Chapter 27

“…Seems like there’s no more hiding.”

Elina, with Bianca, opened the front door and found a paper bag with a neatly tied ribbon.

It was late evening, and there was no basket from the grandmother on the first floor. 

When was this placed here?

The heavy bag revealed fresh oranges.

It was now fully autumn. This meant these were brought from a further foreign country than before.

“Wow, amazing. They’re so fresh. Shall I peel them for you?”

Bianca quickly moved the heavy bag filled with large oranges to the table in the living room.

Elina blew out the candle she always lit at night and helped take out the oranges from the bag. There seemed to be at least twenty, as they kept coming.

“But will you really not tell me? Even when it’s sent so openly….”

“Um… I told you, I came because your health wasn’t good, Miss.”

“I’m better now. The baby is fine too… and though I said I’d stay until I officially marry Floyd, there’s no need for you to stay longer….”

“If you really dislike being with me, I’ll leave… but just a bit longer. Let’s stay like this for a while.”

Bianca whispered earnestly while bringing a knife from the kitchen to cut the top and bottom of the oranges and peel them.

This was already the fifth day. Bianca had come to this house saying she’d take care of her, and gifts that were surely Floyd’s doing kept arriving.

She was told to seek help from the Grand Ducal residence if anything happened, but she never contacted them first.

“And a few days ago, you were really sick. You cried like that… why do you keep saying things you don’t mean?”

“Did it really seem like I didn’t mean it?”

Elina turned her head sharply while holding the still warm candle with both hands. Bianca had finished peeling the oranges and was placing them on a plate.

They were much better peeled than the ones Floyd had done before.

“Not that it wasn’t sincere… but it didn’t seem like it. Wouldn’t His Grace think the same… oh no, you can’t have it!”

“Kitty, come here. Your snack is here.”

The kitten still disliked Bianca. Elina gave the snack she bought while out to the kitten that ran over and looked at the messy living room.

The basket of food Floyd had probably sent through the first-floor grandmother, the things that kept appearing, and even the things the kitten had made a mess of.

“Is there anything else you’d like to eat besides oranges? If the ingredients are okay, I can make something. Phew… I really wonder if I’m still a physician.”

“I didn’t ask for anything other than medical care.”

“But without me, you don’t eat!”

“I’ve been eating well! I even asked the grandmother on the first floor….”

As she poked the well-peeled orange into her mouth, the fresh juice burst forth. It was much tastier than the orange skewer she had a few days ago.

Still, it wasn’t as good as the oranges Floyd had given her before. Even if they were the same oranges, they naturally tasted different when she ate them when she really wanted them.

“Bianca, aren’t you eating?”

“Oh, I don’t really like oranges. You eat a lot, Miss.”

For someone who came to watch over a sick Elina, Bianca was diligent in other matters too. She even peeled oranges she didn’t like.

Bianca moved all the gold coins from the living room, which had been moving little by little, in a day, and begged Elina to eat at least a piece of bread at every meal, just like at the Grand Ducal residence.

Having peeled more than five oranges, Bianca got up from her seat and headed to the kitchen again.

Checking the ingredients in the kitchen. She moved tirelessly even though it wasn’t necessary.

When Elina had slowly swallowed about half an orange, the kitten, having finished its snack, was playing alone far away.

With Bianca gone, she turned her gaze to where she had been, and something strange caught her eye.

A few days ago, the kitten played with Floyd’s coat, which was losing its shape, but now it was holding a box she had never seen before.

Interestingly, it was a box made of thick fabric, something that hadn’t been in the house until yesterday.

“Is this… something Floyd left, kitty?”

Meow. As she petted its head, the kitten let out a small cry.

Watching the kitten fit into the palm-sized box, Elina picked up Floyd’s coat, now unrecognizable, from the edge of the living room.

The coat, made of soft, thin fabric, was enough for the kitten to ruin. It was given to the kitten for that purpose.

“I’ve been curious. What exactly is that?”

“What does it look like…?”

“Well… I can tell it was a garment made of ivory fabric….”

Bianca, who had gone to the kitchen, came out and asked the question. 

What could it really look like… could I accept the identity of what I was holding and why it ended up like this?

Elina barely found the embroidered emblem of the Rennes Grand Ducal family in gold thread. It was a garment only Floyd, the Rennes Grand Duke, could wear.

“When I left the Rennes Grand Ducal residence that day… it was the coat Floyd draped over me.”

At first, it was a bit of a tantrum and venting. She took it off as soon as she got in the carriage and left it for the kitten to ruin when it showed interest at home.

She was emotionally exhausted. She wanted to deny his sincerity, which she received until the last moment of leaving the Grand Ducal residence, in that way.

Floyd, who came secretly yesterday to give the kitten a new toy, must have seen his coat so ruined next to it.

What would he have felt seeing that? Annoyed? Or maybe he felt nothing at all.

“Why do I take out my emotions on Floyd….”

“It’s small but impressive. It chewed it up well….”

“At least he wouldn’t have felt good….”

When she lowered her head, her long, untied hair fell forward. Elina gathered it and pinned it up as usual.

Before coming to this house, only Bianca, who would know Floyd’s situation better, added something.

“Um… if it’s His Grace, he probably didn’t think much of it. It’s a relief he didn’t use it as kindling.”

“If he used it as kindling, at least he wouldn’t have seen it as a rag.”

Elina looked at the fireplace, which she hadn’t used once since the weather wasn’t that cold. She should have burned it to make it disappear entirely.

Even as a rag, it wasn’t discarded and was left neglected, much like her true feelings. It felt like she had inadvertently revealed it.

But maybe it was only Elina who thought so, as Bianca, listening, suppressed a laugh and looked at Floyd’s ragged coat again.

“Oh, no! Just having it might have made him happy… do you both know you’re overly concerned about each other?”

“How could I know Floyd’s thoughts… it’s been almost two weeks since I last saw him.”

“Don’t you think it’s been less than two weeks? Anyway, His Grace is probably only worried about your meals and sleep, so don’t dwell on it too much.”

Bianca’s continuing words were certainly nagging.

While preparing for bed, she asked, 

“Just wait a little longer, as a physician, how should I help you?”

Then she asked what Elina planned to do tomorrow.

Well, what should I do? 

She didn’t feel like going out for no particular reason, and Floyd would secretly come again tomorrow….

Then a good idea came to her. Since it seemed Floyd would visit the house in some way tomorrow, she could use that….

“Should I wait for Floyd all day…?”

“What?”

“Whatever I try to do, Floyd helps me. Even if I ask you, Bianca, you won’t tell me. Is there a way to meet Floyd without going to the Rennes Grand Ducal residence?”

“Umm… I understand. His Grace might seem quite unkind right now….”

“Might seem unkind?”

Honestly, it was frustrating. Floyd surely had reasons, explanations, or things to say for what he’d done so far.

The same went for herself.

The retainers of the Rennes Grand Ducal residence were blocking her formal marriage with Floyd. She left because she couldn’t endure the criticism directed at her and the child in her womb from people inside and outside the family.

If Floyd really liked her that much. And if she couldn’t forget him in the end.

Having reached this situation, shouldn’t she find another way?

A sigh was about to escape, but this was reality.

“His Grace is probably trying his best right now. I can’t say for sure, but… he’s likely sorting things out….”

“Ha, it’s so frustrating… I don’t know what’s happening.”

Elina paused while climbing onto the bed and placed the shawl she wore outside beside her pillow. 

Would Floyd really come tomorrow morning?

In the bed that was full with just two people, Bianca said something and quickly fell asleep.

Elina tried to meet Floyd in the following days, but it wasn’t easy.

During the day when she was awake, Floyd quietly left gifts at the front door, and at dawn, she woke up secretly from Bianca to wait for him but ended up falling asleep.

When she woke up, there were one or two things in the house that hadn’t been there, indicating Floyd had come and gone.

‘I thought I heard the front door open….’

Determined to meet him sneaking into the house today, she got up early in the morning and sat on a chair by the front door.

But today, the sky was gloomy, and a cool autumn rain was falling.

It had already been almost four months since she became pregnant.