With those words, the ring placed on her ring finger felt like it was constricting not her finger but her windpipe. While she held back, not knowing what words might pour out if she opened her mouth, the Duke said he would give her time to cool her head and left her alone in the storage room. In the storage room smelling of freshly added raw wood, an intense loneliness overwhelmed her.

Enduring the oncoming dizziness, Nelie moved her lips several times. While part of her couldn’t bear the anger rising in her chest, another part had resigned herself.

The voice she wanted to ignore whispered mockingly to herself:

That’s right, Nelie. The rumors have already spread, and you can’t deny it.

‘Be quiet.’

The Duke is right. Just accept this situation and agree to be his mistress. Spread your legs for him like always and get some money. You need money, don’t you? A lot of it.

‘I said be quiet.’

With your not-so-expensive body, that’s the most profitable business. He said he’d give you whatever you want. Honor, money.

‘Please stop.’

Despite Nelie’s plea, the mocking voice didn’t stop. Eventually, a voice identical to hers whispered cruelly:

You can’t reclaim the printing shop with your own power. You can’t take responsibility for your father either. Even the exhibition proves it. You sold your body to the Duke and won an award. Do you really think that prize money is yours?

‘Stop……’

So flatter the Duke now. If you act pretty enough, he might buy back the printing shop for you.

‘……’

Is that all? He can easily make you the best artist. With that method, you don’t even need to ask the Duke to buy the printing shop.

Also… if you just please him well, he might let you stay by his side……

‘Stop!’

Eeeeeeeee.

Nelie tightly closed her eyes at the long ringing in her ears. The base words whispered by her own subconscious wounded her more.

‘Even after being treated like this.’

It felt absurd that she still wanted to stay by the Duke’s side despite such treatment. The conveniences he provided were things she could lose, but the thought of losing the Duke who treated her like someone special felt overwhelming.

‘You really have no pride, Annelie Heich.’

Even now, the ring the Duke had placed on her finger remained shamelessly beautiful. It looked too precious to be given along with such cruel words. That made Annelie’s heart even more complicated.

‘Why bother……’

Why bother proposing she remain his mistress? She wouldn’t have been surprised if he had suggested ending their relationship.

While hurt by the Duke’s treatment, she felt annoyed at her own relief that he wasn’t cutting her off. Her heart repeatedly swung between feeling better and feeling terrible. The feeling of thinking she had finally found solid ground in a swamp, only to discover the rock she stepped on was actually a pile of sand, mercilessly gnawed at Nelie’s heart.

‘Pull yourself together and prepare an answer, Annelie.’

The Duke clearly said he would return. That he would hear her answer. That she should cool her head.

But what answer should she give when he returned? That perhaps a relationship between patron and protégé, rather than nobleman and mistress, wouldn’t be so bad? No, that she couldn’t endure any of this, so it would be better to pretend none of it happened? Or……

The newspaper article that suddenly pinned down Nelie’s mind while it wandered wildly without direction was the problem.

The article claiming the Duke of Tevant’s mistress was actually a false smoke screen for Princess Lambert. The writing that her boss had suddenly pushed in front of her and the illustrations he had ordered from her.

“I heard there are talks of marriage between the two.”

“What about the rumors of him having a mistress?”

“Well, that’s uncertain. Besides, even if there really is a mistress……”

“Could that possibly have something to do with Princess Lambert?”

And the whispers of people at the party……

She couldn’t even remember what state of mind she had been in when she drew the Duke and Princess’s secret meeting. If she had been in her right mind, she might have tried to stop her boss from publishing such an article.

But she didn’t even have the emotional capacity for that. She was overwhelmed just trying to accept the situation. Her memories after that were patchy. She remembered her boss snatching away what was little more than a sketch while rushing her, saying there was no time. She remembered feeling dissatisfied and saying something about it.

She couldn’t recall how she felt while drawing it. She only felt the misery of realizing why the Duke insisted on keeping her as his mistress.

That was worse than just being his mistress. It meant she was a woman brought in from the beginning as a smoke screen for his meetings with another woman.

She decided not to think deeply about when the Duke, who spent most of his time with her, found time to meet the Princess. After all, she could only be with the Duke inside that townhouse.

Outside, in the public realm she couldn’t access, the Duke could meet the Princess of Lambert any number of times. Thinking that he might have touched her after meeting with the Princess like that made bile rise in her throat.

‘A false existence for meeting the Princess. Or a smoke screen to protect the Princess from rumors.’

And what would come next? What other words would follow if she stayed by his side? How far would she fall? How much more would the paintings she had drawn with all her effort be insulted?

In the current situation, even if she exhibited her work, people would say it was an honor she obtained by opening her body to the Duke.

Amid the noise of the printing press, Nelie quietly rose. Two hours had long passed. The Duke hadn’t come, and the newspaper article had begun to spread throughout Tevant.

Watching this, Nelie firmly gripped the wallet and outer clothes she had brought from the townhouse. The thought that she had been dreaming an absurd, vain dream filled her mind. It was truly a sweet dream, too good for her.

‘I’m being punished for being greedy.’

Having reached that conclusion, she felt rather detached. Even her eyelids, which had been burning hot, calmed down.

So now, this was it.

That was her conclusion. When she came to her senses, she found herself on a train heading to her hometown.

Some people glanced at her, who didn’t even have proper luggage, but such gazes didn’t matter. She decided to think only about returning home. She realized belatedly that she was still wearing the ring the Duke had placed on her finger. While wondering how to return it, she arrived at her hometown, and there she found her own busy daily life.

And a season passed.

After the fresh spring and summer she spent in Tevant, now came the end of the autumn harvest season. The wheat fields in full harvest would all disappear after this autumn. Banks, department stores, theaters and such would appear, and everything Nelie knew would be erased. After that, a city similar to Tevant City would be built on top of it all.

Nelie tried to imagine the unimaginable future appearance of the village but gave up and looked up at the clear sky. She wished she could shatter and erase her memories of the Duke so easily. But that simply wouldn’t happen. The blue sky, no different from the city’s, kept reminding her of memories from there. Unresolved matters rolled around chaotically in her heart.

“Good job, Nelie!”

After moving all the remaining wheat, Tina sent Nelie off with a basket full of freshly harvested fruit as payment for her hard work. It was a generous basket, almost too heavy for Nelie to carry alone.

Swoosh. A chilly late autumn wind from somewhere tousled her hair. Looking at her disheveled brown hair flying randomly, Nelie finally made up her mind.

‘Yes. I can’t continue like this anymore.’

She couldn’t keep living like a chair with loose screws. She needed to sort things out now.

‘Perhaps I should send a letter to Jerome soon.’

The memory of Jerome’s silence when she last saw him pained her to the bone, making her hesitant to contact him. Having left without a single excuse, she couldn’t imagine what he might think of her.

But now more than two months had passed. Two months ago might be very recent in the countryside, but Tevant was a city that moved busily day by day. Dozens of gossip stories rose and fell each month, a place where everything moved quickly.

In such a place, two months was enough time for people to forget a commoner girl who had suddenly risen and won an award at the competition. Especially in Tevant, where new artists emerged almost daily.

Nelie hoped that with that time, any negative feelings Jerome might have developed toward her had somewhat washed away. He had been a friend who made her life in the city much easier. Even though things ended this way, she wanted to say she was truly grateful, that she was happy he always took care of her. Wishing him well. This much gratitude seemed appropriate.

And this time, she really needed to return the ring to the Duke.

He……

‘He might be married by now.’

Since the smoke screen protecting Princess Lambert from Tevant’s loose-lipped gossip magazines and rumors had disappeared without a word, there would be no need to hide their relationship anymore. Wasn’t there talk of marriage between them? While she was in her hometown, the Princess might have taken her place by his side.

Sting. Her heart felt cold again, but Nelie deliberately ignored it. She hated how she still thought of the Duke.

‘I really must let go now.’

With that thought, regrets she hadn’t even realized she harbored fell away with each step she took toward home, like footprints being made and then disappearing. Keeping them any longer would only poison her.

It was time to forget everything and return to daily life. Stop being so pathetic.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on her thoughts.

“Annelie! We’re making mask dolls for the harvest festival later! Do you want to join?”

“Okay! See you in a bit!”

“Oh, and young men from other villages will be coming to this harvest festival!”