answered with a bright smile.
“Yes. There are still scars, but they are only scars. You are now in perfect health, Rebecca.”
“Healthy enough to be active right away?”
“Of course. You may run across the fields all day if you wish.”
Julian tilted his head at Rebecca’s question.
“Do you have plans today?”
“Yes. I’m meeting someone very important.”
With that, Rebecca took another bite of the scone topped with peach jam.
Seeing Helena’s gentle smile, she lifted her gaze.
Her eyes met Kanna’s.
Kanna seemed to understand Rebecca’s meaning and nodded.
“How are you supposed to work like this? I told you to bring that chair to the lounge. There! Move it carefully!”
The Devonshire autumn ball was just around the corner.
As always around this time of year, Grace was busy, even cutting into her sleep to keep everything running smoothly.
It wasn’t difficult. In fact, she enjoyed the bustle.
With Rebecca gone, there was nothing better than a grand event to change the chaotic atmosphere of the mansion.
Moreover, watching the Devonshire estate, which she loved so dearly, transform beautifully was one of life’s greatest pleasures.
However, this year’s autumn ball came with a complicating factor.
Grace found the complication unbearable.
“No, that doesn’t look refined. Change it to this.”
Alicia ordered the silver candelabras Grace had carefully chosen to be replaced with gold ones encrusted with jewels.
“But…”
A servant tasked with following Alicia’s command glanced at Grace.
Just as Grace’s eyebrow twitched in protest, Alicia slapped the servant’s cheek.
Smack!
The busy hands decorating the hall froze.
Alicia’s sharp voice rang through the frozen silence.
“Who do you think runs this place? Do you think the opinion of a mere head maid matters more than mine?”
“Ah, no! I’ve committed a grave mistake! I’ll change it immediately!”
“Milady.”
Grace slid quietly toward Alicia.
She intercepted the servant attempting to move the silver candelabras.
“The hall is already splendid enough. If the decorations are too lavish, it might look tacky. Well, if that’s your taste, there’s nothing I can do.”
At the word “tacky,” Alicia instinctively shrank back.
But she quickly straightened her posture.
‘Alicia looks beautiful today as well.’
Zeppelin, now fully aware, devoted himself to Alicia completely.
He became the most considerate husband anyone in the Count’s household had ever seen, to the point of shocking them.
When strolling in the garden, he would pick flowers for her, or bring her desserts from the restaurant, beautifully packaged by hand.
Any disobedient servant would be scolded severely.
Moreover, he no longer punished the servants physically.
Instead, he acted with extreme caution in all matters.
He treated the servants respectfully, not like objects.
Since losing his memory, the torture chambers in the Hall of Light had their longest respite.
At first, the Count’s household had feared him as if he were a ghost.
They wondered what mad schemes he might attempt next.
But days turned into weeks, and Zeppelin’s memory did not return.
Gradually, the servants became accustomed to his gentle and gentlemanly demeanor.
Paradoxically, his memory loss brought a precarious peace to the Count’s household.
The biggest beneficiary was, of course, Alicia.
Zeppelin obeyed everything she said.
He seemed to believe, without a doubt, that she was the woman of his dreams.
‘As long as Zeppelin recognizes me as the Countess, the head maid can do nothing.’
Alicia raised her head proudly.
“It doesn’t seem that way to me. The prestige of the Devonshire household should be reflected even in the smallest decoration. Therefore, the candelabras I chose are more appropriate.”
Grace’s face twisted in frustration.
“Perhaps you don’t understand, milady…”
“Have you forgotten that my husband gave me full authority? Are you daring to defy the orders of the Count of Devonshire?”
Grace scrutinized Alicia silently for a moment.
Alicia’s blonde hair shimmered in the chandelier’s light.
Her blue eyes glared at Grace with hostility.
Her blonde hair and blue eyes were natural, not artificial.
But Grace scoffed.
Beneath the exterior, she was still the same lowly country girl, Alicia.
‘Octavio must have used some trick.’
When Alicia first appeared like this, Grace had been horrified, even contemptuous.
Did she really want to live that badly? Grace thought she would have hung herself out of shame.
But fortunately, Zeppelin had lost his memory.
Alicia didn’t miss the chance and used her sharp tongue to seize Rebecca’s place.
The story she whispered to Zeppelin was preposterous.
She claimed that Rebecca, the first wife, had been malicious, envying and tormenting her, and that Zeppelin divorced Rebecca for Alicia’s sake.
Then, on the day the divorce was finalized, Zeppelin suffered an accident and lost consciousness.
Alicia claimed she cared for him devotedly, and miraculously he survived—all a blatant lie.
Grace’s eyes moved to Alicia’s protruding belly.
Even near full term, Alicia tirelessly stormed through the mansion.
‘If it weren’t for the child in her womb…’
A woman like Alicia would never have dared to covet Rebecca’s place.
The position of Countess of Devonshire was noble, a place only befitting someone like Rebecca.
Grace sighed, recalling Rebecca’s once dreadful face.
How did such a tragedy come to pass?
But she couldn’t just sit back and lament.
Alicia was cunningly taking even Grace’s authority bit by bit.
The autumn ball was normally Grace’s responsibility.
Yet Alicia had secured the right to oversee the ball from Zeppelin with a mere blink.
‘It is customary for the lady of the house to oversee major events. The head maid taking charge all this time was unusual.’
