The Countess's Body Has Disappeared - Chapter 71

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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 71
Davion’s eyes widened as though he couldn’t trust his own ears, fixed on Cecilia.
“Really? You’re serious?”
But joy had no time to blossom before his brow furrowed again.
“But I haven’t gotten Mother’s permission yet—”
“Marry me. Just promise me one thing. Promise you’ll stay by my side forever.”
Cecilia curled her fist and pressed it against his left chest. She drew a deep breath, closed her eyes, and screamed with every ounce of her strength.
“Don’t you ever abandon me. Not for any reason. I won’t forgive you if you do!”
Instead of answering, Davion pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
They stood with their foreheads touching, both catching their breath for a moment. Then Cecilia remembered what Davion had said just moments before, and a belated worry crept over her.
“But how are we going to tell your mother about this…?”
After a few seconds of silence, Davion let out a heavy sigh and opened his mouth.
“I’ve just thought of a way. But you won’t like it.”
“I don’t care. Let’s do it.”
Davion steadied himself and gripped Cecilia’s hand firmly.
“Get in the car. We need to have the wedding ceremony right now!”
“What?”
“We have to find a church with a priest before dawn breaks!”
They clasped each other’s hands and bolted across the chapel.
Rain poured from the sky as though it had torn through the clouds.
Cecilia hurried to open the car door and climbed into the passenger seat. Davion, his rain-soaked hands gripping the wheel, turned the car around without hesitation and pressed hard on the accelerator.
For a moment, as if entranced, Cecilia turned to look behind them. The city, trapped within the rectangular window frame, was rapidly receding into the distance.
Four years earlier, that winter. They had fled to the countryside together and held a small, secret wedding ceremony—just the two of them.
A mad marriage, that’s what it had been.
2-8. The Newlywed Period
Crack!
Davion’s face snapped to the left. Before he could turn back to look forward, another sharp sound rang out and his head jerked backward.
Blake swung her hand without so much as a tremor, her eye unwavering. Yet Davion could feel the towering fury radiating from his mother’s entire body.
“Call it off.”
“I cannot.”
He spoke with his hands clasped behind his back.
“We’ve already received the Priest’s Blessing and held the wedding ceremony. Now the only way to undo this marriage is divorce. Of course, I will never do that.”
“You’re not pregnant, are you?”
At those words, Davion found himself strangely amused.
“Ah. That would have made things easier, wouldn’t it?”
Crack! His face snapped to the side once more.
Davion furrowed the space between his brows and pressed the back of his hand gently against his lips. He tasted blood, and sure enough, a thin line of it smeared across his knuckles.
“Insane children. I should have rooted her out the moment you started speaking of women…”
Only after splitting her son’s lip did Blake regain her breath and collapse onto the sofa.
She wiped her hands on a handkerchief and poured wine. Her hand trembled visibly as she tilted the bottle.
“Where is that girl now?”
“You cannot see Cecilia, Mother.”
At that, Blake stopped pouring and glared at him.
“Shut your mouth and bring her here. I have to clean up the mess you’ve made!”
Thud. The wine bottle struck the table with a dull thud. Davion’s hands, clasped behind his back, bore veins that stood out like blue cords.
Blake breathed hot fury between her clenched teeth, then picked up her wine glass—its contents sloshing—and leaned back against the sofa.
“Not a drop of water passes my lips until that wench appears before my eyes. You understand?”
She took a sip of wine, then set it down as though even that had become distasteful to her.
* * *
Davion’s black sedan was parked behind the mansion’s stone wall.
He loosened the necktie that had been constricting him and pushed his body into the car. As he gripped the wheel and habitually glanced to the side, his eyes fell on the empty passenger seat.
“…Cecilia?”
He twisted his torso to check the back seat, which was equally bare. Davion’s face drained of color in an instant.
Surely not. Seized by a wave of dizziness, he gasped for breath and looked frantically around.
“Cecilia? Cecilia? Dear?”
“I’m here…”
A faint whisper came from somewhere, and Cecilia slowly rose from beneath the back seat. She had been crouched there so long that her hair was disheveled, and her pale face had taken on a darkened, bluish cast from the blood pooling in her head.
Relief had no chance to settle before bewilderment seized Davion.
“What were you doing down there?”
“I was afraid… someone might throw a stone if they saw me…”
Cecilia, who had been murmuring, flushed pink all the way to the tips of her ears. A loose, relieved laugh escaped between Davion’s lips.
“Who would throw stones at you, Cecilia?”
He reached out and began quickly smoothing her tangled hair, and as he did, Cecilia’s brow gradually furrowed. She had spotted the distinct handprints blooming across Davion’s cheek.
“How many times did you get hit?”
“Hmm. Far fewer than I deserved, actually.”
He held up all five fingers to demonstrate. Cecilia could only sigh.
“Well, whether it’s fortune or misfortune, our mother’s tongue is sharper than her hand.”
Davion pushed open the passenger door and spoke as he did. Cecilia peered out the window with the caution of a spy on a covert mission, then slipped quickly outside and settled into the passenger seat.
“So what did your mother say?”
“To bring you to her. That’s all.”
The engine rumbled to life with a low growl. Davion turned the wheel smoothly and pulled out from beneath the stone wall.
Barely a week had passed since they finished the wedding in the countryside and returned to the city. The two of them had been spending their newlywed period in a hotel room.
As he drove, Davion kept glancing at the passenger seat. Cecilia’s gaze remained fixed ahead, but her fingers fidgeting against her thigh spoke volumes about the turmoil in her mind.
What she was thinking was obvious enough. Before Cecilia could sink deeper into worry, Davion hastened to speak.
“There’s no need to go, my dear. We’ll bring the animals over soon enough, and I’ll look for a house for us to live in together.”
“Don’t lie. Your mother wouldn’t have said only to bring me to her.”
Deep furrows appeared in Davion’s brow, then smoothed away just as quickly.
When he chose to keep silent, Cecilia shot him a sidelong glance of perfect proportions and pressed for an answer.
“Didn’t we promise each other we’d have no secrets?”
At that, Davion had no choice but to speak.
“She says she won’t have so much as a drop of water pass her lips until you’re brought to her. But don’t worry. You needn’t concern yourself with it.”
Davion adjusted his grip on the wheel, then reached over and gently stroked Cecilia’s cheek with the back of his hand. Cecilia turned her attention back to the road ahead, lost in thought.
A silence followed—far deeper and longer than before. Just as Davion’s anxiety was about to reach its peak, a single sentence fell like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
“I want to move back in with you.”
Screech! The tires scraped against the concrete.
Davion pulled the car onto the shoulder and turned to Cecilia with wide, startled eyes.
“Cecilia!”
“Your mother is someone who does what she says. If something really happened to her because of this, what would I do?”
“Even if that were the case, there’s no reason for you to go back to the Manor. I’m not saying this lightly!”
“I’m not saying it lightly either.”
Davion cut the engine, and the low rumble of the motor ceased abruptly. The prospect of a long conversation already gave him a dull ache in his head.
“You don’t have a family home to fall back on if something happens to you. If you move in and settle down there, then even if you want to escape later, you won’t be able to, will you?”
“You’re the one who has to drag yourself back and forth every morning. You’ll have to keep doing that at least until your vacation ends.”
“That’s just a matter of me being a little more diligent. You don’t need to worry yourself over it.”
“I know. But I don’t like being alone, waiting all day with my neck craned for you to come back either. Didn’t you marry me because you wanted to be with me? If we were only going to see each other at night after getting married, what’s the difference from when we were dating?”
That was…….

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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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