What Remains at the End of Regret - Chapter 12

“Was it ever appropriate for someone like me, just a humble bookstore owner, to attend a noble’s wedding?”

“Do you really think that’s the problem?”

Len avoided Vivian’s persistent and curious gaze. He sighed quietly and spoke in a calm voice.

“My dear, do you truly love Hayden?”

Len understood Vivian’s warmth. She was the kind of girl who, having received love, knew how to give it generously in return. The Vivian he had come to know was someone who could share gentle affection with everyone around her.

To Vivian, Hayden was a childhood friend and now a lover. But Len remembered a time when Vivian had struggled with a long summer cold she couldn’t quite shake.

Hearing his gentle question, Vivian leaned her head back. The spinning ceiling fan filled her vision, turning unevenly above her.

She blinked several times, adjusted her posture as if in deep thought, and then answered with clarity.

“Yes, I do.”

When she looked back on her life, Hayden Harper had always been there in every important moment.

Vivian had never learned how not to love Hayden. Just as Hayden had always loved her with everything he had, she would also love him with all her heart.

“I’ll go.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The sun will be setting soon, so you should get going.”

“You promised!”

Len followed Vivian’s gaze and looked at the sun, which was about to slip below the horizon. Though he pretended to be reluctant, he knew Hayden was a good man. Len still wasn’t entirely sure if Vivian truly loved Hayden, but there was no doubt in his mind that Hayden Harper loved her deeply.

Before long, the beautiful green sea would be filled with the soft colors of the setting sun.

Vivian stood up gracefully, placed her hands over her chest, and bowed politely.

“It was an honor to meet you.”

Her playful smile made Len let out a quiet laugh.

“Pudding will be happy to hear that.”

Vivian laughed out loud, then turned and walked away.

The scent of the sea breeze lingered in the air.

Vivian glanced at the road leading back to the mansion but chose to walk in the opposite direction. Before returning, she wanted to stop by the beach.

Suddenly, she remembered an old legend about the Tannic Sea.

It was a beautiful tale. When the sea parted and two lovers reached the end of the path, they would be blessed with eternal love. As a child, Vivian had believed in that romantic story. Now, she was old enough to smile at her younger self for being so hopeful and dreamy.

She took off her shoes and held them neatly in her hands, wanting to feel the sand fully. The soft grains slipped between her slender toes. Under the crimson sky, with warm sand beneath her feet, Vivian let out a quiet breath.

As always, her eyes drifted toward the glass fortress perched high on the cliff. The castle glowed brilliantly in the golden light of the setting sun.

Summer was approaching.

And so was the wedding. By the end of this summer, she would officially become Hayden’s wife. Soon, she would be known as Mrs. Harper. Vivian Harper. Saying the unfamiliar name softly to herself made her heart tingle in a strange and gentle way.

Vivian brushed off the odd feeling and slipped her shoes back on.

That was when she heard an unfamiliar but steady sound, just as the burning sunset began to sink beneath the horizon of the Tannic Sea.

She squinted her eyes, trying to make out a small object approaching from a distance. She stood there in a daze as the figure drew closer at surprising speed.

When it finally reached her, Vivian’s eyes widened once more.

A man on a large horse stood before her.

Without a word, a wave of heat rushed up her spine, and her back tensed.

It was unmistakably a bad sign.

It was as if she were a helpless animal frozen before a towering wave, unable to move, waiting for the inevitable disaster to strike. Her senses went numb, and even sound seemed to drift far away.

Soon, it would rise like a tidal wave and crash down, breaking Vivian completely. It would sweep through her and leave her heart in ruins once again.

“This can’t be happening…”

Edmund Lockberg.

“Why are you here…”

He was a duke.

His expression was cold and distant as he slowly brought his horse to a stop. His emotionless eyes scanned the face of the woman standing before him, unable to hide her confusion. Without hesitation, Edmund dismounted with a smooth motion and began walking toward her at a calm pace.

With each step he took, faint memories began to return.

For example, those frightened green eyes that had once darted around, unsure where to look, just like now. Or the pale face with hair just as white, looking almost colorless.

And when he stepped onto the sand and came to a stop in front of her, he finally remembered her name.

Vivian Mabel. The bold, lost intruder who once found her way into a place no one was supposed to enter.

Her trembling gaze slowly lifted to meet his, and in that moment, the memory came rushing back in full.

She had been the girl who stuck her head through a thick wooden door and started crying, not knowing what to do. That foolish girl who had, for one painfully dull summer day, brought him the slightest bit of amusement.

It had happened on the very day he had dreamed of Beatrice Lockberg.

Edmund knew all too well that dreams of her left his nerves raw. But even then, he had never been the kind of man to lose control or show emotion because of something as meaningless as a dream. He always held onto his composure.

That particular dream had been unusually long, yet he had managed to stay calm and erase the feelings it stirred. He had trained himself to keep emotion buried. To show it was to show weakness. Still, no matter how much he denied it, the lingering discomfort always stayed with him after dreams like that.

That day had been one of those days.

She had looked so pitiful, like a mouse caught in a trap. Clearly, she had been driven by curiosity and had thrown herself right into it. It had only taken a moment of impulse for her to take the bait.

That should have been all.

But the way she struggled to escape, the way she flailed and twisted to break free, had been strangely refreshing. It was almost enough to make him forget the foul feeling the dream had left behind.

Yet the moment she managed to escape and tried to flee, that foolish arrogance had stirred another wave of irritation in him.

She had been just that interesting, and just that annoying.

Now Edmund looked at the girl who had grown into a woman. Her hair was still as white as snow, her skin just as pale, unchanged from the memory.

Even her frightened eyes were the same.

And yet, something was clearly different.

Edmund silently studied her face, now more defined and mature. Five years had passed since his last visit to Faubert.

He remembered the pale nape of her neck, red from being pressed against the iron bars. The memory made him quietly repeat her name to himself.

“Vivian Mabel.”

The girl who had once left him feeling strangely uncomfortable.

Whenever he turned away from her, unsure why she unsettled him so much, he would catch her staring. Her breaths would come in short, shaky bursts, her face twisting as if she might cry at any moment. The impulse to torment her had flashed in him for just a moment.

Now, after all this time, her expression was still the same. That frightened, rabbit-like look had not changed.

The name left his lips in a quiet murmur, gently brushing the edge of his mouth like a whispering breeze. The sound of it was clear, and at that, Vivian’s shoulders flinched ever so slightly.

Slowly, she lifted her bowed head. Her emerald eyes gradually filled Edmund’s field of vision.

“Do you… remember me?”

It had been a brief encounter. Barely even a single moment shared.

“Who knows.”

What was it about those short moments that had frightened her so deeply?

Edmund truly could not understand.

“Vivian!”

Just as the crashing waves seemed to swallow the silence, a loud voice rang out like a sudden salvation. Vivian turned her head quickly and called back with relief and clarity.

“Hayden!”

In the distance, Hayden was waving at her. In that moment, the way his golden hair shimmered in the light made him seem almost angelic. Vivian called his name with the brightest smile she had worn that day. Then she turned back to Edmund, needing to end the conversation.

“My friend is here, so I’ll be going now.”

She silently promised herself to praise Hayden later for showing up at just the right time. With that thought, she turned and walked away from Edmund.

Her hair flowed wildly in the wind as she hurried along the beach.

Edmund’s gaze slowly dropped to the soft, rippling white strands that danced around her waist. Below them, he saw her slender ankles moving quickly as she ran.

A memory, he thought.

Do I really remember that girl who still hasn’t learned how to hide her emotions?

He recalled the emerald eyes that had always watched him with a mixture of fear and instinctive caution. And in that moment, he felt he might finally know the answer to the question he had once avoided.

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