When I died, He Was Dating His First Love

I was kidnapped and murdered. Instead of seeking justice for me, my husband begged his first love to marry him and take charge of his household.

When he received the note I wrote before dying, he just frowned slightly and said, "She always takes advantage of matters of life and death to force me into things I hate."

Five days after my death, Gregory Mason, the Commandant, personally came to investigate a murder case in which the female victim's head was cut off.

He and the coroner carefully examined all the wounds on the female corpse. Since the victim died in an extremely miserable way, they both concluded that the murderer must have a deep grudge against the victim and did it on purpose.

Gregory just didn't notice the precious bracelet on my hand, which was given to me by his mother when we got married.

1

They smashed my body into pieces and dumped them in the downtown area.

A stray dog at the market was running through the crowd with an arm in its mouth, scaring the vendors almost to death.

Ladies wearing veils were also horrified by the scene. Soon, the Commandant in the capital heard of the news.

The soldiers rushed around, searching nonstop for a whole day in the city, and finally got some of my body parts together.

However, despite their searching for another day, they still failed to find the head of the body.

My husband, Gregory Mason, was the Commandant in the capital. He was responsible for solving cases and catching criminals.

He brought the best coroner in the capital to examine my body parts. They covered their mouth and nose, carefully turned my body parts, and looked into them for a long time.

When he moved my right arm, the jade bracelet on my wrist was revealed. He frowned, eyes filled with disgust.

But it was a beautiful jade bracelet. It was a gift from Gregory's mother. Yet Gregory didn't recognize it.

Based on the false assumptions, Gregory estimated that the dead was no more than 20 years old and the wounds on her body were the result of days of torture.

"This is Santiago, the capital city where the emperor lives. I can't believe such atrocity exists here. I wonder who this unlucky girl is. The murderer even tied her up for days, cut off her flesh piece by piece, and let her bleed to death!"

The head of the soldiers who was waiting for Gregory and the coroner outside was furious when he heard this.

"This is too much, my lord. But we haven't found the girl's head yet. She was cut into pieces and then dismembered. The murderer must hate her to guts that he resorted to such cruel way to kill her!"

Gregory returned to my body, reaching out and lifting my right arm.

'Gregory, you can't take it off.' I wanted to stop him, only to find that my hand could go through my broken body.

I couldn't do anything to stop him. I watched him take off the jade bracelet. He looked calm, but I still hoped to see a hint of emotion in his eyes.

But no, there was nothing.

"My lord, this jade bracelet looks familiar." Coroner Linch had been working with Gregory for years. He met me twice before. Could it be that he recognized me?

"Not all the fine jade in the world is so pure. Go to the wealthy families in Santiago and ask if there are any girls who have been betrothed before the age of 20."

Gregory casually handed the bracelet that I treasured to his men to investigate.

The soldiers searched for several days but couldn't get any results in Santiago.

When Gregory's mother found him, she had tears in her eyes. My motherinlaw liked me a lot.

It had been days since she saw me, who could always cheer her up. So, my motherinlaw must miss me.

"Gregory, the bracelet you found was my gift to Rosa. She's been missing for days now!"

Gregory looked at the bracelet in my motherinlaw's hand with a cold expression. I looked at him infatuatedly, wondering if he was a little sad.

"How could she die? A woman so vicious like her must have given the bracelet to someone else to lure the thugs away for her!"

Maybe Gregory found some clues through that bracelet.

He asked for the names of all the maids who had taken care of me for the first time.

Zoey was a maid who grew up with me. We were like sisters. She accompanied me when we went out by invitation.

She and I were both kidnapped, and Zoey was raped and killed herself by hitting the wall.

As I expected, Gregory suspected that my body was Zoey's.

"I know she's a selfish person who doesn't care about ethics. I can't believe the Minister of Revenue have such a daughter!"

Gregory had always hated me. On our wedding night, he lifted my veil. As the red candles flickered, I was filled with joy, thinking that I had married the love of my life.

But to my surprise, Gregory looked distressed.

"Darling, is there anything bothering you?"

My mother said that a wife must learn how to read the room. Besides, my husband, Gregory, was no ordinary man. He was appreciated by the emperor. So, I must be careful around him.

"Rosa, can you allow me to marry Ellen and make her my other wife tomorrow?"

I could tell that he was relieved when he popped the question. It was as if his happiness depended on that.

For no reason, tears streamed down my face. I felt choked, and I couldn't utter a word.

Seeing me weeping helplessly, Gregory simply left the wedding chamber and stayed overnight in the study room alone.

I knew Gregory had a childhood sweetheart named Ellen Sean.

She was his first love, the love of his life.

I, on the contrary, in Gregory's eyes, was just a bad woman who took away the position of his beloved.

So, after the wedding day, he never entered my room again.

It took Gregory quite some effort to find a bloodsoaked cloth bag on the roadside outside the capital.

I reached out to touch it, but the head in the cloth bag wasn't mine.

It was Zoey's.

Coroner Linch opened the cloth bag personally. The head had been badly corroded, but the hairpins on the head were still there. I wonder if Gregory could recognize that it was Zoey.

I tried to take Zoey's head back. She was like a big sister to me!

I opened my mouth, wanting to beg Gregory to seek justice for Zoey. But my effort was in vain because Gregory couldn't hear anything.

He quickly confirmed that it was Zoey's body.

He returned home in anger. This was the second time he had entered my room since we got married.

"Where's Rosa Finn?"

My soul trembled when I heard him calling my name. I thought he had completely forgotten my name.

"Sir. Lady Finn hasn't returned."

Gregory clenched his fists and slapped my dressing box filled with pearls and jade.

"She did such a shameful thing and caused someone to die for her, and yet she still has the mood to have fun!"

I was shocked and painful to hear that. I felt like crying, but there was nothing when I stroked my face.

So, he thought I was a despicable person who disregards others for my own benefit.

And now, I became the only clue in this strange case that could help tell who killed Zoey.

Therefore, even if Gregory didn't want to see me, he had to find me.

I watched Gregory place Zoey's head and my body in the same coffin.

His men brought the coffin to the gate of Finn's Residence.

I was heartbroken as I watched my parents rush out, open the coffin, and look inside for a long time.

My parents were a loving couple, and they pampered me a lot.

However, Gregory, whom my parents regarded as a good match for me, was now questioning them with a coffin on a cart.

"Lord Finn. Your daughter gave her jade bracelet to Zoey, causing her to die so miserably. I hope Mr. Finn can hand your daughter over now!"

I looked at Gregory in anger. 'Gregory, do you know what you are talking about? They are your fatherinlaw and motherinlaw!'

"What are you saying? Isn't Rosa in your house?"

My mother fainted from anger hearing this. My father helped her up and looked at Gregory with a sullen face. "Lord Mason, you can just search my place if you want!"

My father had been an honest and upright person all his life. He had no other children but me.

After much research, my parents finally decided to let me marry Gregory.

Since Gregory's father and my father were close friends. So, my parents thought marrying me to Gregory would be a good thing and bring the two families even closer.

But they didn't expect that I disappeared just half a year after Gregory and I got married.

And Gregory, my husband, came to find me so that he could accuse me of a crime that I didn't commit.

As expected, Gregory led his men into my parents' house. This was also the first time he entered my boudoir.

In my boudoir, there were only a few scattered calligraphy and paintings that I once copied.

There was also a folding fan that I had made, which I gave to Gregory, but he returned it to me with a cold face.

The soldiers even searched the woodshed in the backyard. It was a pity that I only realized what kind of person Gregory was at that moment.

"My lord, we didn't find Her Ladyship."

My father's face darkened. "How long has my daughter been missing? Where did she go before missing? How did Zoey die? Where did she die? You're the Commandant. Have you found out everything?"

My father questioned Gregory aggressively. He was so angry that he began to cough violently. I reached out to pat my father's back to ease his cough, but I failed.

"I..."

"As the Commandant, you failed your job and didn't find a missing person. As Rosa's husband, you don't even care about where she is. You don't deserve to be her husband!"

My father put his fist against his lips and kept coughing. I was dead. It was late autumn. I wish I could make his favorite syrup for him.

'Father. Mother. I'm so sorry.'

I knelt and kowtowed to them. I owed anyone except them.

"Keep searching!"

Gregory didn't say a word to respond to my father. He only told his men to continue searching.

"My lord. The distinguished guest from the Hope Brothel wants Miss Sean to entertain him. Please help her!"

May stopped Gregory, who was about to go to the crime scene to investigate, in the street and asked him to go to the Hope Brothel.

Looking at the little girl in brightly colored clothes, I realized that she was the maidservant of Gregory's sweetheart.

Gregory gritted his teeth and said a few words to his men, then turned around and followed May.

He actually left his official duties behind and went to the Hope Brothel in the middle of the day.

Was that the clearheaded Commandant Mason who had solved countless cases as rumored should do?

I couldn't help but smile bitterly. 'Dad. Mom. You were wrong about Gregory, and I was wrong, too.'

But it was pointless to regret it now...

I raised my eyes and looked in the direction where Gregory left. I was curious about what Hope Brothel looked like.

There were many young men outside the brothel. Anyone who had some money would want to come in to have a drink and listen to some music.

Ellen Sean was wellknown for her beauty and a famous prostitute in the Hope Brothel.

During the six months since the Sean family fell from power, Ellen relied on her old relationship with Gregory to avoid entertaining guests like others.

Gregory quickly ran to Ellen's room on the second floor as soon as he entered Hope Brothel.

Seeing someone holding a wine glass and forcing Ellen to drink, he was so angry that his whole body was shaking. In the next moment, Gregory punched the man in the face with all his strength.

"Get out!" Gregory's shout instantly sobered the drunk man up. The man immediately got up from the ground and ran out the door.

Gregory gently embraced the crying girl in his arms and comforted her softly.

"Didn't you say you could redeem me and take me away? Haven't you get Rosa's allowance yet?"

Gregory frowned and replied, "She's missing. Who knows what trick she's playing no?"

Ellen became sullen instantly. She looked at Gregory, looking innocent. "Is she jealous because you always come to me?"

"Don't worry. I'll draw up the divorce paper when she comes back. Then, we will get married."

"You can't do that. What happened to my father will implicate you. I can't just take her place as the mistress of your house."

She looked helpless, but her eyes showed that she was pleased.

"I heard that a headless female corpse in the capital. Have you found out who that person is?"

Gregory looked at Ellen with great concern.

"It's Zoey's."

Ellen smiled a little. Her eyes looked cunning.

"What about Rosa? Isn't Zoey her personal maid?"

Gregory's eyes were filled with anger. "Rosa Finn gave Zoey the bracelet my mother gave her, which put Zoey in danger. But she just hid herself and refused to show up!"

"Let's not talk about her. Do you want me to redeem you first and let you live somewhere else?"

Ellen frowned, tears coming out. "I don't want to be your mistress!"

I felt bitter seeing Ellen's double face.

Gregory once told me that Ellen wouldn't covet everything I had if she became his other wife. 'Now that I'm gone, Ellen said she didn't want to be a mistress. That means, she wants to be Gregory's lawful wife!' I thought.

"Okay, okay. I'll do as you say. But don't accept other people's invitations recently."

Ellen nodded and leaned in Gregory's arms.

They did seem to love each other a lot.

If that was the case, why did Gregory marry me in the first place and deceive me like this?

Gregory and his men went to the crime scene again, which was an abandoned yard.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw that the chrysanthemums in the yard were blooming.

But in this dilapidated yard, only the bunch of chrysanthemums in the flower bed looked lovely.

"My lord, someone lived here before!"

When his man reported the matter, Gregory carefully checked the room inside and out and unexpectedly discovered a gold hairpin.

That gold hairpin looked very pricey. It looked like the prize at the horse race held by the princess.

However, Gregory forgot about who won the hairpin in the end.

However, there were still a lot of tools for the crime scattered around in the other room. Gregory looked at the table full of all kinds of knives in different sizes. He was truly shocked!

Even the smallest knives were already soaked in blood, and there were almost thirty of those small knives here, all of which had been used.

Coroner Linch simply couldn't imagine what had happened.

In the middle of the room, there was a wooden bed, which was also covered with dried blood.

They were almost certain that this was the place where the female corpse was cut into pieces and dismembered.

"My lord, I noticed that the cuts on the head and the body seemed inconsistent."

The more Coroner Linch thought about it, the more he felt suspicious. He wondered before why the murderer cut the woman into pieces, venting his anger, but only cut off her head without leaving any scratches.

Coroner Linch opened the coffin again yesterday and checked the body once more, only to find that the cuts on the head and body did not match.

"It's been a long time since the incident. Can you be sure about this?"

Coroner Linch nodded and said, "This is a big case. My lord, I suggest we check this place thoroughly!"

'Everyone says Gregory is an intelligent man. Why does he slack off again and again when it comes to my case?' I wondered.

I watched as Coroner Linch ordered the soldiers to dig up the yard. Even the chrysanthemums were not spared.

Seeing the chrysanthemums being dug up, I thought, 'Gregory, you will soon be able to see me!'

"Mr. Linch, I saw something under the chrysanthemums!"

Coroner Linch and Gregory were brought to the bushes, where they saw that the skin on the head had almost been gnawed to nothing.

Only the hair was still on the head.

The only silver hairpin left on the hair immediately attracted everyone's attention in the sunlight.

Coroner Linch took the hairpin.

However, Gregory snatched the hairpin from Coroner Linch's hand and examined it over and over again.

He seemed to remember something. This hairpin was in the latest style. He bought it somewhere else and was planning to give it to Ellen when he went to the Hope Brothel.

But Ellen was forced to be a prostitute in the Hope Brothel because her Sean family was raided. She blamed Gregory's father for handing over false evidence to the emperor, which caused her father to be accused of treason.

Therefore, Ellen refused to see Gregory. Later, Gregory gave the hairpin to me, who was grinding ink for him at the moment.

Gregory looked at the skull in the flower bed, looking ferocious. He reached out to pick up the skull."Rosa? This can't be Rosa!"