Thus Began Your Regret - Chapter 7
The next day, Jeffrey shouted when he discovered Edward with a dark stubble due to not shaving.
“Boss! Did you not go home again?”
Edward, who was at the peak of sensitivity, raised his eyebrows sharply when the not-so-welcome voice pierced his ears.
“Yes. Why?”
“Why, you ask? Of course, it’s for the peace and happiness of a family.”
At the words ‘family peace and happiness’, Edward’s already close brows narrowed to the point of almost touching each other.
Yesterday, he was afraid to see the empty house and couldn’t go in.
He felt that if he entered the house without Louisa and took in her empty space again with his eyes, time would stop right there.
As Edward just frowned without saying anything, Jeffrey glanced at him and added.
“Of course, I’m also worried about your health, boss.”
“Don’t just stand there looking, come and work.”
Edward indicated the seat next to him with a curt nod. But Jeffrey, who would say what he had to say even if he had to be careful, finally added his guess.
“I’m asking just in case, but did you perhaps fight?”
“What?”
“I mean, with Mrs. Allen, your wife. Did you two have an argument?”
“What kind of nonsensical speculation is that?”
Edward immediately denied it. But Jeffrey was persistent.
“It’s obvious that you’re lying when you say nothing’s wrong.”
“Shut up. What makes you spout such nonsense?”
“We haven’t made any progress for days now. How can I not know?”
Jeffrey exclaimed incredulously. He took out a notebook from his pocket and waved it as he spoke.
“Confess quickly. You know we can’t afford any more delays in our schedule, right?”
At those words, Edward’s mouth clamped shut. Glaring at Jeffrey with a thoroughly displeased face, he turned his head abruptly, fixed his gaze on his desk, and said.
“I fought with Louisa.”
“Ah, I thought so.”
At that, Edward slammed down the mug he was holding.
“Shut up.”
“Come on, it’s not like this is the first time you’ve fought. But usually, you don’t even give a damn.”
“What?”
“That’s right. A man who usually does his work well while obviously showing his bad mood, suddenly becoming like this must have another reason, right? Can I really just ignore it and do my job as usual? You can still meet the deadline, right?”
“……”
Faced with Jeffrey’s rapid-fire questioning, Edward couldn’t answer and just stared straight ahead.
There is another reason. My wife asked for a divorce.
But truly, those words just wouldn’t come out of his mouth.
It felt like if he said it out loud, it would really become reality, and it was also awkward because Jeffrey knew both him and her.
But the current situation at the research institute was not easy enough to just keep his mouth shut.
After a long deliberation, Edward decided to honestly confess the situation.
“…Louisa said, let’s end this.”
“End it. I see… What?”
Jeffrey, who had been nodding along without much thought, belatedly opened his eyes wide and asked.
“End it? You mean divorce?”
“Don’t say it twice. Don’t make me say it either.”
“Holy… No, boss. Oh my, I knew this would happen!”
Jeffrey exclaimed with incomprehensible interjections while holding his forehead.
Although that sight was quite displeasing, Edward, who needed to borrow even a cat’s paw for now, quietly endured all of Jeffrey’s fuss.
“You knew this would happen?”
“If you can’t even bear to go home, is that the image of a lovingly married couple?”
“Why isn’t it? No, how can you know just from that?”
Edward bristled a little.
How could you understand my situation? You wouldn’t understand even a fraction of the feelings I have for Louisa.
“Ah, yes. That’s right. A love so tightly hidden that you don’t even show it to your wife, I suppose I couldn’t have noticed it.”
At the sharp wit that hadn’t dulled at all, Edward closed his mouth, unable to rebut.
As Edward’s expression darkened, Jeffrey stopped stirring up his boss’s emotions and asked.
“So what did you do?”
“I sent her to Quenel for now, telling her to take a breather. I said we’d talk again after organizing our thoughts.”
What thoughts does she need to organize, you should have gotten on your knees and begged profusely!
Jeffrey quickly swallowed the words that almost burst out of his mouth and said.
“Well… That’s better than barging in recklessly.”
Edward’s eyes shot up towards the sky.
That was a truly angry expression. Feeling intimidated, Jeffrey quickly scrambled to say something.
“But your wife will probably send a telegram, right? She often did that at times like this.”
“A telegram?”
Edward’s demeanor softened at the unexpected topic. His gaze turned to his desk.
The business card holder placed in the leftmost corner of the desk. He could see his wife’s letters and telegrams neatly inserted there.
“If one comes this time, make sure to send a reply. You understand, right?”
“Am I a child? Do you need to remind me of such things?”
“I wish you’d reflect on your past behavior.”
“That was because nothing was wrong. This time something is wrong.”
At Edward’s retort, Jeffrey just wanted to end the conversation with this fool.
But remembering how affectionate the Allen couple was in Greenburgh, Jeffrey couldn’t ignore him and added one more thing.
“Then your wife, who went to rest well, won’t send even one telegram, so give up and get to work.”
Edward glared at him with sharp eyes at the jab that came his way. Feeling intimidated, Jeffrey buried his head in his desk.
Since hearing the word telegram, Edward’s eyes had been fixed on the clock.
At first, once every 10 minutes, then after a couple of times, once every 5 minutes. Finally, every minute.
But the news he wanted didn’t come. Jeffrey, who had been turning his head along with Edward’s rapidly turning head, finally shouted, unable to bear it anymore.
“Oh come on! If you’re going to be like this, just go and send one yourself!”
At those words, Edward stood up abruptly as if he had been waiting for them. Startled by his sudden action, Jeffrey ducked his head and called out to him.
“Boss?”
“What.”
“Uh, so… Are you really going?”
“Why not, the telegraph office isn’t that far.”
“I know that, but you’ve never left work to go there before.”
That was true. Left with nothing to say, Edward quietly picked up his coat.
He glanced once more at his wife’s letters and telegrams neatly inserted in his desk.
After silently looking at them, he pulled his hat down low and turned to leave.
* * *
The yellow and red autumn leaves took on an even deeper hue in the setting sun.
“Madam, look at this!”
Rachel, sitting next to Louisa, held out a ginkgo leaf and said.
Sitting on the bench watching this scene, Louisa recalled the ginkgo leaf she had once received.
The man who had handed her a ginkgo leaf tucked into a bookmark, saying it was particularly yellow like her hair.
The warmth of that hand that had gently brushed her short hair back then still stung her ears in the wind.
The awkward smile as he apologized for the gift being just this.
Louisa brought Edward from her memories to savor the past happiness, but then shook her head and thought.
‘I decided not to remember.’
If she could just forget that this place, Quenel, was somewhere Edward had recommended, it was truly a great resort.
Let’s practice not remembering him by forgetting both the memory of that autumn day and the familiar scent of earth.
It seemed that if she did that, she might be able to approach happiness.
She suddenly looked down at her feet.
When she was very young, before she knew him, she liked to trample on the fallen leaves in this season.
Louisa rolled her feet a few times from where she sat.
Crunch. Crunch.
The leaves crushed under her shoes made a dry sound.
Watching her actions, Rachel said.
“So you like that too, Madam?”
She said she always used to get smacked by her mother for doing that, then came closer to Louisa and started stomping on the leaves together, giggling.
Crunch. Crunch.
The sound coming from under their feet tickled their ears.
Louisa took in the smile of the red-haired child reflecting the sunset.
She burst into laughter along with the clear smile of the young servant.
* * *
Suddenly noticing the lengthened shadows, Rachel said.
“Madam, I think the sun will set soon!”
After shouting that, she immediately ran to the bench where they had left their belongings and started preparing to leave.
At Rachel’s urging that they should go in before the sun sets, Louisa decided to turn towards the hotel.
All the way there, Rachel chattered with a bright face.
The hotel is really splendid, Madam! I didn’t know there were such big hotels even outside the capital. How did the master know about a place like this?
Louisa agreed, saying it really was. As she walked listening to the excited girl’s stories, they soon arrived at the hotel.
But it was when they passed through the lobby floor doors. A uniformed front desk employee approached her and asked.
“Are you Mrs. Allen staying in room 805?”
Wondering what business the employee could have with her, Louisa answered.
“Yes, that’s right. But what’s the matter?”
“There’s a telegram for you, ma’am. Here.”
The employee handed her a neatly folded piece of paper.
Louisa felt her heart drop.
There was no one but her husband who would send her a telegram in a place like this.
He was originally someone who didn’t even send replies to telegrams. The fact that he had gone out of his way to contact her at her travel destination might mean something had really happened.
She hurriedly opened the paper.
“…What is this?”
Louisa felt deflated. As she muttered in a voice full of doubt, Rachel cautiously asked.
“Is it from the mansion? Surely nothing has happened…”
“No, it’s not that. It’s not something to worry much about.”
Louisa quickly denied it, lest the child worry unnecessarily.
She stared at the paper clutched in her hand.
She looked at the letters carried on the paper instead of the soft voice, then folded it and pushed it between the folds of her clothes.
*
Save yourself from story hunger — the novel below will blow your mind!
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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