Chapter 55
Wasn't it a little regrettable to let him go like this?
'This is a farewell gift, you son of a bitch.'
Rebecca raised the hand holding the dice. And with all her might, she threw it at Zeppelin.
The dice accurately hit the back of Zeppelin's head.
Thwack-!
A dull sound was heard. It was a loud sound that could have caused a bump, at least.
"Ouch! Which bastard..."
Zeppelin clutched the back of his head and looked around with a sharp gaze.
He looked in Rebecca's direction, wondering if she had thrown it, but Rebecca was already swaying away from his sight.
* * *
'I can't be satisfied with just this. But it's quite satisfying.'
As she was letting out a pleasant laugh, someone called out to Rebecca.
"Lady Rebecca."
Pope Desrachino approached her with a sad smile.
Rebecca, upon discovering him, quickly bowed her head in greeting.
"Greetings, Your Holiness."
"I heard you got divorced. Congratulations."
"Is that something to congratulate?"
Rebecca, who raised her head, asked back in a cold voice.
Desrachino paused for a moment at her reaction.
"Didn't you get divorced to become a Saintess...?"
He was flustered.
When he first heard that Rebecca was suffering from Divine Affliction, he cheered.
Rebecca was a woman that any man would covet.
He regretted that he could have made her his wife if the Devonshire Earl hadn't snatched her up so quickly.
If she became a Saintess, it would be the same as having her in his grasp.
Desrachino scanned Rebecca with eyes filled with greed.
Even though she was covering her whole body, her beautiful figure could not be hidden.
'This dirty bastard...'
As soon as she became single, flies were swarming around.
Rebecca burst into laughter at her own ridiculous situation.
"I clearly told the priest that I would not become a Saintess."
"But wasn't that what you said to remain as the Devonshire Countess?"
"No. Unfortunately, I have no intention of becoming a Saintess."
"Please, think about it! There aren't many choices for you after your divorce. Even if you remarry, it's obvious that they will be mediocre people. I heard that your family isn't doing so well either..."
"Pope Desrachino, are you not busy?"
"Yes?"
"It seems so, seeing as you're spending your precious time on a mere divorcee."
"Ah, well, if I could bring a Saintess with outstanding Divine Power to the temple, I can give you my time anytime."
Rebecca frowned at Desrachino, who was smiling slyly.
She understood why Julian said he was disgusting whenever he talked about Desrachino.
He was determined to keep following her until she agreed.
Rebecca approached Desrachino. And she whispered in his ear, with a bright smile.
Desrachino was startled by the sudden stench.
"I can see what filthy fantasies you're having about my body. Stop giving me those dirty looks, and please be a faithful servant of God."
Rebecca deliberately stepped on his foot with the heel of her pointed shoe. And she covered her mouth with her hand and said.
"Oops. My mistake."
"Yo... You!"
Desrachino's face turned red, and he tried to shout something, but he had to swallow his anger because of the approaching believers who recognized him.
Rebecca clicked her tongue once and passed him, walking away leisurely.
'What's so lucky about the Goddess of Fortune? It's only filled with misfortune.'
Rebecca looked at the people pouring into the temple without a break.
They were all muttering to themselves with bloodshot eyes.
"Just once... If I'm lucky just this once, I can turn it back."
Rebecca raised her hands and covered her ears.
She felt like she would be consumed by madness from the constant sound of dice.
Finally, after escaping the temple, Rebecca took a deep breath.
A long staircase stretched out in front of her. Rebecca stared blankly at the white steps.
Come to think of it, she hadn't thought about how to get home from here.
She didn't have any money to call a carriage right now.
Besides, her feet wouldn't move.
'Freedom...'
Now she could go anywhere.
She could go anywhere her feet took her without having to attempt a heart-pounding escape.
But Rebecca stood in front of the temple, just blinking her eyes endlessly.
Did he really leave me?
Me, I don't have to go back to that prison-like place again?
It was all in vain. If it was this easy to break up, she should have tried it in her previous life.
Rebecca burst into a hollow laugh.
It was said that a dog that had been tied up its whole life couldn't leave the place even if its leash was released.
Rebecca couldn't move a single step, stuck in the same spot, even though the leash that had been binding her so tightly had been released.
She hesitated without even realizing it.
Whether she could really move forward without anyone's permission.
Whether she could continue this ugly journey.
It was just the beginning, but Rebecca already felt exhausted.
"Becky!"
Suddenly, someone called her affectionately.
"Unni!"
"Rebecca! My daughter!"
Down below, her family was standing there.
Theo and Danae, and even her twin sisters, were waiting for Rebecca.
Her nest, which she could only see from afar and couldn't even touch when she ran away in her previous life, was opening its arms wide to Rebecca.
Danae ran up and hugged her. Soon, Theo, Livia, and Helena hugged Rebecca.
A suffocating, affectionate embrace followed.
In the warmth of her family's embrace, the emotions that Rebecca had been suppressing and suppressing, and thus sealing away, were swirling madly.
"Sob..."
Theo was the first to burst into tears.
Then Danae, and then Livia and Helena began to cry.
'This is a problem.'
Now she could no longer suppress her emotions.
She didn't have the strength to do so, and she didn't need to do so anymore.
Rebecca surrendered herself to the storm that was erupting from deep within.
She honestly let everything go.
Tears welled up in her eyes like an inexhaustible spring.
Passersby glanced at the Obelia family with strange eyes, but such gazes were not important to this family.
Danae wiped away her tears and said.
"Becky, let's go home now. To our home."
Even in the carriage, the family members were constantly holding onto Rebecca's body or clothes, afraid that she would suddenly disappear.
Rebecca gave them a faint smile.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"But, Unni..."
Rebecca stroked Helena's head, who was holding her arm tightly.
And with swollen eyes that were still wet, she rolled the word 'our home' in her mouth for a long time, as if eating candy.
It was sweet.
* * *
<Breaking News! Devonshire Earl and Countess Decide to Divorce>
Inside the smoothly moving carriage, Julian had been staring intently at the newspaper for several minutes without moving.
It was a third-rate gossip magazine that he would never have looked at under normal circumstances, but when he discovered Rebecca's picture plastered on the front page, he couldn't just pass it by.
Even though her face was covered with a black veil and it would have been difficult to recognize her properly, the article identified the person in the picture as Rebecca.
The reporter from this bug-like gossip magazine must have been following Rebecca from the Count's Residence.
The contents of the article were nothing more than a terrible concoction of speculation.
The trial period wasn't even over yet, but the article was blathering on as if the divorce had been finalized.
Julian skimmed through the contents and looked at Rebecca in the picture.
She was frozen in place, holding her hands tightly as if she were stuck.
"Haa..."
Julian folded the newspaper and let out a long sigh.
His lips curled up slightly.
He had never empathized with anyone's feelings before, but with just this one small picture, he could feel Rebecca's mood as it was.
It was dirty.
He clearly got what he wanted, but Julian knew that terribly dirty feeling well.
The feeling when his father died, even though he had wished for his death his whole life.
The feeling when he found out that his father had died stroking the belly of the third wife who was carrying Lily.
That indescribable dirty feeling when he saw him lying in the coffin with a satisfied look on his face, as if he had fulfilled his role in procreation.
And Rebecca was standing there like he was back then, when he knew that he had to follow in his father's footsteps without being able to do anything about it.
'Why do you keep...'
Making me look back?
Forcing me to dig through the past, retrace it, and ultimately make it so painful like this?
Even so, Julian couldn't understand himself for not being able to take his eyes off her.
It hadn't been long since he had properly spoken to her. Besides, they had only met face to face a handful of times.
Rebecca and Julian mostly communicated through letters. It was like they had become pen pals, which was popular these days.
But strangely, he felt comfortable when he met her.
It was as enjoyable and exciting as meeting an old friend.
It was the same today.
Even though he knew that she probably wouldn't even let him hear her voice, just like she had been doing for the past few days, Julian got into the carriage as if he were possessed.
Before he knew it, a wide field came into view.
Julian opened the window.
A cool breeze, filled with the scent of grass from the field, tickled his hair.
The sound of the grass rustling in the wind was like a sweet song, and he gently closed his eyes.
He could understand why Helena and Livia called the new Obelia family's mansion the Song of the Field.
The day before Rebecca headed to Zeppelin and the temple, the Obelia family moved their residence to the Johannes Dukedom.
It was a bit out of the way, but it was a cozy mansion overlooking a green field.
The businesses that Rebecca had told Tanisha about were thriving.
Thanks to that, Danae earned enough profit to pay off the money she owed Zeppelin and still have some left over.
But the house prices in the Dukedom were several times more expensive than in Irencia.
They could only afford a house that was significantly smaller than their mansion in Irencia.
Julian offered to provide them with a better mansion, but Danae adamantly refused.
'I don't want to repeat the same thing twice.'
A hint of regret flashed across Danae's face as she said that.
Julian respected Danae's wishes and didn't urge her again.
It was simple but warm. That was the feeling that came to mind first when he thought of Rebecca's family.
