To Those Who Regretted After I Died - Chapter 44

Alec continued to apologize, lamenting that he had done nothing for his wife, Sophia, for an entire year.

“…Lord Alec…”

Lifting his head, Alec gazed tearfully at Sophia’s face, resting peacefully among the white flowers.

“…It’s the first time I’ve ever seen my wife’s sleeping face… after her death…”

“What?!”

The doctor looked down at Alec in surprise.

“…I believe I mentioned it to you before… since our marriage, I never spent time with my wife, not even once…”

“…Yes, I remember… I thought it was cruel…”

The doctor clenched his hands tightly, feeling conflicted.

“…You know that we had separate rooms… A married couple should spend time together in one another’s rooms… But from the first night, I avoided her and never slept beside her… After our marriage, work kept me so busy that I would come home late, night after night… My wife would greet me each time I returned late… because, as a wife, that’s what she would do. And yet… I felt that as a burden and ended up pushing her away…”

“…That’s awful… For an entire year, you never even spoke to her in her room? If that’s true, why didn’t you set her free before spending your time with Lady Emily? If you had just talked to her sooner…”

The doctor struggled to contain his frustration.

“…It was only right before her passing that I truly faced her and had a conversation… She rebuked me, but strangely, I didn’t mind… I felt that she spoke with my best interests at heart… I assumed she knew nothing about my relationship with Emily, so I asked her to join me when Emily was away, for the first time…”

“!”

“But she refused… of course, she did… She knew everything… I thought I had kept it hidden… Yet if she saw Emily passing by her room at night and noticed she was absent from breakfast, any wife would understand. I took advantage of her silence, doing whatever I pleased…”

“……”

The doctor had nothing to say as he watched Alec speak as if he’d lost all strength.

Click!

The doors opened, and Sophia’s aunt and uncle entered the church. They stopped when they saw Alec.

“…Dear…”

“Yes… let’s go.”

The aunt and uncle continued forward. Alec and the doctor stepped back from the coffin and bowed their heads.

The uncle shot a glare at Alec before turning his gaze to Sophia, where tears filled his eyes as he mourned.

“…I never thought you would leave us before we did…”

“…Sophia… it must have been hard… if only you’d come to us, maybe this wouldn’t have happened…”

The couple wept as they took in the sight of their young niece, now forever changed.

“Marquess! Why did you neglect your wife, Sophia? As her husband, how could you her?!”

“…I… I am deeply sorry…”

Grab!

“Do you think an apology is enough?!”

“Aah…”

Sophia’s uncle grabbed Alec by the collar, and Alec could only keep apologizing.

“I heard everything from Emily… Sophia didn’t marry you to pick up the pieces of your mistakes!”

“!!”

“You’ve spoiled Emily enough, it seems, with lavish purchases and trips… And now she’s to have her own greenhouse in the garden, I hear?”

“What?”

Alec was taken aback at the mention of the greenhouse.

“You’ve given nothing to your wife, Sophia, yet you’ve spent a fortune on Emily. Do your relatives know?”

“W-wait… I didn’t hear anything about the greenhouse from her.”

“What? Emily told us it was being built for her child. Isn’t that the case?”

“I… heard about the greenhouse from my wife… She mentioned that Emily had given orders directly to the servants… But I was never told anything myself…”

Alec raised his voice in denial to his uncle.

“Servants? So, Emily has been living as if she were the marchioness of the estate?”

“…The marchioness… I…”

“Emily has been so free that she was even issuing orders to the servants… I hear that you’ve also been discussing divorce with Sophia for several months now.”

“!”

“…How terrible… I had always believed that Emily was devoted to her sister…”

“W-wait… It was Emily who suggested divorce… Ah!”

Alec trembled as his uncle tightened his grip on his collar.

“And yet you agreed, didn’t you? You have no right to be here… Even if Sophia were merciful enough to forgive you, her family cannot forgive what you did to our niece.”

“…!”

“Please… Lord Alec has his faults… but Lady Emily is equally responsible.”

The doctor placed a hand on the uncle’s grip to calm his anger.

“…You are… from the Parlis family, if I’m not mistaken?”

“My name is Alan, a doctor… I was Lady Sophia’s primary physician.”

“…Sophia’s…”

The uncle released Alec’s clothing, and Alec, coughing, touched his neck as he exhaled.

“…I don’t mean to defend Lord Alec… but the Parlis family is also upset to know that Lady Emily had a fiancé…”

“…Indeed… her brother was also at fault for not informing us right away when Emily’s engagement was decided… I assumed it was Sophia’s responsibility… but this man is responsible for driving her to her death… As a marquess with a wife, to pursue his wife’s sister is unforgivable… Never forget that.”

“……”

After delivering his message to Alec, the aunt and uncle said their farewells to Sophia and exited the church.

“…Lord Alec…”

“…If I hadn’t mentioned divorce to my wife… would she still be alive? Would she have been able to avoid such despair?”

“Lord Alec…”

“…Hic… sniff… hic…”

Emily and her parents walked from the room where the relatives had gathered toward the church where Sophia was.

“Hah… how long are you going to keep crying?”

“B-but… Uncle was so angry…”

“He was right to be angry… We lost a beloved family member…”

Each time her father spoke, tears welled in his eyes.

“…I never thought my older sister would die… She said she was going far away and wouldn’t be able to see us, but Alec promised he would find her and bring her back…”

“…What did you think you were going to do by bringing her back? Sophia was already divorced, so what did you think would happen by bringing her back to the mansion?”

“Alec said he would ask my sister to do the work for me… I didn’t want to leave the baby with strangers when it was born, so I wanted to ask my sister for help…”

Her parents were at a loss for words after hearing Emily’s explanation…

“W-what are you saying…?”

“Huh?”

“Emily—!!”

“Ah!? Why are you yelling?”

Her father shouted at Emily, trembling with anger.

“Why am I yelling? Don’t you think you’ve ruined your sister Sophia’s life!? Don’t you feel guilty about what you’ve done to her!?”

“I-I’m sorry… But… I never thought she would be gone… I didn’t want my sister to be gone… sniff…”

“Crying won’t bring Sophia back.”

“…Father… What about Paul?”

Her mother mentioned the name of Emily’s fiancé, Paul, and her father seemed troubled, not knowing what to do.

“I… Can’t I marry both Alec and Paul?”

“What?”

“What are you saying?”

Emily, unsure about the baby’s future, proposed the idea of marrying both men.

“What are you talking about? A marquess and Paul… marry both of them? That’s impossible!”

“But I’ve heard that in other countries, a man can have many wives… If I’m unsure about who the father of this child is, I could just marry both.”

“……”

“…Emily… you…”

Her father pressed his fingers to his eyes, stunned by Emily’s suggestion, while Emily smiled and touched her belly.

“Emily!?”

“Hmm?”

A man walked toward Emily from the church gates where the funeral was being held.

“…Paul!?”

The man, smiling at Emily as he approached, was her fiancé, Paul.

“I knew it, Emily… It was you.”

“Paul, what are you doing here?”

“I was at a wedding in the church across the street today. I think I mentioned it to you last time.”

“Eh!?… Oh, I’m sorry…”

“There’s no need to apologize… But why are you in the funeral church?”

“…My sister passed away…”

“Eh!? Your sister?”

Paul looked surprised as he noticed Emily’s parents, who were dressed in black, standing beside her.

“Father, Mother…”

Paul had asked Emily’s parents to allow him to call them “Father” and “Mother” before they were even married.

He approached them with a smile, but they hesitated, not knowing what to say.

“F-father…”

“…Mother, just like always…”

Her parents felt a sharp pain in their hearts, knowing that Paul was unaware of Emily’s infidelity. They nodded at each other, silently agreeing to continue pretend they have normal conversation as Paul approached them.