My Former Lover Didn't Die And Came Back - Chapter 47

And another reason she often visited her family home was that although her father was a famous soldier in his youth, he was not good at managing household affairs. No matter how many maids were present, managing a household required decisions to be made by an administrator.

“Miss.”

“Yes?”

It was Marisa, a maid who had been there before she got married. Marisa held a tray with a bunch of letters on it.

“These are the letters that have arrived in the meantime.”

“Seriously. Father doesn’t even read these?”

Evelyn said as she picked up the top letter. She blew on it, and dust danced in the air.

“Go on.”

“Yes.”

After Marisa left, Evelyn examined each letter.

“Let’s see, this is an invitation to a party… this one is for a bazaar.”

She quickly sorted through the letters, deciding which to respond to and which not to. Evelyn’s hands stopped at one letter.

【Sender: Blair Seymour】

“……That lady……?”

Evelyn picked up a letter knife and opened the envelope. The letter was sent from a rural village in the border area.

A chill ran down her spine as she took out the letter. It was because there were bloodstains here and there.

Evelyn’s eyes moved from left to right, then downwards, before starting to shake aimlessly.

“……Oh, my goodness.”

It was shocking. The letter contained information that Blair, Cedric’s woman, was giving birth to a child. The handwriting became harder to read towards the end, directly conveying the writer’s pain.

“A bastard in our family, that’s impossible……”

Evelyn mumbled as she wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. She sat pale for a moment before taking a new piece of paper, copying the address, and then crumpling the letter into a ball.

“……If I keep my mouth shut, no one will know.”

She turned swiftly and looked at the fireplace in the corner of the living room. She threw the small ball of paper into the roaring fire.

“……I did the right thing.”

Evelyn watched the red flames until sweat formed on her forehead again, hoping the secret of her family would also disappear into the black ashes. Then she turned around and left the living room.

5. A Thriving Store

In front of a stately mansion on the outskirts of the capital, a young man and woman were present. The man in uniform knelt on one knee and offered a ring to the woman. Although there were still places where the snow had not melted, overall, the ground had thawed and become muddy. However, the man seemed not to mind the brown mud staining his trousers.

The woman looked expressionlessly at the large blue diamond ring in the man’s hand. After a moment, her lips parted.

“Okay. I’ll accept your proposal.”

Joy spread across the man’s face. Relief was evident in his voice as he called the woman’s name.

“……Blair.”

But the next words he heard wiped the joy off his face as if it were a lie.

“But not now, in three years. I don’t want to see your face right now.”

“……”

The man was confused.

Why not now? He wanted to grab her hand and enter the wedding hall right away. No, at least she didn’t refuse.

The wind blew, tossing his hair. Spring was coming, but the wind that brushed against his nose was still cool.

Then it went dark.

“……Huh.”

Cedric woke up in the bedroom of his townhouse. He was sweating in his sleep, and his bangs were stuck to his forehead. He put strength into his arms to sit up.

“……It was a dream.”

Yes, it must have been a dream. There’s no way she would accept his proposal.

Looking up, he saw a red velvet ring box on the console table by the door.

“……”

He raised a hand to his head.

This is how his morning always started. And today, as always, he wished.

‘Please show up now. It’s been three years.’

His hand, gripping his bangs, tightened.

Knock knock. A servant knocked on the bedroom door.

“Sir… It’s time for you to go to the palace.”

…There’s no rest for the weary.

Cedric sighed and got ready to go to the palace.

* * *

The military council meeting held in Eleanor Imperial Palace was attended by the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and high-ranking military officers. Recently, meetings had been held too frequently due to the atmosphere suggesting a possible recurrence of the war with Litunia that had been narrowly avoided a few years ago.

“Suddenly talking about succession to the throne……”

One of the attendees sighed.

The Emperor of Litunia had suddenly passed away. Since there was no eldest son, the throne passed to a distant lineage. The nobles of Litunia were extremely divided into factions supporting and opposing the war, and the young new ruler belonged to the former.

This was because he was originally a giant munitions industry owner with iron ore mines as a backdrop.

But that wasn’t the only reason. There was a lot of talk among the imperial citizens about his ascension. War was a way to quickly foster patriotism and divert attention outside of the empire.

Moreover, it could increase support for him. Of course, if he won.

“I suppose the fact that soldiers who became useless after the war caused trouble in the city was also a reason.”

“That’s true for any country.”

“Litunia had it quite bad. No wonder they’re descendants of Vikings.”

The generals each expressed their thoughts on Litunia.

“Such an undignified nation.”

One of the high-ranking generals twirled his mustache as he spoke, and the soldier sitting opposite him frowned heavily. Rumor had it that he had a quarter of Litunian blood.

“All soldiers are like that.”

His words hung in the air, filling the meeting room with an icy silence since everyone there, except for members of the imperial family, was a soldier.

“……”

The Crown Prince coughed slightly and changed the subject.

“According to our spy planted there, it’s expected that Litunia will launch a preemptive attack within a month.”

“Let’s dispatch troops to the border area first.”

“The scale must not be large. There’s no need to make it obvious.”

Silence fell in the meeting room. The topic of who would be dispatched to the dangerous area was obvious.

The generals looked away, avoiding the Crown Prince’s gaze.

The Crown Prince, with his hands clasped and resting his face on them, sat at the edge of the table and spoke to a man with black hair sitting across from him.

“……Cedric.”

When his name was called, Cedric raised his head. The man, sitting like an old tree, turned his eyes towards the young Crown Prince. Their gazes met.

“Will you go?”

* * *

Little Port was a small city far from the capital and was behind in trends, but its people were simple, and it was overall peaceful.

In this peaceful city downtown, there was one store where people’s bustling never stopped. It sold smoked jerky and dried fruits, operated by a young mother.

Blair, the store owner, had settled downtown. She bought a small building and nearly spent all her alimony from her ex-husband on converting the second floor into a living space for raising her child.

Initially, she sold jewelry and miscellaneous goods sourced from nearby wholesalers in the city.

The problem arose after her child was born. The saying that a child is most comfortable in the womb proved true. A newborn baby requires attention in more ways than one could imagine. She couldn’t go out all day long.

Eventually, she changed her store’s products to jerky and dried fruits because meat and fruits could be delivered from nearby butcher shops and fruit stores.

While confined in Cavendish Manor, Cedric periodically sent her ingredients through his subordinates. Since he spitefully did not provide her with a maid, she always cooked for herself.

The quality of ingredients delivered at a set time each week was always good: red meat evenly distributed with fat and protein, green vegetables obviously freshly picked from the field, and plump fresh fruits.

However, since there was no guarantee that the man’s favor would continue, she always resisted the urge to cook them immediately and instead dried most of the ingredients well. When making jerky, she sprinkled leftover pepper on top. She carefully managed and dried fruits to prevent the growth of mold. After repeating this process several times, she developed her own technique.

…Yes, it was a hellish time, but it left her with something.

The jerky and dried fruits she sold soon became the talk of the town. Her ability to choose good spices, honed over three years of managing her husband’s trading company, also helped.

The port city of Little Port was a place where many ships stopped to resupply. Among sailors who were used to chewing on tasteless, poor-quality jerky, their response to her jerky, generously sprinkled with premium pepper, was explosive.

Three years after leaving the capital, Blair’s store had become a must-visit spot for ships passing through Little Port.

Initially, drying meat and fruit was her desperate attempt to survive, even if she were to be abandoned one day. It was ironic that this skill was now feeding them both.

She couldn’t ask for more. The store was thriving day by day, and her child was healthy and adorable. They weren’t wealthy, but they had enough to live comfortably.

‘…Leaving the capital was the right decision.’

Leaving Blue Port was the second major decision she had made in her life. The first was when she approached Cedric, who had come to fix their stable. If she hadn’t made the first move towards the shy man, they would not have ended up together.

She couldn’t say she never regretted that first decision, but she was always satisfied with the second. It was a well-made decision, and she was proud of the life she had built for herself for the first time.

Her son turned three this year.

When he was younger, she would carry him all day while running the store. But soon, there was a problem. The child’s growth was exceptional. Even for a boy, his height and weight were unusual.

When he turned three, she realized it was too much to care for him alone because of her severe wrist pain.

Eventually, she had to leave him at a nearby daycare for a few hours every day. The child was initially resistant, but soon he began to enjoy his time there once he made friends.