Suddenly, she remembered the lily she had been tending a few days ago. The beautifully bloomed ones had become someone else’s, but wouldn’t it be okay for her to take this one that had been discarded in such a mess?

“……”

Stella, who had been heading home, turned around and headed toward the memorial altar. The closer she got to the square, the stronger the scent of flowers became.

“It’s beautiful.”

The memorial altar created to honor someone’s death was beautiful. Hundreds of flowers and lanterns that seemed to embroider the sky.

If you didn’t know it was a memorial altar, wouldn’t it look like a festival or party?

How long had she been staring blankly?

She heard someone approaching. Perhaps someone who had come to offer flowers.

I’m sorry, I’ll move aside now.

That’s what she was about to say.

“Ha.”

The first thing that caught her eye was a pair of blue eyes filled with disgust.

Next came golden hair, then lips pressed into a straight line, each slowly entering her field of vision, and soon Stella could tell who he was.

It was Duke Kalian Rochester.

“Did I see wrong?”

At first, she thought it was a mistake.

How many times had she mistaken someone who wasn’t even similar and been surprised and excited all by herself?

But this time was different. No matter how much Stella rubbed her eyes, no matter how many times she looked again, it was the person she had been longing for.

It’s not a mistake.

As soon as she realized that it was indeed Duke Kalian Rochester, her heart began to beat helplessly.

This was the first time she had seen him this close since childhood.

Once or twice a year, she had only watched the duke from afar, squeezed among people, as he came up to the capital and returned to the military base…….

“But.”

Even as her heart was beating helplessly, there was one question that couldn’t be hidden.

“Why is he looking at me with those eyes?”

If emotions could be touched, it was the kind of eyes that would leave sticky disgust all over her fingertips.

Even if he looked at filth on the street or disgusting insects, his face would be brighter than this.

“Am I too dirty?”

Stella hurriedly checked her appearance.

It was the worst.

Hadn’t she been running around here and there since early morning looking for work?

Her hair was all disheveled, and the hem of her old dress was covered in mud.

She could tell about her face without looking.

It would be a haggard face as if she were carrying all the hardships of the world.

“……I’m embarrassed.”

Embarrassed, so very embarrassed!

Stella’s head dropped endlessly downward as she flushed instantly.

The duke wouldn’t remember her. She could be certain of that.

But if by some miracle he remembered her……

“I used to have some noble bearing.”

Even when she left the mansion and started living in a house on the street, even when she could no longer wear expensive jewelry and dresses…..

Stella wasn’t embarrassed.

She just thought it was better than before, not having to sit down and just wait for someone’s help.

To be a little more honest, she simply had no time to feel embarrassed about hunger.

She had lived like that for over ten years without knowing embarrassment.

“I’m so embarrassed……”

The heart that had been pounding just moments before was now falling endlessly downward.

She wanted to escape this place. She wanted to go anywhere the duke couldn’t see her and hide.

Step.

Stella unconsciously took a step backward, and cracks appeared on Duke Rochester’s face.

Why?

There was no time to wonder. Kalian swung his riding whip. The horse cried out loudly once and then charged toward where Stella was.

“……!!”

Without even a time to scream, Stella fell backward, covering her face. The lily in her hand fell to the ground and was trampled helplessly.

How much time had passed? When she raised her head, Duke Rochester had already disappeared.

“……What was that?”

Stella sat there, blinking her eyes weakly.

She thought a long time had passed, but when she looked around, that wasn’t the case either. At most, it had been enough time to exchange brief greetings and part ways.

What on earth had happened in such a short time?

She wanted to ask, but there was no one to ask.

“Ow……”

All that remained was the wound on her palm and the ruined lily.

⁕⁕⁕

“Finally, today’s main character has arrived!”

Inside the social club located in a back alley.

As soon as he opened the door to the space prepared following the clerk’s guidance, Egbert grinned.

“I never thought Duke Rochester would personally come to such a filthy place.”

“If I had known it was this kind of place, I wouldn’t have come.”

Kalian frowned as he looked around.

He had suspected when he heard the location, but he never thought it would be such a low-class place.

Normally, he wouldn’t have gone near a place like this.

It was called a social club in name only, but what difference was there from a back-alley tavern?

The decorations, furniture, and even the customers who frequented it were clearly of lower quality than the places they usually met.

Egbert, who noticed his friend’s displeasure, shrugged his shoulders.

“What can we do? Most decent places are closed because of the mourning period. I had a hard time even finding this place.”

While saying this, Egbert grinned and shook a bottle filled with amber-colored liquor.

“But the liquors they have are quite high-class. Won’t you drink?”

“……Ha.”

“Let me pour you a drink to commemorate your return to the capital.”

When Kalian finally took a seat next to him, Egbert made a fuss and filled an empty crystal glass with liquor.

“By the way, congratulations? You became second in the line of succession, didn’t you?”

“It’s a troublesome matter.”

Kalian replied indifferently while putting a cut cigar in his mouth.

“Just thinking about receiving my uncle’s passionate gaze already gives me chills.”

A languid quality seeped through his slightly drawling tone.

“I knew you’d say that. You’re someone who finds everything in the world troublesome.”

Egbert, who had been giggling at his friend’s words that were full of annoyance, suddenly threw out a question.

“Isn’t it time you told me? The reason you suddenly enlisted in the army.”

“To avoid something more troublesome.”

“Wasn’t it boring?”

“Well.”

With the cigar between his fingers, Kalian took a sip of his drink.

“Seeing various idiots gathered in one place, there wasn’t time to be bored.”

A crooked smile appeared on Kalian’s lips. Egbert also nodded, laughing along with his friend.

“The military base is an interesting place too! Various people, various rumors! Were there any useful rumors among them? For example, about new businesses?”

“Can you trust rumors circulating among idiots?”

“Haha! You can’t!”

Egbert, who had been drinking while deeply buried in the chair’s backrest, looked at Kalian with meaningful eyes as if something had occurred to him.

“But it seems not all of them are lies. Miss Stella Ambrose, I mean.”

That name again.

Kalian’s hand, which had been bringing the glass to his mouth, stopped in mid-air. Egbert giggled while exhaling thick smoke.

“She was really an amazing filial daughter. For the fallen House Ambrose, she wanders the night streets with her upper chest fully exposed.”

Naturally, the woman he had met earlier came to mind.

“Despite being in a position where she has no choice, her pride is incredibly high, and there are quite a few men she has rejected.”

A woman who had grown up just like her appearance in childhood, no, even more beautifully than that.

“Just among those I know, there’s Viscount Kenton, Count Wyatt, and who else was there?”

But unlike her beautiful exterior, her insides had become dirty and rotten to the core.

“Ah! The second son of House Relbert was also rejected. He said the money and gifts he offered were worth the price of a mansion in the capital.”

Egbert giggled while exhaling thick smoke.

“When you listen to the stories of those who are bewitched, they’re all out of their minds! Just how pretty must she be for everyone to lose their senses and go around—”

“She’s pretty.”

Kalian drained the glass full of liquor in one gulp, as if he wanted to wash away his answer.

“But now she only reeks.”

“Hmm.”

Through the smoke, Egbert watched Kalian wiping the corner of his mouth.

“It seems you’ve seen her before? Then be more careful, friend.”

He straightened his buried upper body and leaned toward Kalian, smiling.

“The ladies are all stirring at the news that you’ve returned. Miss Ambrose might be among them, don’t you think?”

“……”

“Of course, what you should be most careful of are the mothers with unmarried daughters.”

Kalian didn’t react to the low-quality joke. He just buried himself in his chair and let out a languid breath. But his frowning face remained unrelaxed.

“Hey, hey. Kalian.”

Egbert, who had placed his glass on the table, leaned completely toward Kalian.

“Do you happen to know anything about the newly pioneered trade route—”

“Hahahaha!!”

That’s when it happened. A loud noise burst through the temporarily erected wall. It was so loud that he instinctively wanted to cover his ears.

“Really noisy.”

Egbert grumbled irritably, having his important private conversation interrupted.

“Hey.”

When he snapped his fingers, a clerk standing in the corner approached.

“We’re having a very important conversation right now, so tell those people to be quiet—”

“Show me proper respect! Understand?”

The words were cut off again. When the flustered employee tried to go to the troublemakers, Kalian gestured to stop him.

It was because of one sentence that followed.

“I’m the uncle of the future Duchess of Rochester!”

“Huh.”

Egbert, who let out a hollow laugh, looked at Kalian and shrugged his shoulders.

Besides mothers with unmarried daughters, there was someone else targeting Duke Rochester.

“My niece is quite pretty, you know? Everyone must have heard her name. Stella Ambrose!”

“Huh, so this is the uncle of the famous Miss Ambrose?”

“That’s right, that’s right. I’m the uncle of that famous Miss Ambrose.”

The man laughed vulgarly, seemingly overly drunk, repeating what the other person said.

“Anyway, you see. My niece has set her sights on that guy, Duke Rochester.”

“Is the duke a tree? What do you mean by setting sights and making him fall?”

“Don’t say such things. No matter how much of a duke he is, isn’t he a man in his prime? Plus, he’s been in the military for several years, hasn’t he?”