Adeline couldn’t stay still for even a moment, watching the situation outside the window where black smoke flew in from a distance.

Tanya kept telling her to calm down, saying everyone was doing their best, but her anxiety wouldn’t subside.

When a servant came up and told her to temporarily move to another room, she felt like her heart would burst. In case everything went wrong.

She finally relaxed when Mrs. Lien reappeared.

“There are quite a few injured, but fortunately, no fatalities. So you can rest easy, ma’am. We’ve also put out all the remaining flames.”

This room where they’d temporarily evacuated was quite far from the ignition point, but the smell of burning persistently seeped in through the narrow window gaps.

Tanya drew the curtains closed and wrinkled her face.

“Ma’am, the smell of smoke is too strong. Wouldn’t it be better if you moved back a bit?”

But unlike Tanya, Adeline showed no reaction, like someone whose sense of smell had broken. She pushed the curtains aside again and looked down out the window with a face full of worry.

The greenhouse engulfed in flames.

The grapevines she’d once been fond of had lost their form and collapsed in a heap on the ground. Before she could even think it was a shame, her gaze had already moved elsewhere.

“Over there… the greenhouse…”

Mrs. Lien explained again to Adeline, whose words trailed off.

“The greenhouse generator couldn’t withstand the heat and there was a small explosion, but again, there were no major casualties.”

“…”

“So as Tanya said, please sit and rest for a moment, ma’am.”

Adeline didn’t answer.

That child… wasn’t he the gardener’s nephew?

Suddenly, she noticed a boy helping with the cleanup near the greenhouse. Maybe seventeen? 

A brown-haired boy who hadn’t quite shed his boyish features yet. He seemed injured somewhere, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain.

His arm…

Right, pull yourself together.

Now’s not the time for this.

Adeline finally pulled herself away from the window. And without a word, she opened the door.

“Ma’am?”

“Huh? Ma’am, where are you going?”

Lifting her smoke-stained skirt with one hand, Adeline avoided the scorched left staircase and began descending the central stairs. Her destination was clearly toward the greenhouse.

“Ma’am!”

“It’s still chaotic, so it would be better if you just stayed inside…”

The urgent voices of Mrs. Lien and Tanya followed from behind, but Adeline didn’t stop walking.

“Tanya, you can stay inside.”

It was a brief, crisp order.

Nevertheless, everyone inside followed her out.

Once outside, the smoke rising from the half-burned timber was thick. Tanya quickly covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief and handed Adeline a wet towel as well.

Though they said the flames were under control, the greenhouse was still chaotic. Servants carrying water buckets bumped into each other and shouted, and the floor was a mess of hastily scattered sand and water mixed together in messy streaks.

The able-bodied men, unconcerned with minor injuries, were busy stamping out the embers that still faintly remained.

“Here! Bring more water this way!”

“The underground storage is more urgent! Empty it out, quickly!”

Noisy shouts cut through the smoke. The sound of footsteps on wet ground and clashing metal tangled together, filling the surroundings.

With Kailen absent, Adeline was the one responsible for this estate.

It was no longer time to stand around in a daze. She was the mistress of this place, after all.

Adeline steadied her breathing, looked around, and gave orders in a clear voice.

“Tanya, call Head Butler Vardi. We need to take care of the injured first.”

“Yes!”

Watching Tanya rush off, Adeline soon turned her gaze to Mrs. Lien.

“Mrs. Lien, did we contact the city fire brigade?”

“Yes.”

Mrs. Lien answered immediately.

“But there was also a fire on Libella Street around 2 AM. They’ve already been dispatched to suppress that one, so we received word to wait for them to come our way. However, no support has arrived yet.”

Adeline nodded.

“I see. Since we’ve put out the flames with our own people, there shouldn’t be a major problem.”

Shortly after, Head Butler Vardi, summoned, bowed his head.

“Ma’am, you called for me.”

“Sorry to call you when you’re busy. You’ve worked hard.”

“It’s merely what I ought to do.”

“Dealing with the remaining fire is important, but right now we need to tend to the injured first. Have the doctors we called to the annex arrived?”

“Yes. We’ve already brought three.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Adeline took a few more steps forward.

The flower bed collapsed and soaked with water, carts being dragged out, stretchers being moved with creaking sounds. She watched all that commotion silently before opening her mouth again.

“And…”

That person.

She was about to ask if they’d contacted the master of the house, Kailen, when—

Adeline’s gaze inadvertently swept westward. Through the commotion that hadn’t quite settled, a low, dull vibration reached her ears. A familiar sound transmitted through the ground.

Shortly after, a black vehicle emerged from between the shadows of the trees lining the street.

The car, approaching at a steady speed along the smoothly paved road, soon stopped at the garden entrance.

…Kailen?

The car door opened and the master of this estate appeared.

Kailen stepped out, one step, then another. With each heavy footfall on the ground, his black hair swayed slowly along his hairline.

After taking a few more steps, he slowly raised his chin.

“Why is everyone outside? This is the first time I’ve received such an enthusiastic welcome…”

Below his narrowly slitted eyes, transparent blue irises rolled as they swept over the estate’s perimeter.

The completely burned greenhouse, the scorched corridor, the broken furnishings and scattered debris.

After confirming it all, he wore an ambiguous expression, neither smiling nor frowning.

But Adeline had no room to read that subtle mood.

Her frozen face, her pale complexion gradually relaxed. The moment she saw her husband, Adeline let out a deep breath, as though all her tension had drained away.

“Kailen…”

His gaze finally reached her.

“Kailen!”

Her skirt brushed lightly against the scorched carpet on the stairs. Adeline caught her breath briefly, then ran toward him without hesitation.

And forgetting appearances and the eyes around them, she stretched out both arms and embraced his neck.

“What happened?”

Adeline asked breathlessly.

“You said you had business in Suffolk. Did you come back after hearing about the fire?”

Kailen supported Adeline’s back with one arm as she still held his neck. It was a natural motion to keep her from losing balance.

“I did receive word about the fire, and I thought I wouldn’t have time, but the inspection schedule at the Suffolk factory complex was canceled, so I came back.”

“It wasn’t canceled because of this, was it?”

“No. Schedule changes happen occasionally. It was just pure coincidence that the timing worked out.”

Kailen’s gaze touched her scorched hem for a moment, then rose to her face. His large hand carefully smoothed her disheveled hair, seemingly to tidy it. The touch felt so affectionate that Adeline tilted her head slightly, almost acting spoiled.

She hadn’t been without fear when the flames were spreading at their peak.

Moreover, with Tanya constantly watching from the side telling her not to go out, not knowing the situation outside had made her even more anxious.

But she was also grateful that because he’d been away, he hadn’t been in danger. And now, facing him like this, having him by her side felt even more fortunate.

“But are you hurt anywhere? Why are you all the way out here, my lady?”

Behind them, the servants who’d been watching for a chance to greet the master glanced back and forth cautiously. But in front of the tender atmosphere the master and mistress shared, no one dared to easily interrupt.

Kailen pressed his lips together briefly and raised his head to check over Adeline’s shoulder. 

Only then did Head Butler Vardi find an opening and step forward. Soon after, all the rest bowed in unison.

“Welcome back, master. We’re deeply sorry to greet you with such an unseemly sight.”

“Well, the fire couldn’t be helped, but… the aftermath handling is unlike you, Head Butler. Why have you left the mistress standing outside?”

Though it was his usual respectful tone toward the old butler, it was clearly a reprimand. A tension that seemed to settle even the acrid smell of smoke instantly descended on the surroundings.