Chapter 9

But just as Davion was about to call out Cecilia’s name, someone else called out to her first.

“Darling.”

A man was standing at the top of the stairs, waving at her.

His face was hidden in the shadows, but Davion was certain the man was wearing a warm, affectionate smile.

“……”

Davion slowly sat back down.

The bartender mixing drinks on the other side of the table watched him with a strange look.

“Sorry. I guess I got carried away by the atmosphere.”

It wasn’t Cecilia.

It wasn’t you…

With a sigh, Davion took another banknote from his pocket and slid it across the table. Then, resting his forehead in his hand, he muttered gloomily,

“I’ll pay for the glass.”

Cecilia thought the inn seemed unusually crowded today.

Far away at the bar, there was a black-haired man who looked remarkably similar to Davion.

Of course, there was no way it could be him.

A young master who had been raised delicately and cherished by everyone would never come to a shabby place like this.

As Cecilia passed the man and started climbing the stairs, Arkan appeared from above and waved at her affectionately.

“Darling.”

He was walking with crutches tucked beneath his arms.

While Cecilia had gone out to buy a few things, Arkan had gone to the hospital.

Perhaps he had received an injection or some other treatment, because he looked much healthier than before.

As they walked back to their room together, Cecilia grumbled quietly,

“Anyone looking at us would really think you’re my husband.”

“Have you already forgotten? I am your husband.”

With a smile as bright as the sun, Arkan wiggled his left hand.

A cheap ring they had bought as a temporary prop glittered on his ring finger.

“You need to get used to it. If you react like that every time I call you, even the most innocent person will start suspecting something about us.”

Cecilia knew that.

Even so, whenever she walked around with Arkan, she was already suffering from the unpleasant looks people kept giving them.

After all, if they heard that a handsome man who looked like an actor and a woman with a face covered in pockmarks were married, it was only natural for them to have strange thoughts.

Receiving the key Ruby had brought through the hallway window, Cecilia asked,

“What did they say at the hospital?”

“They told me not to use the muscles in my left leg for a while. In simple terms, they told me to use the crutches properly. Oh, right. Here, your change.”

While Cecilia turned the key, Arkan rummaged through his pocket and took out several coins.

The moment Cecilia entered the room, she jerked her chin toward the top of the fireplace.

There was an empty tin can there that they had designated as their savings box.

Even though they had been living together for less than a day, the two of them had already developed a few rules of their own.

While Arkan took care of feeding the animals and tidying the room, Cecilia kept the household ledger and calculated how much money they had left.

Now that their little family had grown to four, their expenses were higher than expected.

“Tomorrow, let’s get our identity cards and move to a slightly bigger place too. We need to save money, but we can’t keep sleeping in the same bed.”

“That’s a good idea. Still, you don’t need to push yourself too hard, Cissy.”

Cissy was Cecilia’s nickname, the one her grandmother used to call her.

The name of the Countess of Winterhall was far too well known, so she couldn’t use it as it was.

Arkan wasn’t a bad partner.

The only information they knew about each other was their first names, not their surnames, and even Cecilia’s name was fake.

Yet Arkan never asked any questions.

Cecilia likewise had no desire to learn more about him.

They tacitly respected each other’s secrets.

Besides, unlike Davion, Arkan liked animals and wasn’t bothered by Nagi or Ruby.

Davion, on the other hand, had pointed a gun at Nagi the moment he saw her.

Before they knew it, snow had started falling again.

Cecilia checked to make sure the window was tightly closed and looked outside.

A black-haired man was walking along the sidewalk below the inn.

It was the same man who had been sitting at the bar a little earlier.

Perhaps he was trying to catch a taxi. The man stood at the edge of the road with both hands tucked into his coat pockets.

Every time he breathed, white vapor escaped and briefly obscured his face.

After making sure the window was properly closed, Cecilia took a medicine case from her travel bag and gathered the pills into her palm.

Arkan counted the number of medicine containers by sight and said with surprise,

“Maybe you were the one who should have gone to the hospital instead of me.”

“I’ve been taking these medicines for a long time.”

Cecilia smiled awkwardly and began explaining the medicines one by one.

“This one is like a nutritional supplement for my energy. Actually, I had a fairly major surgery not long ago. This one helps relieve depression, and this one is for sleepwalking. I especially have to take at least two of these a day.”

The white sleepwalking pills she rolled between her fingers were so large that they looked difficult to swallow in one go.

Arkan was even more surprised after hearing her explanation.

“You have sleepwalking problems? But you sleep so quietly, almost as if you’re dead…”

“I’ve had it for a while. According to my doctor, severe stress can suddenly cause sleepwalking. I’m much better now. Still, don’t be surprised if I sometimes cry or scream in my sleep.”

“Is it because of your husband?”

Arkan’s expression turned grim.

In his imagination, Davion had now become a complete piece of trash who had even abused his sick wife.

“I hope that man didn’t receive much of a dowry. Was it some kind of arranged marriage? Or perhaps a marriage under threat?”

“It’s not like that. We got married because we loved each other.”

Rubbing her pinkish nose, Cecilia smiled shyly.

But when she looked out the window again, her smile gradually faded.

“Still, people change as time passes…”

It wasn’t because of Davion that she had changed.

Cecilia had never liked snow in the first place.

On a day when heavy snow was falling, her mother had abandoned her at the entrance of an alley.

“Useless girl.”

It had been an especially harsh winter, and all Cecilia could do was watch her mother walk away after leaving those words behind.

At the time, Cecilia had been barely ten years old.

But perhaps it was proof that the world was not entirely cruel.

Before long, while Cecilia was trembling from hunger and cold, an elderly grandmother came to her.

She took Cecilia’s small hand and led her toward the grand mansion of a noble family.

That old woman was the nursemaid of the Duke of Sisledown’s family.