FOU – Chapter 6

It wasn’t surprising, really. He looked like that because he was the male lead, and he was the male lead because he looked like that.

To explain, in the original story, the male lead was a Duke named Cedric, and the female lead was a middle-class woman named Adeline. Adeline wasn’t quite working class, but she wasn’t the daughter of a judge or a business man either, making her fall more on the lower end of the middle class.

Their story was a romance solely between the two of them. Every plot element existed to complete their perfect rags-to-riches love story.

The plot went like this: Cedric and Adeline, who would normally never get the chance to cross paths, first met when Cedric mistook Adeline who was filling in as a casino server for a sick friend, for a courtesan. Adeline had also misunderstood him, as she saw Cedric, a casino customer, as nothing more than a newly rich, frivolous gambler and scorned him for it.

This novel was completely run of the mill stuff.

While snarling at each other, they couldn’t deny their mutual attraction. Of course, even this clichéd narrative provided both of them with a rocky backstory to make their union all the more entertaining.

Adeline’s father was a gambling addict, and because of this, her family was buried in debt. Later on, after learning that Cedric was the Duke of Sutherwick, she started to grow distant from him, thinking, “Someone of my low status could never be with His Grace the Duke.”

It was a classic two steps forward, one step back kind of love story.

Unsurprisingly, Adeline’s father ended up incurring another massive gambling debt later on, and Adeline herself was at the risk of being sold off.

As you can expect, our male lead, Cedric, appeared right at that moment, and paid off her father’s enormous debt.

Adeline, with her strong pride, misinterpreted Cedric’s kindness, believing she was being treated like a prostitute. And in that moment she…

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” She said, and…

The rest is history…!

Following this, Cedric, wrongly accused of being a scoundrel who buys women with his money, felt provoked and accepted her challenge, and…

The rest is history…!

“Wasn’t that only a fraction of your family’s debt…?” Cedric scoffed and demanded Adeline become his mistress.

Of course, this was said out of a possessive desire to have her all to himself, however, Adeline took his words literally and felt humiliated.

She eventually decided to accept Cedric’s proposal on the condition that it was only “until the debt was repaid”. Thus, the two became “The Duke and his mistress.”

This is why Dylan couldn’t help but have a bad impression of the real Cedric. He was already portrayed in the story as having a colorful past with women, and then he went and made pronouncements like, “Become my mistress!” while Adeline was having a crisis.

Of course, Cedric was given a past that explained his behavior. At the time he met Adeline, he wasn’t in a very healthy state of mind. He was constantly drunk, consumed by gambling, and engaging in self-destructive behavior. The reason?

The death of his wife and son.

Cedric’s former wife had died after experiencing a difficult childbirth and the emotional hit from the stillbirth. It was only natural for a person who experienced such a loss to be in despair.

Cedric, unable to escape the shock of losing two of the most precious people in his life, was wandering through daily life in misery, when he encountered Adeline.

Strangely, Adeline brought light into Cedric’s dark world, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He ended up falling for her soon after.

The two, each carrying their own personal traumas, experienced multiple misunderstandings. Cedric thought Adeline was with him for the money, and Adeline thought Cedric was with her for her body.

At that point in the story, there was one particular element that fueled Adeline’s misunderstanding.

Coincidentally, she happened to bear a resemblance to Cedric’s deceased wife with her dazzling blonde hair and bright green eyes. Adeline’s heart sank when she saw the portrait of his former wife for the first time.

‘Does he only see me as a replacement for his dead wife?’

Even after Cedric expressed his feelings for her to some extent, Adeline couldn’t shake that thought. Of course, it was only a misunderstanding, but Adeline didn’t think so.

All the while, Cedric gradually fell more in love with Adeline. He became affectionate and tender towards her, and the more he did that, the more Adeline’s doubt for him grew.

‘Am I just her replacement?’

 

‘What a heartwarming story.’ Dylan thought to herself after reading it.

She had loved that story. It was just a common tale with typical twists and turns, but well-written clichés are always the most entertaining.

The emotional connection between the male and female leads was poignant, and the dialogue they exchanged was sharp and engaging. Even knowing she lived in the world of the novel now, she found herself rooting for their love.

So, when Dylan said she wished for Cedric’s happiness, she really meant it.

Initially, she had no intention of interfering with Cedric’s affairs. If possible, she wanted to leave the storyline as it was.

If only his deceased wife hadn’t been described as having blonde hair and green eyes…

‘Yes, blonde hair and green eyes…’

The wife who died after delivering Cedric’s stillborn child in the story was Emily Langton, Dylan’s own little sister.

Actually, she hadn’t known this to be true for that long. It had been several years since Dylan Langton’s past life’s memories, the memories of the “book” had returned.

Even after the memories of the book returned, Dylan didn’t realize for a while that this world was the world within that very book. In the first place, the book was a story about two people who had seemingly nothing to do with her.

She first found a connection to the novel when she saw a newspaper article about Cedric Roden Hayworth, the “Duke of Northerland”, as they called him, or rather, the Duke of the Sutherwick Duchy.

She didn’t remember the names of all the characters, but she immediately recognized the male protagonist’s title and name. However, even after that, she didn’t suspect that Cedric’s former wife would be her sister, Emily.

She didn’t know… Even while reading Cedric’s scandals in the newspaper, she only thought, “Oh dear, all that karma will come back to bite him and make the female lead cry later.”

How could she possibly remember the name of the former wife, who was briefly mentioned and almost forgotten completely in a story she had read in another lifetime? She had forgotten it long ago… In the first place, even when mentioned in the story, she was always referred to as “Cedric’s deceased wife”, “the former Duchess of Sutherwick” or “her,” and so on… but never once was she mentioned as “Emily Langton”.

Dylan only realized that Emily was Cedric’s deceased wife when Cedric called out to her, saying, “Hey, you, with the brown hat!” And by then, it was far, far too late.

The face of the male protagonist she had only seen in newspapers was now in front of her. He was asking her for directions to Langton Manor.

Dylan’s mind, gathering this series of information, began to work a mile a minute.

‘He was thirty years old in the story, and he’s currently twenty-eight years old… ‘

‘In the original timeline, Cedric had lost his wife about a year ago…‘

‘The period from marriage to pregnancy and childbirth was about a year, give or take. So, if Cedric were to marry, it would be right around this time…’

‘His wife had blonde hair and green eyes…’

Dylan despaired. Anyone could see that Emily was the woman who would die giving birth to his child!

The conversation she overheard in the drawing-room was the final confirmation. Cedric had come to propose to Emily. He said it himself. She could think of nothing but stopping him.

Even when the memories of her past life and the book returned, she was still undeniably Dylan Langton. She had lived almost twenty years simply as Dylan. Whatever the origin of this world, the life she had lived here was her only reality.

Of course, her family was indescribably precious to her. Their mother had died giving birth to Emily, and the baby, born prematurely, was so small it seemed as if she would soon follow her mother in death.

Dylan, who was six years old at the time, resolved to protect the little baby at all costs.

Dylan was both a sister and a guardian to Emily. When they were young, she often stayed up all night watching Emily’s cradle, afraid she might die in her sleep. She tried to make sure the sickly child, who was prone to illness, ate everything that was good for her.

Even now, with her sister healthy, Dylan sometimes would put a finger under Emily’s nose while she slept. Only when she felt her breath against her fingertip could she finally relax and return to her own bed. To Dylan, Emily still resembled the tiny baby in the cradle clutching her index finger with her tiny hand.

She couldn’t lose her. Although it was a pre-determined future, she had to stop it. Even if that meant interfering in events she shouldn’t… she had to try. She didn’t want to lose the child who was even now smiling brightly, calling out, “Sister!” in such a heart warming way.

So, she interfered.

Dylan blocked his chance to propose to her. She couldn’t think of any other way to prevent the events in the novel from occurring. After all, if Emily didn’t marry Cedric, something like stillbirth wouldn’t happen at all. She really hadn’t known that this would put her in such a predicament.

“Did you really ‘joke’ with Dylan, misleading her with such words?” Robert snarled fiercely at Cedric.

“Misleading me? Such a—”

“You stay out of this, Dylan.” The Viscount quickly cut her off.

At Robert’s firm words, Dylan closed her mouth. He really had misunderstood, but she knew an explanation wouldn’t work on Robert who valued honor more than anything else.

She bit her lip in worry. It was a distressing misunderstanding.

Dylan anxiously glanced between Cedric and Robert. She knew how the next conversation would unfold.

“Is what Emily said true?”

“The details are different, but the gist is not.” Cedric replied vaguely.

“Then—”

“However, I did not formally propose to her.”

Of course not! Dylan knew that. Cedric wouldn’t propose to her because Cedric Hayworth loathed Dylan Langton, or rather, the “Baroness Samuelson”, as she was called in the story.

Ironically, because of this, Dylan had a larger role in the novel than even Emily did. Of course, she foolishly hadn’t realized this until a few days ago when she first saw Cedric’s face.

In the story, Dylan was never referred to by the name “Dylan Langton”. She was always referred to as “Baroness Samuelson.” Her maiden name was never even mentioned.

Why? Because the male lead loathed her so much that he didn’t even want to say her name.

The reason he loathed her was because she always cast flirtatious glances at Cedric, her sister’s former husband, both when her sister was alive and after her death. According to a brief mention in the novel, she even made advances towards him at her sister’s funeral!

‘How utterly insane!’

The current Dylan wouldn’t do such a thing even if someone held a gun to her head and forced her.

Nonetheless, Cedric despised Baroness Samuelson because of that. All the more so because her shady machinations continued even after she married Baron Samuelson, a man thirty-five years her senior, because she couldn’t find a more suitable husband.

She could clearly remember how Cedric thought of Dylan in the story even now.

‘With narrow, sinister eyes…’

‘Such a gloomy and unpleasant gaze…’

‘Her face was painted in filthy desire…’

‘She had such a vulgar smile…’

Even the physical descriptions were stark. In the story, Cedric’s eyes never held a shred of kindness when he looked at Dylan. It was a fitting reaction to a woman who was infatuated with her younger sister’s husband. She was openly jealous of her sister, rejoiced in her death, and continued to flirt with said sister’s husband even after her own marriage to someone else.

So, the situation she was in now was nothing more than a comedy of errors caused by a minor misunderstanding. In the first place, what happened on that bench wasn’t a proposal. It was just an argument between a woman trying to protect her younger sister and a man slighted by a rude woman.

“Are you saying that you insulted my daughter by speaking of marriage without any intention of following through?” Robert Langton asked harshly.

“No.” Cedric shook his head at Lord Langton’s question.

Dylan also shook her head along with him, as she could predict how the conversation would flow for the next few minutes.

Cedric would come up with a plausible excuse like a well-mannered nobleman. He would say he merely paid a polite compliment and Emily had overheard and misunderstood. Perhaps he would apologize for his words and actions that caused the misunderstanding, or he would make up a story about consulting with Dylan about proposing to Emily—

‘Oh, damn. What if he chose the latter?’

Dylan’s heart sank. If it was the latter, it was over. Numerous people, including nobles, were gathered here. Everyone was watching this moment. Robert was also here, fulfilling the implicit custom that a proposal should be made in the presence of a guardian.

If Cedric proposed to Emily here and now, the Langton family wouldn’t be able to refuse. If they did, that would be tantamount to openly insulting the dukedom. If he proposed now, Emily wouldn’t be able to say no. So that absolutely couldn’t happen.

Dylan bit the tip of her tongue, waiting for Cedric’s next words.

‘Apologize. Just apologize and end it. Apologize for making Emily misunderstand. Please, just let it end with an apology.’

Cedric met Dylan’s eyes. Dylan pleaded with him desperately in her head, ‘Please, just apologize.’

Cedric’s lips slowly parted, “First, I’d like to apologize to you, my Lord.”

‘Yes!’ The pressure that had been weighing heavily on Dylan’s chest disappeared, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“I should have spoken those words in your presence, my Lord, and not in a private setting with her.”

It was going just as she wanted… until he said that.

‘What?!’

Dylan didn’t understand the situation immediately. Who was “her”… and what were the words he should have spoken in the Viscount’s presence, and why was Cedric suddenly walking towards her?

‘Why?!’

Why was Cedric slowly kneeling in front of her?

‘Why?!’

Why was he taking a small box out of his pocket?

‘Why?!’

Why were people gasping?

Dylan’s mind went blank, and she couldn’t move her body. It was as if the world had stopped. But since only Dylan’s world had stopped, Cedric’s lips, as he went down on one knee before her, moved ever so eloquently.

“Miss Dylan Langton,” He started.

‘Oh my god.’ Dylan internally shrieked.

“Will you marry me?”

Among all the scenarios Dylan had imagined, this shocking scene had never been one of them.