The Stepmother Has Left - Chapter 3

Cassia had a nightmare that day.

‘Had I been imagining it without realizing it?’

The scene where Diana had an accident unfolded in her dream. In a moment of peace, the horse began to run wild.

A coachman who couldn’t control it.

A falling wagon.

He ran and grabbed Diana’s hand as she was about to fall off the cliff.

Diana’s expression was faint.

She looked up at Cassia and continued.

‘Take care of my family, Cassia.’

And with a faint smile, Diana fell.

Cassia woke up gasping, with her eyes wide open and heart pounding.

It was early morning.

When she got up from the bed, she felt her body wet with sweat.

She sat for a moment to calm down and stood up. The house was quiet, and she was tired, but she couldn’t sleep any longer.

She washed up and prepared a quick breakfast. The bakery, which was in the corner of the Duchy, had decided not to open until today. Because there was a request from the Duke.

Waiting for the day to dawn, she visited the Duke of Whidrian.

“I’m here for what you asked for yesterday, Sir.”

“Ah, here you are. I was waiting for you.”

The Duke personally greeted Cassia and guided her. She walked down the hallway and looked around.

The Duke’s mansion was surrounded by a peculiar atmosphere, different from the usual she had seen.

All of the users had a blank look on their faces. Some were mopping the floor in a daze, and some were wiping the tears that had flown out unknowingly. And in one corner, some were lifting something with all their might.

“That’s-”

“They are moving things that belonged to my wife.”

The servants were picking up Diana’s items that were to be burned and putting them out in the middle of the mansion’s hall.

From clothes to accessories and goods, numerous items that were once of Diana’s use were piling up, ready to be burned.

She was convinced that the items piled up high seemed to symbolize Diana’s vacancy.

It is no wonder that not everyone can easily escape the grief of losing Diana. Diana was a massive presence to everyone, not just her own family.

She was a staunch hostess of this mansion and Duchy, and she was also a woman representing the aristocratic social circle.

She was a lovely daughter to Count Allison, a reliable wife to the Duke, and an everlasting mother to her children. And to Cassia, Diana was the only friend in the world. So now that Diana was gone, it was only natural that everyone everywhere was in deep sorrow.

“May I ask what Ken and Nick are doing? I’m worried.”

“The children are sleeping. All in all, both of them are quieter than I thought, and that’s why I’m even more concerned.”

“…Oh, okay.”

It would be better to express your sadness, even a little bit.

The only people who did not cry at the funeral were Cassia, The Duke, and two children. The Duke did not cry because he must not show a weaker side of him from the standpoint of leading this Duchy. Even though Cassia did not cry, it was very upsetting for her, as an adult, to see Diana’s two sons not cry. Obviously, the shock must have been too much for the little ones. But if they don’t express it, it will soon develop into a mental illness.

But she paused, as it seemed too far-fetched to tell the Duke more about it.

He led her down the hallway, stopped in front of a familiar door, and opened the door.

Every time she visited the peacock house, the scenery of the room she stayed in spread out in front of her eyes.

“It’s okay if it’s going to take a long time, so please take it slow.”

“Thank you.”

Tak, the door closed, and she slowly looked around the room once.

It was a guest room, but she came to stay often, and the situation, when she came here to visit, was clearly drawn in front of her eyes to see the items that were used exclusively by her.

She liked that the Duke’s mansion was huge. Because it had lots of rooms to give one to her. Cassia remembered the first words Diana had told her when she introduced her to this room.

“I got a bigger room for you. Would you like me to prepare?”

“No, that’s enough. I am not going to live here.”

“Actually, you can live here,” said Diana, jokingly.

Occasionally, at late night, and after everyone fell asleep, Diana used to get out of her room carefully and knocked on the door with a pillow.

It wasn’t just once she came slowly next to Cassia and surprised her.

They used to lay side by side in bed, and chatted until the sun came up.

As the Duchess, Diana always had many concerns that others couldn’t see.

When Diana married the Duke, she was worried whether she would get along well, and when she had her children, she was worried whether she could make herself a good mother. Other than that, she had numerous worries while governing the territory or establishing a place for herself in the social world as the Duchess.

She may have been the perfect and smart Duchess in the eyes of others, but to Cassia, she was just a troubled person.

Cassia always encouraged Diana by talking to her, listening to her worries, and Diana took strength from Cassia by sharing her concerns that she could not even tell her husband.

“I’m glad you’re with me, Cassia.”

Diana once said, “Thank you for always being with me. Seriously, no matter what others say, you are my one and only friend.”

Diana’s voice echoed in her ears. The illusion of Diana seemed to be everywhere in the room she was in.

“… It’s funny. I couldn’t even cry even though you were gone. I must be a bad girl.”

That was really funny.

Diana was dead, and Cassia was still alive.

She never thought of life without Diana. Now, she had to live a life where her friend, who was always by her side, was no more.

So, she didn’t know how to react to Diana’s death now.

Cassia bit her lip hard.

She didn’t want to think about it anymore.

She silently started packing her things.

There really wasn’t a lot of stuff she had to pack.

The pajamas she wore every time she came here, the lotion she used, and her hair ties.

…Diary?

As she was packing her luggage, her gaze turned to it.

Her gaze became puzzled, eyebrows twitched.

She never kept a diary. Therefore, she never brought one here, so who does this belong to?

With a blank expression on her face, she stretched out her hand towards the diary.

A deep and heavy hunch stuck to her.

When she opened it, the neatly written writing caught her eye.

She knew whose handwriting it was.

It was Diana’s.

[The surroundings these days are suspicious. It feels like big and small accidents happen all the time. An accident that someone intended.]

Her eyes trembled, the expression became severe. As she turned the page and found another line written.

[A wagon almost hit me today. This is not the first time. I must have been a target for someone.]

Her hands trembled.

[What if I die?]

[What will happen to this position?]

[His Majesty The Emperor wants to have a deep connection with the family who will be his strong supporter. He will try to put his own people here to solidify the alliance. Perhaps there will be pressure on Xion to remarry. If he is pushed to remarry, my children will be a mess. My children haven’t grown up yet. What if my kids are abandoned?]

[I spoke to Cassia as if passing by today. I asked her to take care of my family if I died. Having said this, I feel more at ease.]

Cassia got up from her seat after reading till there. She left the room in a hurry and started running towards the Duke’s office. The servant tilted their heads at the sight of a lady running down the hallway.

Cassia couldn’t manage her facial expressions properly. Her heart was beating like crazy.

As soon as she opened the door to the office and entered, the Duke stood up from his seat with a puzzled face.

“Lady Benette, what’s going on-”

“Did Diana have any enemies?”

She put the diary down in front of him.

The Duke, who had an unreadable expression on his face, looked at the diary and furrowed his eyebrows.

“What is this?”

“This is a diary I found while cleaning my room. It’s in Diana’s handwriting.”

The Duke’s hand slowly lifted up the diary. As he read it slowly, his eyes began to tremble. Cassia approached him and tapped the desk.

“Sir, please answer me. Did Diana have any enemies?”

Looking straight into his eyes, she asked desperately.

If the contents of the diary were true, her friend did not die in an accident.

Diana was murdered.

Silence passed.

How much time had passed?

The Duke hastily put down the diary.

He went all the way to the half-open office door. He opened the door to make sure no one was listening, and then he shut the door firmly. The sound of the door locking resounded.

The Duke returned to Cassia again. He rubbed his face dry. Neither he nor she could speak easily.

“… First of all, it’s correct that this is Diana’s diary. It is written in her handwriting.”

“So, you mean that Diana was really killed by someone? It was not an accident?”

Cassia couldn’t even breathe properly.

Her heart sank to the abyss.

But she managed to hold herself together.

Who in the world-

Who in the world did this?

Cassia shook her head desperately.

‘Did Diana say anything to me about this recently?’

She tried to look back at her memories, but there was no story that came to her mind. Besides, in the aristocratic world, everyone was an enemy to each other.

Diana wasn’t from a small family like Cassia, so she couldn’t easily identify who was targeting her friend.

The Duke also opened his mouth as if he could not quickly get a grip like her.

“Because of the power of the position of the Duke’s wife, there must be many enemies everywhere. In addition, the distinction between Diana and my outside work was quite clear. She was too busy just talking about raising children.”

“Diana… hadn’t said anything to me either. The only moment that I thought it was strange was when she started talking about what would happen if she suddenly died.”

A deep silence passed.

Cassia knew for a moment that she and Duke Whidrian were feeling the same way.

As a husband, he did not know anything about Diana’s situation.

And she overlooked Diana’s words, which she felt strange.

[Take care of my family, Cassia.]