‘Well… now is not the time to worry about social scandals. The more pressing question is how far word of spending a night with the duke might spread…….’

A single night like that gave the Duke of Granville no reason to take responsibility for her. The gap in standing between the Duke of Granville and Count Aspel was considerable, even among nobles.

He was the kind of person she would never have crossed paths with even at a social gathering, yet through a mistake entirely her own, she had ended up sharing a bed with him.

If rumors spread and cut off any prospects of a proper marriage……

The thought that she might end up staying in the count’s estate and becoming Arman’s plaything for life, just as he had said, filled Liane with dread, and she clutched the edge of the blanket tightly in her hands.

“Would you like to take a walk today? The flowers in the garden are blooming beautifully this time of year.”

“Yes, I’d like that.”

Liane quickly hid her worried expression and smiled.

***

The Hartfield maid attending to Liane had not been exaggerating.

The garden of the Hartfield estate was truly vast and beautiful. The rose beds in particular, with their many colors, were enough to make one feel transported into a dream.

Liane walked through the garden, surrounded by a sweetness that wrapped around her like rose-scented oil.

‘The maid said she only revealed my identity to Lord Emilio. She said the other nobles of the marquis family here only know me as an ordinary woman Lord Emilio rescued, so I should be careful not to run into them.’

After waking at the Hartfield estate, Liane had given her name and asked that only Emilio be told she was the daughter of Count Aspel.

She had no way of knowing how the Aspel count’s estate had handled her disappearance, and she wanted to be cautious since she also did not know how things stood after the incident at the Granville ducal estate.

‘Lucille… what happened to Lucille. I hope she hasn’t gotten caught up in something terrible. If she’s safe, she must be terribly worried about my disappearance.’

Liane’s expression had grown slightly shadowed with worry for Lucille as she gazed at the roses, when the sound of footsteps came from behind her.

She turned around on instinct and saw Emilio walking toward her, his silver hair catching the sunlight.

Just as she remembered, his amber eyes shone even more beautifully in the sunlight. A dangling earring on one ear made him look all the more androgynous and distinctive.

“Lord Emilio Hartfield, hello. I’m afraid my thanks have been long overdue. I am truly grateful to you for saving me.”

Liane quickly composed herself and greeted Emilio with proper courtesy. Emilio offered a slight smile and returned her greeting.

“Lady Liane Aspel. This is our first meeting since that day. How are you feeling?”

“I’m all right now. Thank you for your concern.”

Emilio studied Liane quietly for a moment.

He had not had the chance to look at her properly on the day he rescued her, but now that she wore noble attire, even a simple dress, she was unmistakably a beautiful young noblewoman.

“Shall we walk?”

Emilio glanced briefly up at the estate building that overlooked the garden and guided Liane toward one of the garden paths.

“I imagine you have many questions for me.”

After a few steps, Liane spoke first, and Emilio turned to look at her.

“Thank you for honoring my request not to reveal my identity. I thought you must have been wondering why.”

In truth, Emilio had not given Liane’s situation much thought. He was not a person who took great interest in others to begin with. It had not even been he who spotted Liane on the verge of collapse, but his aide.

It was thanks to his aide noticing her stumbling right in front of their carriage that he had felt unable to ignore her and had spoken to her.

“The truth is, I had set out on a kind of impromptu trip with my maid, and one thing after another happened along the way, which delayed my return home. I did write a letter before leaving, but I still didn’t want word to reach my family through someone else. I wanted to go back on my own terms.”

‘Ah, so despite her proper appearance, she was actually in the middle of running away from home.’

Emilio felt he had heard enough.

“I am grateful for the kindness you showed me. If the opportunity ever arises, I will be sure to repay it.”

“Please don’t trouble yourself over it, my lady.”

“But… may I ask one more thing of you?”

Emilio had already begun turning his thoughts to other matters, but at Liane’s words he turned to face her with a polite smile.

“Of course. Please go ahead.”

“I became separated from my maid in the village where you found me, and I was hoping there might be a way to find her.”

“I see. If you give me her name and a description, I will have someone look into it.”

“Thank you.”

“Until then, please make yourself at home. The annex where you are staying is one I use privately, so there are not many people coming and going.”

Emilio offered those final words with as much generosity as he could spare.

He told her to pass along anything she needed to the maid attending her, gave a polite farewell, and left the garden ahead of her.

‘He really is a beautiful person. I don’t attend social gatherings often so I wouldn’t know, but are all noble sons like this. The Duke of Granville was also remarkably beautiful.’

Liane found herself thinking of Tristan without meaning to, and quickly shook her head.

‘That’s enough! I’ll think about the duke later. I want to forget about it for now.’

Liane made an effort to fill her mind with thoughts of the roses blooming in full abundance around the garden instead of Tristan’s blue eyes, and walked on.

***

The days at the Hartfield estate passed quietly. She had heard Emilio was always busy with work, and indeed, she had not run into him even once since their last meeting.

But two important things weighed on Liane’s mind.

One was the maid’s word that there was still no news of Lucille’s whereabouts. The other was that a horse riding competition was being held today on the grounds behind the Hartfield estate, and a large number of nobles were expected to visit.

Having never made her debut, Liane had a considerable fear of social gatherings.

There had been a brief period when unflattering rumors circulated about the daughter of Count Aspel not having attended any social gatherings, let alone made her debut.

The rumors ranged from her being too unsightly to show her face anywhere, to stories of her suffering from a serious illness.

But it had only lasted a short while, and rumors about the daughter of a count, who was not among the high nobility, faded quickly.

Avoiding the riding competition grounds that would be crowded with nobles, Liane and the maid had settled under a tree at the edge of the forest, and the maid looked up from her embroidery to ask her a question.

“So you haven’t made your debut, then? You are twenty-two, aren’t you, Lady Liane?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“May I ask why?”

It was not the most proper question for a servant to ask, but Liane smiled at the young maid whose eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity.

“I had very little contact with other nobles my age growing up, so I had a great deal of anxiety about social gatherings. I wanted to put off my debut for as long as possible.”

Liane spread out the handkerchief she had just finished embroidering with a small wildflower pattern and looked at it.

‘After that, my stepmother and Arman used one excuse after another to keep me from going…….’

The thought of Arman sent a dark, deep weight surging up from somewhere she had kept it buried, and Liane’s mood sank heavily.

“Lady Liane, the riding competition is probably winding down about now.”

“I suppose so. The sun is quite strong. Shall we head back to the annex?”

Liane picked up the wide-brimmed white hat she had set down beside her, placed it on her head, and tied the ribbon firmly under her chin.

The two of them set off along the path outside the forest toward the annex.

As they walked the quiet path back to the annex, they spotted a horse standing some distance ahead.

The moment Liane noticed the tethered horse, she also saw the horse’s owner leaning against a nearby tree, and she quickly lowered her head so the brim of her hat would cover her face.

There were not many nobles who would recognize her, but regardless, this was not a situation where she wanted to run into anyone, and so Liane kept her expression tense and quickened her steps, hoping the man would not speak to her.

The maid walking beside her gave the man a polite bow, and Liane found herself glancing over without thinking to look at the man standing there.

Beneath dark black hair, pale skin untouched by the sun, and the sunlight filtering through the leaves cast a painterly play of light and shadow across his face.

Above a face that looked sculpted after some god from mythology, a pair of deep blue eyes that were difficult to read were turned toward Liane.

Coming face to face without warning with Tristan’s blue eyes, which she had kept finding herself thinking about over the past few days, Liane was so flustered that she snapped her head away. In doing so, she let the handkerchief slip from her hand.

A strong gust of wind blew at just that moment, and the handkerchief Liane had dropped sailed through the air and caught on the top of Tristan’s boot.

“Oh, your handkerchief fell.”

The maid said this and came to a stop, which left Liane no choice but to stop alongside her.

Without turning around, barely able to breathe, Liane prayed that Tristan would not recognize her.

Tristan slowly bent down and picked up the fallen handkerchief, then walked past the maid who had come forward to retrieve it and came straight toward Liane.