A cemetery full of silence and chaos.
The name that I had hoped for someone to call this body throughout the entire funeral had come out of the mouth of a man I had never even seen before.
I stiffened when I saw the man turn his head toward me.
It was a soaked face that was distorted and messed up enough for me to feel sorry for him.
Swollen eyelids that were sunk in, his deep red eyes glowed strangely under the light of the moon and gas light.
In an instant, the feeling of my heart pounding and free falling as well as goosebumps breaking out suddenly rushed through me.
It wasn’t just because of those unfamiliar red eyes.
Like a wild animal that was deprived of its prey, a beast who was robbed of its cub, the contorted face of the man made me confused.
The man who had cried so much that his entire face had been distorted shouldn’t have been a man that I had seen for the first time, but Novian.
The one who should’ve called my name should have been my husband, not a stranger.
As expected, the person I should face right now…
‘I should go and meat Novian first.’
Although I didn’t even know who this was, I couldn’t afford to meet anyone else who knew my face.
It was like an animal’s instinct.
“Adrienne…!”
The man stopped moving, as if he was frozen, then suddenly got up.
At the same time, his broad shoulders shook greatly.
Looking at him in a slightly brighter place, he looked like a person whose body was suffering from serious injuries.
The front part of his jacket which was full of badges and medals of honour had been stained red by the blood.
The man staggered, blocking his injury with his large hand.
I managed to move my stiff body and ran back the way I came, as if this was my last chance.
Fortunately or unfortunately, my newly acquired body of Blair was so healthy that I was able to run with ease.
“Adrienne, Adrienne…!”
A pathetic voice that I never would have thought to have heard unless someone knew me immediately pierced the back of my head.
I ran desperately like a madman.
After that, I no longer remembered how I got out of that place.
Perhaps the voice that was calling me was the voice of that stranger with red eyes, or the guard who was standing at the entrance.
Panting and grabbing at my thundering heart, I got into the Count’s carriage which was waiting for me on the side of the road.
Ignoring the bewilderment of the coachman’s shouting, I frantically knocked on the carriage door, as if I was crazy.
The coachman who had hesitated yelled out a ‘Giddy up!’ before immediately setting out with the carriage.
Outside the window of the fast carriage, the dimly lit lights flashed past.
Once the lights that illuminated the darkness outside started to form a line and my rough breathing had calmed down.
“Huh?”
I double checked my feet that were somehow bare.
My torn white silk stockings were a mess of dirt and grass, with my two toes sticking out of it.
The black shoes I had been wearing to match my clothes had simultaneously come off while I was running.
“Ha…”
I curled up, resting my elbows on my knees and wrapping my hands that were still trembling around my head.
I vaguely remembered nearly falling over and maintaining my balance with much difficulty whilst I was running.
At that time, it seems as if the heel of my shoe had sunk slightly into a small pile of mud.
The eyes of the man I had met in front of my tombstone were half round.
Sort of like a lunatic.
So I had desperately run away.
The red eyes that had gleamed under the moonlight were definitely like that of a lunatic.
He had tried to catch up to me whilst blocking the blood that was flowing out from his injury, staggering as if he was about to fall right then and there.
I let out a deep breath, brushing aside the small pebbles from my feet that had become muddy.
“Just who…the hell are you…”
I looked back again over the situation that I had not been able to reflect on due to my desperate fleeing.
At the same time, I grabbed my suddenly aching head, and tried to recall the man’s face in more detail.
Who could that man be?
After my debutante, I had only attended two parties.
The man who appeared in the empty graveyard was a handsome man who had flashed past like the sun on a winter night, beautiful enough to even for a moment, enrapture one in enlightenment.
Even though there was no way I wouldn’t have remembered a man that was that good looking, I still had no clue who he was.
[ / / / ]
Even after I had arrived, I remained sitting in the carriage for a long time, lost in thought before finally coming to my senses after much difficulty and entered the Count’s mansion.
“Madam! You’ve come back?”
“Madam, your feet…!”
Marge and Yona who were worried about me, who had set out without the accompaniment of a single servant, quickly followed to catch up to me.
I took off my hat before laying myself on the sofa in the living room, as if I was collapsing.
Both my body and heart were tired and confused.
Situations that were too daunting to handle in one day seemed to burst open in my head.
My death.
A newly acquired body.
The people who had said that I was my husband’s mistress.
My funeral.
And a man who I didn’t even know, sobbing in front of my tombstone.
Taking off the solemn black hat that was worn at funerals, Yona rubbed my legs diligently, and carefully removed the torn stockings before washing my feet.
The water that was brought in to wash my hands quickly turned into water used for a foot bath.
My feet started to sting in pain as soon as the hot water touched my wound.
Marge who was at her wit’s end, stood in front of me frantically, knowing exactly what had occurred for me to end up like this once she had seen my condition.
“D-Did you end up trying to meet the Grand Duke, madam?”
Ah.
Right, Novian.
When I heard his name, I came back to reality as I was reminded of something I had forgotten whilst running away.
I wasn’t able to wait for Novian until the end due to the sudden appearance of the man who had the roguish beauty of a beast.
Upon realising that fact, an unfamiliar apprehension surged over me.
The twisted face of the man I had seen for the first time today, which was all I could think of, was quickly erased from my mind in an instant.
‘What…am I supposed to do now?’
Then I remembered Novian’s face at the funeral.
Until the last moment I had seen Novian, he had quietly endured the first day of my funeral without even sparing me a single glance.
“Madam?”
“…”
I nodded quietly without answering.
Because I had seen Novian.
After examining my face again, Marge looked at me with tears in her eyes, and for a moment, lost her words and stopped her clutter.
“And the corpse of the Grand Duchess?”
“…Mm.”
I barely answered in a hoarse voice.
I saw it.
I saw it clearly.
I, who was decorated even more beautifully than the days when I was staying in bed as a sick person in the Grand Duke’s estate.
The reality was that now, even the body to return to was gone.
Novian would have to display my corpse and welcome the guests who came to pay their respects, like an owner who brings out their precious antiques whenever an important guest was coming.
It was ridiculous.
Novian, had found it hard to even stay for more than two days in the capital and was treated like a dog by the imperial family during our last two years of marriage.
Now he inevitably had to stay in the capital for 100 days without leaving.
Only after I died.
That was also one of the duties of the imperial family.
“…I thought you would swoon in joy because you liked it, so how come you’re crying instead?”
I just kept crying.
Even though Marge had spoke harshly, she still handed me a handkerchief.
I buried my face in the handkerchief and swallowed my tears quietly on the sofa.
‘You are still young.’
The voice of Novian, who had always hugged and comforted me, buzzed in my head.
That’s right, I was still young and ignorant, even this morning, when I had instantly become happy with the healthy body that I was given.
Because it was the body that I had been wishing for my whole life.
It was so shameful.
My body was healthy.
But on the other hand, I had lost everything else.
My husband was no longer the beautiful Novian, and my name was no longer Adrienne Trovica nor Adrienne Piretta.
How great would it have been if this situation had been something straight out of a fairytale or a novel?
Then I wouldn’t have been the wife of Count Acacia.
As soon as our eyes met, as if it were fated, Novian would have immediately known that Adrienne had possessed this body.
Then, I would have run up to Novian and kissed him, ecstatic that I had shaken off my weak and sickly body and had been reborn.
As I screamed happily that God had finally granted my wish.
However, I clearly remembered the gazes of some of the ladies and young women who were expressing their condolences at the funeral and the looks they had thrown toward Novian.
They had all looked healthy and beautiful.
That wasn’t a scene from a fairytale. It was the reality I had to live with.
If my soul had actually left this world, I would have smiled vaguely whilst watching his figure from heaven and said, ‘Find happiness without me, Noah’, but when I had seen his state in front of me, my stomach had been turned inside out.
‘Ha—. How ridiculous.’
Contrary to the burning emotions, amazing laughter continued to burst forth with my tears.
I was dead and had even entered someone else’s body.
It couldn’t get worse than that.
Marge, who was restless as she watched me sob continuously with my face buried in her handkerchief, finally took a deep breath before sending Yona out to ask for a cup of soothing tea.
‘It was the first time Noah had cried.’
It was a huge shock to me, who had never even once seen him look so weak.
I wanted to hit myself hard on the head, me, who had even doubted him for a moment.
‘How could I have been so stupid?’
The person who would be having the most difficult time would have been Novian, who was still struggling with a sense of loss after losing me, and would have to greet the guests who came to express their condolences with my corpse by his side.
My shallow suspicions of Novian, who had sent someone to invite a vassal’s wife to the funeral, had been swept away without a trace.
An expression that could not have appeared if he didn’t love me. I had seen it clearly with my own two eyes
“Madam! Madam!”
And then my emotions, which had been engulfed in sadness, changed in an instant due to one mysterious card.
“Madam, this thing was left at the front of the house!”
That’s right, Yona, who had gone to prepare chamomile tea, had run in, panting, once she had seen the handwriting on the card and brought it in.
[ Keep your promise, B. ]
The handwriting of the person who calls for B, which was clearly the initials for Blair, and asks for her to keep her promise…
…was clearly the exact same handwriting as that of my husband, Novian.
A cemetery full of silence and chaos.
The name that I had hoped for someone to call this body throughout the entire funeral had come out of the mouth of a man I had never even seen before.
I stiffened when I saw the man turn his head toward me.
It was a soaked face that was distorted and messed up enough for me to feel sorry for him.
Swollen eyelids that were sunk in, his deep red eyes glowed strangely under the light of the moon and gas light.
In an instant, the feeling of my heart pounding and free falling as well as goosebumps breaking out suddenly rushed through me.
It wasn’t just because of those unfamiliar red eyes.
Like a wild animal that was deprived of its prey, a beast who was robbed of its cub, the contorted face of the man made me confused.
The man who had cried so much that his entire face had been distorted shouldn’t have been a man that I had seen for the first time, but Novian.
The one who should’ve called my name should have been my husband, not a stranger.
As expected, the person I should face right now…
‘I should go and meat Novian first.’
Although I didn’t even know who this was, I couldn’t afford to meet anyone else who knew my face.
It was like an animal’s instinct.
“Adrienne…!”
The man stopped moving, as if he was frozen, then suddenly got up.
At the same time, his broad shoulders shook greatly.
Looking at him in a slightly brighter place, he looked like a person whose body was suffering from serious injuries.
The front part of his jacket which was full of badges and medals of honour had been stained red by the blood.
The man staggered, blocking his injury with his large hand.
I managed to move my stiff body and ran back the way I came, as if this was my last chance.
Fortunately or unfortunately, my newly acquired body of Blair was so healthy that I was able to run with ease.
“Adrienne, Adrienne…!”
A pathetic voice that I never would have thought to have heard unless someone knew me immediately pierced the back of my head.
I ran desperately like a madman.
After that, I no longer remembered how I got out of that place.
Perhaps the voice that was calling me was the voice of that stranger with red eyes, or the guard who was standing at the entrance.
Panting and grabbing at my thundering heart, I got into the Count’s carriage which was waiting for me on the side of the road.
Ignoring the bewilderment of the coachman’s shouting, I frantically knocked on the carriage door, as if I was crazy.
The coachman who had hesitated yelled out a ‘Giddy up!’ before immediately setting out with the carriage.
Outside the window of the fast carriage, the dimly lit lights flashed past.
Once the lights that illuminated the darkness outside started to form a line and my rough breathing had calmed down.
“Huh?”
I double checked my feet that were somehow bare.
My torn white silk stockings were a mess of dirt and grass, with my two toes sticking out of it.
The black shoes I had been wearing to match my clothes had simultaneously come off while I was running.
“Ha…”
I curled up, resting my elbows on my knees and wrapping my hands that were still trembling around my head.
I vaguely remembered nearly falling over and maintaining my balance with much difficulty whilst I was running.
At that time, it seems as if the heel of my shoe had sunk slightly into a small pile of mud.
The eyes of the man I had met in front of my tombstone were half round.
Sort of like a lunatic.
So I had desperately run away.
The red eyes that had gleamed under the moonlight were definitely like that of a lunatic.
He had tried to catch up to me whilst blocking the blood that was flowing out from his injury, staggering as if he was about to fall right then and there.
I let out a deep breath, brushing aside the small pebbles from my feet that had become muddy.
“Just who…the hell are you…”
I looked back again over the situation that I had not been able to reflect on due to my desperate fleeing.
At the same time, I grabbed my suddenly aching head, and tried to recall the man’s face in more detail.
Who could that man be?
After my debutante, I had only attended two parties.
The man who appeared in the empty graveyard was a handsome man who had flashed past like the sun on a winter night, beautiful enough to even for a moment, enrapture one in enlightenment.
Even though there was no way I wouldn’t have remembered a man that was that good looking, I still had no clue who he was.
[ / / / ]
Even after I had arrived, I remained sitting in the carriage for a long time, lost in thought before finally coming to my senses after much difficulty and entered the Count’s mansion.
“Madam! You’ve come back?”
“Madam, your feet…!”
Marge and Yona who were worried about me, who had set out without the accompaniment of a single servant, quickly followed to catch up to me.
I took off my hat before laying myself on the sofa in the living room, as if I was collapsing.
Both my body and heart were tired and confused.
Situations that were too daunting to handle in one day seemed to burst open in my head.
My death.
A newly acquired body.
The people who had said that I was my husband’s mistress.
My funeral.
And a man who I didn’t even know, sobbing in front of my tombstone.
Taking off the solemn black hat that was worn at funerals, Yona rubbed my legs diligently, and carefully removed the torn stockings before washing my feet.
The water that was brought in to wash my hands quickly turned into water used for a foot bath.
My feet started to sting in pain as soon as the hot water touched my wound.
Marge who was at her wit’s end, stood in front of me frantically, knowing exactly what had occurred for me to end up like this once she had seen my condition.
“D-Did you end up trying to meet the Grand Duke, madam?”
Ah.
Right, Novian.
When I heard his name, I came back to reality as I was reminded of something I had forgotten whilst running away.
I wasn’t able to wait for Novian until the end due to the sudden appearance of the man who had the roguish beauty of a beast.
Upon realising that fact, an unfamiliar apprehension surged over me.
The twisted face of the man I had seen for the first time today, which was all I could think of, was quickly erased from my mind in an instant.
‘What…am I supposed to do now?’
Then I remembered Novian’s face at the funeral.
Until the last moment I had seen Novian, he had quietly endured the first day of my funeral without even sparing me a single glance.
“Madam?”
“…”
I nodded quietly without answering.
Because I had seen Novian.
After examining my face again, Marge looked at me with tears in her eyes, and for a moment, lost her words and stopped her clutter.
“And the corpse of the Grand Duchess?”
“…Mm.”
I barely answered in a hoarse voice.
I saw it.
I saw it clearly.
I, who was decorated even more beautifully than the days when I was staying in bed as a sick person in the Grand Duke’s estate.
The reality was that now, even the body to return to was gone.
Novian would have to display my corpse and welcome the guests who came to pay their respects, like an owner who brings out their precious antiques whenever an important guest was coming.
It was ridiculous.
Novian, had found it hard to even stay for more than two days in the capital and was treated like a dog by the imperial family during our last two years of marriage.
Now he inevitably had to stay in the capital for 100 days without leaving.
Only after I died.
That was also one of the duties of the imperial family.
“…I thought you would swoon in joy because you liked it, so how come you’re crying instead?”
I just kept crying.
Even though Marge had spoke harshly, she still handed me a handkerchief.
I buried my face in the handkerchief and swallowed my tears quietly on the sofa.
‘You are still young.’
The voice of Novian, who had always hugged and comforted me, buzzed in my head.
That’s right, I was still young and ignorant, even this morning, when I had instantly become happy with the healthy body that I was given.
Because it was the body that I had been wishing for my whole life.
It was so shameful.
My body was healthy.
But on the other hand, I had lost everything else.
My husband was no longer the beautiful Novian, and my name was no longer Adrienne Trovica nor Adrienne Piretta.
How great would it have been if this situation had been something straight out of a fairytale or a novel?
Then I wouldn’t have been the wife of Count Acacia.
As soon as our eyes met, as if it were fated, Novian would have immediately known that Adrienne had possessed this body.
Then, I would have run up to Novian and kissed him, ecstatic that I had shaken off my weak and sickly body and had been reborn.
As I screamed happily that God had finally granted my wish.
However, I clearly remembered the gazes of some of the ladies and young women who were expressing their condolences at the funeral and the looks they had thrown toward Novian.
They had all looked healthy and beautiful.
That wasn’t a scene from a fairytale. It was the reality I had to live with.
If my soul had actually left this world, I would have smiled vaguely whilst watching his figure from heaven and said, ‘Find happiness without me, Noah’, but when I had seen his state in front of me, my stomach had been turned inside out.
‘Ha—. How ridiculous.’
Contrary to the burning emotions, amazing laughter continued to burst forth with my tears.
I was dead and had even entered someone else’s body.
It couldn’t get worse than that.
Marge, who was restless as she watched me sob continuously with my face buried in her handkerchief, finally took a deep breath before sending Yona out to ask for a cup of soothing tea.
‘It was the first time Noah had cried.’
It was a huge shock to me, who had never even once seen him look so weak.
I wanted to hit myself hard on the head, me, who had even doubted him for a moment.
‘How could I have been so stupid?’
The person who would be having the most difficult time would have been Novian, who was still struggling with a sense of loss after losing me, and would have to greet the guests who came to express their condolences with my corpse by his side.
My shallow suspicions of Novian, who had sent someone to invite a vassal’s wife to the funeral, had been swept away without a trace.
An expression that could not have appeared if he didn’t love me. I had seen it clearly with my own two eyes
“Madam! Madam!”
And then my emotions, which had been engulfed in sadness, changed in an instant due to one mysterious card.
“Madam, this thing was left at the front of the house!”
That’s right, Yona, who had gone to prepare chamomile tea, had run in, panting, once she had seen the handwriting on the card and brought it in.
[ Keep your promise, B. ]
The handwriting of the person who calls for B, which was clearly the initials for Blair, and asks for her to keep her promise…
…was clearly the exact same handwriting as that of my husband, Novian.
