Chapter 26: Discussions and Unsettling Gazes.

While handling my duties as duchess at the manor, my thoughts kept circling back to three days ago.
To the moment Cedric flatly refused my plea for divorce.
These past three days had felt awkward; we hadn’t truly talked, only exchanged careful, distant words.

(I really shouldn’t have sprung it on him like that…)

I had only succeeded in bewildering him.
Of course anyone would be shaken if the person they’d lived with for three years suddenly said, “Let’s end this.”
I should have explained my reasons calmly and properly. I got the order completely wrong.

I stared at the ledger, moving my pen, marking the necessary sections of the territory reports.
But inside my head there was only Cedric.

That night he had stepped close,
drawn me into his arms, and breathed “No” against my ear.
The hand that had begun sliding toward my thigh—
(It was just a momentary lapse. Yes, definitely a lapse. He was startled because I worded it badly.)

I had to settle on that explanation, or my heart would fall apart.

I was grateful—overwhelmingly grateful—that my ultimate favorite said he didn’t want to let me go.
But this was for Cedric’s sake.
He was supposed to end up with the game’s heroine, Emilia.

I needed to return to my proper place: a nameless extra waving from the wings.

(Come to think of it… how close is he to the heroine Emilia right now?)

About a month and a half had passed since her transfer.
By the game’s timeline, she should already have met nearly all the capture targets.

In the original game, Cedric’s route was the easiest to enter.
The heroine, who possessed healing magic, accidentally bumped into him around a corner; he caught her, then immediately recoiled because it triggered his old trauma.
That made her curious about him.
It happened again—he flinched at contact—so she asked why, and when he told her, she said, “It’s okay with me because I have healing magic,” and slowly opened his heart. That was Cedric’s route.

(But the current Cedric has already overcome that trauma.)

Mainly because of me.
Thanks to me, one could even say.

Because of that, the crucial “trigger” that brought him and Emilia together had vanished entirely.

Three years ago, I had agonized a little over whether to heal his trauma.
But seeing him truly suffer, I couldn’t help but act.

I don’t regret it one bit.
I’m glad my beloved Cedric didn’t have to carry that pain for three whole years.

Yet—it’s undeniable that I knocked one of the original story’s gears out of alignment.
I erased the very spark that was supposed to draw Emilia and Cedric together.

My fingerprints are all over this tale now.

Unease rustled deep in my chest.

Everything hinged on which route the heroine Emilia would take—and whom she would choose.

Cedric’s route used to be the simplest.
But now… maybe not anymore.

There were plenty of others: Prince Leonard’s route, Prince Ensio’s route, Noah’s route…
The hardest had always been the harem route, capturing every target and building good relationships with them all.

I was dying to know which one she was on, but there was no way to check.

(In the game there’d be affection gauges on the edge of the screen…)

Real life had no such convenience.
If it did, I’d want to see Cedric’s affection level toward me…
but if it turned out low, I’d never recover, so maybe it’s better this way.

Some truths are happier left unknown. Yeah.

What I really needed was to talk—properly, in my own words.

(Tonight. I’ll do it tonight.)

It was almost time for Cedric to return.

I closed the ledger, tidied the documents, and glanced at the clock.
Any minute now.

When I looked out the window, I saw the carriage pulling up to the gate.

I stood and headed for the entrance.
Down the stairs, to the front doors where the servants were preparing.

I stepped outside.

Soft dusk light poured down gently.

The carriage door opened, and Cedric emerged.

His pale golden hair gleamed in the setting sun; his blue eyes widened a little when they found me.

He was surprised that I had come out to greet him.

“Welcome home, Cedric.”

I smiled.

The surprise on his face melted instantly into a warm, happy smile.

“I’m home, Amelia.”

His gentle, warm voice.
Our first proper face-to-face greeting in three days.

The awkwardness still lingered, just a little,
but neither of us was faking our smiles.

“How was the academy today?”

“Nothing unusual. My thesis is coming along well.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“And you?”

“No problems here either. I was just sorting reports from the territories.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

Our usual exchange.
Yet tension coiled inside me.

I have to talk tonight.

Just as I reached for the door—

A sharp gaze prickled my back.

Someone was watching me.

A chill ran down my spine.

I turned and scanned the area.

…No one.

The servants were inside.
The garden was quiet.

“…Is something wrong?”

Cedric asked, concern in his voice.

“No, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head.

Just my imagination, surely.
I’m not exactly gifted at sensing presences.

Reassuring myself, I entered the manor with Cedric.

I never noticed.

Never noticed the girl hiding in the shadow of the trees beyond the gate.

Pink-tinged hair fluttering in the breeze, lips bitten hard, glaring this way.

“Why… is that poisonous bitch still here?”

A small, trembling voice.

“She’s supposed to be gone by the time the game starts…!”

“Everything else is exactly the same as the game—why is she the only one…!”

Emilia Crown clenched her fists until they shook.

“Why… is she still by Lord Cedric’s side…!”

In the long shadows cast by the setting sun,
a frantic, furious, almost maddened light flickered in the girl’s eyes.