“To 1499 Crawford in Brayton… Ah, my name is…”

What she gave to the operator was not her own name but a pseudonym of Nancy’s. She thought that if Jimmy knew it was her, he might avoid the call.

[ What happened? ]

“Jimmy, it’s me.”

Was her concern right?

After hearing Grace’s voice, Jimmy was silent for a moment. The joy of hearing his fiancé’s voice after so long was overshadowed by other emotions for her.

“I have something to ask you.”

Before continuing, she closed her eyes tightly. Winston’s distressingly pitiful face flickered in the darkness.

“Your fiancé ordered you to commit suicide.”

She asked with a voice trembling from suppressed outrage and fear.

“Is it true you sent cyanide and ordered me to commit suicide?”

[ …I’m sorry. ]

Grace fought back the tears that threatened to spill. Her heart ached more than her lips, which she bit down on forcefully. That man’s words were true. She wanted to believe them to be a despicable lie, but she could no longer do so.

No, Jimmy must have had no other choice, no other way…

[ I had no choice either. ]

…But how dare he say that?

Grace bit her lips even harder, this time filled with a completely different emotion from before.

[ Sitting in this position, you know there are times when difficult and sometimes ruthless decisions must be made. Do you think it was easy for me to send that to you? Still… ]

“Did you even try to save me?”

She couldn’t contain her anger and asked.

[ Of course, I thought about it… ]

“I’m not asking about your thoughts, but what you did!”

The only answer she got was silence.

How… how could he do this to her? Amid the painful silence, a sob leaked through her clenched, pale lips.

“Are you, huh, embarrassed that I’m alive?”

Grace fully understood why Nancy’s initial reaction to her being alive felt so uncomfortable. Her return wasn’t welcome, instead, it was a burden.

[ It’s not like that… ]

“Are you disappointed because I didn’t follow your order? It’s not that I didn’t, but I couldn’t. Winston intercepted it.”

‘…Telling me not to die.’

“How can the devil try to save me while my fiancé wants me dead?”

The devil who risked everything he had to keep her alive seemed almost angelic in comparison. A long sigh came through the receiver.

[ Grace, when you say it like that, it makes me sound worse than that guy… ]

Grace scoffed instead of sobbing.

Could she really say that wasn’t the case? At least that devil knew he was evil. A devil recognized by all and someone who pretended to be an angel, cloaking evil deeds with the guise of goodness.

Was there a difference between the two?

[ To be honest… ]

Jimmy lowered his voice to a whisper.

[ It was the elders’ decision. They said you knew too much… ]

“I was locked up for eight months and didn’t disclose anything! I didn’t sell out Fred and Peter. Fred did that!”

[ I know that. I know, Grace… please, don’t cry. ]

“Heuk..”

Even if he knew the truth, it brought no comfort.

[ Please believe me. I regret it. But knowing you’ve come back to life, you don’t know how happy I am… ]

“Right, you’re happy, but you can’t accept me because I’m carrying that b*stard’s child, right?”

[ Ha… that’s not what I mean. ]

“Do you know why I ended up like this? Because I didn’t betray! After all that, you do this to me! Not even trying to save me! I had to escape on my own! And you abandon me?”

[ I’m not abandoning you! ]

“So, is our engagement still on?”

Silence through the receiver, and Grace couldn’t stand it.

“Huuhu…”

She felt foolish for ever feeling guilty towards Jimmy while in Winston’s arms. As she buried her face in her hand and began to sob, the man’s voice taunted her in her head.

“I can’t understand what you saw in such an irresponsible man to promise marriage, Miss Riddle. It’s pathetic.”

Shut up, Winston. Please, just shut up.

[ Grace, I have responsibilities as the head of the family… ]

“Enough. I don’t want to hear anymore.”

The more he tried to explain, the more miserable her situation became.

[ I’m really sorry. Ha… It pains me, too, how things turned out like this. ]

Could his pain possibly be as much as hers?

As she gritted her teeth, Jimmy, who had been almost silent, started to ramble like someone eager to end the call.

[ I’ll organize your belongings and money and send them to you when the time is right. If you need funds, don’t hesitate to contact me. Grace, it pains me, too, that our paths have diverged like this. Still, the thought of you returning only to be exploited again… ]

Upon hearing that returning might make her a target of use again, Grace snapped to attention.

Was this implying they’d use her to capture Winston? But placing her as a spy again was impossible.

…As bait, then?

The thought suddenly struck her that her unborn child could be used as bait in negotiations with Winston, given the child’s royalist lineage.

The child of a royalist.

As this thought process, a suspicion zapped through her mind like lightning.

“How would you use me? Is there… is there a hidden role for me? Something the elders have been planning for a long time…?”

[ No, where did you get that idea? ]

Grace’s intuition screamed at her. This was a lie. There was something more, and Jimmy was hiding it from her.

[ I just don’t want you to suffer like this again. Grace, I’m trying to protect you. ]

That man had said something similar. One man claimed that imprisoning her was his way of protection, while another argued that driving her away was his.

In either case, her will was completely ignored.

[ Don’t forget. I’m not abandoning you. I really miss you. I’ll come to see you when things settle down. Please, go to Joe. I’m begging you. ]

Grace’s intuition whispered once more.

It was all empty promises.

With her mind already crowded with different thoughts, she weakly responded as she pulled the phone away from her ear.

“Alright, I’ll go to Joe.”

It must have sounded like perfect resignation to the person on the other end.

º º º

As soon as Grace entered the central station of Winsford, she headed straight to the kiosk.

She picked up a box of crackers, an apple, and two bottles of soda, and she moved towards the bookstand. At the ticket office, they distribute free timetables for trains departing from the central station. However, Grace deliberately chose to buy a guidebook detailing train schedules across the nation.

The kiosk owner glanced at her with curious eyes throughout the transaction, recognizing something unusual about her appearance.

Knowing well what she must look like, Grace avoided his gaze. She continuously dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief so soaked it seemed it might drip. The owner rummaged behind the counter and placed something on top of the guidebook.

“This comes with the purchase of a train timetable.”

It was a neatly packaged handkerchief.

“…Thank you.”

Leaving the kiosk, she joined the end of the long queue to buy train tickets, juggling the paper bag of goods and flipping through the train schedule with one hand.

The 2:15 train would stop at Chesterfield at 4:30, depart at 4:35, and arrive at 8:45.

As she busily calculated her journey, including local train times, that man’s voice haunted her thoughts.

“You need to know the truth. At first, it was amusing to watch you trust and wait for that b*stard, knowing nothing. But now, it pains me too.”

Shut up. I told you to shut up.

By the time she reached the ticket counter, even the new handkerchief was damp. Grace intended to buy a third-class ticket out of habit, but they were sold out due to the Christmas rush.

Only first-class remained.

The high ceilings in the lobby caused the voices and footsteps of the crowd to echo like in a cave as she crossed to the platform. Amidst the bustle of people loading luggage and saying farewells, an attendant approached her as she stared at the train with a look of heading towards a personal hell.

“Madam, where are you headed?”

Perhaps the sight of a pregnant woman with tear-stained eyes and a lost expression evoked pity.

The attendant was overly cheerful, took the crumpled paper bag from her, and guided her to first class. Usually, Grace would not accept help for tasks she could manage on her own. However, in that moment, she was willing to lean on the kindness of a stranger.

__