IJNSTH 28

28

Romance

Vivienne remembered what had happened at the Metropolitan Police Office on the day her mother had made her take the sleeping pills.

She had been staring anxiously toward the door. Half of her was convinced Edmund would come. The other half—no, more than half—clung to the belief that it wouldn’t be him. She clasped her cold hands together on her lap.

Soon, someone walked in from that direction. At the sight of a familiar face, she rose to her feet.

“Well, well. Look who this is.”

That tone of voice.

It was a voice Vivienne could never forget—the one that had rung in her ears on a day she would never erase from memory.

For example—

The voice she had heard on the day the car exploded on Coleman Street.

Harvey Kane Cole.

The head of the bureau.

Sergeant Wilson recognized him instantly. As a former officer who had once investigated her, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize the bureau chief who had once ridden in the same car as her. The chief strode up to Ludvig and gave his back a few solid pats. The motion carried a hint of emotion.

“Ah, you should’ve said something if you needed help. You called again saying you were in trouble over a woman, so even though I’m busy, here I am again. But honestly—why the long face on someone who looks perfectly fine? You know how it goes. All’s well that ends well, right? I’ll be taking my brother-in-law here with me.”

Slipping an arm around Ludvig’s shoulders, the chief dragged him away.

Vivienne could only blink blankly. She had never imagined Ludvig would be removed so easily—so casually.

Pulled along by the broad-shouldered bureau chief, Ludvig soon disappeared from sight.

That was when Vivienne realized she had nowhere left to go.

She couldn’t return home. And she certainly couldn’t go to the count. She didn’t know who he truly was, and the thought of drawing closer to learn the truth terrified her. Worse still, her agent was alive—alive in a state worse than death.

Her heart began to race.

She didn’t even know how she felt. Should she be happy? Should she be sad? Should she feel proud that she had once again tried to protect him?

If that were the case, then all this time, he had been…

She had never felt anything like this before, so she had no words for it. She could only stare blankly at the floor, blinking slowly.

The memories she had built—every single one of them—had been a deception.

“Miss Mergoville.”

A pointless, unrequited love.

Out of pity.

Because I know his secret.

But what mattered most to him was his work, so he…

“Miss.”

The voice snapped her back to herself, and Vivienne turned her head.

“May we escort you home?”

One of the officers asked. Vivienne hesitated before answering.

“Please take me to 86 Maybrium Street instead.”

When the officer did as she asked and Madison’s boardinghouse came into view through the carriage window, Vivienne stared at it for a long moment. She lifted her hand to the door handle—then stopped, lowered it, and spoke to the officer again.

“I’m sorry. Could you take me back to the estate instead?”

Without a word, he took her to the Mergoville estate.

She opened the door herself and spoke to the footman.

“Tell Mother and Father that I’ve returned.”

Then she walked straight into her room.

Vivienne crossed the floor to where the broken engagement documents lay scattered. She tore them up and threw the pieces into the fireplace, then turned to the servant and said,

“Bring me some tea.”

The servant bowed his head.

“Yes, miss.”

“With the sleeping pills mixed in.”

“……”

“Why? There should still be some left from earlier, shouldn’t there?”

She smiled brightly, just as she always did. Faced with that expression, the footman could only answer, “Yes,” and withdraw.

And so Vivienne contacted no one.

She slept, woke up, and slept again. When she opened her eyes in the darkness, she closed them once more. Her parents never came to see her, and she repeated this cycle endlessly. Her agent often appeared in her dreams. When she woke and saw the ring, reality came rushing back.

Then one day, she shoved the ring deep into a drawer.

After that, she dressed herself carefully—

and left the estate.