Chapter 5
So, was she lovable?
She was hateful. Rebecca was so angry that she wanted to snap her neck right away.
But Rebecca hid her true feelings and got up.
"Of course not. Why would I hate Alicia?"
"Look at you. You're still using honorifics! You hate me because I stole the Count from you, don't you?"
"Stole? I never gave Alicia anything in the first place. But seeing you come to apologize to me like this, I guess you know your actions are shameful."
Rebecca said coldly.
Alicia hesitated for a moment, but soon continued to speak rapidly, as if she had been waiting for this.
"Rebecca, I swear to God, I really couldn't help it! A powerless maid can't refuse the Count."
Alicia recalled the many excuses she had practiced while Rebecca was lying ill.
There were plenty of reasons why the tender-hearted Rebecca would have no choice but to forgive her.
'Rebecca! I couldn't help it either.'
Suddenly, the words Alicia had said when she betrayed her in her previous life flashed through Rebecca's mind.
Rebecca clenched her fist tightly.
"Stop."
"Rebecca!"
"So, I gave you another option. But you chose this. As you said, you're an adult, so take responsibility for your choices."
The day Rebecca found out Alicia was pregnant, she advised Alicia to run away.
She offered to find her a small house and give her enough money to live on for the rest of her life.
But Alicia refused. That kind of ordinary life was not what Alicia wanted.
'I'm sorry, but I'm an adult too. Don't treat me like a child anymore. I will make the decisions about my child and my life.'
Alicia recalled what she had said and shut her mouth tightly. Then she looked at Rebecca with a bewildered gaze.
This was not the Rebecca she knew.
Rebecca would grant her requests more easily than Zeppelin, just by fluttering her eyelashes.
'Something's wrong.'
Alicia's suspicious eyes scanned Rebecca.
Realizing she had been found out, Rebecca quickly changed her expression.
"Let's stop talking about this. Now that things have turned out this way, there's no point in being hostile to each other. Our husband wouldn't like it. We can't be like we used to be, but I have no intention of fighting with you."
When Zeppelin's name came up, Alicia reluctantly nodded.
She hated to admit it, but Zeppelin cherished Rebecca. Alicia was the one who got scolded whenever she spoke ill of Rebecca.
But time flows.
When Rebecca gets old, Zeppelin will lose interest in her.
Alicia decided to play it safe for now.
Rebecca suppressed a laugh as she watched Alicia, who quickly backed down and began to read her face.
Looking at her like this, she was just a slightly cunning child. And she had been played by such a child all this time.
Rebecca put on a benevolent smile and said,
"By the way, has Alicia been nursing me all this time?"
"Yes? Ah, that's..."
"Thank you. I was able to get up like this thanks to you. I'd like to give you a gift as a token of my appreciation. Alice, could you bring my jewelry box?"
At Rebecca's words, Alice opened the closet door, limping on her right leg.
Then she took out several antique jewelry boxes with laurel leaves painted on them.
Alicia's eyes sparkled at the mention of jewelry boxes.
"Choose one here."
Rebecca slowly opened the jewelry boxes.
Zeppelin spared no expense when it came to adorning Rebecca.
As a result, Rebecca didn't have any cash on hand, but she had plenty of expensive jewelry and dresses.
These were things that Alicia, who had just gotten married, didn't have.
Alicia was smart, but she sometimes lost her reason in the face of greed.
Remembering this, Rebecca dangled sparkling, expensive jewelry in front of Alicia's eyes.
Alicia's gaze, which had been blankly scanning the jewelry box following Rebecca's hand, stopped at a certain necklace.
"Oh my, it's so pretty!"
A luxurious necklace decorated with densely packed diamonds had a large blue diamond at the end.
Alicia, admiring the shimmering blue light, reached out for the necklace as if possessed.
But before her fingertips could touch it, Rebecca quickly closed the jewelry box.
And she gave an ambiguous smile, as if she was in trouble.
"Oh dear, why is this here? I'm sorry. This is a family heirloom that Zeppelin gave me, so I can't give it as a gift. Would you like to choose something else instead? This earring is also very pretty, isn't it?"
"An heirloom?"
"Didn't you know? The Devonshire Earl family has many wonderful treasures passed down from generation to generation. The Countess can receive one of them. Zeppelin gave me this on our wedding day, saying it resembled the color of my eyes."
"Then can I receive one too?"
Seeing the purple eyes sparkling with greed, Rebecca involuntarily smiled and covered her mouth with her hand.
"Well. It's only possible for the Countess... I don't know if the second wife can receive it."
Alicia frowned at Rebecca's words.
She wanted to claim that she was also the Countess, but she couldn't dare to say that in front of the first wife.
"Were you all gathered here."
Zeppelin opened the door and came in.
Alicia greeted Zeppelin with a bright smile.
He ignored Alicia and went to Rebecca first, kissing her forehead.
Only then did he approach Alicia and kiss the back of her hand.
Alicia's face gradually hardened as she recognized the difference.
* * *
Zeppelin put on cotton gloves. Then he carefully held Rebecca's face and looked around.
"I heard you had a fever rash, but thankfully there are no scars. But the skin is rough, which is annoying. I'll have to tell you to take care of your skin for a while if you want to go to the victory banquet."
"Victory banquet?"
When Rebecca asked, Zeppelin irritably swept back his hair. His face showed that he was annoyed just thinking about it.
"Duke Johannes must have returned after sounding the victory cry. I wish he had just died on the battlefield."
Rebecca looked at Zeppelin at the somewhat violent language.
Come to think of it, Zeppelin didn't like Duke Johannes very much in his previous life either.
Alicia shouted excitedly.
"If it's a banquet, does that mean there's a party? This is my first time at a party like this! Then I'll need a dress! What kind of clothes would be good, Count?"
Zeppelin stared blankly at Alicia, who was chattering excitedly, and then scoffed.
"What are you talking about? Alicia, you don't need to go to the banquet."
"Yes?"
"It's a place prepared by the Emperor. There's no way you can go. Especially with your commoner background."
Alicia's face turned red. Her eyes were trembling as if she was about to burst into tears.
Zeppelin gently grabbed Alicia's shoulder.
"Don't make that face. I'll give you your favorite jewel instead. Play with that and stay home quietly."
"Then give me the heirloom."
"Heirloom?"
Zeppelin looked at the jewelry box spread out on the bed.
Rebecca said to him with a troubled expression.
"Ah. I told Alicia to choose one because I was grateful that she nursed me. Then I accidentally showed her the heirloom..."
A long sigh followed.
Zeppelin rubbed his forehead.
"Alicia. This is something that only the Countess, that is, the first wife Rebecca, can receive."
"Why! I'm also the Countess! We even had a formal wedding!"
"That's!"
Zeppelin, who was about to raise his voice, glanced at Rebecca. Then he grabbed Alicia's arm tightly and pulled her.
"Rebecca needs to rest if she wants to go to the banquet. Let's go outside and talk."
"It hurts! Let go!"
"Wait a minute!"
Rebecca stopped the two who were about to go outside.
"There's one thing I'm curious about. Why did you come back from your honeymoon so early?"
Alicia glared at Zeppelin with a resentful face and said.
"Why else? It's because the noble Count here sold the villa, full of precious memories, to the Duke for just a few paintings."
"Alicia! What's with that rude tone!"
Zeppelin dragged Alicia out. Alicia's dissatisfied voice could be heard from beyond the closed door.
Meanwhile, Rebecca was deep in thought.
'Duke Johannes...'
* * *
"You look so beautiful!"
Alice exclaimed as she looked at Rebecca in front of the mirror.
The head maid Grace smiled contentedly and put a necklace around Rebecca's neck.
Zeppelin liked to show Rebecca off in front of others.
He took Rebecca around as if he was showing off a beautiful work of art everywhere.
However, that was only possible when accompanied by Zeppelin.
He didn't allow any man to approach her. Even if he was called a seriously jealous man, Zeppelin didn't care.
Rebecca was Zeppelin's treasure. Other people could only admire her with their eyes.
Only he, Zeppelin, could touch Rebecca.
The beads embedded in the blue dress sparkled.
Rebecca fiddled with the large blue diamond at the end of the necklace.
It was an item that she wouldn't normally wear carelessly, but she wore it on purpose to provoke Alicia.
'I was quite pretty too.'
Until a few days ago, she was a middle-aged woman nearing forty.
Because she had suffered after leaving the Count's Residence, her face was in bad shape.
But now, the wrinkles and scars that had been there were gone, and smooth, fair skin like a peeled egg was reflected in the mirror.
Her deep blue eyes, like a replica of the deep blue sea, were full of energy, and her always tangled blonde hair had a soft sheen.
Around this time, Rebecca was comparing Alicia's appearance with her own and was deeply self-loathing.
But now that she saw it, she had an appearance that wouldn't make her feel inferior anywhere, even if it wasn't as good as Alicia's.
'Is it always the current self that is the most terrible?'
Rebecca belatedly blamed herself and regretted the years she had wasted.
As Rebecca was reminiscing about her younger days for a long time, she stopped her hand as she remembered one of her past memories.
That night, Zeppelin was heavily drunk.
He was not one to drink on nights when a sexual encounter was scheduled, but for some reason, Zeppelin was overdoing it.
After finishing the obligatory sex and carefully examining Rebecca, Zeppelin discovered a wrinkle on her eye.
Zeppelin quietly fiddled with the wrinkle and said cynically.
'There's a flaw.'
Zeppelin left the bed as it was and left, slamming the door shut without even saying good night.
After that, he never looked for her except on days when he had to have a relationship.
This incident was like a moment of revelation.
Every night alone, Rebecca fell into contemplation and carefully reflected on the past.
And she realized that what she had thought was love was nothing more or less than affection for an ornament.
Not long after learning that fact, she found out that she was pregnant with the child that Zeppelin had so desperately wanted.
She couldn't delay any longer. Before the child's existence was discovered, Rebecca escaped from the prison-like Count's Residence.
