Chapter 65
Afterward, the three of them grew remarkably close. Contrary to her poor first impression of him, the Cedric Godwell she came to know little by little was a slightly peculiar, but kind and considerate man. After Rowena learned that Cedric had played well with Damian while she was absorbed in writing, she began to open her heart to him, bit by bit.
He had his oddities, but he was a man accustomed to winning people’s favor. Above all, Cedric’s stories—of traveling all over the continent for his research and amassing all sorts of experiences—stimulated her curiosity the more they talked.
“The most fascinating mineral of all is a gemstone called opal.”
“Opal?”
“Just as the name suggests, it’s a gemstone with eight colors of light. It isn’t well known here yet, but on the opposite continent, people can’t get their hands on it even if they want to.”
Cedric took a small case from his jacket and opened the lid. But what appeared was not the dazzling jewel she had expected, but a cloudy, milky-white mineral.
“This is a gemstone?”
Just as the disappointed Rowena tilted her head, Cedric drew the curtain and held the opal up to the sunlight. At once, a brilliant array of colors passed through it and shone onto the wooden floor. At the magical sight, Rowena’s lips parted of their own accord. As if he had anticipated her reaction, Cedric smiled and added,
“An eternally unchanging, noble diamond is nice too, but I think a gemstone with such varied colors is more charming.”
“It really is beautiful.”
“It knows when it should shine.”
With a smile, Cedric abruptly lifted one of Rowena’s hands. Then he placed the sparkling opal in her palm and curled her fingers into a fist around it.
“Wh-what are you……”
When his large hand wrapped around the back of hers, warm heat flowed across her skin. Rowena flinched at the natural contact, but only for a moment. Cedric withdrew his hand and whispered,
“It’s a gift.”
There was no sexual implication or seduction whatsoever in his eyes. Instead, Rowena found herself feeling awkward and quietly refused.
“I can’t accept something this precious.”
“Think of it as an apology for what happened last time.”
“By last time, you mean…”
Instead of answering, Cedric mimed a beak with both hands. He meant the incident when he had called her a hen.
“I wasn’t exactly blameless then either. I should be the one…”
Rowena lowered her gaze, her face reddening. She was the sort of person who would simply endure most insults in silence. Perhaps her personality had changed with her surroundings, but even after she had slapped him in a fit of anger, she had been rather surprised at herself. She wondered if such courage had really existed in her.
Now that she thought about it, in front of this man, she felt as though she returned to the innocent young girl she had once been. When she had been in the position of the duke’s mistress, she had struggled desperately to become a woman others would not be ashamed to see. Now, she was simply living as she was, without watching anyone’s eyes. Though she had not known him for long, she felt strangely at ease with him.
“You should be the one?”
Repeating the trailing words that had dwindled as if they were sinking into the floor, Cedric bent slightly at the waist and brought his eyes level with hers.
“I’m sorry I hit you……”
Rowena tensed again at the suddenly closer distance and hunched her shoulders, but he lifted the corners of his mouth and added in a low voice like a whisper,
“It’s all right. I deserved it. And…”
“And?”
“I enjoyed it.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t know if this is a cliché line, but you’re the second woman ever to hit me.”
“……
Isn’t it usually, ‘You’re the first woman ever to hit me’?”
“Unfortunately, the first woman was my elder sister Loren.”
“That makes sense.”
Rowena let out a small laugh and, without realizing it, raised her head. Once again, his platinum-blond hair caught her eye as it reflected the sunlight. It was as colorful as the opal in her hand. His wavy hair made him look like a puppy, and she felt an impulsive urge to stroke it. The moment her gaze met his amethyst-like eyes through his tousled bangs, Cedric gently curved his long eyes.
“Are you disappointed you weren’t the first?”
“As if that would be something to be disappointed about.”
Embarrassed that she had stared, even if only for a moment, Rowena cleared her throat. Belatedly regaining her senses, she was about to return the opal when his long fingers suddenly touched her cheek. As Rowena froze like a rabbit caught in a trap and blinked her large eyes, Cedric explained softly,
“An eyelash was stuck there.”
“……”
Rowena widened her eyes at the strange, unreadable look in his, but just then, a cheerful voice broke the silence.
“Mom. What’s that?”
She froze for only an instant. Startled that Damian, who had just woken from his nap and come downstairs, might have seen what had just happened, Rowena was momentarily at a loss for words. Cedric, on the other hand, turned his head with a nonchalant expression and answered in her stead.
“What do you think it is? Guess.”
“I’ve never seen it before.”
“Ah, this is…”
Rowena belatedly came to her senses and was about to say something, but Cedric cut her off.
“It’s called an opal. Do you want it?”
“Yeah!”
“Then you have to say, ‘Please give it to me.’”
“Please give it to me.”
With eyes sparkling brightly, Damian held out both hands to his mother.
Rowena already had many reasons to feel sorry toward Damian. Finding it difficult to shake her head firmly, she quietly averted her gaze.
“Damian. This isn’t mine…”
She was about to refuse indirectly when Cedric grinned and proposed,
“If it bothers you that much to accept it, then come into town with me for a bit this weekend instead.”
* * *
If it was an invitation to a date, she had intended to refuse, but anticlimactically, what Cedric proposed was merely “accompanying” him.
The first place they stopped after getting out of the carriage was none other than a bookstore. It was a place Rowena knew well too. As soon as they entered the shop bustling with people, Cedric picked up a book.
“Here it is. The popular works corner.”
What he held up was none other than Rowena’s book, published under the name Diana. Cedric gestured with his eyes toward the long line at the cashier.
“How does it feel? Seeing the reward for your hard work.”
It had begun with the kindness of the bookstore owner, an acquaintance of Loren’s, who had placed it at the front of the display. The decisive moment came when it caught the eye of a local reporter and received a favorable review in a powerful provincial daily newspaper.
The finely crafted novel, which portrayed an ordinary girl’s life in an extraordinary way, was the autobiographical story of a country girl. It told of a girl deceived by a wicked factory owner and forced into harsh labor in the city, where she met a man. He was wealthy and kind, but due to the difference in their status, they parted, and she suffered heartbreak. Afterward, she used her own talents to find success.
Compared to existing romance novels that were endlessly romantic and bright, it was praised for including realistic and dark aspects as well, making it vivid and highly relatable.
“At this rate, won’t you become a famous author overnight?”
“I was only lucky. It might just be a brief flash of interest.”
Rowena modestly shook her head and, with a face full of emotion, touched her own book for a moment. While Cedric shrugged and stepped away to join the long line at the cashier, a familiar name slipped into Rowena’s ears as she browsed the newspaper section.
“Did you hear? The story about the fiancée of the Duke of Devonshire of Esselwood drowning in the waves the day before their engagement ceremony.”
“I know. I heard he’s incredibly handsome. That means two of his fiancées have already died. My goodness!”
The owners of the voices were schoolgirls from a nearby boarding school, gathered together as they flipped through newspapers.
Devonshire. It was a name she had tried by every means not to recall over the past half year. The moment she heard his story, Rowena froze in place, her hand still reaching toward a newspaper.
No matter how widely known his name was, no matter how great an influence he wielded in her homeland, this was a distant foreign country, and an isolated countryside at that. She had never dreamed that, while she let her guard down, rumors would spread even to a place like this. Rowena quickly turned her back and tilted the brim of her hat forward. Whether she did so or not, the lively voices continued.
“They say beautiful women are unlucky, but I suppose handsome men are the same. An unfortunate, handsome duke…”
The schoolgirl, tears welling in her eyes, clasped both hands as if in prayer.
“Doesn’t it feel like a scene from a tragedy?”
Tragedy. At the word that lodged in her chest, Rowena swallowed a bitter smile. But what came next was even more shocking.
“Isn’t it romantic? But did you know? They say he made an empty tomb in the mausoleum to commemorate his dead fiancée. As the fourteenth duchess.”
Mausoleum? Empty tomb? Fourteenth duchess?
The words were surely understandable, spoken in the same language as her homeland, yet their meaning did not reach her easily. Her mind went blank.
“Oh my. Good heavens! He really loved her.”
At the nausea rising within her, Rowena covered her mouth. Shock after shock made her ears ring, and she felt sick and dizzy. As Rowena barely managed to support herself by gripping a bookshelf, the next words drove in the final nail.
“That’s not all. They say they’ll soon make the fiancée’s portrait public as well. They didn’t hold the ceremony, but she’s still the duchess.”
Portrait? Make it public?
Rowena doubted her ears. The place she had believed safe, where she had allowed herself to relax, had become dangerous in an instant. It was the sound of her peaceful daily life shattering to pieces.
“Ah… I could cry just hearing about it. It’s so sad.”
“I want to fill that empty place for him.”
“Hey, could you? Maybe if you were a stunning beauty.”
“That’s true. I don’t know for sure, but I heard the dead fiancée was incredibly beautiful.”
“Really? I’m curious. Once the portrait is revealed, I wonder if the newspaper will publish it.”
One of the schoolgirls who noticed Rowena staggering changed the subject.
“Huh, but that lady… doesn’t she look sick?”
“She does. Excuse me.”
The schoolgirls exchanged glances and were about to place a hand on Rowena’s shoulder.