“You got word from Margaret?”

“Yes, she asked me to connect her to you right away.”

“Is Margaret safe?”

When she asked about the most important thing—life and death—with a pounding heart, the maid answered in a calm tone.

“Yes, she said she’s fine. She’ll probably return here around this evening.”

“Really? That’s a relief then.”

She’d been worrying so much, but unlike what was written in the newspaper, the situation seemed okay. At the news that Margaret wasn’t hurt anywhere, Thea finally felt at ease and looked at the maid.

“She must be exhausted, so prepare some nutritious food for her to eat at dinner.”

“What kind of nutritious food should I prepare?”

She fell into thought for a moment at the question. Margaret ate well, but she was also a gourmet. She’d be delighted if the head chef showed off his skills.

Rather than giving orders to the maid, it would be better to go directly and consult with the head chef.

No matter how well she gave orders, what came out of someone else’s mouth would likely differ from what was in her own head.

“I’ll tell him myself, so you’d better organize a place for her to rest.”

“You’ll tell him yourself, Madam?”

“Yes, I think it’s better if I check personally.”

“Understood. Then I’ll tidy up the guest room on the east side of the estate.”

“That’s not bad. Margaret liked the guest room on the east side.”

After saying a few more things to the maid, Thea entered the path leading to the kitchen.

The whole way there, loud shouting and the acrid smell of spices tickled her nose.

Today they seemed to be mainly presenting dishes loaded with spices.

On top of that, judging by the occasional mild yet greasy smell, they must have brought butter and cheese from the ranch in the neighboring village.

Since they got milk from cows with so much fat, she could tell which ranch the butter and cheese came from without even checking.

There was only one place in Winter territory that raised cows of this quality.

‘They don’t usually bring this—what’s gotten into them?’

It was so difficult to use that it wasn’t a preferred ingredient.

Thinking they must be preparing quite a grand meal, she opened the kitchen door and entered. The kitchen was extremely chaotic.

Assistant cooks and servants helping with cooking ran here and there—probably making the food she’d been thinking about earlier.

What on earth were they preparing to be in that state?

Showing her curiosity on her face, she looked around carefully and found, contrary to the tremendous momentum, ordinary soup and bread, along with the vegetable salad Thea liked.

Though she didn’t like the fruit used as garnish on the salad.

Lowering her expectations at the unremarkable scene, she looked for the head chef.

He was positioned not far away.

“Head chef?”

“Oh, Madam. What brings you here?”

The head chef who appeared with flour all over his face smiled at Thea like he was very glad to see her.

This was her first visit since returning here.

“Margaret’s coming back for dinner today, so I’d appreciate it if you could put in some effort.”

“That tomboy young lady is coming back?”

“Yes, she’s had a hard time, so I want to feed her some delicious food.”

“Since you’re asking, Madam, I’ll do my best to prepare it.”

She glanced at the head chef telling her to trust him, then left the kitchen and stood in the corridor.

Then, just when she was about to return to her office—

At the end of the not-too-distant corridor, she saw a familiar hair color.

It was Margaret.

‘Wait, she said she’d come in the evening.’

Why was she here already? 

Surprised, she opened her eyes wide, and Margaret, grinning broadly, came bouncing right up to her.

“I’m back!”

“Welcome. But didn’t you say you’d come late in the evening?”

“I thought so, but luckily there was a carriage going to Winter. I asked permission and rode it back first.”

“Really? Then… your resting place isn’t ready yet—what should we do?”

“It’s fine. I’m not tired yet.”

“Then, want to have some tea with me? It’s been a while since we had tea together.”

“Sounds good. I actually had something I wanted to tell you.”

“Something to tell me?”

What could she want to say so urgently that she hadn’t even put down her luggage? Margaret wasn’t usually like this.

At Thea’s repeated puzzlement, Margaret spoke with a somewhat more serious face.

“You know the Winter family is a cursed family, right?”

“So?”

“Do you remember a few days ago when the master disappeared?”

She seemed to be talking about that day when Acel went missing and she’d been beside herself. Of course she remembered.

She’d been so flustered that her legs had given out.

“You mean when he disappeared briefly while hunting bears?”

“Right. What if that wasn’t actually bear hunting but curse hunting… what would you think?”

“What are you talking about? He definitely said he was hunting a big bear… I think there’s been some mistake.”

If the curse had been the problem in the first place, he wouldn’t have returned this unscathed. From what Thea knew, it was extremely vicious and left at least one part of someone unusable.

In other words, it was impossible. No, it shouldn’t even be possible. Just hearing the word “curse” made Thea’s whole body break out in goosebumps.

“You must be very tired. Let’s hurry to the office.”

“No. I’m not talking nonsense from exhaustion.”

“Then you’re saying it’s the truth?”

“Yes, I confirmed this with Count Winter too. He said it was correct.”

At the smoothly continuing report, she understood why Margaret had sent a letter to him instead of her.

She’d wanted to confirm this situation, so unlike usual, she’d contacted him first.

At this abruptly arriving truth, her whole body began trembling like an aspen tree.

She’d managed to forget and live on—why was it coming back again?

The fact that it was still chasing her after she’d suffered so much was too horrifying.

How many people had pointed fingers, saying she’d devoured her mother-in-law and become part of a cursed family the moment she married in?

She’d thought she’d barely shed that stigma… but the head of the family was chasing curses.

Why would he do such a thing?

He must know it was something that wouldn’t even help.

As time passed, she understood him less and less. Their hearts grew distant, their bodies grew distant, and now even his actions became incomprehensible.

‘But this isn’t right, is it?’

No matter how she thought about it, there seemed no need to go this far.

Or maybe I’m misunderstanding something.

‘Am I wrong?’

Was she seeing everything twisted and wrong?

Her head grew dizzy from the confusion. Yet reaching a conclusion wasn’t as difficult as expected.

He kept approaching the truth she’d tried so hard to bury.

And that was making the resentment between them grow even more.

At the instantly derived answer, Thea bit down hard.

‘With what feelings did I forget… and you’re trying to bring it all back?’

Feeling like she couldn’t breathe, she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them.

After that, everything seemed to blur, so she put strength around her eyes.

Yet the haziness didn’t disappear. Was it actually hazy?

Or was it just the emotion she was feeling… she couldn’t sort out the ambiguity.

The further she went, the more she could only say she didn’t know.

So she kept trying to laugh it off as a misunderstanding, but getting the answer she wanted was difficult.

In the subtle silence, the truth wriggled like it was already decided.

Eventually, Margaret standing there motionless indicated there was more to say.

‘Ah, d*mn it.’

She couldn’t see any hole to escape through. In that situation, Thea had no choice but to move her dragging steps toward the office.

When Margaret naturally followed behind, the unusually dark office atmosphere weighed down on her body.

Still, without showing any sign, she sat in her chair and waited for Margaret’s report to continue. Before long, Margaret set down the luggage in her hands with a thud on the floor.

Then, holding the bonnet from her head in her hands, she blinked slowly.

“There were several nobles on the ship, and I happened to have a conversation with one of them. Turns out they’d been on that bear hunt last time.”

“Someone who went on the bear hunt… What an incredible coincidence. How did they end up on the ship you took?”

“Right? Anyway, they seemed to have moved together with the Count.”

“So? What did you talk about?”

When she urged her to get straight to the point, why was her throat so parched when she was the one asking questions?

Margaret doing the reporting seemed more composed.

“We gossiped about the Winter family. They were very pleased when I said I was from there.”

“Someone favorable toward the family.”

“More precisely, they were favorable toward Count Winter using bear hunting as an excuse to go around searching for curses.”

Saying he was very brave and impressive, unnecessary details Thea didn’t care about kept flowing. Half-listening and brushing it off, Margaret returned to the main point.

“They must have followed him for quite a while, because throughout our conversation, curses and the Count were always linked.”

“Why on earth would he chase curses?”

There’d be no reason to.

Just because he chased them… he must know better than her that nothing would come of it.

Yet at the report that he’d chased them anyway, exhaustion came flooding in. Along with it, a bitter taste seemed to fill her mouth, and just when she smacked her lips, Margaret indicated it wasn’t over yet.

“Could you read the report I wrote?”

“A report?”

“I thought it might help, so I prepared it. It’s quite a lot, but if it’s you, Madam, you should be able to read it all before dinner.”

“I don’t appreciate suddenly increasing my work like this.”

“But you’ll read it anyway, won’t you?”

At the words trusting that even if she showed discomfort, she’d do the work well, Thea quietly extended one hand.

At the gesture asking for the report, Margaret promptly handed it over.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Counting on me? I’m just reading it.”

“But in the end, the choice is yours, Madam. No matter how hard I work on reports, if you refuse, that’s that.”

Shrugging her shoulders, she suggested they continue the rest of the conversation after dinner.

“I’m so excited thinking about eating home cooking after so long.”

“I actually told the head chef to prepare food you’d like.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Do I look like someone who’d lie?”

When she responded in a tone suggesting she’d be hurt if Margaret thought so, Margaret shook her head quickly. Absolutely not.

At that sight, Thea gave a faint smile and began preparing to read the report she’d been given.

“Go on now. The room should be ready by now.”

“See you at dinner in the dining room.”

“Yes, I should read the report for a bit then go have lunch. You don’t need lunch?”

“No, I don’t need it.”

Margaret had always had the strange habit of skipping lunch. She had tried to get her to change it, but it seemed it was far too late for that.

She showed no sign of listening at all.