7. Nothing Between Us

Elroy emerged from the platform watching the setting sun. The Tevant family carriage waiting in front of the station slowly approached. It was thanks to the bank branch and villa he had established in the nearby town.

‘She was this close all along.’

Elroy looked self-deprecatingly at the rural village awaiting development and maintenance. The smoke rising from distant hearths and the quiet atmosphere were incomparably peaceful, unlike the surrounding villages that had already begun development. Though it would soon become a chaotic peace.

Annelie Heich was somewhere there. They say it’s darkest under the lamp. She had been crouching and hiding not far from his villa and bank.

During the time they met, with what she stole from him.

Blue veins rose on his clenched fist at the thought. Elroy examined his inner feelings through the surge of emotion.

This anger stems from that. Feeling such betrayal toward a woman he met for just a few months, a woman he merely met periodically to share his body and laughter, was also because of that.

“Welcome, Duke. I’ll take you to your lodging now……”

“No need.”

“You’re going to walk? The village is quite far.”

The coachman voiced his concern, but Elroy calmly chose to walk. He felt the need to cool the heat rising in his head. If he showed anger right away, the woman might run away again.

‘That can’t happen, Annelie.’

He couldn’t allow such a sight again. Elroy slowly left the station and took the road leading up to the village.

Fortunately, he had regained much of his strength thanks to eating properly and sleeping well for several days before coming here. The closer the day to visit the village came, the more his body slept and developed an appetite on time, unlike when he had stayed up and refused food. To catch a woman trying to escape, he needed to be as sound as possible in both body and mind.

After walking for a while, the sun had set. The cool night breeze tousled Elroy’s hair. Only then did he enter the entrance of the village.

In the woman’s hometown, there was no smell of pigments or ink. The wind carried only the smells of various cooked foods and the musty ash from hearths. This made him feel strange. Was Annelie Heich really here? Just thinking about it made his heart pound again.

Elroy felt sweat gathering inside his leather gloves and continued walking to find Annelie’s house. The village homes were mostly empty, perhaps due to some festival. That was rather fortunate.

He would go to Annelie’s house and wait for her. The opposite of how she always waited at the townhouse. And when the woman returned……

While thinking this, his footsteps stopped abruptly when he turned a corner in the rural neighborhood.

“……”

From a distance, a figure was walking lightly toward him.

Footsteps he could vividly recall even with his eyes closed. White legs walking briskly, making the skirt she wore flutter, and light brunette hair swaying accordingly. The gentle laughter that spread, the slightly upturned eye corners when she boldly confronted him. The sensual moans she made when they joined bodies, unable to bear it, and her soft insides.

All those sensations swept through Elroy’s body like a whip in a single moment. Sensations he thought he had forgotten but hadn’t forgotten at all.

Elroy stopped in his tracks.

Simultaneously, the woman walking from the opposite direction also seemed to sense something and stopped abruptly. Elroy unconsciously tensed his entire body. If she turned and ran, he would have to chase and catch her. A woman who had fled from him was fully capable of doing just that.

Cold night air swept across his face while silence pressed between the two. His eyes accustomed to the darkness gradually recognized the woman’s face with the help of the lantern light hanging everywhere.

Round, gentle eyes. Those eyes, which seemed as if they’d ring like a clear bell upon meeting his, trembled helplessly while facing him. Meanwhile, seeing her slightly gaunt cheeks—perhaps from not eating well like him—both satisfaction and anger surged within him simultaneously.

Half of him felt satisfied, thinking she too couldn’t properly eat after leaving him. The other half burned with anger, wondering why she couldn’t even eat and live well after leaving like that.

Her long, soft brunette hair swayed ethereally under the lantern light. Why did such an ordinary light brown hair look so strangely special when it belonged to that woman?

Elroy’s gaze slowly moved to the woman’s slender body, especially her flat stomach. Perhaps noticing this, the woman flinched her shoulders and approached him very slowly. It was surprising enough that she didn’t run away, but her approaching speed was so slow that it made Elroy impatient.

Meanwhile, Annelie was also greatly surprised.

‘Why.’

Why would that person be here? She certainly hadn’t written her address on the envelope she sent to the Duke. Could the envelope she sent to Jerome have been delivered incorrectly?

The lantern lights of the village, which always seemed warm, somehow felt sharp as they touched the Duke’s bright blonde hair. Seeing the fierce emerald green eyes beneath only intensified her fear.

Nelie unconsciously put strength in her legs to turn and run away. The food basket she had obtained for her father kept slipping in her arms.

If that man knew her house, if he went there after she ran away, her sick father, who was waiting only for Nelie’s return, would be there.

She couldn’t run away. For her father’s sake…

Really, Nelie? Really for your father’s sake?

Nelie took a long breath at her own voice that seemed to mock her. The way her heart pounded uncontrollably at the sight of that beautiful person was truly vexing. It was ridiculous that she couldn’t completely hate a man who only said hurtful things, acted selfishly, and even wounded her pride.

‘Pull yourself together, Annelie.’

Nelie moved slowly, little by little, toward him. The distance between them was perhaps only a few dozen steps, but time seemed to flow eternally.

“……Duke.”

After moving for quite some time, Nelie stood before the Duke. Fortunately, her voice came out without trembling. She carefully placed the basket she was holding against the wall and looked up at him. Looking away would make it seem like only she was at fault. But hadn’t this person also wronged her?

“What brings you all the way here.”

The Duke, who had been silently looking down at Nelie for a while, smiled crookedly at her words.

“Have I ever mentioned it? You say that quite often, Miss Heich.”

“……”

“Why did you come here, how did you come here. It’s not like that’s all you can say.”

Nelie closed her mouth and rolled her eyes, not knowing how to respond. Soon, the Duke let out a “ha” like air deflating and smiled languidly. It was a smile both dizzyingly beautiful and sharp.

“Why do you think I came, Miss Heich?”

“That’s……”

“Don’t you know better?”

Realizing that the Duke’s gaze briefly lingered on her ring finger, Nelie hurriedly hid her hand. The tendons in the Duke’s jaw tightened as his brow twitched at this.

Thud.

Nelie furrowed her brows, not recognizing what had been carelessly thrown in front of her. The thick envelope was clearly once a luxury envelope decorated with gold, but it had long lost its original luster, now crumpled and worn.

“What is this……”

“First, you didn’t take what you should have.”

“What should I have taken?”

“You won the award and then ran away.”

Nelie’s face turned pale as she finally recognized what the envelope was. It was the prize money. The prize money she had dishonestly obtained.

The Duke looked at that face, half with satisfaction and half with displeasure, and twisted his lips.

“Since you decided not to receive it on stage, how I give it is up to me. Understand the method on your own.”

“……I can’t accept it.”

The Duke’s expression distorted at this unexpected response. After taking a moment to catch his breath and seemingly control his anger, the man spoke,

“Why?”

“Because it’s not my share.”

“You applied, and you won the award. Isn’t that yours then, Miss Heich?”

Her breath became stifled. She couldn’t understand why he was offering the prize money now. She could see the bills peeking out from inside the envelope. Thinking of her father’s medical expenses, she hated herself for not being able to take her eyes off that bundle of bills at once. She felt humiliated at every moment. Nelie struggled to open her mouth.

“Because it’s not mine……”

“No, Miss Heich.”

The Duke approached steadfastly and picked up the envelope he had thrown. Then, stepping closer, he grabbed Annelie who was trying to back away and thrust the envelope against her chest.

“Take it.”

“I can’t……”

“Don’t you need money?”

“Duke.”

“I heard on my way. Your father is very ill, isn’t he?”

At those words, she felt her heart being cut again. The compensation that had fallen to the father and daughter was woefully insufficient for his medical expenses, and Nelie needed money. With this prize money, she could probably cover another month of her father’s treatment.