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Chapter 3.
Betrayal (2)
Her arms trembled uncontrollably, and tears streamed down both cheeks without pause.
They were the two people she had trusted and loved most in the world.
And the two of them had betrayed her together.
“Say something, anything!”
Cecilia couldn’t even bear the lengthening silence between them.
She thought she wanted Evan to kneel and beg, to say it wasn’t true, even now.
That he had lost his mind for a moment, that Cecilia was the only one he truly loved.
If he had only said that, she might even have been able to forgive him.
But what came back was an unexpected reaction.
“Haah.”
Evan, having pulled up his trousers, scratched his head roughly and got to his feet.
He approached Cecilia with an expression of annoyance.
“Hey, did I tell you not to come to my study, or didn’t I?”
“…What?”
Cecilia doubted her own ears.
Evan was glaring at her with a grimace, as if looking at something filthy.
“Can’t I live in peace for once? Because of how you are, I’m suffocating even in my own house.”
Caught in the act of infidelity and yet blaming Cecilia instead, his shamelessness left her speechless.
Rosena was just as outrageous.
“Don’t be too hard on Leah, Evan.”
She stepped up beside Evan and took his arm as if to soothe him.
Then, wearing an expression of deep apology, she turned to Cecilia.
“I’m sorry, Leah. You must have been so shocked.”
Rosena looked at Cecilia with a face full of sympathy.
Up to that point, she was the Rosena that Cecilia had known.
But what followed was even more horrifying than Evan’s shameless attitude.
“But I did give you two a child, you know. Couldn’t we just let this go?”
“What did you say? You gave us a child?”
“Yes. Since it’s come to this, I’ll give you a second one too! Let’s all just keep getting along the way we have been. Okay?”
Rosena widened her eyes and nodded with perfect innocence.
Her utterly senseless attitude sent chills down Cecilia’s spine.
“You want me to raise the child you two made like that?”
“Why not? You’ve adored our Jeremy all this time. You can just keep doing that. What’s the problem?”
“You’re insane. Both of you, you’re truly insane.”
“Damn it, hey! That’s enough!”
Evan shouted, raising his palm high.
But he soon sighed and lowered his hand.
“Cecilia. You said you love me. Then can’t you love my child, too?”
“…What?”
“Think about it. What the ducal house needs is a child who carries my blood. It doesn’t matter who gave birth to—”
Smack!
Evan’s deranged sophistry was cut off by a single slap from Cecilia.
For a moment, silence fell.
“Y-you just…”
“Oh my, Evan! What is this!”
Evan, his head turned to the side, touched his reddened cheek in disbelief.
Rosena fussed as if she herself had been struck, glaring at Cecilia.
“Leah! How could you slap a man who works out in the world? He has a meeting tomorrow, and what will people say if they see!”
“Ha! This is why I can’t grow fond of you. Not a shred of feminine charm, just look at this savage display! …Hey! Where are you going!”
Cecilia, panting, turned her back and headed for the stairs.
Evan ran after her and hurriedly seized her arm.
“Where do you think you’re going? How dare you turn your back while your husband is talking?”
“Let go! I’m going to tell everyone about your shameless behavior!”
“What? Why, you!”
Evan, his face going red and blue with rage, yanked Cecilia roughly toward him.
“Are you insane? Are you dying to smear your husband’s name?”
“Let go of me!”
“You’re not going anywhere!”
“Evan! Leah! Calm down! Please!”
The three of them tangled together in a struggle.
Evan’s grip loosened for a moment, and just as Cecilia was shaking him off—
Thud.
Someone suddenly shoved Cecilia hard in the back.
“…Huh?”
Before she could even realize what had happened, Cecilia’s body floated up into the air.
She instinctively reached for the railing, but only swept through empty air.
The startled faces of Evan and Rosena flashed across her vision in an instant.
Thump!
A sharp impact spread across her back.
Crash!
Next, her waist struck the edge of a stair.
Even so, Cecilia’s body didn’t stop, tumbling down the stairs until it was flung onto the floor below.
“Ah… ugh…”
Cecilia lay fallen, her whole body trembling.
She could see Evan and Rosena looking down at her in shock.
Their faces were flustered by the sudden accident…
…No.
Then Cecilia saw it clearly.
Rosena’s faint smile, behind Evan.
“Y-you… you did…”
Cecilia managed to open her mouth with her broken body.
But only rasping breaths escaped from between her parted lips.
“Oh my, Cecilia! What are we going to do!”
Leaving Evan frozen in shock behind her, Rosena screamed and hurried down the stairs.
But what she whispered as she bent down was chilling.
“Hm, I only meant for you to break a leg… but it looks like you’re going to die for real.”
In Rosena’s eyes as she looked down at Cecilia, victory shone brightly.
“Besides, when the dowager heard about Jeremy, she told Evan to divorce you right away. Things have gotten so easy.”
The dowager… Grandmother abandoned me too?
Cecilia gasped painfully for breath, looking up at Rosena.
But what came out of her mouth next was even more shocking.
“Stupid bitch. Why did you have to be so stubborn? Is dying at your friend’s hands your way of following your parents?”
“W-what…?”
Seeing Cecilia’s shocked expression, Rosena smiled grotesquely.
Perhaps thinking Cecilia would die anyway, Rosena chattered on gleefully.
“That’s right, Count and Countess Fanning. My father was the one who made that happen. Thanks to forging the will in advance, we lived in luxury off the count’s estate.”
Cecilia’s eyes shook at the unbelievable truth.
After her parents’ accident, Viscount Osborn, her father’s friend, had taken her in.
Because of that, Cecilia had looked up to the viscount and his wife as a second set of parents.
And they had murdered her parents for the Fanning estate.
“Just like your parents’ daughter, you even hand over the duchess’s seat for me. Don’t worry. I’ll make good use of it so your sacrifice isn’t in vain.”
Rosena stroked her old friend’s cheek with a chilling smile.
Then she changed her expression in an instant and wailed toward Evan.
“Evan! What are you doing? Call someone! Hurry!”
But Cecilia’s eyes were already slowly closing.
To have to meet death at the very moment the whole truth came out was unbearably unjust.
No, not like this… give me one more chance…
She desperately tried to stretch out her arm.
She wanted to grab onto anything and stand up.
But her body already felt as if it were sinking into water.
“…”
In the end, Cecilia’s hand fell limply to the floor.
“…Gasp!”
Cecilia opened her eyes, panting.
She saw a large chandelier glowing softly with candlelight, and the faint scent of roses brushed past her nose.
A dream…?
The shock and pain that had been crushing her moments ago were nowhere to be found.
What is going on? I definitely died…
Could this be heaven?
Looking around in bewilderment, Cecilia’s eyes fell on a large mirror.
“Oh my goodness!”
Cecilia looked into the mirror without thinking and cried out despite herself.
Inside it was a sight hard to believe.
A pure white wedding gown with elaborate embroidery and delicate lace.
A corset cinched tightly at the waist, a sparkling tiara, and a veil flowing down like water.
It was herself five years ago, just before walking down the aisle at her wedding.
“W-what on earth is going on?”
Cecilia touched her cheek with trembling fingertips.
Just then, a cheerful voice came from beside her.
“Miss! It’s almost time to go!”
Cecilia turned her head and couldn’t say a word.
Her eyes shook wildly.
“Wendy…?”
She was the maid who had faithfully stayed by Cecilia’s side until her marriage.
Though devoted to Cecilia, she belonged to the Osborn viscounty, so she hadn’t been able to go with her after the wedding.
Afterward, she had left the viscount’s household to care for her ailing parents, and Cecilia hadn’t heard from her since.
“W-Wendy. How have you been? How is your family? Is everyone well?”
“Pardon?”
Unlike Cecilia, who was overjoyed at meeting her after five years, Wendy tilted her head in confusion.
“Why are you suddenly asking, Miss? You were preparing for the wedding with me just yesterday.”
“…The wedding? Whose?”
“Miss, what are you talking about? Today is your wedding with Master Evan!”
