Chapter 7

“Ha! Ah, youth.”

Edric found himself, encased in an exterior as solid as armor, utterly lovable.

And why wouldn’t he?

His skin, joints, even his teeth had all become as good as new.

With a faint laugh, he scattered flower petals and vanilla into the bath prepared nearby.

After generously pouring in fragrant bath oil, he stirred the water and checked the temperature.

Only then did Edric step into the tub.

His tightly tensed muscles seemed to loosen gently in the warm water.

He placed one large hand over his eyes and let out a long breath.

The things he had done since returning to the past unfolded in his mind like a series of pictures.

Edric had diligently prepared the fiery pit of hell into which he intended to cast Gerard Rendel.

At the same time, he had also been carefully twisting together a rope with which to pull his lady out of the mud.

That rope was a divorce lawsuit.

In his previous life, before Gerard Rendel died, he had left behind these words.

“She kept saying she wanted to separate because she couldn’t tolerate adultery. So I locked her up. It was quite amusing…”

“What was amusing? Even while crying that she wanted to leave, that woman still acted like a master. She remained proud to the very end. How dare she, merely a wife, look down on her husband!”

How shameless could a man be while calling himself her husband?

Did he understand his lady so little?

Rowena had been raised her entire life as a proper, virtuous lady.

Others might freely carry on with things they called love affairs, mistresses, and lovers, happily fooling around with whomever they pleased.

But in his lady’s world, such filthy things simply could not exist.

Naturally, she would have demanded a divorce.

In other words, in this life as well, once she learned the truth, she would make the same decision.

That was why Edric had scraped together every piece of evidence of infidelity he could find.

First, Edric had thoroughly combed through Camillia Sabrin’s private newsletter.

People who carried vanity in their stomachs instead of internal organs were always desperate to boast about their private lives.

There had to be evidence.

Sure enough, under the pretext of discussing fashion, Camillia Sabrin had shamelessly shown off her own jewelry.

Edric, who had an exceptionally sharp eye, realized that those jewels were new pieces released by an exclusive shop called Ameris Jewels.

Because he was well acquainted with the jeweler, he was even able to hear a few useful whispers.

“Count Libroth paid for them.”

“How often did he visit? At least once or twice every season.”

“Since when? Let me see… There are purchase records going back six years.”

In other words, that filthy relationship had already been going on for six whole years.

Next, Edric paid close attention to the travel account about Baltan.

That was because, in his previous life, Camillia Sabrin had testified that Baltan was where she had purchased the poison she used on both her mother-in-law and Rowena.

Between the lines, Edric found hints that Camillia Sabrin had traveled with “a certain gentleman.”

And who was that gentleman?

Gerard Rendel, naturally.

Afterward, Edric used his golden network of connections to meet merchant leaders and nobles who had visited Baltan during that period.

And he managed to secure testimony that those filthy adulterers had pretended to be husband and wife while in Baltan.

As if that were not enough, he had even prepared some splendid words to comfort Rowena before going to see her.

“I found out that my marriage to Gerard was a fraud.”

But Rowena already knew the truth.

Wasn’t she remarkably clever?

Her eyes had shone so beautifully then that Edric felt as though he had returned to that spring afternoon when he first fell in love with her.

But Rowena was far more beautiful now than she had been then.

Something that would never break.

Something that would not easily bend.

Something like a powerful will burned fiercely within her eyes.

“I’m going to divorce him.”

That was why Edric had not been particularly surprised when she said those words immediately afterward.

“I need your help, Marquis. Will you help me?”

“To think you would grant me the honor of helping you, my lady. I’m moved.”

At those words, Rowena’s cheeks reddened and she smiled shyly.

The instant that brief smile faded, she said she needed a representative.

A lawyer beyond the influence of Gerard’s family, the Rendels.

The request had been shaped into elegant, gentle words, but to Edric, it was no different from an order.

“Thank you, Marquis.”

Even an ordinary expression of gratitude sounded excessively sweet.

“…Even her voice is pretty.”

A long smile spread across Edric’s lips as he traced back through the memory.

He swept back his damp golden hair and rose from the bath.

After roughly drying himself, he put on a robe and went straight to his desk.

Elegant sentences flowed from the tip of the quill in his hand.

The recipient was the eldest son of the Lord Chancellor and a close friend of Edric’s.

One might call him a rising star in the legal world, having begun to make a name for himself in the imperial capital several years ago.

No matter how firmly the Rendel family controlled Erisvale, how could they compare to the family of the Lord Chancellor, whose influence stretched across the empire?

If one wanted to win a dogfight, one ought to bring a lion.

That way, the victory will be complete.

After sealing the letter, he looked at the clock and saw that it was already five.

“Oh.”

Edric suddenly grew hurried.

If he wanted to brighten his lady’s day, he needed to move faster.

He immediately rang the bell and ordered that a horse be saddled.

Then he threw on the first shirt he found and picked up a blue-gray velvet cloak.

“…Wait.”

Just as he was about to leave the room, Edric suddenly stopped.

That morning, he had intended only to meet Mrs. Beaumont briefly before returning.

But what if he happened to run into his lady?

Rowena went to sleep at a fixed time and woke at an equally fixed time.

Still, there was always the possibility of an exception.

Once that thought occurred to him, he could no longer bring himself to leave.

“Just in case.”

Edric hurried to the dressing room.

He put on a gray shirt that fit snugly across his broad shoulders, then wrapped a soft silk cravat around his thick neck.

He even fastened a diamond pin from Ameris Jewels to the cravat.

Only after applying a subtle freesia perfume did he finally put on his cloak.

Mounted on horseback, Edric raced down the hillside against the wind.

He rode for quite some time.

Before long, the refreshing air filling his lungs had transformed into a deep rose fragrance.

He went to the flower bed that extended beyond the Libroth Count’s estate and plucked a single pale violet rose.

Cool dew rolled from the petals and wet his hand.

Edric chuckled and urged his horse onward by the reins.

Eventually, when he reached the back gate used by grocery wagons, a round face rose above the low brick wall.

It was Mrs. Beaumont.

“Your Excellency, why did you call for me at this hour of the morning?”

Was it because she had fallen asleep thinking about her enemies?

Rowena had a nightmare.

She dreamed of a carriage racing across a bridge before overturning.

The familiar remnant of a memory that often tormented her nights made Rowena tremble.

When Rowena sat up, her body drenched in sweat, a cheerful knock sounded.

“My lady, good morning.”

The bedroom door opened, and the maid Louisa entered.

On a silver tray, Louisa carried a fresh rose, fragrant black tea, steaming thin chicken soup, and a piece of soft bread.

Louisa set the breakfast down on the table in front of the balcony.

Then she approached Rowena, who had just put on a robe.

“Mrs. Beaumont asked me to give you this flower, my lady.”

Rowena accepted the rose.

The gentle sunlight filtering through the window brightly illuminated the pale violet flower.

“Mrs. Beaumont gave me a flower?”

“Yes. She doesn’t even like flowers that much, so isn’t it strange? And she asked me to pass on a message too. She said that if you see petals blooming in the morning, you’ll hear good news during the day, and by nightfall, you’ll be happy.”

Rowena’s eyes widened.

“Mrs. Beaumont really said that?”

“What was it again… It sounded like she had memorized some song lyrics and was reciting them word for word. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly. Should I go back and ask her?”

“No. It’s all right.”

Smiling as she answered, Rowena brought the rose to the tip of her nose.

As she breathed in its clean, fresh scent, a line from a poem she had once enjoyed reading came to mind.

The morning light steeped in your eyes is a blooming petal.
In the afternoon drenched in its fragrance, glad tidings take flight,
and in your night wrapped in starlight,
I hide beneath the curtain of darkness and chase a single fragile shadow.
Happiness finds its way to you.

Had Mrs. Beaumont always liked literature?

Rowena had lived beneath the same roof as Mrs. Beaumont for a long time, but it was truly difficult to imagine her reading poetry.

Tilting her head, Rowena stared blankly down at the rose.

Was it because the languid sunlight had settled over the rounded petals?

Marquis Winderbane came to mind.

Surprisingly, glad tidings truly did come to Rowena’s afternoon, steeped in the scent of roses.

More precisely, those glad tidings were an idea that suddenly flashed through Rowena’s mind.

It began like this.

Around noon, while Rowena was going through letters she had received in the past, Louisa entered the study and asked,

“My lady, Baroness Traville just sent over a cake. Shall I bring it to you?”

“Camillia did?”

“Yes. It’s the chocolate cake you always eat.”

Rowena was about to nod, but stopped.

A sudden sense of unease had come over her.