Chapter 2.6

Back in the drawing room, Alec spoke as he took a seat on the sofa where Solnia had been sitting.  

“You look even more handsome since getting married.”  

With his impeccable posture, slightly raised chin, and charming smile, Alec exuded the air of a high-ranking noble who had received only the finest education.  

“Is that a compliment?”  

“Of course, it’s a compliment. Among the Trovill brothers, you’re the best-looking one, aren’t you? That’s probably why our Solnia accepted you.”  

The best-looking? So, he was implying I was terrible in every other way.  

Luette let out a deflated laugh as he looked at Alec.  

Now that he thought about it, Alec no longer resembled the former Earl and Countess of Heston.  

As a child, his bright blonde hair and striking blue eyes had been a clear reminder of the former Earl.  

But perhaps because of his slightly longer jawline or the darker hue of his eyes, Alec no longer evoked the image of the Earl.  

To think he hadn’t inherited even a trace of his famously beautiful parents.  

What a pity.  

If anything, it was Solnia who had benefited from their beauty…  

“But tell me, are you really getting along with my sister?”  

Alec’s eyebrows furrowed as he asked.  

Lost in thought, Luette responded a beat too late.  

“What do you mean?”  

In that moment, Solnia’s voice echoed in his mind—her anxious words about her family doubting their marriage.  

Her overly excited eyes and the voice that had accused him of planning to annul the marriage and steal her fortune.  

“She may not look like it, but she knows nothing about the world. That’s because Grandmother raised her so delicately.”  

But Alec’s next words quickly dispelled Luette’s suspicions.  

“On top of that, as you know, she’s always been sickly, both in body and mind. Grandmother was so worried she might get hurt that she even forbade her from taking walks in the garden. So, she knows nothing. Especially when it comes to men.”  

His concerned gaze was purely that of a brother worried about his sister.  

The siblings had lost their parents in a single tragic moment.  

Even if their grandmother had taken them in, their love for each other must have been immense.  

As if to confirm Luette’s assumption, Alec let out a heavy sigh and said,  

“I hate to say this, but I couldn’t help but worry that you might have ulterior motives for staying by Solnia’s side…”  

Luette offered a faint smile to Alec, who was so earnestly worried about his sister.  

“Don’t worry. Your sister isn’t as naive as you think.”  

The implication behind his words made Alec burst into hearty laughter.  

“True, Solnia isn’t entirely innocent. Do you remember when she slapped you at the Mart Hunting Grounds?”  

At that moment—  

“The Dowager has arrived.”  

The butler’s voice rang out.  

Turning slightly, Luette saw Dowager Heston standing there.  

Despite being seventy years old, her upright posture, bonnet, gloves, and even the bag draped over her arm were impeccable.  

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a rare face.”  

“……”  

When she removed her bonnet, her sharp blue eyes were revealed.  

It was almost as if she hadn’t aged at all.  

Dowager Heston seemed to have stopped aging at some point.  

Despite this, Luette approached her with a charming smile.  

“It’s been a while, Dowager. Happy birthday.”  

When Luette kissed the back of her hand briefly in greeting, the Dowager Madame responded with a gentle smile.  

Dowager Heston then took her seat at the head of the sofa, with Luette and Alec sitting to her right and left, respectively.  

“With two fine gentlemen here, my home feels so full.”  

Her voice was soft yet commanding.  

The Dowager smiled as if admiring a fine painting.  

“So, was the journey difficult?”  

“Traveling to the capital is never an issue. Besides, it’s your seventieth birthday, so my only concern was whether you’d like the gift I prepared.”  

Such smooth lies came effortlessly to him.  

Before he could even calculate his words, his lips moved on their own.  

The Dowager seemed quite pleased with Luette, her smile deepening.  

Solnia should have seen this.  

See? There was no need to make such a fuss and worry unnecessarily.

“I know your kind heart well, Earl. You always go through so much trouble to make up for my granddaughter’s share.”

The Dowager was just about to lift her prepared teacup.

“It’s not so, Grandmother. Solnia is here.” 

Alec said.

The teacup, which had been on its way to her lips, froze mid-air.  

Was it just his imagination? Luette felt as though the air in the drawing room shifted slightly in that fleeting moment.  

“Yes, Dowager. This time, I came with my wife. She stepped out for some fresh air, saying she wasn’t feeling well earlier. She’s probably in the garden. I’ll go and bring her—”  

“Hmm. Sit down.”  

The Dowager cut Luette off and lightly gestured toward someone.  

At her simple motion, a maid quickly approached, bowed, and leaned in to listen.  

“Bring Solnia here.”  

“Yes, Dowager.”  

As the maid left the drawing room, the Dowager looked warmly at Luette.  

“Thank you, Earl. I never expected you to care so much about me. You have no idea how much I’ve missed Solnia.”  

She added another word of thanks, her expression on the verge of tears. Luette offered her a charming smile in response.  

***

Solnia climbed the stairs to the second floor and headed toward the room at the northernmost corner where she used to live.  

“……”  

It was unchanged.  

The hallway grew quieter the closer she got to the room, and the dark-colored door remained the same. So did the golden doorknob.  

Though she had never once missed this room since marrying Luette, the strange urge to see it again had overtaken her upon returning to the mansion.  

After all, it had been her home for ten years. From pencils to wardrobes, the room was filled with traces of her.  

Solnia hadn’t taken anything with her from this room. In her hurried escape to marriage, she had left with nothing but herself, leaving all her childhood belongings behind.  

‘Will it still be the same?’

But when she cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, the room was empty.  

‘…What a foolish thought.’  

Solnia let out a bitter laugh. Knowing what kind of person her grandmother was, expecting her belongings to remain untouched had been naive.  

Hesitant at first, she slowly stepped into the room.  

Everything except for large furniture like the wardrobe and bed was gone.  

Even the remaining furniture was covered with large cloths, giving the room an eerie, ghostly atmosphere.  

The window was the same as ever, its stains still obscuring the view of the garden.  

“Uh… Young Lady?”  

A timid voice called out.  

It was the maid Solnia had asked to bring her digestive medicine earlier, accompanied by another maid carrying a glass of water.  

“Here’s the digestive medicine you requested.”  

If there was one thing different, it was the attitude of the maids.  

In the past, they would have left everything outside the door and disappeared. Now, they approached her directly, handing over the packet of medicine and the glass.  

“Thank you.”  

“……”  

Of course, they couldn’t completely hide their reluctant expressions.  

In front of them, Solnia poured the powdered medicine into her mouth and swallowed it with water. Then, she handed back the empty glass and glanced at their faces.  

Her grandmother likely thought of her as a rather clueless child.  

Though the mansion employed dozens of maids, Solnia recognized most of their faces. Her grandmother had overlooked this fact.  

‘That’s why she must have sent her maids to Melfir.’  

As soon as Solnia had settled into the villa in Melfir, she had fired two maids who had been sent by her grandmother.  

When she and Luette had decided to use separate residences—he in the main house and she in the annex villa—he had hurriedly hired more staff. Her grandmother’s maids must have infiltrated through that route.  

She could never forget the moment.  

Just when she thought she could finally breathe, she had caught those maids shamelessly wandering around the villa with laundry in hand.  

“What are you doing? Aren’t you leaving?”  

“Oh, yes!”  

The maids hurriedly left the room in a fluster. Solnia sat on the cloth-covered bed and gazed out the window.  

“…This is the last time.”  

A sigh-like murmur escaped her lips.  

This really was the last time. Including today, there were only three days left until her grandmother’s party. If she could endure those three days, this wretched connection would finally be severed.