The Countess's Body Has Disappeared - Chapter 64

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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 64
“Wait, just a moment. What time is it right now?”
When Cecilia’s breathing suddenly grew ragged, Davion frowned and hurried to check his watch.
“Just past ten.”
“What? Ten o’clock?!”
Cecilia’s face drained of color in an instant, and she pushed Davion away roughly. Snatching up the shoes she’d left on a nearby table, she spoke in scattered, frantic bursts.
“Good heavens, how did it get this late? I don’t have time for this. I need to leave right now. I only came to check on you, and I just slipped out without telling anyone. I’m going to be in such trouble when I get back. And Grandmother will be worried, and — well, I have to go this instant!”
“……What?”
Davion, still in a daze, quickly grasped the situation and sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead.
Before he could even scold himself for his foolishness, he hastily emptied all the cash from his wallet and pressed it into Cecilia’s hand.
“Take a car when you go home. Don’t walk.”
Cecilia checked the thickness of the bills and made to return them in surprise. But before she could, Davion opened the hospital room door first, pushing her toward it and calling out urgently.
“Go, quickly! At this rate they’ll file a missing person report!”
Cecilia, who had hesitated, squeezed his left arm tightly once before bolting down the corridor with her shoes clutched to her chest. But as if she might disappear altogether, she suddenly rushed back and pressed something firmly into his hand.
“Make sure you don’t get worse.”
It was two crumpled Band-Aids.
Davion watched the direction she’d gone until her footsteps faded from earshot, then carefully placed the Band-Aids inside his now-empty wallet. After hiding the wallet beneath his pillow, he left the room and dialed the telephone at the corridor window counter.
“Ah, it’s me. I’m sorry for the sudden call.”
Davion cleared his hoarse voice and ran a rough hand through his hair.
“The thing is, I sent a housemaid on an errand this afternoon by phone…….”
The bridge of his nose stung slightly.
.
.
.
“Let’s get married.”
It was the first thing Davion said to Cecilia after returning to the Manor.
It was also what he’d said the moment he woke up at exactly seven in the morning.
Cecilia, busy changing the pillowcase, glanced at Davion, who lay sprawled on the bed. Then she set down the pillow and answered.
“No.”
“……Why?”
“Because it’s realistically impossible. You’re only saying this because you hit your head.”
“What era are we living in, Cecilia? A single piece of paper is all it takes for anyone to become a married couple.”
“I’m not running away with you.”
Davion’s eyebrows twitched.
Though he held the same conviction, hearing those words from Cecilia’s own lips somehow made his mood twist in an oddly uncomfortable way.
“Hmm. Why?”
“Because I’m not foolish enough to stake my entire life on a man I’ve known for merely three months.”
At least she didn’t say she disliked him……. He decided to settle for this much for now.
In that pause, Cecilia continued.
“Besides, you’re getting engaged to that actress tomorrow anyway. Grandmother says a man who hedges his bets even in his heart is the worst kind.”
Davion filled out the two-week hospitalization period the doctor had prescribed before he could return to the Manor. In that time, the autumn colors had deepened and the season had grown colder.
When Davion announced his intention to become engaged to Esmeralda, Blake, finally at ease, completed all the preparations for the engagement to take place immediately upon his discharge. Those were days when everyone came to understand just how swiftly things could move when like-minded adults put their minds to it.
Davion sat up and smoothed down his tangled hair.
He could not lay bare to Cecilia the conversation he’d had with Esmeralda. To do so would require revealing not only the existence of the slush fund but also the truth behind the traffic accident. Especially the latter……. Absolutely not.
Merely imagining the reaction she would show, Davion was seized by terror and trembled.
Just then Cecilia quietly extended her hand toward him. She held out the pillow she’d been leaning against moments before, and Davion, in the end, only mustered a meek objection.
“Didn’t you hear what Mother said? Now that even engagement cancellation lawsuits have vanished, an engagement is nothing but empty formality.”
“I’ve completely resolved my feelings toward you.”
Davion turned her words over in his mind, then made an expression that was neither quite a smile nor quite a frown.
“So you’re wetting your lips and telling lies?”
Cecilia’s cheeks flushed as deeply as ripe peaches. She hurled the pillow at Davion’s face, her voice sharp and final.
“Marriage is out of the question, period!”
“Let’s get married.”
The next morning, it was the first thing Davion said to Cecilia the moment he woke.
……Was it déjà vu? He felt as though he’d lived this moment before. Just as Cecilia was about to answer “no,” this time Davion struck first.
“Fine then. How about you tell me why you don’t want to marry me? Not that I’m giving up, mind you.”
Cecilia rolled her eyes. As she hurried toward the sunlit window carrying a dry towel and a bucket, Davion quickly threw off his blankets and got up.
Cecilia searched the surroundings for a small stool to stand on. Davion took the towel from her hands and instead stretched his own arm to begin wiping the tall window himself.
While he did so, he looked down at her and raised his eyebrows once, prompting her for an answer. Cecilia exhaled a long sigh through her nose.
“There are plenty of reasons. I’m afraid of what others will think. It’s daunting. I’m not at all suited to be your wife. And most of all……you’ll definitely come to deeply regret marrying me.”
Cecilia scrunched her brow, then squeezed her eyes shut altogether.
“I was abandoned by my mother. I can’t bear to be abandoned by my husband too.”
Davion’s face twisted in response. Yet even as he silently objected that it was mere conjecture, he found his lips sealed. How could he prove a future that hadn’t yet arrived?
“Cecilia, I—”
Just then, someone knocked on the door, cutting off his words.
Cecilia, who had taken the towel from his hands, gestured with her eyes for him to go check. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Davion crossed the bedroom and cracked the door open just slightly.
A Formal Uniform hung crisply ironed on the doorknob.
An engagement doomed to fail anyway—was there really any reason to be this ceremonious over something as simple as stamping a document? As he examined the uniform with reluctant eyes, Cecilia, who had dragged over a stool from the corner, spoke gently to him.
“Go do well with the engagement.”
Davion set down the uniform and looked at Cecilia.
She stood on the stool, her eyes bright and expectant, as if waiting for his reply.
“You stand up straight too.”
Of course, he didn’t mean a word of it.
“But don’t look too pretty while you’re at it.”
Cecilia quickly turned away and covered her mouth.
A moment later, he heard her burst into soft laughter. Davion rubbed his face repeatedly, trying to hide his miserable expression, but eventually he couldn’t hold back. “Please,” he pleaded, “couldn’t you just tell them I can’t go, even now?”

Cecilia bit her lip hard, her shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter.
* * *
Blinking her mascara-lined eyes, Cecilia stood motionless before the full-length mirror, sunlight streaming down upon her.
As she turned her head absently, Kate’s figure came into the corner of her view. Sitting on the edge of the bed with one leg crossed, Kate was toying with the ends of her red hair.
“In my next life, I’m definitely being born with white hair.”
Over her murmur, a stream of affectionate advice unfolded around them.
“The moment you arrive, smile no matter what. A good first impression is everything.”
“And be careful with coffee. You’ll be running to the bathroom constantly.”
“Oh, and definitely check whether the hair is a wig or not. For the sake of the next generation, you know.”
“Yes. I will.”
Cecilia nodded with a solemn expression. In the mirror stood a stranger dressed in a soft pink One-piece Dress.

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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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