The Countess's Body Has Disappeared - Chapter 24

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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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Chapter 24
Esmeralda arrived bearing a bright bouquet of roses and freesias.
Her blonde hair was twisted into a shell-like spiral, and she wore a long gray coat that evoked a cloak—from the moment she stepped out of the car, she radiated an air of effortless theatrical presence.
It was a day when her makeup was flawless. She handed the bouquet to Davion, who had come to the entrance to greet her, and offered her pleasantries with practiced ease.
“You look remarkably well, considering what the articles say about your condition.”
“Rumors spread by investors with nothing better to do.”
“In that case, there was hardly any need for me to pay a sickbed visit at all. Ah, but the flowers are naturally a get-well gift. I thought actual presents would mean little to you.”
Davion glanced at the bouquet, then gestured lightly toward the interior of the Mansion.
“If you’re not pressed for time, would you care to stay a while?”
“My, do you think that would be all right?”
He swung the entrance door wide open—a wordless affirmation. They proceeded toward the Drawing Room with synchronized steps, just as they had at a party some time before.
Esmeralda’s height meant he didn’t need to slow his pace as he had when walking with Cecilia.
No matter how tall the heels Cecilia wore, her crown barely reached his chest. And sometimes when she’d tilt her head up to look at him, how endearing she’d been. He’d even teased her sometimes just to see that expression again.
Davion realized he’d been smiling to himself when he heard Esmeralda’s voice, dragging him back to the cold present.
“Do tell the Duchess that I’ve paid a visit. She’ll be delighted.”
They had arrived at the Drawing Room without noticing.
She considered even his mother’s feelings on his behalf, and he didn’t know what to make of such consideration. When Davion nodded, Esmeralda exhaled soundlessly and set her handbag on the sofa.
Without asking for tea, she scanned the Drawing Room with her eyes. Memories flooded through her mind like a procession of lanterns.
“This room has changed quite a lot.”
“It’s been well over four years since you and I met for the proposal. After my mother moved to the Riverside Penthouse, my wife decorated it according to her taste.”
Blake, who had always favored restrained elegance, had furnished the space in nothing but the most minimal palette. So each time he’d entered the Drawing Room, it had felt like viewing a black-and-white photograph—but now there was color.
Landscape paintings hung on the walls, and small decorative objects on the wooden cabinet by the window created harmony and warmth. Yet dust had accumulated thickly on the items, as if no one had bothered to clean carefully.
Esmeralda frowned and turned to look at Davion standing in the doorway.
“Was it here? Where I first met your wife?”
Instead of answering, Davion closed the Drawing Room door. It was a gesture meant to convey that their conversation must not leave this room.
“I still remember clearly how she looked—serving me tea with hands that seemed about to tremble, about to weep. And you, standing across from me, wore an expression of sheer defeat. I knew from that very moment that the two of you were no ordinary pair.”
“I still feel as though those days were only yesterday. Sometimes I find myself wishing I could go back.”
Davion, echoing the same moment from four years ago, let a faint smile play at the corners of his mouth. Cecilia of that era had been particularly pure—merely recalling her made his heart flutter like an untested boy’s.
“I’ve been redecorating my wife’s bedroom recently. So that it’s ready for her whenever she returns. I’ve even started keeping a cat—she’ll absolutely love it.”
“My lord…….”
Compassion spread across Esmeralda’s striking face.
She folded her hands and gently returned the dreaming man to reality.
“Your wife is dead.”
Davion’s lips went rigid at those words.
Standing by the window where late-winter sunlight poured in brilliantly, Esmeralda fixed him with an expression full of sorrow.
Davion caught the instant her gaze lingered on the ring adorning his left hand. His eyes grew distant, as though confronting a case of severe mental illness.
“Lady Esmeralda, when we were engaged, we once shared a secret. Can you keep another one?”
“Of course. Why would I speak your secret to anyone?”
“Cecilia is alive.”
In that moment, Esmeralda couldn’t even draw breath.
“My wife is right now walking this city on two perfectly sound legs. Her bag, which she lost, came into my hands by chance recently. Fortunately, she appears to have no injuries.”
Though not for the reasons Davion might have supposed, Esmeralda was struck so hard by shock that her mind reeled.
How? Since when has he known?
Countless unarticulated questions flickered simultaneously in her mind. But of course she couldn’t ask directly, so she had to think fast.
“That’s—impossible. We all attended her funeral. I saw with my own eyes as her body was committed to the ground……!”
“A fortnight after the funeral, we exhumed the grave. It was empty. A young gravedigger saw Cecilia emerge from the tomb. I can’t say exactly what method was used, but she is certainly alive.”
This cannot be. Esmeralda clenched her trembling hands and swallowed hard.
The image of Cecilia coughing blood at the Coffee Shop, choking back tears, flashed before her eyes. That poor woman clearly had no idea that her scheme had been discovered by her husband.
“I—it’s difficult to believe what you’re saying, but…… if your wife truly is alive, why not simply let her go?”
Davion’s answer came a beat too late.
“……I beg your pardon?”
When his eyes twisted with emotion, even Esmeralda—hardened by every trial—reflexively flinched and stepped back. Davion seemed unaware of it himself, but his features were harsh enough that when he expressed anger, he became decidedly menacing.
“Perhaps she had good reason to run away. You love your wife—my lord. Then respect her choice.”
Davion’s face went blank with incredulity as he stared at her.
“Lady Esmeralda, I have loved Cecilia enough to give my very life. So when my wife took her own life, I felt—nothing. As though it were all a dream, someone else’s tragedy.”
Even as he discovered her cold body and conducted her funeral, it had felt unreal—like watching someone else’s misfortune. Only when he learned she was alive did he finally comprehend the truth.
The nightmare came one night, without warning.
Davion snapped awake, drenched in sickly cold sweat.
As the dream’s afterimage faded, the sound of the Desk Clock ticking in the darkness gradually sharpened. Rain fell from that night’s sky—a quiet winter shower.
Despite the deep hour before dawn, Davion climbed from bed with but one reason: he wanted to see Cecilia. To hold her, and under the pretext of having had a nightmare, to indulge in just a moment of childish dependence.
But as he walked through the silent corridor, a fact he’d buried deep came down upon him like a bolt from the sky.
Ah. That’s right. Cecilia had left.
And she’d even pretended to be dead while doing it, abandoning me……
It was from that moment onward. That’s when everything began to crumble like a sandcastle on the shore.
Soon enough the storm clouds parted, and a bluish dawn light settled over the rain-soaked earth. Davion stood like a phantom in the hallway leading to Cecilia’s bedroom until morning came, finally confronting the reality he’d been refusing to see.
This morning—and every morning after—Cecilia won’t be here. Tomorrow will be the same. And the day after that. And the day after that.
Then what am I supposed to do……
How am I supposed to live?
“She stages her own suicide to put me through hell itself, and meanwhile Cecilia walks around freely on two perfectly good legs! And you expect me to accept our separation just because she claims to love me?”
Davion’s brow twisted in anguish once more.
But this time it was sorrow, not rage.
“Is this some kind of joke?”

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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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