My Former Lover Didn't Die And Came Back - Chapter 36

After running for a while, they arrived at Baydebury village. Blair let go of Cedric’s secretary’s, Eden’s, waist and jumped off the horse.

Her eyes were red from stepping on the ground with her boots, but her tears no longer flowed. Crying all the way here had calmed her emotions just a bit.

“……we’re here.”

The place Eden stopped was the only funeral home in Baydebury village. Blair looked up at the place, which seemed to be a converted old church.

Creak.

The old wooden door of the funeral home made a noise as it opened.

Step, step……

Blair entered the building. The inside was simple, so there was no need for her to wander around. In the only brightly lit space, there were two wooden coffins and two men. One man was very tall, and the other was short.

When she approached, the tall man turned around. It was Cedric.

“……Blair.”

Cedric looked down at Blair’s face. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and her cheeks were pale.

“Blair.”

Blair glanced up at Cedric, who had a troubled expression and was about to touch her cheek.

Thud.

She brushed his hand away and walked past him. There were two black wooden coffins on the altar. She reached for the lid of the coffin without hesitation.

Creak.

As the coffin opened, an unpleasant, unfamiliar smell hit her nose. No, it wasn’t unfamiliar. It was the smell she had encountered when she met Mary. Time had passed, and decay had begun.

“Are you the daughter?”

A person who appeared to be a funeral home staff spoke to Blair. She nodded her head, and he continued speaking.

“We knew their daughter was in the capital, so we couldn’t proceed with the funeral……”

“You did well.”

Blair nodded in agreement and then signed the document for the transfer of the body that was offered to her.

“Do you have any other relatives? Would you like to hold the ceremony tomorrow or the day after?”

“No. There are none. Can we have it this afternoon?”

Seymour had few relatives, and his father had fought with his few brothers over their meager inheritance and had not been in contact with them.

“Yes, okay. Then……”

The staff left to prepare for the funeral. Only two men and a woman remained in the empty space. The place where they stood was the only spot illuminated in the dark space.

“Blair.”

Cedric called her.

“……”

She stared blankly at the black coffin for a moment before responding.

“……It’s a natural disaster.”

“……”

“Had I come as soon as I received the letter, perhaps I could have been there for my mother’s last moments. But that’s something I didn’t know.”

“……Blair. I,”

She cut off his awkward words.

“Don’t.”

“……”

“Don’t, Cedric.”

* * *

Rumble—

“It looks like it’s going to pour.”

The pastor of Baydebury village said as he looked up at the sky. The grayness of the sky was deepening.

The small village had a small cemetery as well. Blair and Cedric, along with the village pastor, were present in the cemetery covered with green grass.

Dressed in a black dress, Blair stood soullessly, and behind her was Cedric, also dressed in black.

“Ah…… the Seymours, whose ceremony we are holding today……”

The young pastor, who had hastily taken over after losing his father to plague, filled the silence with his voice while placing his hand on the Bible. It was a modest funeral.

“……Sob,”

She didn’t show her tears until now, but she started sobbing as dirt began to cover the coffin.

“Sob, sob……”

Blair cried while her upper body shook, but the workers, accustomed to such scenes, kept moving their shovels without minding her. As dirt covered the black coffin quickly, it erased its blackness swiftly.

Blair suddenly felt anxious. If the coffin was completely covered, wouldn’t her parents disappear from this world forever? Her sobbing intensified.

“Blair.”

Blair’s upper body shook, and Cedric approached to support her. His hand brushed her waist,

Thud.

“……”

She pushed him away.

“……Don’t.”

Blair glared at Cedric.

“Blair.”

“Stay away from me. Please……”

She pleaded sorrowfully, her small face drenched in tears.

“……Sob……”

When she attempted to sit down, Cedric quickly grabbed her with both hands. He looked at her damp face and said,

“You said it’s not my fault.”

Her brows furrowed at his brazen words, and she glared at him.

“It’s a natural disaster.”

His attempt to sound nonchalant made his heart sting.

In truth, he thought that her confinement might have an impact on her infrequent communication with her parents. If they had known about the plague spreading through the village on its first day… perhaps with some luck… maybe they could have saved her mother.

“……Right. It’s a natural disaster.”

She said through clenched teeth.

“So, am I not allowed to be angry?”

“……”

The man’s mouth shut tight.

“Huh? Am I not allowed to be angry at you?”

“……”

“You took your anger out on me. Can’t I do the same to you?”

Unable to respond, the man just tightened his grip on her back and arm, because her body was gradually slumping down.

“Hic……”

Blair looked up at him with a hollow face. Even though she’d given him permission to touch her, he was not pleased.

Cedric caught her as she kept slumping down powerlessly. The man preferred to have her lean into his embrace like a puppet with its strings cut. She weakly nestled into his embrace. Cedric’s hand stroked her back.

Rumble, boom—

A flash of white light streaked across the sky. Dark gray clouds enveloped the village, and soon after, raindrops began to fall one by one.

People simultaneously looked up at the sky. Cedric wrapped his arm around Blair so she would get less wet.

“Whoa.”

The workers sped up their digging. Not long after, two new graves were added to the Baydebury village cemetery. The not-so-large cemetery was packed with graves sprouting new shoots.

* * *

The two entered her parents’ house. It was located on a high hill overlooking the sea. It wasn’t very big, but it was suitable for an elderly couple to spend their remaining years. In fact, most houses in this village, mainly inhabited by elderly couples, were roughly the same size.

Swoosh.

Cedric was waiting outside the bathroom for Blair, who had gotten wet from the rain, to come out. The large man sat hunched over on a low wooden chair, his hand under his chin, lost in thought.

Shortly after, the sound of water stopped, and the bathroom door opened. He quickly stood up.

Moisture escaped all at once between the old wooden doors. She stepped out barefoot, wearing a white robe that reached her knees and tied around her waist. Droplets of water from her golden hair dripped down, wetting the floor.

As Cedric approached her, Blair struggled to raise her eyes to see him. Her eyelashes were heavy with moisture. Cedric stopped walking, maintaining a shoulder-width distance, and then spoke.

“……If I hadn’t,”

He knew in his mind. Telling her this would not help in keeping her by his side.

“locked you up.”

She just looked up at him with an expressionless face. Her blue eyes were empty.

Cedric didn’t know why he was saying this now. Was it an unconscious attempt to alleviate some guilt?

“So if I had known about the village’s news a bit sooner, maybe I could have saved your mother.”

“……”

Blair’s eyes regained focus. Her gaze darted around here and there for a moment before calmly saying,

“I don’t think so.”

“……”

“This village is slow in letting news out. As you said, it wouldn’t have worked out well.”

Although Blair acknowledged that Cedric had no part in her parents’ death, his heart still felt heavy. Her response should have eased his mind. But why didn’t it?

Seeing the large man still grim-faced, she couldn’t stand it anymore and said,

“Cedric, what answer do you want?”

“……”

“Do you want me to say my parents were punished? Is that why you’re still standing there?”

“……”

“Go. I don’t want to see you today.”

The man didn’t respond. His gaze was directed at the droplets darkening the floor’s color – they had fallen from her hair. He was standing like a pillar, struggling to speak.

“……Go.”

“……”

“Dry your hair, Blair.”

After finishing his words, the man slowly walked towards the entrance. Each heavy step he took made the old wooden floorboards creak mournfully.

Creak. Creak.

Blair stood motionless until the floor stopped creaking. The man’s broad back moved farther away.

Then, with a thud, the front door closed.

Thump.

“Sob, hic……”

She collapsed onto the floor she had wet herself. Tears streaming down her pale cheeks darkened the floor even more. Drip, drip.

“Hic, sob……”

She sobbed, hitting the floor. Her skin quickly turned red against the rough and aged wooden floor. Blair cried over her past decisions.

…I shouldn’t have brought my parents to such a remote village. Would they have been alive if they stayed in the capital?

She knew it wasn’t her fault. Of course. The poverty that struck Blair’s home came from her father’s business failure.

…It was all about money.

The reason her parents moved from the capital to Baydebury was because of money. The cost of living and housing prices were lower here. They said that they settled there because of the clean air, but it was just an excuse. And they wouldn’t have been able to live in this old house without Adrian’s help.

“Sob, sob……”

The floor’s rough surface was palpable under her palm.

“Hmph……”

Blair covered her mouth with one hand, but she couldn’t stop the sobs from escaping.

In the early days of their marriage, she became a merchant with her husband’s help, and she went through the passenger lists of ships Cedric might have been on.

Would she have been able to gather money quickly if she had been sincere about the business then?

“Sob……”

It was all in the past now.