Episode 20
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“Lilia, what happened, huh? Where’s your mother, and why did you come alone? Why are you soaked like this?”
“……Auntie. Mom… Mom…”
Tears streamed down Lilia’s cheeks as she continued.
“Mom isn’t coming back……”
“What?”
Her mother isn’t coming back? Ranié tried to ask again, but she closed her mouth. Right now, calming the child down came before finding out what had happened.
She washed the trembling girl in warm water, dressed her in the smallest clothes she could find, and handed her a cup of warm milk. Only after that did she leave Lilia in Hilde’s care and head next door.
“I’ll be right back. Please look after Lilia for a bit, Grandma.”
“Ranié…!”
Ranié ran through the pouring rain toward the neighboring house. Fortunately, the door was open, and she quickly slipped inside to get out of the rain.
The warmth that used to fill Celine’s home was gone. The lights were off, and the place felt unusually messy. Her uneasy heart pounded heavily in her chest.
‘No way… It can’t be. It can’t be.’
She lit a candle and glanced around the dark room. On top of a drawer, out of Lilia’s reach, was a small folded note written in neat handwriting.
[Please take care of Lilia.]
Ranié stood frozen, holding the short note for a long time. Thunder rumbled fiercely outside, as if the heavens themselves were enraged.
“Ugh…!”
The moment lightning flashed across the room, a piercing pain struck her head. Her grip loosened, and the note fell from her hand as she clutched her head and collapsed.
Her vision blurred more and more, yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the fallen note until the very last moment before she lost consciousness. When her eyes finally closed, tears slid silently down her cheeks.
My life was miserable. It felt as if every misfortune in the world had chosen to fall upon me.
It was a freezing winter night cold enough to see my breath. As always, I felt that quiet misery while heading home late.
A bookstore that usually closed early still had its lights on tonight. A woman stood in front of it, busy organizing books as if some event had kept her late.
“Ah—!”
The stack of books she’d piled to the side toppled over. She’d accidentally kicked them while moving others. The street was suddenly a mess of fallen books, and she frantically bent down to gather them.
After a moment’s hesitation, I picked up the book closest to me.
As I helped her, she repeatedly bowed and thanked me, her cheeks and nose bright red from the cold.
“Have a good evening.”
Just as I bowed slightly and was about to leave, she grabbed my sleeve and spoke.
“Um… do you like books?”
“No.”
“If you don’t mind, please take this. We were giving out books for free as part of an event today, but as you can see, I still have plenty left.”
Didn’t I just say no?
Ignoring my reply, she pressed a book into my hands. It had a black cover with golden letters spelling Celine Grewell.
“I’m embarrassed to say this, but I wrote it myself. Please read it if you have time.”
“……”
“Then, have a good night!”
It wasn’t that I disliked books—it was more that I never had time for them. Life was too harsh to allow for reading.
When I got home, I filled the tub with warm water and sank in. Only after thawing my frozen body did I finally feel a bit of ease. Enough ease to read at least the first few pages.
With only a dim light on, I sat on my bed and opened the book. The very first sentence pierced straight through me.
Celine Grewell’s life was unfortunate.
The story began with the Heroine, Celine, fleeing from her husband while pregnant. She lived alone in a small village, occasionally reminiscing about her past.
When she was nineteen, the Grewell family fell into ruin. Her father’s trusted friend betrayed him, costing them over half their fortune. Then her father’s descent into gambling finished what little they had left.
Overnight, she lost everything. With her mother’s help, she married into the Rochester family—a union made possible because their families had debts to settle.
But Celine’s married life was anything but happy.
“I will never love you. So don’t ever ask me to play at that childish thing called affection again.”
Kaen Rochester was a man incapable of love. He was so cold that trampling on Celine’s heart caused him no guilt at all.
Even the Rochester family head disliked her. He had reluctantly accepted her as a daughter-in-law, only to later learn she was frail and unlikely to bear children.
In a mansion where no one welcomed her, Celine endured desperately. After a year, she miraculously became pregnant—and chose to run away. For her own happiness, and that of her unborn child.
Life in the countryside was far from easy. But she endured and endured again. Before I knew it, I was cheering for her within the pages.
By the time I reached the end, the story had taken me completely. Though the male lead’s reappearance had caused turmoil, Celine ultimately overcame her past pain.
Celine Grewell was happy.
That was the final sentence of Celine Grewell.
I sat there for a long while, clutching the book. That was how I lingered in the aftertaste of a story. As I read, I realized I had found comfort in her.
The perfectly closed happy ending made my chest ache. Celine would live happily among her loving family—unlike me.
The page after the ending held the author’s note.
Hello, this is author L.
Thank you so much for joining Celine Grewell’s journey.
It seemed like a typical afterword—until I read the final paragraph.
This novel was written based on a dream I had. However, there is a true ending. Once I’m ready, I’ll share it on my personal SNS. Please look forward to it.
Thank you.
“The true ending…?”
After finishing the afterword, I closed the book. I immediately searched for the author’s SNS, but it was completely empty.
Time passed, and I almost forgot—until one day, a notification popped up. The true ending had been posted. It was so shocking that it made me forget the entire main story.
Celine Grewell passed away at twenty-eight. That day was Lilia’s seventh birthday.
In the main story, the Grewell mother and daughter never left Leclere Village—but in the true ending, things were different. When Lilia turned five, Celine left the village with her. They wandered from the west to the east, never settling anywhere.
That free life had always been Celine’s dream: a life unbound, a life where she could go anywhere she wanted.
Though they had little, they were happy. Happier than ever.
But that happiness didn’t last. Frail as she was, Celine fell ill and, after a long struggle, passed away—leaving Lilia alone.
Lilia wept, holding her mother’s peaceful body.
‘…Wait, what is this?’
Startled, I checked how many pages were left. Thankfully, the story wasn’t quite over yet, but I felt uneasy, not knowing what would happen next.
On the following page, Kaen finally appeared for the first time in the true ending. He learned of Celine’s death and was tormented by regret. He vowed to raise his only remaining blood relative well.
Lilia, now a wanderer, became heir to the Rochester family. Yet when she learned how that very family had tormented her mother, she couldn’t bring herself to love them.
The girl missed her mother. She missed her so deeply that she finally decided to follow her—before even coming of age.
Clutching the hidden blade she had secretly prepared, Lilia closed her eyes.
‘…Please, don’t leave Lilia alone.’
Ranié awoke in her all-too-familiar room. Blinking at the ceiling, she suddenly gagged, covered her mouth, and ran to the bathroom.
“Urgh…!”
Since she hadn’t eaten, only pale liquid came up. After retching for a long time, she collapsed to the floor, her exhausted body trembling. Lilia’s final, desperate words echoed painfully in her chest.
‘Why am I only remembering this now…?’
She had recalled her past life six years ago, when she first met Celine. Ever since, she had been aware of Celine Grewell’s story—but this was the first time she’d known about the true ending.
“This doesn’t make sense…”
That would mean the real Celine was the one who had rejoiced in her newfound freedom—even after leaving Lilia behind.
Only now did it make sense. Celine’s silence when asked if she was happy, even with Lilia by her side.
‘Was she yearning for freedom even then?’
Ranié remembered Celine crying alone in the alley, and that weary look she sometimes wore. Back then, she’d never imagined Celine would abandon her child and run away.
What had been so unbearable?
What pain could have driven her to leave her daughter behind?
There were so many questions she wanted to ask—but Celine was gone from the village now.
Gone somewhere she could no longer reach.
The story had already taken a new turn.
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