Obituary: Sonata for Two Lovers - Chapter 1 - EXPOSITION - ⅰ

Chapter 1

Translator: Yonnee

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1. EXPOSITION – ⅰ

The obituary arrived like an invitation.

Holding the fine-quality paper bordered with a black band, Ray Crawford let out a dry chuckle.

The slow waltz playing from the phonograph had started to feel like an unpleasant noise.

Until he received this news, there had been nothing to fault in his day.

The headlines of the morning papers he had skimmed were no different.

〈 Conservative Party Wins 3 Out of 5 By-Election Seats, Boosted by Foreign Minister Crawford’s Popularity 〉

Without exception, the newspapers proclaimed with one voice that, as always, he had been right.

It had been, as always, a perfect day. Until this obituary arrived.

No. That wasn’t quite accurate.

‘As always’ might no longer be the right way to put it. His days had not been entirely perfect for some time now.

Tracing back to when that shift began, he slowly closed and opened his eyes.

That woman.

Ever since talk had begun of a forced marriage to a woman he hadn’t even known existed, there had been moments like this when his mood was utterly ruined.

This unexpected obituary was yet another part of that absurd business.

“What will you do?”

Agatha Crawford, seated across from him, asked her son.

The cold impression left by her piercing blue eyes and the way her lips pressed firmly together the moment she finished speaking seemed to reveal her nature.

“I’ll go. Unofficially.”

Her son’s reply was as concise and exact as she had expected.

“I see…”

Her son, who had just moments ago let out a dry chuckle, now wore a calm, composed expression, as if it had never happened.

From the way he quietly set down the obituary, one could hardly detect any emotion.

Even knowing full well that her son’s personality mirrored hers just as much as his appearance, Agatha still sometimes found herself at a loss.

Over the past month, she had tried diligently to stay detached from the shocking reality that a foreign woman was soon to become the Crawford family’s daughter-in-law, but it had never ended well.

“Yes, of course. It would be proper to go, even if it’s unpleasant…”

In her disbelief, she always found herself adding a comment like that.

Even she, who had pushed for the marriage herself, often let out a sigh. Yet her son, who had shown reluctance toward the marriage, had been nothing but calm since the decision was made.

“I thought it unsettling enough that they wouldn’t show the daughter’s face until the day of the wedding, but perhaps that would have been better. Now, not only do we have to hold a funeral before the ceremony, but you’ll meet your fiancée for the first time at her mother’s funeral.”

“It doesn’t seem like things could get any worse now.”

At her son’s light reply, which was impossible to tell if it was a joke or a serious comment, Agatha agreed silently.

No matter how many funerals there were, this marriage could not possibly get any worse. The marriage itself was already the worst.

Turning his gaze away from his mother, whose face was marked by complicated emotions, Ray once again looked down at the obituary.

The deceased was his fiancée’s mother. A name completely unfamiliar to him.

Talk of marriage had only begun two months ago, and they had not even gone through a formal engagement.

However, the dowry had already been accepted, and they were at the stage where all that remained was to choose one of the proposed dates, so it would have been rude not to attend.

Even though both the fiancée and her mother were complete strangers to him, the woman would have become his mother-in-law if she had lived just another month or two.

“At the very least, I’ll be able to confirm whether what Elliot Davis said was true before the marriage.”

“Has that man ever said anything useful enough to require verification? Aside from ‘virtuous’ and ‘beautiful’, what else did he say?”

The foolish future father-in-law had not even considered showing his daughter, instead repeating only that she was ‘a distinguished beauty possessing virtue’.

Judging by his insincere and exaggerated manner, it even made one wonder whether he actually knew his own daughter.

Even if he were describing a stranger, he would have shown more sincerity than that.

“Even if it were true, what difference would it make? It doesn’t change the fact that she’s a Bolton woman, nor would it change her father’s origins. If she were truly a decent woman, Archibald Avery would have taken her as his wife himself instead of pushing her onto you and threatening you into marriage.”

Ray did not bother to point out that such threats would never have worked on him if it weren’t for his mother. They had already worn themselves out with one argument over the matter.

“Well, the second condition is somewhat important. There’s no harm in her being beautiful.”

Instead of stating outright that the only one who had succumbed to such a pathetic and disgraceful threat was his mother, he shifted the subject.

“You would joke even in a situation like this.”

At her reproach, Ray responded with a customary smile.

He did, in fact, have the thought that he ought to at least see what kind of woman she was. After all, there must be a reason they were so desperate not to show her.

Though he had received reports that there were no major physical defects, still, for a woman to remain unmarried until twenty-six, there must surely be some flaw.

“I should prepare to go to Bolton.”

He had been mentally prepared from the moment they began discussing the wedding date.

Prepared to accept even the worst kind of woman he might meet.

“Yes. There’s no need to delay something already decided. And, Tommy, would you turn off the phonograph? It’s giving me a headache.”

At the elder missus’s command, the attendant moved, and the overly sentimental music abruptly cut off.

As his mind cleared, Ray Crawford finally lifted his teacup and savored a sip.

His willingness was by no means resignation or defeat. Ray simply had a swift grasp of reality. Of the situations he could change, and those he could not.

If he had won wars, what was one woman to him?

Ray Crawford had never lost a single battle in his life.

Even if the process flowed somewhat differently from his expectations, the result would be the same.

As it always had been.