My First Love Seems Suspicious After I Regressed - Chapter 1 - I Woke Up and It Was 5 Years Ago (13)
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- My First Love Seems Suspicious After I Regressed
- Chapter 1 - I Woke Up and It Was 5 Years Ago (13)
Chapter 1 – I Woke Up and It Was 5 Years Ago (13)
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“By the way, now that you’ve experienced real combat, you’ll enjoy learning even more, won’t you, Miss?”
The Lacroix children, known for their typical civil servant demeanor, called it the devil’s smile. The ability to instinctively execute the stealth techniques she had forgotten while in Scandar during a tense situation was thanks to the diligent self-defense lessons from Baroness Noisette, a former mercenary assassin.
Fortunately, there was an excuse to postpone todayโs lesson. Chloe was to attend the parade opening ceremony as the Lady of Lacroix Court. It was an event where her father, the Count Palatine and the administrative head of Gotiue, would make the opening declaration.
“Are you really going to attend?”
“Yes, I want to see Father at work after such a long time.”
It wasn’t necessary for her to attend. It was just something that would make her parents a little happy. Achille, her younger brother, grumbled during breakfast with the Count Palatine couple.
“If you go, I have to go too.”
“Weren’t you planning to watch the parade with the young soldiers anyway? Let’s get ready a bit early and go together, Achille.”
“Hahaha, I’m already nervous because our young lady is coming after so long!”
On the day Chloe remembered, she had stayed alone in the mansion, reading the book she borrowed from Demetrian, while her family went out. The holiday parade was not a significant attraction for a grown noble lady.
‘I already know the contents of that book now, and who knows if this will continue until that day…’
And these days, she didn’t know which country’s sunlight she would be under tomorrow. Wanting to spend time with her parents, Chloe decided to attend the event willingly.
‘Then I’ll return home with Mother right after.’
There was an option to stay with her father and watch the parade procession, but she felt too anxious to remain there.
The attack planned for today would have been the work of the group captured yesterday, so the parade would conclude safely. However, Chloe’s memories were based on newspapers or Etienne’s accounts from that time, and there was no guarantee she hadn’t missed anything. What if she stayed in the street, waiting to see the outcome, and something unexpected happened?
It was better to just hope that nothing happened and spend time at home. Of course, she also wanted to enjoy some quality time with her mother.
Three days into living again five years ago, whether it was a dream or reality, Chloe still suspected the recent events were a dream offering her a taste of a bygone era. A long dream she would eventually wake from.
Meanwhile, she began to wonder if the past five years she had lived were the dream instead.
Though still confused, spending time with familiar faces like before had made one thing clear.
‘Let’s make today meaningful until I fall asleep.’
Today, she would have tea time with her mother. So that even if she woke up in Shevik’s separate palace tomorrow, she wouldn’t regret it.
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Franz Square, where they arrived after an early lunch, was already filled with the parade procession waiting and the crowd gathered to watch. The Count Palatine went to the stage to check on the officials, while the rest of the family followed the protocol officers to seats in front of the stage. Only then could they meet the Noisette mother and daughter, who had followed in another carriage.
Chloe tried to speak to Mirabelle, gauging her mood.
“Rabi, did you sleep well? Are you tired?”
“Yes, Miss. Of course.”
“…Did you get scolded a lot?”
“What are you talking about, Miss?”
Feeling guilty due to her stiff demeanor, whether from being upset or cautious…ย
Chloe glanced at Baroness Noisette, hoping for some leniency, but the Baroness only shook her head slightly. In fact, Mirabelle’s seniors in the security team were likely watching somewhere, so it wasn’t something that could be easily resolved.
At that moment, a shadow fell over Chloe from behind.
“Are you the young lady of Count Palatine Lacroix?”
Startled by the voice in her ear, Chloe turned around. The person had bent down to meet her eye level, and their slightly embarrassed face came into view due to her startled reaction.
“Sorry for surprising you. I’m Noel Wensley from the police department. I donโt think this is our first meeting.โ
“Sir Noel!”
Achille, sitting next to Chloe, recognized him first. The playful gesture of putting a finger to his lips suggested a certain familiarity with Achille.
Silver-gray hair cut neatly at the chin…ย
Chloe immediately recalled her details.
The daughter of Viscount Wensley, who graduated from the Imperial Academy a year before Etienne and joined the police department. She was, in various ways, a senior to her brother, and although they had exchanged greetings in passing, they had never interacted personally. It seemed different with Achille, though.
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As Chloeโs face showed recognition, Noel Wensley quickly smiled and spoke.
“I heard you got caught up in something interesting yesterday. I’d like to ask you about it this evening, if that’s okay?”
“…I don’t really know much.”
“The Young Duke Crevelle said the same, but we need to pretend to work to file a report.”
Her words were easygoing, accompanied by a friendly smile.
‘Even if she says that, she’s not just coming for tea, right? Is there something wrong again…? There shouldn’t be, right?’
Getting involved with someone from the police department was nerve-wracking, even if she hadn’t done anything wrong.
Seeing Chloe’s delayed response, Noel Wensley smiled again. The hint of hesitation suggested she wasn’t entirely pressed for time.
“Then I’ll visit with Etienne, oh, Sir Etienne, when he returns home later.”
Saying so, Noel Wensley also glanced at Mirabelle, who was sitting beyond Baroness Noisette.
“I’d like to see you too, Lady Noisette, if possible.”
“Oh, yes.”
Noel Wensley, smiling again, left as quickly as she had come. The Countess, sitting next to Chloe, watched her leave and took Chloe’s hand.
“What’s going on?”
“Ah, well…”
“I heard Miss and Rabi caught a pickpocket at the festival market yesterday.”
Before Chloe could express her embarrassment, Baroness Noisette quickly answered over Achille’s head. It wasn’t entirely untrue, but not exactly the truth either. Chloe recalled the Baroness’s words of advice in her room.
The Countess’s face showed doubt.
“For just such a commotion?”
Her reaction was rather dismissive for a noble lady’s tale of heroism in the marketplace.
‘Ah… Mother was like this.’
Despite her embarrassment, Chloe quietly laughed at her mother’s response.
During her time in Scandar, when she could meet her mother only once a year, they had to hide their rough edges to enjoy the time together to the fullest, making her forget her mother’s disposition.
Under a mother who encouraged her children’s adventures, Chloe grew up as a proper noble lady, and when she eventually had to leave for Scandar, her mother had been quite regretful.
‘Whenever she visited Scandar, she would tease me about living a boring life even as a consort of a country.’
Though it was her mother’s way of expressing concern indirectly… On nights when she waited for her husband to visit, she sometimes thought of the vibrant night streets of Gotiue, which she had ignored for fear of straying from a noble lady’s duties, and the advanced cultures found only in the continent’s largest city, so it wasn’t entirely unfounded worry.
Chloe recalled her mother’s jesting remarks about her son joining the police department.
“Indeed, the police department people are quite dramatic, aren’t they?”
A naive smile spread across the Countess’s face as she looked at Chloe, seemingly bewildered.
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Noel Wensley visited with Etienne, who had returned home, in the early evening. Until then, there had been no news, and since the time she visited wasn’t much different from when Etienne usually returned, Chloe knew today’s event had concluded safely.
Perhaps the work wasn’t related, as Etienne, who had guided Noel Wensley to the small reception room, left with a word of thanks, not directed at anyone in particular, and went up to his room.
“Please have some. The madeleines were baked well today.”
She had asked for them because the tea food from the Lacroix kitchen, tasted after a long time, was so delightful she wanted more.
“As you might have heard, the parade went smoothly. It’s all thanks to you ladies. The Count Palatine will be pleased.”
“We just happened to pass by.”
Her words, accompanied by a somewhat awkward expression, were met with a nod from Mirabelle. Noel Wensley, smiling as she had when she first greeted them, quickly moved to the main topic.
“Did you plan to meet Young Duke Crevelle there?”
“No, we were just passing by.”
“They say you confronted them as well.”
“…Lady Noisette, my escort, is skilled in martial arts.”
Chloe deflected with a smile. The issue was that Chloe had thrown a throwing star at the one trying to escape with the bomb… but from what Noel said, it seemed that part hadn’t come up.
‘Demi might have gone to the police department yesterday to keep it quiet.’
It was fortunate that they had already collected the evidence to erase Chloe’s involvement. It was extremely rare for a noble lady to learn martial arts unless she was a police department official.
Perhaps the answer to that question wasn’t important, as Noel Wensley moved on to the next question.
“Do you have any guesses about the suspects’ objectives?”
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