My First Love Seems Suspicious After I Regressed - Chapter 1 - I Woke Up and It Was 5 Years Ago (12)
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- My First Love Seems Suspicious After I Regressed
- Chapter 1 - I Woke Up and It Was 5 Years Ago (12)
Chapter 1 – I Woke Up and It Was 5 Years Ago (12)
It was a gaze she had faced countless times since childhood. Whenever Chloe acted stubbornly, Demetrian would always look at her with that gaze, as if trying to peer into the depths of her heart.
When she insisted she wasn’t sick despite having a fever because she wanted to play more as a child, when she demanded he not allow any other young ladies to call him by a nickname, when she borrowed his political science textbook and confidently claimed she would finish it in a month,
And on the last day they met before she went to Scandar…
It was a gaze she hadn’t seen in years, and thus had forgotten, but the moment she encountered it, Chloe felt the emotions of that time flood over her, just like when she received the anemone bouquet in the morning.
A time when they were somewhat special to each other.
A time that had already passed, or so she thought.
‘But it will be another passing time, won’t it?’
Chloe’s gaze also dimmed.
“Ah, we should get off a little before the mansion.”
Because we snuck out.
Unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, Mirabelle interjected, glancing out the window. The Count Palatine’s residence was beginning to appear in the distance. Faigen, also feeling awkward, quickly opened the small window to the coachman’s seat to pass on the message.
When the carriage stopped at a suitable spot behind the mansion’s wall, Demetrian was the first to hop down and extended his hand to the passengers. Mirabelle, sitting on the outside, lightly accepted his help and jumped down, but Chloe hesitated to take the hand offered to her, looking at it with unfamiliarity.
Contact with him that she could refuse during the day.
Whether at the Crevelle Ducal residence, the Imperial Academy, or the Imperial Palace, moments overlapped when he would be waiting as the carriage door opened. Moreover, whenever he escorted her back from social gatherings, he would always extend his hand under the moonlight like this.
‘I never thought I would hold this hand again…’
Chloe couldn’t tear her gaze away from Demetrian’s hand extended to her. It was bandaged, just as Faigen had quickly treated it at the hideout. She recalled his desperate swordplay.
What is this unfamiliarity? What do his recent changes in behavior mean?
‘Could it be…’
As Chloe quietly watched, Demetrian’s hand moved slightly, as if puzzled. Realizing her hesitation had grown, Chloe blinked deeply to shake it off.
She took his hand and stepped down from the carriage.
This action, repeated countless times, felt somewhat awkward and embarrassing. It wasn’t because of something beyond his gaze or the moisture seeping from his unbandaged skin… It was simply because it had been a long time.
‘It’s definitely not because I’m excited. I did want to see Demi, but…’
Thinking so, Chloe looked into his eyes while still holding his hand. Somehow, the hand she held felt inexplicably warm.
Even after a while, their hands remained as they were initially, held at eye level, unable to lower.
“…?”
As Chloe’s gaze grew curious, Demetrian finally let go of her hand and reached for her neck.
“What is this on the expensive product of Lacroix?”
Only then did Chloe remember that when she threw the throwing star at the man with the bomb sack, the startled magic tool vendor’s blade had slightly grazed her skin. The sting came belatedly.
“Oh, well… I can just say a cat scratched me.”
To prevent him from touching it, Chloe quickly covered the wound with her hand. Watching her, Demetrian took out a handkerchief from inside his robe. Since he had roughly wiped his face with his sleeve, the handkerchief was still clean.
“Careless.”
As she accepted the handkerchief he handed over, Chloe recalled Demetrian’s self-deprecating response to her joke, ‘Then what am I?’
“…For a reserved commodity.”
He shouldn’t act so kindly. Chloe remembered the times she waited to hear news of his engagement to Grand Duke Campo’s daughter. She was waiting for a sense of relief.
Yes, even if this is a long dream, or if she has to relive the same time again, Chloe was ultimately destined to return to the separate palace in Shevik.
So the current fluttering was really because it had been a while. Not because of excitement.
Chloe reaffirmed this to herself, her green eyes shining deeply as she smiled.
Unaware, Demetrian smiled back. It was a smile that seemed pained and twisted.
* * *
“Miss, are you alright?”
The next day, Chloe awoke as usual, seeing the ceiling’s beams basking in sunlight, and was greeted by another familiar face. It was the Baroness Noisette, the nanny of the Lacroix children and Mirabelle’s mother. She had been away from the mansion on a brief vacation and had only returned to Gotiue late last night.
“Yes, nanny. I missed you.”
As the Baroness, who had brought the washbasin instead of Pompom, approached and sat by the bed, Chloe instinctively hugged her waist with delight. Though she was still bewildered by being twenty again, seeing a long-missed face was more than welcome.
“To be in Nanny’s arms from the morning, is this a dream or reality…”
“Young Master Achille is distant now, but you’re the only one who welcomes me like this, Miss.”
The Baroness chuckled as if it were a big deal and embraced Chloe in return.
“He’s him… Is the Baron doing well?”
“He’s always the same.”
Baron Noisette was the head of the Noisette family, which had long managed the Lacroix estate, home to the Imperial family’s winter villa. He was so frail that he never left the Lacroix Count Palatine’s territory, even with his wife and daughter in the capital.
So, though officially a nanny, the Baroness, with no infants to care for, would often go down to Lacroix during holidays like the festival week and return.
“It’s my fortune that the Baron met you, and that Ravi takes after you.”
Feigning childishness, Chloe expressed her long-held feelings. Though it had been only three weeks for the Baroness, it felt like three years for Chloe.
“If I hear such sweet words, I must visit more often.”
The Baroness smiled deeply, looking into Chloe’s clear face. She removed the sleep crust from Chloe’s eyes and smoothed her disheveled hair, but her gaze halted near Chloe’s neck.
‘Oops.’
With her gentle expression hardening, memories of the previous day’s events flooded back.
“T-this, I met a cat outside yesterday.”
Chloe quickly explained, feeling guilty. The Baroness’s eyes narrowed.
“I was trying to give it a piece of jerky, you see. Cats these days are so bold, aren’t they? Haha…”
Though her gaze wandered and her voice trembled, the Baroness’s eyes never left the scar, as if it didn’t matter.
The blood that had first oozed was well-stopped with Demetrian’s handkerchief, but it seemed she had scratched it in her sleep, as dried blood had seeped out again.
“Rabi must not have done her part.”
“No, the cat suddenly…”
“Miss.”
The Baroness’s honey-colored eyes shone deeply.
‘Right, who am I fooling…’
If it were anyone else, they might not have noticed, but her nanny would have realized the wound was from a blade, and its location and angle suggested she had been taken hostage.
“There was a bit of an incident. I was helping Demi…”
She tried to shift the blame to Demetrian, adding a bit of embellishment.
In Lacroix, if there was a name as trusted as Etienne, the Young Count, it was Young Duke Crevelle’s. Chloe knew that invoking his reliable name would somewhat ease her nanny’s concern.
“I was briefly caught, but… I really got out right away. Truly. I showed my skills.”
Rabi was chasing another.
Hastily adding that to defend Mirabelle, Chloe’s voice trailed off. After all, it was true that Mirabelle had been absent.
‘The nanny was always strict about Rabi’s duties.’
Chloe watched her nanny’s face, hoping it would soften. Seeing her young lady’s earnest eyes, the Baroness let out a small sigh.
“Miss, I’m grateful that you cover for our Rabi. But that’s Rabi’s duty, and if there was a mistake, she must be evaluated. The security team doesn’t assign anyone else to accompany you when going out with Rabi because she can handle it alone, and if there was an issue, it’s the security team’s responsibility.”
“Yes, that’s true…”
At times like this, Chloe felt a twinge of discomfort, thinking about how her closest friend was somehow tied to her in a master-servant relationship.
‘Rabi will likely face discipline… I feel so sorry.’
She had been scolded whenever it was discovered she went out without informing the security team, let alone when her safety was compromised. Though Mirabelle had never blamed Chloe in such situations, it was still troubling. After all, they were like sisters.
“And above all, if anything happens concerning your safety, we should know as much as possible. If it’s a secret, just say so. If necessary, we’ll consult the Count and Countess, but we’ll prioritize your judgment.”
“But it’s all over now. Those people are on the police station’s stone floor…”
As if saying she was done hearing obvious things, Chloe grumbled, prompting the Baroness to smile knowingly.
“You know that’s not what’s important, right?”
Though filled with affection and understanding, a lecture was still a lecture, and Chloe sighed, lying back down.
‘I shouldn’t have acted out yesterday; now I just feel sorry for Rabi.’
Not that she regretted contributing to the capture of the separatists. The small thrill she felt when repelling the man in uniform yesterday still tickled her throat.
In hindsight, it was a loving scolding she hadn’t heard while living as the honored consort in Scandar. The palace staff’s scoldings lacked affection, and what her husband said with affection wasn’t scolding but notification.
‘With the maturity of a twenty-five-year-old, I should just be glad to see the nanny again.’
Resolving so, Chloe looked at the nanny, but for a moment, she thought she saw something ominous in the sunlight behind the Baroness.