The Countess's Body Has Disappeared - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 20
She needed to earn money, so she’d forced herself to come to work somehow, but her mind was so unsettled that nothing would stick. Even the Sandwich Arkan had packed for her lunch tasted like flavorless rubber.
Cecilia sat hunched in the corner of a break room table, chewing the Sandwich mechanically, until someone finally spoke to her.
“How did you manage to land him?”
At first she thought it was meant for someone else and let it pass unheeded. Then she felt multiple gazes hitting her profile and slowly turned her head.
Her coworkers had gathered around the table—as if they’d planned it beforehand—and were now staring intently at Cecilia.
She choked in surprise and swallowed everything in her mouth at once.
Gulp.
“W-what do you mean, how did I land him?”
Her coworkers burst into laughter.
“Your husband! How did you manage to get him?”
“Where would you even find a man like that? Look at my face—I’m being completely serious right now.”
Most of the Concert Hall cleaners were women, and among them were several around Cecilia’s age who were still unmarried. Their eyes burned with particular intensity.
“He looks like he was in the military—did your families arrange a formal introduction?”
“No, it wasn’t anything like that.”
Davion’s face surfaced in her mind after so long, and Cecilia squeezed her eyes shut then opened them again.
She’d considered lying, but once you start making up a story, you have to keep adjusting the details to match. And if she got caught, she’d earn their resentment for sure. Given that she didn’t know how much longer she’d be working here, that was hardly a wise choice.
Besides, these people were never going to meet him anyway….
Cecilia resolved to tell the truth.
“I just met him while catching fish at the Stream one day. I saw a man I’d never met before smoking down by the water’s edge.”
Of course, the man they imagined and the man she remembered were entirely different.
“What?”
Her coworkers exchanged glances, then all wore expressions of disbelief in unison.
“You don’t want to tell us, is that it?”
At that, Cecilia beat her chest in protest and raised her voice.
“No, I’m telling you the truth! I met him while catching fish at the Stream. Then we fell in love and got married!”
Someone muttered quietly, wondering if there really was such a productive fishing spot.
“How many years have you been married?”
The woman sitting directly beside Cecilia leaned forward with interest. A delicate Platinum Ring glimmered on her left ring finger.
“Well, we’re just entering our fifth year. We only dated for about half a year before getting married, but right after the wedding my husband left on a Deployment, so we never really had a proper honeymoon.”
“A Deployment? You mean you spent the whole newlywed period alone in an empty house without your husband?”
“No, that’s not quite it. My older brother-in-law stayed with us and handled all the household affairs. My husband has an older brother with quite an age gap, and although the family doesn’t think very highly of him because he causes trouble, he was very kind to me.”
“Hmm. May I ask how much older your husband is than you?”
“Two years. He lied during our courtship, so at first I thought I was the older one, but it turned out he was actually the senior.”
“So your husband was the one who proposed first, yes?”
This time the question came from the woman sitting across from her.
She too had her hands clasped on the table and was leaning forward toward Cecilia with all her attention.
‘A proposal….’
A faint blush crept across the bridge of Cecilia’s nose. As she slowly retraced those days, her still heart seemed to beat again.
“Yes. Actually, he proposed quite a few times…. I’m not exactly sure how many.”
“What?”
“Maybe five times? We kept loving each other, but marriage is a different matter entirely…. The day I accepted his proposal, we went straight to a little church in the countryside and had a wedding with no guests. That’s why we had to spend our first night in a Stable.”
“A, a Stable…?”
“Oh, did I say too much detail? Just forget that last part.”
Cecilia’s cheeks flushed and she tugged at the back of her neck, while her coworkers sat frozen in shock.
What kind of bewitching charm did this plain-looking woman possess that such a man would be so devoted to her? This woman must have saved a nation in her past life!
“I know. He’s far too good for me.”
Unable to bear their reactions, Cecilia murmured while her ears turned crimson.
Fortunately, once lunch ended, the conversation wrapped up quickly.
The cleaners each took their assigned areas to clean and maintain supplies.
Cecilia was responsible for the backstage of the Grand Theater. She had to check the lifts and clean around the actors’ waiting rooms, though it was no simple task. The stage was so vast that there were five waiting rooms alone.
After inspecting the lifts, Cecilia was mopping the corridor connecting the stage and the waiting rooms when a door at the end burst open, and a soprano-high female voice rang out.
“Esmeralda. Your shoes are here.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The thud of High Heels hitting the floor followed. Cecilia’s face turned ashen as she quickly turned her body toward the wall.
Oh no—did Esmeralda have a rehearsal scheduled for today?
‘Wait, has my face gone back to normal yet?’
After confirming that the pockmarks on her face had returned, she quickly gathered her hair into a ponytail to avoid drawing attention. While she smoothly removed herself from the area, the two actresses sat on a bench in front of the waiting room and put on their High Heels.
Esmeralda had her silken blonde hair gathered in a neat bun and wore a comfortable gray practice tunic. Though she suffered from the prejudice that a famous actress from a wealthy family must be arrogant, she was actually a very straightforward person.
You could tell just by watching her shove her feet into the High Heels in haste. When her fellow actress, who had finished preparing earlier, watched in amazement, Esmeralda quickly spoke up as if to explain.
“In winter, my feet swell up for some reason. Next time I’ll have to get shoes a size larger.”
“I read in a magazine that if you soak your feet in salt water, the swelling goes down quickly.”
“Really? I’ll have to try that when I get home.”
She secured the High Heels with tape as best she could, then made her way along the familiar corridor toward the stage. Behind the elevator at the corner, a janitor was mopping the floor.
On any other day, she would have simply passed by. But today, for some reason, that small shadow rustling and moving about caught her attention in an oddly unsettling way.
“What’s wrong?”
When Esmeralda suddenly stopped, the actress ahead whispered the question. Esmeralda brought a finger to her lips, gesturing for silence, then waved her forward.
Left alone backstage, she stood motionless for some time, her gaze fixed on the janitor.
It was a curious thing indeed. White hair was never common in this country, yet that back of the head visible behind the elevator felt strangely, unmistakably familiar.
‘Could it be…?’
Esmeralda’s legs began to move slowly toward the elevator.
* * *
Cecilia listened intently to the footsteps drawing gradually closer.
The footsteps were heavy—sounded like a man’s gait. She didn’t know who it was, but the gaze being directed at her was so piercing it felt as though her skull might break through. Heat crawled up the back of her neck.
Cecilia swallowed hard, her throat dry.
Nagi and Rubi weren’t here. She recalled being told before that vagrants had been spotted in the Concert Hall lately. Having already been kidnapped once, she gripped the Mop firmly in both hands like a weapon and turned carefully to look behind her.
And she saw Esmeralda.
Beyond the elevator, the woman stood with her eyes narrowed to slits, staring directly at her.
“…Lady Winterhall?”
A gasp escaped her.
Cecilia’s head dropped in startled haste.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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