My Former Lover Didn't Die And Came Back - Chapter 43

Blair took a deep breath and looked around. Once she got on the carriage, it would be over. She turned around to look at the house she had lived in for three years.

The Cavendish Mansion was a blend of old and modern styles. Elegance and sophistication coexisted…… She encountered two men in this house. One was her husband, and the other was her former lover.

“……Sigh,”

When she exhaled, her chest rose and fell. She turned and headed towards the carriage.

It was when her shoe was about to step on the carriage’s footboard.

“……?”

Clatter, clatter. A large black horse, its hooves thundering on the ground, came rushing and stopped in front of the mansion. Blair stopped in surprise, holding onto the carriage door.

The person who dismounted from the glossy black horse was Cedric.

“Huff, huff……”

Blair’s eyes widened. She watched as he came running towards her, breathing heavily. Soon, he stood in front of Blair.

“……Shit.”

Swear words burst from the mouth of the man who had ridden all morning.

“Where are you suddenly going?”

“You didn’t care before.”

Blair replied coldly. What could the reason be, that the man who hadn’t appeared before her for two weeks now showed up?

“That’s……”

Cedric couldn’t answer right away. Blair quietly looked at him.

Blair knew too. He must have been too busy freeing Adrian. The fact that Adrian’s innocence was proven meant that Blair conducting business under someone else’s name was also accepted without issue. He must have worked to ensure she wasn’t punished for using someone else’s identity. That’s why there were no people who came to take her away.

That’s when it happened. Cedric’s hand went inside his military jacket and pulled out a small box from his chest. Ah. Blair’s mouth slightly opened.

A small box wrapped in red velvet. Anyone but a fool would know its meaning.

Thud.

When Cedric opened the box, inside was a large diamond ring. The diamond had the same blue hue as the sea. Blair paused for a moment, speechless, and stared at the jewel with her mouth open.

……To think he actually managed to get this.

Blair’s lips parted.

“This is…… too expensive for any ordinary jeweler to accept. They might say that even selling the store wouldn’t cover its value. Then I can’t use it to fund my move.”

The blue-colored jewel on the ring shone beautifully.

“……Blair.”

“……Sorry. I don’t need it.”

“……”

“Would you give me an ordinary diamond instead? One that I can sell and use.”

She asked with a bright smile.

“……Blair, please.”

As the man spoke with a sigh, she continued speaking with a smile still on her lips.

“How could a divorced woman like me tarnish the honor of the Fitzgerald ducal family?”

“I will block everything for you. I will take care of all the things that make you suffer,”

“The one who made me suffer the most was you, have you forgotten?”

Cedric swallowed his breath at those words.

“…What do you wish for?”

He asked softly.

“A peaceful life. One without you.”

“I’ll do anything but that.”

“There’s only one thing I want from you. Let me go.”

“Again, I told you,”

“…You have no choice but to let me go.”

As her resolute voice flowed, he tensed up.

“You can’t imprison me anymore. Can you?”

Cedric’s lips hardened like stone.

“What would you do now. Since you can’t execute the only method you had to do to keep me.”

Blair heard all the truths from her husband. Including the events during her marriage with Adrian.

“……”

Cedric also came to know about the trauma she possessed.

“…Blair, please.”

A pleading voice escaped Cedric’s mouth.

Thud. Blair closed the small box Cedric was holding in his hand and said,

“Because I won’t stay by your side of my own will.”

Her voice was as cold as the winter wind of Eleanor.

* * *

Cedric was in denial of reality. He knew in his mind that she, who knew everything, wouldn’t accept him. He knew, yet he wanted to throw a tantrum like a child.

She’s a compassionate woman. She might listen if I persist. Since she loved me, she might accept me.

But the woman, with a faint smile, simply closed the ring box he extended with her slender hand.

The sound of the box closing seemed as loud as a gunshot, making his ears ring.

Blair had fallen in love with him, who had nothing. She met him despite her parents’ opposition.

She married another man because of her family’s debt. Even after marrying, she used her husband’s resources to search for him. She had tried to hang herself on the bedpost upon hearing that the ship he was on had sunk.

…Could there be another woman who would love me this much? And could I ever meet another woman as lovely as her?

Cedric strained his blocked throat to make a sound, praying that his plea would reach her.

“Blair, please.”

She was conflicted as she faced Cedric’s desperate gaze.

She knew that Cedric proposed to her, fulfilling a demand he himself thought impossible. She also knew he had feelings for her.

But she didn’t feel they were fated.

Not even with her husband. How could being with a man she didn’t resonate with after living together for three years be called destiny?

And lastly, with this man.

She thought it was a cursed relationship. There couldn’t be a worse curse.

Her life always swayed like a boat swept by waves, drifting from place to place. People said Blair easily complied. It made sense since people saw her as a good daughter and a docile wife. She married a man introduced to her by her parents. She’s just one of many noblewomen.

But was there another path available?

She did socialize, but it was under her husband’s control. Her husband didn’t want her to become influential. He allowed her to work, but he didn’t truly welcome it.

Her ex-husband deceived her throughout their marriage. Cedric proposed to her while deceiving her.

There are a few instances in her life where she got to do what she wanted. If she couldn’t act on her will even in this situation, she truly didn’t want to live. What she currently wanted was not to see the man in front of her.

“…I don’t want to see your face.”

“……”

“That’s all I have to say.”

Blair turned around. It was when she reached out to the smooth carriage door again.

A large shadow shrank over her with a thud. Could it be… She slowly turned around.

“…Ah.”

Cedric’s knees were on the ground. The carriage path of the mansion, long neglected due to Blair’s imprisonment and the loss of servants, was messy with melted snow. The white pants of his imperial army uniform were stained with brown mud.

“…What are you doing? Your clothes are getting dirty. Get up.”

Blair said to Cedric.

She didn’t welcome this situation and wished he would stand up. But the large man bent down and didn’t move an inch. As the brown mud gradually stained his white pants more, she eventually approached him.

Clench.

When she got closer, he grabbed her hand with both of his and buried his face in her palm.

“Seriously, what are you doing…”

Blair hesitated to scold him as she felt wetness on her palm.

“…Blair.”

The man’s voice was whimpering. It must be another illusion again.

“Really…”

Cedric lifted his head after hearing Blair stuttering, struggling to continue her words.

“…!”

“…Marry me.”

The man’s well-crafted face was distorted, and tears streaked down his smooth cheeks.

“Please, marry me.”

This time it wasn’t a lie.

“……”

She didn’t feel like accepting it, though. She just felt pity. She looked down at the man in front of her with her eyebrows furrowed.

She just wanted to throw away all shackles and leave. A proposal from the man she wanted to leave the most. The blue stone shackles in the man’s hand shone brilliantly.

Ah. This is indeed a cursed relationship.

The more he did this, the more convinced she became that they shouldn’t be together.

He was a man who had been innocently sold into slavery during his most beautiful years and had to fight for his life on the battlefield. A man without luck or tact continued,

“I’ll do better in the future.”

“It’s not that I hate you, I just don’t like you.”

It was sincere.

“Then don’t refuse.”

“……It’s like a broken teacup.”

The man’s face momentarily faltered at those words.

“No matter how well it’s glued back together, cracks remain. It’ll break with even the slightest shock.”

“I’ll glue it back together every time.”

“Both you and I, if even the smallest thing happens during our marriage…… It will be very easily shaken.”

“I’ll hold it together every time.”

“Seriously.”

Sigh, Blair finally let out the sigh she had been holding back.

“Cedric, it’s me. I’m a bit tired.”

“…….”

“Playing the good daughter, the chaste wife, all of it. I don’t want to be someone’s family anymore.”

“…….”

“Do I have to say this much?”

“…….”

“I feel suffocated when I see your face.”

When she said ‘suffocated’, the face of the man who was still kneeling, hardened. Her hand slipped too easily from the weakened man’s grasp. Thud, the door of the carriage carrying her closed. The sound of the carriage door closing thunderously echoed in the man’s ears.

The wheels moved, and the carriage left the front of the Cavendish mansion. The man turned to stone and could only watch the carriage’s rear view.

The sound of the carriage wheels grew more distant.

The advice heard in prison circled in the petrified man’s mind. In a narrow gray room, a blond-haired man wearing prison clothes had spoken with a weary expression.

「Is there any meaning in forcibly keeping things together? I’m speaking from my experience, as someone who has experienced a superficial marriage.」

At that time, Cedric had casually ignored those words, but now they filled his head, leaving him unable to move.

* * *

Blair was sitting inside the moving carriage. Taking a deep breath and straightening her back, she made her posture even more upright.

……He must be watching the road the carriage is taking.

Through the closing gap of the carriage door, she could still see the man whose knees touched the ground.