The Creditor Is My Husband? - Chapter 50

‘Who would have thought we’d come here right before the wedding.’

Visiting the grave of the bride’s deceased birth mother wasn’t exactly something to be criticized. If anything, it might be praised as a thoughtful consideration.

Especially considering the time it took to reach this public cemetery located on the outskirts of the capital…

‘But I didn’t even want this.’

Giselle unconsciously gripped the hem of her dress tightly.

It was clearly her fault for not even thinking of visiting this place before the wedding.

Saying it was because she had no memories or affection for the mother who died shortly after giving birth to her was just a poor excuse.

“From now on, I’ll take care of it. Or rather, how about moving her to the Taylor family burial ground…”

“No. I’ll take care of it myself.”

Giselle, lost in thoughts about her birth mother, heard Lucas’s words and frantically waved her hands in refusal.

Was it because she heard something so absurd?

It felt as if something heavy pressing down on her chest had suddenly shattered and scattered.

Along with that, whatever had been holding her legs in place seemed to lose its strength, and her feet that had seemed unlikely to move finally lifted from the spot.

She impulsively took a step forward.

One step, two steps, three steps…

‘It’s not a big deal after all.’

Giselle let out a small laugh at herself, finding it ridiculous that she was now automatically heading towards her birth mother’s grave once she took the first step.

Just as she was about to pass through the narrow path leading to the grave, Lucas reached out from beside her and embraced her shoulder.

“……!”

“Be careful.”

As Giselle turned to him in surprise, Lucas cautioned her while pushing aside a protruding tree branch in front of her.

“Ah… thank you.”

Only then did she realize that she could have scratched her face on the branch, and she belatedly thanked him.

Lucas shrugged lightly, then released his hand from her shoulder and strode forward.

Thud.

Thud thud.

With each pass of his hand, the unruly branches were neatly cleared away. Thanks to this, it became much easier to walk through the path.

Giselle slowly entered the inner area following the path Lucas had cleared.

Perhaps because it was a place where the dead slept, everything was quiet.

Not even the chirping of birds or the rustling of small animals moving about could be heard.

As though they didn’t want to wake the long sleep of the deceased.

It felt like a space for people forgotten by the world.

‘Well, that’s not wrong.’

The dead are bound to be forgotten in the memories of the living someday.

Even between those who loved each other deeply…

She approached her mother’s grave and stopped in front of it. She could see moss thickly covering the unmaintained gravestone.

[You and I… death…]

Giselle looked down at the epitaph barely visible between the moss and chuckled. Then, without turning to Lucas who had come up right beside her, she spoke.

“This epitaph.”

“……”

“I heard my father wrote it himself. Filled with his love and grief.”

A young noble couple fell in love at first sight.

The woman was fresh-faced and incredibly kind. The man loved such a woman, and the two married and were blessed with a child.

[Edith Ann… …]

Giselle quietly mouthed her birth mother’s name, partially covered by moss in places.

Although the years of her birth and death were completely hidden by the moss, she wasn’t unaware of when the one who gave birth to her was born and died.

Edith Anticia.

All she knew about her birth mother was a life composed of a name and a few numbers.

She didn’t even know her birth mother’s face. She had heard that the first thing her new mother did after marriage was to remove the portrait of her husband’s former wife.

It wasn’t incomprehensible. What woman would want to hang a picture of her husband’s former wife, especially one who had passed away, in her home?

But…

Giselle gave a bitter smile, then pointed to the sentences written below her mother’s name. Although moss covered parts of it, it wasn’t completely unreadable.

“It’s quite eloquent, isn’t it? Someone who doesn’t know anything might mistakenly think, ‘Ah, they must have really loved each other.'”

Her voice was tinged with mockery. Lucas furrowed his brow at her attitude, so unlike the usually bright and positive Giselle.

The shade from the overgrown trees made it difficult to see her expression clearly.

“But you know what? William was born less than a month after I was born. It was just days after my mother passed away.”

The nanny often lamented while holding the young her. She probably thought the young miss wouldn’t understand.

But Giselle was quite perceptive even as a child, more so than the nanny expected.

Although she didn’t fully understand the circumstances of adults, she could at least sense that the small age gap between herself and William was something improper and wrong.

‘When I was young, I even thought it was my fault.’

She believed her birth mother had died because of her. So the child who was always plagued by guilt even thought that the small difference between her birthday and her half-brother’s was her fault.

At least until she grew a bit older and realized it was evidence of her father’s infidelity.

Giselle sneered coldly. At the same time, she felt Lucas’s gaze on her, but she didn’t turn to look at him and quietly crouched down.

She didn’t mind that the carefully prepared dress was getting dirty with dust.

“……”

She hesitated before reaching out towards the gravestone. The cold chill of the marble transmitted clearly through her lace gloves.

Giselle took off her gloves and touched the gravestone again. Yellow dust immediately dirtied her fingertips.

Lucas momentarily narrowed his eyes at the sight but didn’t stop her.

A moment of silence passed.

The tree shadow that had been covering more than half of Giselle’s face gradually shifted, revealing her pale face almost entirely.

She looked at her mother’s grave for a moment with a pale complexion, then stood up.

“That’s enough. Let’s go now.”

Lucas, who had been standing still, finally nodded towards her and then turned his gaze to the grave.

He wondered what thoughts she had in front of her mother’s grave, who had died at an age younger than she was now.

He was suddenly curious but didn’t voice his question.

“You should clean your hands first.”

Instead, he handed Giselle his handkerchief.

* * *

“It’s President Taylor’s car!”

“Where have you been on your wedding day, President?”

“Lady Anticia! Could you look over here please?”

As soon as Lucas’s car passed through the main gate, flashes went off everywhere and shouts erupted. These were reporters gathered to cover the wedding of the century.

“…Hic!”

Giselle hiccupped in shock when she saw a reporter tapping on the window right next to her, holding up a camera. Seeing this, Lucas clicked his tongue and frowned.

“Don’t look at them, just ignore them.”

“I want to ignore them, but… hic…”

She started to respond to his words but flinched again at the sound of someone tapping on the window. Then, nervously glancing towards the window, she asked him in a small voice.

“Surely the car windows won’t break, right?”

“What?”

Lucas, who had been looking irritatedly at the reporters surrounding the car, turned to her with a bewildered expression. Giselle, seeing his look of disbelief, added sheepishly.

“You never know, right?”

“Giselle, I swear…”

He was at a loss for words, then ended up chuckling. He felt his nerves, which had been on edge because of the reporters, relax at her words.

Riding in a bulletproof car that even bullets couldn’t penetrate, yet worrying about the windows breaking.

Lucas’s lips unconsciously softened at the unexpectedly naive behavior of a woman who was usually so capable and intelligent when studying or working.

At that moment, the sound of people coming out from inside the mansion was heard, and the reporters blocking the front of the car began to move to both sides.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they were pushed aside than moving on their own.

“President, you’ve arrived!”

The person who had pushed the reporters to the side of the road was the old butler, Bushin. He approached urgently, standing at the front as if he were a prophet appearing in the parted sea.

Lucas finally opened the window slightly and nodded towards him.

“We’re a bit late. Are the preparations done?”

“Everything is ready. And His Highness the Crown Prince is waiting…”

“Hic!”

Before the butler could finish speaking, a hiccup was heard from inside the car. Bushin’s wrinkled eyes automatically turned to Giselle, who was sitting next to Lucas.

Giselle, covering her mouth with her hand, hid her reddened cheeks in embarrassment and awkwardly nodded a greeting.

“I’ll greet His Highness separately. I’ll receive other reports once we’re inside.”

Lucas glanced at Giselle with a smirk, then briefly replied to Bushin and closed the window. However, just before the window closed, her voice leaked out very softly.

“The Crown Prince is here? Did you know His Highness was coming to our wedding today? How could you… You should have told me earlier!”

Bushin stepped back, swallowing a laugh at the voice scolding Lucas in surprise.

And taking advantage of the opened path, the car started moving again. The reporters, blocked by the Taylor family employees, desperately pressed their camera shutters at the back of the car, trying to catch even one shot with frustrated expressions.