Chapter 24
"Where's Zeppelin?"
Rebecca, returning through the Count's Residence's dog hole, dusted off the dirt and asked Robert.
Robert was standing right in front of the dog hole at the time he had promised Rebecca.
As soon as he saw Rebecca's clear face, he sighed as if relieved.
"The Count hasn't returned yet. Anyway, please don't do such reckless things anymore. I feel like my lifespan has been cut in half."
"I couldn't help it. He's such an important person, I was worried about leaving it to someone else."
"Anyway, go back to your room quickly. Dinner time is coming up soon."
"Okay."
Robert looked around and took Rebecca to a secluded warehouse. Inside the warehouse, a maid's uniform was prepared.
"You have to change into this and enter the mansion. If you don't get caught by the head maid, you have a chance."
Robert ran a hand over his face.
Rebecca quickly changed into the maid's uniform and pulled her hat down low so that her hair color wouldn't be visible.
"What are you going to do with those flowers?"
Rebecca asked, seeing a bunch of flowers in Robert's hand.
Robert looked around and said,
"It's insurance for something that might happen. Eat this first."
Robert had Rebecca hold a tray with a teacup on it. Then, they passed through the door used by the employees and entered the mansion.
Fortunately, everyone was busy preparing dinner, so no one paid much attention to them.
'Now, if we just go up the stairs...'
Just then, someone blocked their path.
"Robert, I haven't seen you for a while. Where have you been?"
It was a cold voice.
Sweat ran down Robert's back as he identified the owner of the voice.
Grace, wearing a black dress buttoned all the way up to her neck, was quietly staring at them.
Rebecca, recognizing Grace, quickly lowered her head.
Grace was someone who wouldn't even tolerate a picture frame being off by a millimeter.
That's why she was Zeppelin's most trusted person.
There was no way Grace wouldn't recognize Rebecca, even if she was wearing a maid's uniform.
Robert calmly said, showing the flowers in his hand.
"Ah, I was in the garden because there were flowers the Countess asked for."
"I see. But this child..."
Grace raised one eyebrow and quickly scanned Rebecca.
Robert urgently blocked her view and said,
"She was on her way to take tea to the Countess's room."
Grace stared at Rebecca's hand, which was tightly gripping the tray, for a moment.
Her eyes seemed to waver for a moment, but then they coldly settled back to their original state.
"I understand. We shouldn't keep the Countess waiting."
Fortunately, Grace didn't seem to notice.
Rebecca and Robert breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and went up the stairs.
"Ah, just a moment."
Rebecca paused, holding her breath at the voice calling them again.
Robert turned to Grace instead of Rebecca.
"Yes? What is it?"
"While you're going up, tell the Countess that Fabiola will be visiting tomorrow."
"Yes. I understand."
Fabiola is coming?
Rebecca's face hardened instantly.
Her hands trembled.
Fabiola, just hearing her name made her shrink back.
Suddenly, terrible memories of the past flashed through her mind, and Rebecca clenched her teeth.
'This won't do. I need to move up the divorce plans as soon as possible.'
* * *
Fabiola Devonshire. She was Zeppelin's mother and Rebecca's mother-in-law.
Zeppelin had never really liked his mother that much.
Fabiola was a submissive wife.
No matter what her patriarchal husband, Jakim Devonshire, said, she bowed her head.
She even forced her submissive attitude on Zeppelin.
'You have to listen to your father to be a good son. You have to uphold the Count's authority.'
Zeppelin hated those words from Fabiola. Still, he maintained basic courtesy towards his mother.
Except for being fanatically obedient to his father, Fabiola was a mother who loved her son dearly.
But all that changed after Zeppelin declared that he would marry Rebecca.
Jakim raged at Zeppelin's confession.
'There are beautiful women everywhere! Are you trying to tie our family to a family we don't even know where they crawled out from! There's a princess in the Portina Kingdom who's beautiful enough to please you. Marry her!'
Fabiola sided with Jakim as usual and tried to persuade Zeppelin.
It was from this point that Zeppelin's hatred for her began.
'I will have everything I want. I won't let anyone get in my way. Even if it's my mother and father.'
It wasn't long after that that Count Jakim Devonshire died in a riding accident.
Fabiola instinctively knew that her son had killed her husband.
But she wasn't that surprised.
Fabiola had long seen the ominous look in Zeppelin's eyes as he watched her husband discipline him.
She had vaguely expected that Zeppelin would one day kill his father.
Thus, Fabiola's obsession and fear, having lost their place, naturally turned to Zeppelin.
To Fabiola, Rebecca was nothing more than a rival to be eliminated.
Rebecca and Zeppelin lived with Fabiola in the Count's Residence for several years after they got married.
The place where she stayed was the room where Alicia is staying now.
At that time, Fabiola tormented Rebecca terribly.
She couldn't physically harm her because she was afraid of Zeppelin's retaliation.
But she constantly drove her mentally.
Having suffered from her husband all her life, Fabiola was confident in tormenting others.
Rebecca silently endured Fabiola's torment without saying a word of complaint.
But there were no secrets in this mansion.
Eventually, Fabiola's atrocities reached Zeppelin's ears through the Hounds.
And Zeppelin banished her far away.
In fact, she was only sent to a luxurious mansion in the capital, but that alone made Rebecca feel relieved.
Fabiola initially resisted, but soon became satisfied with the glamorous life in the capital.
She was said to throw parties every night.
But she would occasionally visit the mansion like this.
Of course, there were no visits without a reason.
'So, Alicia is the target this time.'
Rebecca alone is a headache, but now that Alicia is involved, Fabiola must be anxious.
Fabiola lost sleep at night, worried that her two daughters-in-law would persuade Zeppelin to cut off her funding.
* * *
"Rebecca, just rest today."
Zeppelin sat on the bed and whispered softly. He had come in late last night, but he didn't look tired at all.
"But I heard your mother is coming today."
"The servants must have said something unnecessary again. It doesn't matter. You don't have any reason to see that woman."
"Then, will you greet your mother?"
"Don't be absurd. I have another wife. Alicia."
Zeppelin spoke in a dry tone, as if he were talking about someone else.
He picked up Rebecca's hair and brought it to his nose.
He sighed as if Rebecca's scent on her hair was dizzying.
"Haa. I hope you get better soon. You can move your arm now, right?"
"It's still uncomfortable, though."
Rebecca looked at Zeppelin's gaze, which seemed to devour her body, and wondered if she should just jump off the roof next time.
"Ah, that's right. I prepared a gift for you."
"A gift?"
"You'll know when you get there."
Zeppelin lifted Rebecca up and carried her out the door. The employees who were doing their jobs widened their eyes and looked at the master and mistress.
They took in Rebecca, who was lying in bed all day but was impeccably dressed from head to toe.
They watched her arms and legs dangling weakly in Zeppelin's arms.
She was like a well-made marionette.
It was humiliating.
She thought about resisting.
But Rebecca chose to quietly nestle in his arms like a lioness stalking the prey's weakness.
* * *
Zeppelin, who had walked to the entrance of the mansion, sat Rebecca in the prepared wheelchair.
"How is it? Comfortable? You like taking walks, don't you? The doctor said it's not good to lie down for too long."
Rebecca looked down at the wheelchair decorated with various jewels with cold eyes.
There was a long chain attached to the wheelchair. It was just long enough to cover the radius of the garden.
'I knew it.'
Zeppelin sat Rebecca in the wheelchair.
"It's the only handmade wheelchair in the empire. Do you see the jewels embedded in it? Of course, it's not as beautiful as you."
Rebecca silently stared at the chain dangling under the wheelchair. Even the chain was painted gold.
Zeppelin came in front of Rebecca, knelt on one knee, and met her eye level.
Then, with eyes full of rapture, he thoroughly scanned Rebecca's face, where the spring sunlight was falling.
Rebecca stared blankly at Zeppelin.
'The eyes I loved...'
Her heart fluttered for a moment.
Her heart had already been shattered into pieces by Zeppelin's hands. But the fragments left in the distant past were mercilessly stabbing her.
Zeppelin brushed Rebecca's fallen hair behind her ear and said,
"If you just get in here, you're free. You can go anywhere in the mansion."
'Free?'
At that one word, Rebecca came out of the sentimentality she had almost fallen into for a few seconds.
He hadn't changed. He wouldn't change either.
She realized in an instant that even if she regressed hundreds of times, the end with him would only be destruction.
Sparks flew from Rebecca's eyes. Now, even the remaining dregs of emotion scattered into the air like broken grains of sand.
With a face as cold as the winter frost, Rebecca said,
"Do you really think I look happy?"
Rebecca's blue eyes coldly cooled like a solid ice sea.
Zeppelin rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had misseen her face.
Fortunately, when Zeppelin took his eyes off his hand, Rebecca had returned to being the gentle Countess.
'Just now...'
"Count!"
Just then, a servant came running in a hurry.
Zeppelin, annoyed at being disturbed from his time with Rebecca, asked back with a very irritated face.
"What's wrong?"
The servant flinched for a moment at Zeppelin's fierce expression, then continued,
"C-Countess Fabiola has arrived."
"The timing is terrible. Rebecca, let's go in. It's not good to run into her."
Rebecca thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"It's okay. I received such a nice gift, so I have to do my duty as a wife. I'll go see Mother."
