Chapter 8

When Ellen’s arms suddenly lost strength, Lennox left heat blossoms blooming all over her pale skin without hesitation.  

Ellen covered her mouth with the back of her hand and let out a languid sigh. Lennox enjoyed the stimulation and warmth coming from below, gently cradling Ellen’s wounded cheek and ear as he kissed her and settled his posture. Ellen adjusted herself to match him, wrapping her arms around Lennox’s neck and shoulders.  

Slowly, he entered her. She struggled to accept him bit by bit. A soft, airy sound escaped between their joined lips as Ellen’s brow furrowed. Her arms tightened around him.  

“Ah…!”  

Her back stiffened as Ellen cried out loudly. Her body moved powerlessly on the bed, following his motions. Ellen clung tighter to his neck, pressing her lips to his shoulder. Her red hair tumbled wildly across his pale back, and the empty, trembling room blurred in her hazy eyes. She felt breathless. The world before her faded to white, her mouth parted silently, and her body trembled.  

A single tear rolled down Ellen’s cheek. Was it sadness, despair, joy? Or perhaps all of those? Ellen herself didn’t know the meaning of the tear—it simply fell as it pleased. She forced her arms to hold him tighter, closing her tear-soaked eyes.  

“……”  

Lennox clenched his teeth at the warmth and sensation of her arms around his neck, shoulders, and waist. He had thought that after five years in the Aryan Empire, he could at least learn to hate Ellen, to stop loving her. But he hadn’t. He still desperately wanted to see her, still loved her. Did Ellen know how sad and joyful this moment was for him?  

Both of them remembered the past at the same time. The time when they learned what joy and happiness were in a lonely world. The difficult, sad, but joyful time when they were everything to each other.

* * *

Small feet crossed the garden, where various colors and warm sunlight danced. Thick red hair, braided into three and tied at the ends with pretty sky-blue ribbons, swayed charmingly over the girl’s dress. In her small hand was a firm bouquet of red and yellow tulips. The girl’s clear black eyes sparkled with anticipation and excitement.  

“Ah!”  

Perhaps because she ran too fast, the girl fell in the middle of the garden, scattering the tulips she had worked hard to pick. Her pale skin and pretty dress were covered in dirt. She barely noticed the mess or pain as she hurriedly got up and started picking up the tulips.  

“……?”  

Suddenly, several tulips were thr*st in front of her as she gathered them. Confused, she looked up at the tulips, and saw a boy with black hair, his face expressionless, holding them out with the sunlight behind him. Because of the backlight, she couldn’t see his face clearly, but his red eyes, like autumn leaves, caught her gaze. For a moment, she was mesmerized by those eyes.  

“…Thank you.”  

When the boy waved his arm, the girl startled and accepted the tulips. The boy silently grabbed her arm and helped her up.  

“Thank you for helping me. But it’s my first time seeing you in this mansion, who are you… Hey!”  

Before she could finish, the boy turned and ran to the other side of the garden. The girl hugged the tulips tightly and stared blankly at the boy’s retreating figure, whom she had never seen before.  

“Who is he? I’ve never seen him…”  

She kept looking toward where the boy had disappeared until the sound of the maids’ laughter snapped her out of it.  

“Oh, what am I doing? I need to hurry.”  

Remembering where she was headed, the girl started running again, thinking she’d ask Marie about that boy later.  

Entering the mansion, she ignored the startled maids and headed straight for her mother’s room. Standing in front of the door, she imagined how happy her mother would be to see the tulips she had picked, and took a deep breath.  

‘Don’t be nervous. Smile as brightly as you can!’  

After practicing her expression and breathing several times, she knocked firmly. As soon as permission to enter was given, she went in with a bright face.  

“Mother!”  

She rushed to her mother, but stopped abruptly when she saw the hatred in her mother’s dark eyes.  

“Uh, um…”  

Despite practicing at the door, she faltered and hesitated, unsure what to do. She stood for a long time, watching Viscountess Valère’s reaction.  

“What brings you here without an appointment?”  

Viscountess Valère asked coldly, and Ellen’s mouth froze. Her excited feet felt heavy and numb. When Ellen hung her head and didn’t answer, the Viscountess’s lovely brow furrowed deeply.  

Normally frail, the Viscountess had nearly died giving birth to Ellen, and had never been fond of her daughter. She’d married for political reasons and had to bear a child to continue the Valère family, but unfortunately, the child was a girl—Ellen. The Kursh Kingdom was conservative, recognizing only male heirs. Some nobles secretly adopted male relatives, but the particularly conservative Viscount Valère despised such acts.  

After Ellen’s birth, the Viscountess became even weaker and unable to bear more children. With her relationship with her husband already strained, and unable to enjoy even the little relief of social gatherings, she became even more sensitive. Her voice was sharp.  

“I’m asking you now. What brings you here without an appointment?”  

“Um… I heard you weren’t feeling well today… The tulips in the garden were so pretty, I thought putting them in a vase might cheer you up…”  

Ellen stammered, and the Viscountess turned her head away, clearly not wanting to look at her. Ellen wanted to cry.  

“Put them down and leave.”  

“Mother…”  

“Didn’t I tell you to leave?”  

“Mother, I have something to say…”  

“Ellen. I don’t want to repeat myself three times.”  

“Yes…”  

Ellen, unable to say more to the decisive Viscountess, placed the tulips on the table with her small hands. After watching for a while, she couldn’t bring herself to speak to her mother, who refused even a glance, and left with her head bowed.  

“How disgraceful…”  

Ellen’s ears burned at the Viscountess’s words as she left the room. Only then did she notice her dress and shoes were covered in dirt. Ellen brushed off the soil and walked away weakly.  

‘Happy birthday, Ellen.’

All Ellen wanted was to hear those words from her mother. She glanced back at the Viscountess’s room one more time before trudging to her own. It seemed she’d spend this birthday alone again.  

“It’s alright. Marie will have a wonderful cake ready and waiting.”  

Yes, surely that would happen. Still, a corner of young Ellen’s heart felt empty and cold.

* * *

Ellen’s days were monotonous. She ate breakfast, studied in the morning, read or played with Marie in the afternoon. Sometimes, if her mother seemed in a good mood, she’d see her once or twice.  

As usual, Ellen sat carelessly in her room, snacking and reading alone. The Valère family was an old one in the Kursh Kingdom, but its glory had faded. Only the name and a modest fortune remained.  

Her father, the Viscount, was always busy, and her mother rarely left her room. Ellen was cared for by the few maids in the mansion and had no peers to play with, spending most of her time alone. There were children in other noble families, but for some reason, Ellen never met them. She remembered once seeing her father  

“Those damned lowborns. How dare a family with no pedigree ignore me, the Master of the distinguished Valère family?”  

After witnessing his anger, Ellen realized no one wanted to get close to her.  

Above all, her parents rarely allowed her to go out, using flimsy excuses about safety. At most, she attended social parties briefly with her parents. So Ellen spent much time alone, with no friends to meet. While reading, she suddenly remembered the boy she’d met in the garden and asked Marie, who was cleaning the room.  

“Marie.”  

“Yes, My Lady?”  

“Is there anyone my age in the mansion?”  

“My age?”  

“I saw a boy my age a few days ago. Is he new here?”  

Marie, arranging decorations, laughed softly.  

“If you mean someone your age, that would be Lennox.”  

“Lennox?”  

“Yes. We recently hired a new maid named Laura. She has a son named Lennox. Rumor has it they were once nobles. She won’t say why she became a maid, but probably because they fell on hard times.”  

Marie answered everything, even what Ellen hadn’t asked, but Ellen barely listened.  

“Lennox…”  

Ellen recalled the red eyes, like autumn leaves, she’d seen in the garden. Those eyes were so striking she couldn’t forget them.  

“So, can I meet him?”  

“It’ll be difficult.”  

“Difficult?”  

“You know how the Master is. He doesn’t let children play, even if they’re young. Lennox is being used as a letter boy. He’s always running errands outside, so it’s not easy to see him.”  

“Really?”  

Ellen’s face fell, so Marie quickly comforted her.  

“But he lives in the mansion, so you’ll run into him eventually.”  

“…Okay.”  

“Now, eat your snack. If you eat too late, you won’t be hungry for dinner.”  

“Okay.”  

Prompted by Marie, Ellen quickly stuffed a sandwich into her mouth. She hoped someday she could talk to that boy.  

That wish would come true sooner than she expected.