On the afternoon of the fourth day since Kyla’s arrival at Chatworth, Riona disappeared.

At the scheduled time of her piano lesson, Riona suddenly disappeared.

With no other option, Kyla began searching the ducal residence with the maid, Lily. Together, they checked the kitchen, dining room, study, garden, drawing room and morning room. Kyla even asked Mrs Gerald if she could look in Mrs Lester’s bedroom. They carefully searched everywhere Riona might have gone, yet there was still no sign of her.

By the time Kyla climbed up to the attic on the fourth floor, just in case, her breath was coming in ragged gasps and her thighs ached as though they might give way at any moment.

Only then did Kyla truly realize just how enormous Chatworth was and how many rooms it contained.

At first, she had been furious.

Then worry slowly began to eat away at her.

But by the time the western sky glowed with the colors of sunset and the sun began its slow descent, her mind could barely form a single clear thought.

Utterly exhausted, Kyla returned to her room to rest for a moment.

There she found Riona.

The girl was lying in Kyla’s bed, the blankets pulled up to her chin, pretending to be asleep.

Kyla felt nothing but hollow disbelief at the sight.

Later that night, when she opened the wardrobe to change, she could hardly believe her eyes — not a single dress remained. Not a single garment remained. The garments that had been hanging neatly inside that morning had all vanished, as if a magician had made them disappear.

Kyla let out a long, weary sigh.

Clearly, Riona had hidden them somewhere. However, it was already Riona’s bedtime, so Kyla simply asked Mrs Gerald to lend her a chemise and a nightgown for the evening.

The next morning, when Kyla encountered Riona outside the study, she asked her about the missing clothes.

Riona answered with an innocent smile. She said that the dresses in the wardrobe did not suit Kyla, and that she had told a maid to throw them all away.

Fortunately, the maid who had received the order found it suspicious and did not carry it out. Thanks to her hesitation, Kyla was spared the nightmare of wearing the same outfit every day until new clothes could be found.

Then came the fifth day.

When Riona casually mentioned that dinnertime had been changed from seven to eight o’clock, Kyla felt a faint stir of suspicion.

Still, she thought, Surely she wouldn’t lie about something like that.

After all, Riona had no reason to hate her enough to deliberately starve her.

But when Kyla went down to the dining room at eight o’clock, Mrs. Gerald looked at her in complete surprise.

“Oh my! Miss Riona said earlier that Miss Feiling wasn’t feeling well and would be going to bed early. What in the world happened?”

“I’m not unwell, Miss Riona told me that dinner had been moved to eight, so I simply assumed that was the case and came down now… Was that not true?”

Kyla realized that she had missed dinner entirely, and she felt her irritation rising — far beyond mere disbelief. It quickly turned into anger.

The cries from her stomach begging for food had long since faded. Now, it felt as though the skin on her stomach was clinging tightly to her back.

However, she could not afford to lose her temper with a young girl, especially not with a student she was supposed to be teaching.

Kyla had no choice but to swallow her anger.

She simply could not understand why the girl was playing such cruel tricks on her.

Did she really hate the piano that much?

“You’ve fallen victim too, I see.”

The woman sitting across from Mrs. Gerald, quietly eating a slice of cake, clicked her tongue sympathetically.

“Besides me… has someone else experienced something similar?”

Kyla asked, looking at her.

“Yes. Me. I did. That was about six months ago.”

She cut a small piece of lemon cake and placed it in her mouth. After chewing a few times, she swallowed and continued speaking.

“And before me, every governess who came to this house experienced the same thing.”

“Governess…es?”

“Yes. I’m Miss Riona’s governess. My name is Vanessa Hamilton.”

The woman’s voice was low and firm. She looked younger than Mrs. Gerald, but she certainly did not appear to be Kyla’s age. She seemed well over thirty.

She wore a dark gray dress buttoned all the way up to the neck. Her clothing was even plainer and more modest than Kyla’s.

“I see… Mrs. Hamilton, thank you for telling me.”

“It’s nothing.”

The governess named Vanessa Hamilton focused intently on her lemon cake. Only after she had completely cleared her plate did she lift her head.

“What is your name, Miss?”

“Ah… my name is Kyla Feiling.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Feiling. Though it seems you’re about to miss dinner. Judging by your height, you probably don’t need to grow any taller… but you certainly look like you should gain some weight.”

Vanessa Hamilton glanced at Kyla and clicked her tongue again.

In the end, Kyla had to replace dinner with the lemon cake the head cook had left behind.

It was only after she took a bite that she understood why Miss Hamilton could not stop eating it.

Initially tart, it was followed by a gentle sweetness. The cake was so moist and soft that it melted the moment it touched her tongue.

Just a single bite seemed enough to calm some of the anger she had been feeling towards Riona.

That evening, Kyla filled her empty stomach with three slices of lemon cake.

***

“Miss Riona, shall we try something different today instead of scale practice?”

Practicing scales is a fundamental step in developing good piano technique.

However, when even getting Riona to sit at the piano was a challenge, Kyla had to put thoughts of technique to one side.

“Something different? Like what?”

Riona spoke indifferently, but the fact that the words “I don’t want to” or “No” had not immediately left her mouth already counted as half a success.

‘Right. For now, it would be better to let her play whatever piece she wants.’

Kyla firmly resolved that even if the girl chose the simplest tune imaginable, she would accept it.

“What would you like to try, Miss Riona?”

“Hmm… anything except playing the piano?”

With a bored expression, Riona stared straight into Kyla’s face.

“……”

For a long moment, Kyla could say nothing. She simply stared blankly.

This little lady always managed to strike where she least expected.

Kyla let out a small sigh.

“All right, Miss Riona. Then today we’ll do something other than playing the piano.”

“Really?”

For the first time, Riona’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes, of course.”

Kyla looked at her and smiled gently.

“Now then, could you stand up for a moment?”

When Riona hesitated for a moment before finally rising from the piano bench, Kyla took her place and sat down instead.

Riona stood beside the piano, looking slightly bewildered.

“Shall we try a role-switching game? I’ll be the student, and you can be the piano teacher. But we have to keep it up until the lesson ends. What do you think?”

Riona appeared to consider it for a moment before nodding. Being the teacher seemed far more interesting than playing the piano.

“Teacher Riona, what piece should I play?”

Kyla asked with a smile.

“Um… well… ‘Let Me Tell Mother.’ That one… can you play it?”

“Of course, Teacher. You mean Moritz’s Variations, right?”

Without even looking at sheet music, Kyla immediately began to play.

Her performance flowed brightly and smoothly, like water running over stones. Riona stared at her, mouth slightly open.

Kyla could have played the entire piece, but she deliberately stopped midway.

“Teacher Riona, how was it? Did I do well?”

“Uh… well. I think you played it well…”

Riona offered praise, but it felt as though a teacher ought to point something out.

“It’s… a little fast, I think. Yes, it was too fast. Try playing it again a bit slower.”

“Teacher, as you know, this piece is allegro moderato. It should be played somewhat briskly, so I’ll just make it slightly slower.”

“Oh? Ah… right.”

Kyla began again from the start, playing just a little slower than before while carefully observing Riona’s expression.

Riona’s eyes were shining.

It was clear she was listening with genuine focus.

‘Perhaps this is one of the pieces she likes.’

Although Riona didn’t like playing the piano, she enjoyed listening to music. Even this small sign was a relief to Kyla.

Kyla faithfully played every piece that Riona requested for the full hour.

Riona tried awkwardly to act like a teacher, but it was a clumsy effort. Nevertheless, she neither ran away nor complained, nor did she show any irritation. Instead, she listened attentively and shared her thoughts on the pieces Kyla performed.

When Kyla played Chopin’s ‘Minute Waltz’ as the final piece, Riona began to tap her feet lightly to the rhythm and sway her shoulders to the lively melody.

That alone was enough to make Kyla feel satisfied.

From now on, they would take things slowly, one step at a time.

Kyla wanted to teach Riona to enjoy the piano and help her become a child who truly loved music.

If that happened, perhaps this young lady, who currently spent most of her time grumbling and frowning while finding amusement only in tormenting her teachers, might begin to smile more often and more brightly.

At the very least, when she sat at the piano, she might be able to forget everything else and simply feel happy.

Just as Kyla once had.

***

It was a dry afternoon in June.

The carriage carrying Silas pulled up in the front courtyard of the estate, kicking up clouds of dust.

As soon as the coachman opened the door, Silas stepped down slowly.

Chatworth looked exactly as it always had.

While studying in Portsmouth, he had returned to Chatworth every holiday. Despite the fact that it was no longer school holidays, this summer would be no different, he thought.

Waiting for him at the entrance were the butler, Winkler; his personal secretary, Martin Walgrave; Mrs Gerald; Riona; and the governess, Mrs Hamilton.

The moment she saw him, Riona ran towards him from a distance, leaping straight into his arms and bouncing as she went.

“Brother!”

“Have you been well?”

“How could I be well when you weren’t here?”

Although Riona pouted as she clung to him, her bright expression made it clear that she had done very well.

She was a child who became lonely easily, so he had always been worried about her. Seeing her cheerful face now reassured him.

After putting Riona down, Silas exchanged brief greetings with the household staff before entering the house with them.

“Brother, you’re really home now, right? You’re not going back to school anymore, are you?”

“That’s right. I’ve graduated.”

“Ah, that’s such a relief.”

All the way to the drawing room, Riona chattered nonstop about how bored she had been during his absence.

“But, Riona, for someone who claims she was so bored, you look awfully cheerful.”

“Hm? Oh… well, recently I haven’t been quite as bored.”

Riona lifted the corners of her lips slightly.

Looking at her, Silas smiled as well.

“Really? That’s good to hear.”

“A new piano teacher came recently. Well… she’s not bad. I can tolerate her.”

When Riona said “not bad,” it meant she liked the person. And when she said “I can tolerate her,” it meant she found them entertaining.

“That’s good, then.”

Silas realized that the reason Riona’s face looked unusually bright was because of the new piano teacher.

The two of them were walking down the corridor that led to the drawing room.

“But could you buy Miss Kyla some new clothes?”

“Kyla? Is that the name of the new piano teacher?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The moment he heard the name ‘Kyla’, he pictured her face.

Why was that?

It was a common name.

The image of a piano teacher was certainly the last thing that came to mind when thinking of her.

Perhaps it was because Jayden had talked endlessly about how well his younger sister played the piano, to the point where Silas had grown tired of hearing about it.

Silas scoffed quietly at the absurdity of his own thoughts.