Guidelines for the Perfect Goodbye - Chapter 83

“What?”

She was momentarily stunned.

“The former Counte…”

No, that wasn’t right. Cecilia quickly corrected herself.

“Mother gave this to you, Miss Lilith?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know…”

Lilith almost looked like she was about to cry as she answered.

“She just gave it to me. She told me to keep it…”

“…”

Her mother was a liar—but not a very good one.

So, Cecilia could immediately tell that Lilith’s words were true.

Then, another question arose.

‘The former Countess gave her wedding dress to a mistress as a keepsake? And directly?’

…Why?

Lilith said she didn’t know the reason.

Then, it was time to ask differently.

“When?”

Lilith’s expression subtly changed at Cecilia’s question.

“Three days before.”

“…?”

“Three days before she died, she called for me.”

“…”

“She told me to keep it. To throw it away, rip it up, or wear it, whatever I wanted. But I… I…”

She stammered like an eight-year-old child trying to read an incomprehensible sentence.

Her drooping head fell further.

Lilith couldn’t finish her sentence. Her hands trembled as they gripped the lid. The box was closed again and returned to its original spot deep in the wardrobe.

Cecilia turned away from the blatant pity in her biological mother’s eyes. All that remained was the incident itself.

An incident she hadn’t known in her past life.

A gift left by the deceased.

Or, rather than a gift.

Poison.

* * *

Evelyn Lasphilla had a private meeting with Lilith Dust three days before her death.

And she left her wedding dress to her.

Why did she give her wedding dress of all things?

Having taken a dance dress she could use from Lilith and returned to her room, Cecilia was deeply lost in thought.

Not a ring or earrings, but a wedding dress. And given to a mistress.

What could it possibly mean?

Cecilia first tried a subjective approach.

‘A man not even a dog would take, I don’t need it. Just take it if you have to.’

…Hmm, too subjective?

Then, let’s try a more objective approach.

‘If I had known marriage would be this miserable, I would have rather married a beggar.’

…Is that objective?

Evelyn was a gentle woman.

Guessing in line with her temperament…

‘I’m going to die soon. So, I don’t need this dress anymore. You wear it.’

…Not much different from the first.

Considering someone else’s perspective was this difficult.

Cecilia had always prided herself on being quite sharp in understanding the people around her. But when it came to Evelyn Lasphilla, she knew nothing. Without knowing, there was no formula for deriving an answer.

“What is it…? What could it be?”

“What is it, Miss?”

Mary interjected cluelessly. It would be quite troublesome if that girl learned about the fate of the former Countess’s wedding dress.

Cecilia brushed it off by saying she was struggling to distinguish between 2/4 and 3/4 time signatures. Mary easily believed it.

‘It’s convenient that she believed me so quickly… but why do I feel insulted?’

Was her dancing really that dreadful?

‘They say talent is hereditary, but how could this be?’

Cecilia pretended not to notice that she had inherited more of Adam’s meticulousness and strategic mind than Lilith’s flexibility and sense of rhythm.

Yet, she disapproved of her biological mother’s conduct, blinded by desire without a plan.

Lilith Dust, in the end, did not dispose of the wedding dress.

Despite Cecilia suggesting it would be best to burn it, she firmly closed the box and hid the former Countess’s wedding dress deep in the wardrobe.

‘Can it really be considered hidden…?’

If it was Cecilia who received it, she wouldn’t have left it that way. She would have looked for a place that could serve as a marker, to bury it deeply or place it in an unused room so that, even if discovered, the backstory couldn’t be inferred.

Indeed, Cecilia strongly desired to move the box or secretly burn it, but decided not to act rashly.

After all, in her past life, the existence of that box was never revealed even after Lilith’s death. So, leaving it alone probably wouldn’t cause any harm.

‘…Wait a minute.’

The box’s whereabouts remained unknown even after her mother’s death?

‘That’s rather strange.’

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