My Former Lover Didn't Die And Came Back - Chapter 4

“……C-Cedric.”

As Cedric drew closer, she took a step back, but her legs were weak like a fawn just learning to walk. With each laborious step she took backward, her heel was met with a cold liquid, causing her to slip on the spilled wine on the floor.

“Ouch…!”

Thud!

Though a loud noise rang out, fortunately, the carpeted area lessened the impact, so it wasn’t too painful. Above all, just before she fell, the large hand that grabbed her waist helped cushion the shock. But the pain persisted. Lying on the floor, groaning from the ache in her hips and back, she realized the ceiling was out of view.

“……”

“Ah…”

He was straddling her fallen body on the floor.

“C-Cedric…”

Blair murmured in confusion. With her robe completely undone by the fall, exposing her bare chest, Cedric’s gaze was fixed at the end of her bosom. It was a scorching, piercing stare.

“……!”

Blair tried to rise, but Cedric restrained her by grabbing her forearm with his large grip.

“W-Wait. Let go of me.”

“……”

As Blair struggled, her gown continued to widen, and Cedric’s eyes remained fixed on the pink tip. His rough breath felt against her skin.

— Thud! Thud! Thud!

At that moment, someone knocked on the reception room door.

‘…Gasp.’

Blair swallowed hard. She wanted to get up, but her muscles, stiffened by fear throughout, wouldn’t cooperate well. She stood there with only a thin gown on, exposed in the air.

‘What if the door opens and someone rushes in?’

Blair’s gaze shifted to the door handle. If her memory served her right, she hadn’t locked that door. Shame and fear gripped her throat.

Through Blair’s ears, as if carved into stone, a stranger’s stern voice outside the door resonated.

“General, I…”

The man beyond the reception room door called out to Cedric, seeming to be standing close to it.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

Cedric retorted with a loud voice.

“We should depart now so we could arrive at the palace on time.”

“Got it, let’s go.”

Without hesitation, Cedric stood up and straightened his jacket and cloak. Then, he swiveled his long legs to stand in front of the door, glancing back at the still-prone figure on the floor. Though his expression was blank, it seemed to Blair as if he was silently questioning why she was still foolishly lying there.

“……”

Her trembling arms alternately touched the floor like bamboo, but she gathered strength and rose. She then adjusted her gown to cover her body.

“It’s better not to linger in the mansion. I’ve left my subordinates at the main gate.”

Cedric coldly urged while placing his hand on the door.

Creak.

The reception room door opened as wide as Cedric’s stature. Blair felt the gaze of several military officers in uniform who appeared through the partially open door.

Thud. As Cedric’s black cloak swirled down to the floor, the door closed again.

The heavy footsteps gradually faded away. Today, she learned for the first time that her own porch could echo so loudly due to the absence of those sturdy young men entering.

Even though a considerable amount of time had passed since the disturbance at Cavendish Manor had ceased, the lady in the reception room remained frozen like a broken clock.

“……”

After standing still for a few more minutes, Blair slowly moved her body. Her thin fingers, trembling, smoothed out her wrinkled clothes.

‘Today feels like a nightmare.’

She barely made her way to the dressing room, where she put on her undergarments and clothes. An emerald green gown draped over her slender frame.

When she weakly returned to the reception room, she was confronted by the sight of maids’ bodies stained with blood.

“……Haah,”

A deep sigh escaped involuntarily. After hesitating for a moment, Blair took hold of the ankles of the seemingly lightest maid. It was cold to the touch. She dragged the maid’s body towards the garden.

Squelch-squelch-squelch-

Large military officers stood at the main gate. Clad in uniforms of the Eleanor Empire, they were clearly Cedric’s subordinates.

“Look over there!”

The soldier standing guard widened his eyes at the sight of Blair dragging a dead body.

“Ah… It looks like she’s going to bury the bodies of the maids.”

“It seems so.”

She could hear the soldiers’ voices. She moved another maid’s body to the garden without a care.

In this manner, she moved all the bodies to the garden. Finally, she brought a shovel and began digging a corner of the garden. The soldiers continued their conversation while observing her.

“Should we help her? Or should we stop her?”

“Well… Since he only said to ‘not let her leave the mansion’… let’s keep watching.”

She dug the ground alone until dawn. She brought some planks and crossed them in a cross shape, sticking it into the ground. A raised mound appeared in the once-flat garden.

Thus, an unfortunate common grave for the unlucky mansion servants was created. At the melancholic crowing of the rooster at dawn, she opened the mansion door and entered.

* * *

— Thud! Thud! Thud!

The merciless knocking on the mansion door woke Blair up. After burying the servants until dawn, she collapsed in the reception room and fell asleep, exhausted.

‘Oh, my goodness! Is it already daytime?’

The sunlight streamed through the long windows adorning the hall. She rushed out to the entrance, hastily adjusting her appearance and voice.

Blair opened the door and casually asked,

“What’s going on?”

When the door opened, familiar faces appeared. They were merchants who often traded with Blair.

“A journalist exposing corruption at the top of Cavendish has been featured in the Imperial newspaper! Did you know?”

The merchants questioned with an accusatory tone, visibly angry, holding newspapers in their hands.

‘….A corruption at my merchantry was exposed and made it into the newspaper?!”

Blair couldn’t believe what she had just heard and asked the merchants.

“What……?”

“They’ve caused quite a stir! How could this happen?”

Leopold, a merchant Blair frequently traded with, particularly singled her out with raised eyebrows and pointed fingers.

“We’ve come to inform you of a trade suspension!”

Another merchant next to Leopold shouted in a harsh tone.

“What……?”

Blair was simply bewildered. Having just woken up, the reality before her seemed even more unbelievable. The happenings since yesterday had been nothing but surreal.

She had been managing the estate in her husband’s name. When they got married, her husband already had a fairly solid estate. Blair took over and ran it as it was. Times were changing rapidly, and all the merchants in town knew that it was the wife who actually operated Cavendish Merchants.

“I swear to the heavens, I’ve never resorted to any underhanded methods. This is unjust. There must be some conspiracy at play!”

Blair appealed loudly to the merchants.

“It’s a misunderstanding! The article was published incorrectly!”

“Cavendish’s owner imprisoned for fraud and embezzlement! What is this about?”

“What…?”

Frowning, Blair pondered the words she had just heard.

‘My husband imprisoned?’

The nominal head of the business, her husband, was now behind bars for crimes he hadn’t committed. He hadn’t done anything wrong, which makes it even more unfair.

‘…Did Cedric do this?’

She bit her lip thoughtfully. Her merchantry had already handed over this quarter’s merchandise f to the city merchants. If they didn’t receive their payment, the business would suffer significant losses.

“Wh-what about this payment?”

“You talk about payment? According to this newspaper, haven’t you been passing off defective goods to us all this time?”

“But that’s a lie!”

Blair’s desperate pleas fell on deaf ears. The merchants believed in the newspaper they held as if it were gospel.

“…Then what about the inventory? If you can’t pay, at least return the stock!”

As Blair mentioned the inventory, Mr. Leopold responded,

“Talking about inventory! Expect us never to deal with you again!”

The merchants turned away as if their business was concluded. In the Eleanor Empire, even verbal notice was enough to end a contract. The merchants walked fiercely through Cavendish Manor’s garden.

“Just a moment! Mr. Leopold! Mr. Bruno…!”

Blair reached out to grab the merchants, but they walked faster. She clutched her dress with one hand and hurriedly followed them.

“Just a moment…!”

The merchants’ carriage waited right in front of the manor. As they boarded one by one, Blair grew frantic.

“No, don’t go!”

She frantically shouted, running towards the merchants’ carriage.

But her body couldn’t move further. There was a long stick-like object blocking her path. It was the guards Cedric stationed at the main gate, crossing rifles in an X to obstruct her path.

“You can’t go any further.”

“What do you mean?”

Her head snapped around when he heard the young man’s voice.

He was a young soldier with short red hair. His slightly squinted eyes contrasted with a completely boyish look, and there was a long scar running diagonally across his face.

“I’ll be right back! Something seems to have gone wrong with the business!”

She pleaded desperately. If possible, she wanted to follow the merchants all the way to the city’s market street to receive this payment, or at least retrieve the inventory.

Amidst the commotion, the carriage that the merchants arrived in creaked and moved.

“No…! Just a moment…!”

She pushed aside the gun blocking her path and took a step forward. At the same time,

Bang!

A deafening sound pierced the air. The birds perched in a row on the trees flew into the air. Black smoke rose behind her.

A bright red streak trickled down Blair’s cheek.

“……”

Blair slowly turned her body. As she turned around, black smoke was rising from the red-haired soldier’s gun.

‘That soldier shot at me.’

Blair stood there as if she had turned to stone. The side of her cheek where the bullet passed felt like it was burning. After checking the drops of blood on the ground, she lifted her head again.

‘If I had taken one more step, would it have hit my heart…?’