Review Responses:
Innocent-Diamond: Yep. Not to mention that that was the longest conversation that Klaus and Alice had together in YEARS. Nothing says bonding time like catching your wife in an affair. O_O Jokes aside, you're going to find out how Klaus dies in this chapter, so uh... ＼（〇_ｏ）／
pretty-on-point: Yep, Klaus knows Alice and Shun's history together now! To be fair, Klaus is so busy with work and whatnot that he doesn't know a whole lot about Alice and vice versa, so he just assumed that she started an affair with Shun after they first "met" at that party at Barodius's manor. The cause of Klaus's death will be revealed in this chapter, so stay tuned for that~ ＞︿＜
MagicxMusicxMelody: If Alice was feeling overwhelmed in the last chapter because of Klaus and Shun, she's REALLY going to be feeling it now in this chapter. And Klaus's cause of death will be revealed in this chapter! ＞﹏＜
cherry-tree-of-life: Make sure to turn on your email alerts! And I suppose if you found out that your spouse was having an affair, you would also be angry and bitter as well. Klaus's death will be revealed in this chapter so stay tuned for that! ≡(▔﹏▔)≡
Chapter 11
"M-Mrs. v-von Hertzon." The brunette got out amongst her tears. "M-Mr. von Her-Hertzon is dead."
The redhead blinked up at the maid. The two women stared at each other for quite some time before it finally hit Alice that Klaus was dead and that was when the shock and tears came.
"D-Dead?" The von Hertzon widow collapsed onto the floor, her favorite yellow dress pooling around her, her dropped book long forgotten. "Wh-What? But...But how?"
"The...The ship..." Soon hiccupped out. "The ship that Mr. - Mr. von Hertzon was on...s - sunk. We don't - we still don't know what happened to cause the ship to sink, b - but the ship had a women and children first policy. Not a lot of men were found on the lifeboats and...and Mr. von Hertzon wasn't found among them." The maid released a shaky breath. "It...it could only mean that he is dead."
A guttural, animalistic noise that Alice didn't know could come out of her ripped through her throat. Wave after wave of sobs crashed against her, and for a moment, she felt as if she was the one that was drowning. With the way she couldn't breathe and how heavy her chest felt, she could have been thrown into the merciless ocean waves instead of being curled up on the floor and she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.
She had never loved Klaus romantically, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He was never a cruel husband to her, and had treated her better than most other men would have, given her affair with Shun. He had even attempted to win her heart by letting her into his. Another inhuman sob ripped through her at the thought of what Klaus's final thoughts might have been before the ocean had claimed him.
He had left for Vestal knowing that the woman he had married would never love him romantically. That her heart belonged to another. That he was just a means to save her family. He must have felt - and thought - that he was unlovable. That love was something that wasn't meant for him, something that he would never find. And that was what hurt Alice the most; the fact that Klaus would never be proven wrong.
Alice felt a pair of arms encircling her shoulders, and looking up, she found Soon. The maid could no longer hold her tears in and had cried alongside the redhead as well. Wrapping Soon in a proper hug, the two women embraced each other as wave after wave of tears threatened to pull them under.
...
The next few days, weeks even, felt like a blur. Alice went through those days mindlessly, her body doing mundane things and important decisions, even, without her mind or heart in it. She planned out Klaus's funeral, met with his lawyers to discuss his will. As it turns out, she hadn't had to worry much about either one of them - the funeral was an empty casket one as his body was never found and everything that Klaus had ever had belonged to her.
Not for the first time in her life, Alice hated money. It was money that made her marry Klaus. It was also money that made men flock to her now that Klaus was dead. Not even a week after his funeral, men were coming to the manor. She knew that it was no doubt Klaus's money that they were coming for - no reasonable man would want to do anything with her, especially not with the affair that she had. For the first few days, not knowing any better, she let them in. Let them offer her their condolences, listen to them half-heartedly when they told her that if she needed anything, anything at all, they would be available to help. After a week of seeing different men entering the manor, she instructed the servants to make up whatever excuse they could think of to make those men leave. After all, the only man she wanted to see was God-knows-where.
...
"It's all my fault." Alice tore her gaze away from the garden to turn to face her grandfather. A month after the funeral, her grandfather came to visit and suggested that she come back home for a bit to clear her mind. She agreed, as staying in the manor made her feel uncomfortable. Because if it wasn't enough that she had to swat away suitors like files, the servants decided to make her feel uncomfortable in her own home as well. She couldn't shake the feeling that the servants were watching her every move, wondering if and or when she was going to renew her affair with her lover now that her husband was dead. With that, she was all too happy to come back to her childhood home. What she hadn't expected, however, was how painful coming back home was.
Despite having a strong support system from her family, her childhood home reminded her too much about Shun. Everywhere she went, she could clearly remember memories of them. Like their first kiss at thirteen in the garden. The first time Shun told her he loved her at fifteen on the front door after a date. The nights they spent making plans for the future on top of her roof. His last good-bye at sixteen when they separated. Klaus's death was painful, but Shun's absence was unbearable.
"I'm sorry, Grandfather, I don't think I quite understand you." The redhead replied, confused.
"If I hadn't gotten sick - "
"Please don't, Grandfather. Reminiscing on the past will do us no good. What's done is done." Alice interrupted. She couldn't bear listen to her grandfather take the blame for something he couldn't control, for something that altered their lives forever.
"Of course, but..." The elderly man paused for a moment. "I know that had it not been for me, you wouldn't have had to marry Klaus."
"We don't know that, Grandfather."
"You love Shun. It was clear from the very beginning, and had it not been for me, you would have waited until Shun came back." Seeing his granddaughter silent, the elderly man continued on. "You could have waited for forever for him, and nothing would have stopped you."
"I don't think that matters anymore, Grandfather. Besides, he isn't coming back." She let out a bitter laugh but soon stopped as her heart felt heavy and she couldn't cry. Not when she didn't even cry at Klaus's funeral. And certainly not over this. "Not this time."
"How do you know that?"
"I just do." Alice knew that her explanation was insufficient and lacking in evidence, but she couldn't care less. "I already ruined things when I left to marry Klaus, and if that wasn't enough..." She drew in a shaky breath. "I ruined everything when I had an affair with Shun when I was still married to Klaus. And now..." She gave up on her trying to contain her tears, as her tears were threatening to fall. "And now...I ruined my reputation and his and he's never going to come back."
"He'll come back, Alice. He always does."
...
"Mrs. von Hertzon, you have a visitor." The redhead looked up from the book she was trying to read to face Soon.
"Please send them away, Soon. I'm not in the mood for visitors." She responded. She had been doing that a lot upon coming back to the von Hertzon manor. As much as she wanted to stay with her grandfather for longer than a month, she knew that she had to come back to the manor eventually. And it wasn't like her stay at her childhood home did her any good anyways - there were too many memories of the past. Coming back to the von Hertzon manor with the gossiping servants didn't make her feel any better either. At this point, Alice wondered if she could ever find somewhere that felt like home.
"I tried, Mrs. von Hertzon, but he wouldn't listen. He said that he refused to leave until he saw you."
She had to stifle a sigh. So it was a man who wanted to see her. No doubt about the money. The only visitors that came around the von Hertzon Manor were her potential suitors and Alice was too tired to care about them. Nothing in life really mattered anymore anyways. "Who is it?"
Soon shook her head. "I don't know who he is, and he wouldn't say his name. What would you like me to do, Mrs. von Hertzon?"
The widow sighed. "Send him in, Soon." Perhaps the man will leave once he noticed how despondent she was - that usually did the trick as of lately. Comforted with that thought, Alice turned her attention back to the book in her hands and didn't even look up when Soon announced the visitor. It was not until the man spoke did she lift her head up.
"Alice." Her head snapped up, her breath caught in her throat.
"Shun."
End of Chapter 11.
Note: I AM ALIVE! (╬▔皿▔)╯
I have returned from the depths of Hell to offer you this update after a year plus of inactivity on this work. Please accept my humble offering. ＼（〇_ｏ）／
All jokes aside, I apologize for being incredibly inactive - I've been busy with schoolwork and I hadn't had the urge to write for quite awhile now. But! I have made a goal this year to update at least one work a month, so you will be hearing from me more often this year (whether or not I update this work often is debatable, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
Anyways, whoo! There's a lot to unpack here. From the way Klaus died to shameless men asking to court Alice to...Shun returning?! That's a lot for Alice - poor girl must be overwhelmed. In case anyone was wondering, I wanted to base Klaus's death off of the Titanic, but unfortunately, the time period of this work and the year that the Titanic sank aren't the same. Please forgive me. ＞﹏＜
As always, please let me know your thoughts on your chapter and I shall see you in the next one! Bye~! ~(￣▽￣)~*
P.S: It has come to my attention that the email alerts are acting up, so please make sure to turn on your email alerts to get notified when this fic is updated! \( ^0^ )/