To Those Who Regretted After I Died - Chapter 24

“…Um… madam has never left for anything other than work… Recently, she had been unwell, but before that, didn’t she go out? There must have been gatherings among the nobility… I recall attending a banquet where Sir Alec was present… I couldn’t greet her because I was with acquaintances, but I heard she attended with her husband.”

“…”

The doctor spoke to the head maid, who then looked at Alec, sitting on the sofa with his head bowed, and began to explain.

“…Instead of madam, lady Emily accompanied my lord to the banquet.”

“Emily?”

“…My lord took lady Emily to social events in place of madam…”

“What?!”

The doctor was bewildered by the head maid’s words, wondering why it was Emily.

“…At the tea parties, lady Emily didn’t meet with the other ladies… Madam was busy with work, so we declined invitations on her behalf.”

“…Why did lady Emily go in place of madam? Was she that busy with work?”

“…Madam probably knew very little about the banquets and social events… Whenever she went to the store for work, my lord and lady Emily would go to the banquets and social gatherings, and on days they returned late, we didn’t inform madam about where they had gone. When she later asked, she seemed unaware…”

“…”

The doctor was left in shock, processing the head maid’s words.

“…And… shopping, did madam really…”

“…Madam has never gone out with my lord… She only went to work at the store… There was one time she went out to buy clothes with the maids…”

“…”

The doctor walked toward Alec, who sat on the sofa.

“…My lord, I’ve heard from the head maid, but is it true? That you didn’t go out with your lady, to banquets or social gatherings… during this past year…”

“…No… I never went with my wife…”

Alec kept his gaze lowered, unable to look at the doctor.

“Then… madam always spent her time within the mansion?”

“…”

“…Were the banquets held a few times… also attended by lady Emily?”

“…”

“…Were there banquets from other countries as well? Was lady Emily there too?”

“…”

“The banquets from other countries have different languages… Did lady Emily speak with anyone there?”

“…No, I could only speak a few…”

“What did lady Emily do during that time?”

“…She just stayed by my side…”

“Why didn’t you take madam with you? You seemed to have left the store in her care… Shouldn’t you have brought her along?”

“…”

Faced with the doctor’s reproach, Alec was left speechless…

As the doctor and Alec conversed, the head maid instructed one of the maids to inform everyone in the mansion about Sophia’s death. Watching the other maids as they prepared clothes for Sophia and cried beside her, the head maid approached Sophia and spoke softly.

“Madam… may I inform the doctor and the other servants?”

The head maid, tears in her eyes, sought Sophia’s forgiveness.

After leaving Sophia’s side, the head maid stood next to Alec and the doctor.

“…Doctor, I have something to discuss…”

“Something to discuss?”

“…Today, my lord spoke to madam about divorce…”

“…What? …Divorce?!”

“!!”

“Wait, my lord is… divorcing?”

“Eh…”

“That’s a lie…”

The doctor and the maids were shocked, while Alec could only lower his head in silence.

The doctor and several maids were shocked to hear from the head maid that Alec had talked to Sophia about divorce.

“Wait… divorce? From you to your wife?!”

“Um… Head Maid, is that really what happened?”

The doctor, still astonished, sought confirmation from the head maid.

“Yes… After you returned, I spoke to her about divorce…”

“…S..Sir… you told your wife about divorce…”

“…What the head maid said is true… I asked my wife to get a divorce…”

“!!”

Alec placed his hands on his knees and confessed to the doctor that he had discussed divorce with Sophia.

“…W-Why? Why would you bring up something like that… There wasn’t such talk when I was here…”

“…Emily… is pregnant…”

“Yes, I know…”

“…The child in Emily’s womb… is mine…”

“!?”

The maids gasped in shock, and Alec tightened his grip on his hands as he confessed to the doctor.

“Wait… just now…”

“Emily is carrying my child… That’s why I… told my wife to get a divorce…”

“W-What!?”

Grabbing Alec’s collar firmly, the doctor made him stand up from the sofa and punched him in the face.

“Bam!!”

“Kyah!?”

The maids gasped in surprise as Alec stumbled backward, falling onto the sofa.

“…”

Alec fell to the floor, wiping the blood from his mouth with his hand… He couldn’t lift his face.

It was the first time the doctor had raised a hand against Alec… The doctor, about ten years older, had always felt like an older brother to Alec.

“…You… have a wife… yet you would reach out to your wife’s sister…”

“…”

“…There were many times I found it strange… Seeing Emily so close to you… Even when your wife was unwell, I found it puzzling that you would leave her alone to go out together… And then it became clear…”

The doctor clenched his fists, his body trembling uncontrollably.

“…”

“…Your wife’s prolonged illness… was caused by you and Emily…”

“E-eh…”

Seeing the pained expression on the doctor’s face, Alec noticed tears welling up in his eyes.

“Your wife was hurting alone, knowing about your relationship with Emily… I thought your wife was troubled about having a child, so I suggested that she talk to you… Now I finally understand… the reason she couldn’t talk to me was… because of you two…”

The doctor cried tears of regret.

“…I’m sorry… I hurt my wife…”

“…Your wife cried to me, saying she wanted a child… but she had given up… She seemed to know that having a child with you was impossible…”

“U-uh… Sophia… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Alec kept his head down on the floor, repeatedly voicing his apologies to Sophia… Not as the master of the Parulis family, but as a husband apologizing to his wife, Sophia…