SGC 30

CHAPTER 30

Translator: Rae

₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚

On a morning when the cold season began in earnest, a single crack split through the once peaceful routine.

「The Fall of a Noble House of Distinguished Merit, the Shocking Truth Behind the Veiled Lady Shakes High Society.」

Rozella’s fingers stiffened coldly as she read the newspaper. The article printed on one page seized her attention at once.

The fall of a noble house of merit. It was a piece of gossip that left its subject deliberately vague.

Yet the content made it clear to anyone that it referred to the House of Hayden and to Rozella.

「Not long ago, a wedding that shook the entire kingdom took place. Its groom was the head of the most powerful house, and the bride, a commoner of obscure origin.

It is rare for one of common birth to cross the threshold of such power. Then what forms the basis of this marriage, love or ambition? That is left to personal judgment.

But what if there exists a fatal moral flaw within their union?」

What followed claimed that the newly married couple were bound by an improper relationship.

As evidence, it raised the bride’s origins and revealed that the two had once almost become step siblings.

「…The truth is known only to them. Yet whispers already spread throughout society, calling it a shameful union that stains the kingdom’s history.

Attention now turns to whether the subject of this controversy will cast off her veil and reveal herself.」

Rozella read the final line over and over again with trembling eyes.

The fact that she was not the only one at the center of criticism made Rosella the most uncomfortable at that moment. The name of House Hayden was stained alongside hers with every manner of disgrace.

Rozella shut her eyes tightly. This was exactly what she had feared.

Yet after the wedding, her identity had been deliberately hidden. A house as powerful as Hayden should have had the means to control the press.

How had such information leaked? Had Edmund seen this as well?

Throwing the paper aside, she rose and paced the room. Morning light fell sharply across the disordered floor.

At least she was grateful about one thing The marriage would last only a year. If she endured that long, Edmund’s disgrace would be cleared.

Then the press would turn their words as easily as flipping a hand, praising the duke for finally taking a proper lady as his wife.

After that, everything would return to its rightful place.

As if a person named Rozella Everett had never stood beside him.

"..." 

Pressing her lips tight, she felt her heart ache. Yet it was not only guilt over the stain upon Edmund.

The simple truth that she would one day have to leave him had begun, at some point, to quietly break her conscience.

She could not help but be startled by her own shamelessness.

He was so gentle, it felt as if he had become what he used to be back then, and the disgust she had momentarily forgotten crept back up from her feet.

Dong, dong. The clock chimed, jolting her from her thoughts.

Rosella, who had stopped in a daze, soon came to her senses. It was time to see Edmund off. 

As she hurried down the corridor, she stopped abruptly when she saw a man approaching.

Edmund, speaking with his aide Adam, noticed her and smiled gently.

After Adam bowed and left, Edmund stepped forward leisurely and stopped before her.

"Good morning, Roze.”

"Good morning, Ed."

 

They exchanged greetings and looked at each other. Rozella searched his face for any sign of displeasure.

But there was nothing unusual in his calm, kind expression. As she hesitated, he asked gently.

"Is there something you wish to say?" 

She almost spoke, but stopped. She wanted to ask if he had seen the paper, but could not.

In the end, she forced a faint smile and shook her head.

"I was just wondering if you slept well last night." 

"I slept well. I woke up refreshed in the morning." 

Edmund replied readily while studying her face. His calm gaze drifted down a bit to stare at her lips and then back to her eyes again.

“And you? Did you have good dreams?”

“Yes. I have been having good dreams lately.”

It was not a lie. She had been sleeping peacefully.

But there had been a time she suffered nightmares. Ever since she met that man.

Count Jasper Lawton. If not for Edmund, he would have become her husband. His eyes flashed in her mind.

Her heart faltered at the sudden recollection of him.

“That is good to hear. I as well.”

His voice brought her back. Looking at his gentle smile, her heart steadied.

“Come. See me off.”

Edmund naturally took her hand in his. At the warmth of his touch, Rozella’s earlobes flushed a little red.

With their hands carefully clasped, the two of them walked slowly down the corridor. As they descended the stairs and entered the hall, the servants already lined up there bowed to them in unison.

Standing at his side, Rozella looked up at Edmund. Just as she was about to bid him a safe return, he bent slightly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’ll be back. At the latest, I’ll return before sunset.”

His fingers brushed lightly past the rim of her ear, still faintly warm. Rozella, her face turning shy of its own accord, gave a small nod.

"Have a safe trip. See you in the evening." 

As she watched his retreating figure, the gloom that had weighed on her after reading the newspaper article faded away as though it had never been there.

*** 

Contrary to Rozella’s complacent hopes, the press did not leave Edmund in peace for even a single day.

The lurid gossip sheets secretly passed among the nobility and the tabloids readily consumed by commoners alike all seemed bent on spreading articles laden with vicious rumors.

Perhaps fearing retaliation from the ducal house, they carefully obscured the subject every time, but that did nothing to protect the family’s honor.

For they were beguiling people with false tales that contained not a grain of truth, stories written for no purpose but to tear others down.

“Madam, it is Cynthia. I shall come in for a moment.”

Entering the bedchamber, Cynthia bowed her head in greeting before getting straight to the point.

“It is about time you gave your reply as to whether you will attend Her Highness’s invitation. What would you like to do?”

As if matters were not troublesome enough already, a letter had arrived from the princess several days earlier. It was an invitation to a regular gathering held every other weekend.

Because it was a gathering personally curated by the princess, it was said to be as grand in scale as a formal banquet, a place where the women of the capital’s most prominent families gathered to foster harmony.

After a moment of troubled thought, Rozella let out a deep sigh.

“Could you give me until this evening?”

It seemed best to discuss the matter with Edmund. It was not something she ought to decide rashly on her own.

“Of course. Is there anything else you would like me to do?”

When Rozella shook her head, Cynthia bowed once more, as she had upon entering, and withdrew.

Several hours had passed since noon, and the sun had already tilted toward the southwest. Rozella, who had stood by the window lost in thought for a long while, finally stepped away.

Throwing a shawl over her shoulders, she left the room and headed straight for Edmund’s study. Since it was the weekend, he was still at the estate.

Knocking on the door of the study, Rozella spoke quickly.

“Ed, it’s Rose. Do you have a moment?”

The door opened almost immediately. But the one who appeared was a stranger she had never seen before.

The man gave Rozella a silent nod and hurried away as though driven by urgency. Even in that brief instant when their eyes met, she caught sight of the large scar running across his left cheek.

She was certain she had never seen him before, and yet, for some reason, a strange sense of familiarity stirred within her.

As her gaze lingered on the departing figure, a low voice called to her from inside the study.

"Roze."

 

When she turned her head, Edmund was sitting before a smooth ebony desk, watching her in silence.

***

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