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Chapter 2
“To think I have to witness this dreadful scene twice.”
Rebecca trembled as she clenched her fists. Her red dress crumpled helplessly in her hands.
The wedding was—damnably—beautiful.
Alicia and Zeppelin’s wedding was modest, but precisely because of its simplicity, it looked all the more romantic.
The Valaria coast was a popular resort destination.
Since it belonged to the Duchy of Johannes, anyone wishing to spend time there for leisure had to go through a rather complicated procedure.
But the Devonshire family owned an estate on the Valaria coast that had been in their possession for generations.
Thanks to that, Zeppelin and Alicia were able to hold their secret, beautiful wedding without anyone interfering.
The only problem was that this was also the honeymoon destination of Rebecca and Zeppelin.
As though mocking Rebecca, the spring breeze blew past.
When Alicia’s veil fluttered in the wind, Zeppelin smiled faintly.
“With this, under the blessing of the goddess Defria, I declare these two as husband and wife.”
No cheer erupted.
The handful of invited guests applauded awkwardly.
But their gazes were not on the newlyweds, rather on the Count’s first wife—Rebecca.
Unbothered by the stares pouring over her, Rebecca fixed her glare on Zeppelin. Zeppelin mouthed something small at her.
“Smile.”
The moment she saw his coercive lips, Rebecca came to her senses.
She had really come back. To the time before her child was stolen.
No—before she even conceived the child. Before she was completely broken at her husband’s hands.
Rebecca did as Zeppelin demanded and smiled faintly.
If she had returned, perhaps she could change the outcome.
Rebecca gladly lifted her hand and clapped, cold and sharp.
For the happiness of those two—which she would soon shatter.
“Thank you for attending. Honestly, I didn’t think you would come, Lady Rebecca.”
Alicia, now in a pink reception dress, approached Rebecca with a shy smile.
Rebecca, who had been drinking wine alone, slowly raised her eyes to her.
Everyone held their breath, listening to the exchange between the first wife and the second.
“Alicia…”
Rebecca recalled the day she first met her.
It had been a sunny day like today.
To this day, she couldn’t understand how Alicia had slipped past the heavy security of the Count’s estate garden.
On Rebecca’s usual walking path, a frail girl had collapsed.
She looked utterly miserable, on the verge of starving to death.
Rebecca had taken her in and nursed her with care.
When the girl finally regained consciousness, she introduced herself as Alicia.
“Lady Rebecca! You are my savior!”
Rebecca had never forgotten the first moment she saw Alicia fully recovered.
Her cheeks had filled out prettily, blushing a shy pink like petals in spring.
Her long, exotic lavender hair flowed in soft waves. Her deep violet eyes shimmered with such pitiful beauty that one wanted to embrace her.
Like a fairy said to be born from the laughter of a goddess of beauty, she was breathtaking.
Moreover, she possessed a sweetness Rebecca had always longed for but never had herself.
Rebecca’s mother had warned her that Alicia was dangerous. That thoughtless kindness could turn into poison that might kill her.
But by then, Rebecca had already lost her heart to her.
Before she became Countess, Rebecca had had many friends.
But after the wedding, one by one, without clear reason, they had all cut ties with her.
By the time Rebecca realized it, not a single friend remained at her side.
Left alone in the Count’s manor, Rebecca was always lonely.
That was why she cherished Alicia’s gentle voice calling her name.
She cherished Alicia’s bright chatter, chirping like a sparrow.
Rebecca fell deeply for Alicia’s liveliness.
She even took in the homeless girl as her maid.
And in return, Alicia showed boundless devotion to her.
Soon Alicia became indispensable to Rebecca.
A year passed that way.
On Alicia’s birthday, Rebecca prepared a feast with her own hands.
And that day, everything changed.
“Ugh… Lady Rebecca, I can’t eat this.”
It was morning sickness. She said it was Zeppelin’s child.
It felt as though Rebecca’s world collapsed.
And yet, she could not bring herself to blame Alicia.
Rebecca believed that it was Zeppelin who had seduced innocent Alicia.
Mustering courage, she went to confront him, but Zeppelin only mocked her.
“My naïve wife. Surely you know what happens when a beautiful man and woman meet? It’s instinct, the law of nature. Neither I nor Alicia are at fault. The fault lies with you—for leaving such a beautiful woman in front of me.”
Relentlessly, he twisted everything into Rebecca’s fault.
Having lived under his thumb for so long, Rebecca slowly began to believe him.
In more than ten years of marriage, Rebecca and Zeppelin had not had a child.
So the Count’s family naturally accepted Alicia, who carried Zeppelin’s heir, as his second wife.
Rebecca blamed herself endlessly. She thought it was all her doing.
She sank into bitter self-loathing.
That was how she had lived—believing everything was her fault. Until that incident happened.
Suddenly, Rebecca felt Zeppelin’s gaze on her.
She set down her glass of wine and smiled.
For now, she still had to be the perfect Countess of Devonshire.
“Now that we’re family, it’s only natural.”
Rebecca embraced Alicia.
The guests let out sighs of delight at the heartwarming scene.
They showered Zeppelin with praise for having won not one but two beautiful wives.
Zeppelin smiled in satisfaction.
Soon after, the bride and groom began their dance.
Watching them twirl around made Rebecca nauseous.
She wanted to escape this disgusting place at once.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
She feigned illness and hastily called for her carriage.
In her past life, she had forced herself to stay until the reception ended.
But she no longer had the patience to endure such humiliation twice.
She knew Zeppelin would scold her for leaving early, but she didn’t care.
The noble ladies saw her off with sympathetic expressions.
“Lady Rebecca, if you ever face difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
Though unspoken, it was clear they too found this wedding distasteful.
But their husbands were all men of Zeppelin. Rebecca knew well that they couldn’t easily take her side.
“Thank you.”
Rebecca memorized each of their faces. Then, with a short farewell, she climbed into her carriage.
The wheels began to roll swiftly. Wanting to be alone, she had Alice take another carriage.
“Ahhh!”
Rebecca pressed her face into a cushion and screamed. She cried out with fury until her voice broke.
But even then, the suffocation inside her didn’t ease.
Noticing her lipstick smeared, she couldn’t bring herself to fix it.
She had returned to the past.
And yet it didn’t feel real. She couldn’t tell what was dream and what was reality; her head spun.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Rebecca placed a hand on her slender stomach. She vividly remembered carrying her child for ten months.
She had raised the child only a few years, but already she missed them terribly.
The soft cheeks, the sweet scent of their skin. The tiny, wriggling hands and feet.
And then the memory of Alicia holding her precious child came to mind.
Rebecca bit her lips hard.
“No… it’s better this way.”
Now the child no longer existed. At least there was no chance of them growing up as Zeppelin’s child—that comforted her.
Rebecca looked out the window. The carriage jolted violently today.
She didn’t know why she had returned to the past.
But one thing was certain.
Rebecca clenched her fists, her still-damp blue eyes blazing.
“Now it’s your turn to break, Zeppelin Devonshire.”
The Duke of Johannes, Julian, had just returned from the battlefield and was enjoying a leisurely night stroll.
The Valaria coast was one of his favorite paths.
The rare tranquility brought a faint smile to his lips.
Just then, a carriage came barreling down the path toward the shore.
Noticing him, the coachman slowed.
In good spirits, Julian quietly stepped aside to make way.
The driver tipped his hat in thanks.
Julian’s eyes flicked to the carriage window as it passed dangerously close.
A familiar-looking woman sat inside.
Her makeup was smudged badly, her eyes fixed forward as though locked in place—and they burned as fiercely as her crimson dress.
It was such a striking impression that Julian found himself peering at the seal on the carriage. It bore the crest of the Devonshire family.
Julian’s eyes widened as he watched the carriage retreat.
“Rebecca?”
“Ah, so that is the famous Countess,” said Croa, Julian’s butler, who barely managed to catch up with his master’s long strides.
“Famous?”
“Oh! Of course, Your Grace wouldn’t know since you’ve been away at war. The Count of Devonshire has taken a second wife. Society has been in an uproar.”
“A concubine? But isn’t the Countess still young?”
“She is, indeed. Not yet even thirty. But who can know the affairs of husband and wife? In any case, I heard a wedding was held today at the Valaria coast.”
“What?”
“That she’s not thirty yet?”
“No. That they held a wedding for a concubine—on my land?”
“Y-yes… Devonshire owns an estate there, so—”
“Croa.”
Croa swallowed hard at his master’s cold tone. Julian’s black eyes slowly gleamed gold.
“When I left, I entrusted you with my lands. And yet you allowed such filth? In the place I hold most dear?”
“B-but how could I stop them, when it was their own estate—and it was the Count of Devonshire…”
Instead of answering, Julian shot him a sharp look.
His golden eyes glinted with such chill that cold sweat streamed down Croa’s back.
For his master’s eyes turning gold meant only danger.
“I-I’ll take care of it at once.”
“Of course you will. Wipe them out, crush them—make sure that estate never sees another guest again. Better yet, ban them from ever setting foot on this coast again. You have until tomorrow.”
Croa wanted to scream.
Why did a carriage have to pass by now? Of all times—what cursed luck.
Meow.
Julian was still fuming when a black cat emerged from the shadows, its golden eyes gleaming in the dark.
