“Haha! How delightful it is that Your Grace has come to join us!”

“Would you accept my drink as well!”

The excited voices of people welcoming Duke Tevant spilled out of the tavern. The air was filled with pride and thrill of meeting the renowned figure from the prestigious city of art.

Nelie leaned against the outer wall of the tavern, listening to those voices. Though she had arrived a while ago, she couldn’t muster the courage to enter. Perhaps fortunately, no one questioned or called out to her, who clearly looked like a village maiden.

“……”

Jerome’s letter trembled in her hands as she caught her breath. Upon hearing that sound, Nelie grabbed her own hand. The trembling subsided slowly only after she closed her eyes for a long time and opened them again.

Looking down at the letter, it contained neatly written text and newspaper clippings. Nelie stared at the letter again with disbelief.

[To my dear friend, Annelie.

You don’t need to apologize to me at all. I’m the one with many things to apologize for.

I’m sorry I couldn’t defend you more actively back then. I felt terrible for a long time, thinking you left because you were hurt by me. You don’t know how relieved I am that wasn’t the case.

And about the award, I have something to tell you, Nelie.

Even after you left like that, the art world of Tevant has been asking about you. There are people who want to commission work from you, or who were moved by your pieces and want to request illustrations.]

When she first opened the letter and read up to that point, Annelie had to tremble with shame once again. Guilt wrapped around her for receiving commissions through what she believed was an unfairly won award.

However, Jerome hastily added a postscript as if he knew she would react that way. The ink was smudged and splattered, showing how urgently he had written it.

[You might think it’s because you unfairly won the excellence award, but it’s exactly the opposite.

The judges who noticed you during the evaluation wanted to give you work, and that led to the excellence award.

Those who criticized you back then were just spreading rumors without even knowing what your actual relationship with the Duke was. They were just spouting nonsense.

The mistress rumor was completely ridiculous, but even if you did have some relationship with Duke Tevant, it wouldn’t have mattered. Duke Tevant wasn’t involved in the judging at all. Of course, he would have had enough power to manipulate the results, but……

He never interfered with these competitions. My professor at the Academy, who was also on the judging panel, repeatedly emphasized that the Duke wasn’t involved in the awards. Everything was done through anonymous voting, and even the judges didn’t know who others had chosen until the results were announced.

You didn’t win unfairly, Annelie. Rather, those who insulted you were punished for unfairly passing the preliminaries. That content is also in the newspaper article I’m sending now.]

That paragraph suddenly lifted the guilt that had been weighing on Annelie’s heart.

The Duke hadn’t given her an unfair award, at least. Even though he had given her things a mistress would receive, like dresses and jewels.

He hadn’t done anything to break her dreams or pride.

Jerome’s letter continued for a while with such comforting content, ending with a question asking if he could visit her. The enclosed newspapers also contained articles about Annelie’s award-winning work.

There was even a clipping of an article where a foreign critic, unrelated to Tevant, simultaneously offered appropriate criticism and praise for Annelie’s work. Nelie held her breath for a moment upon seeing it.

The memory that flowed simultaneously was Professor Mayhew’s sincere praise.

“Your work also has plenty of potential, Miss Heich. If you don’t trust me, trust the Duke’s eye.”

Then did she really have such ability? Had the Duke known this and supported her with art supplies and pigments?

Then why.

“Would it matter now if you receive more?”

“There’s no need to deny it. You’re definitely my mistress, aren’t you?”

Why had he hurt her with such words? Why had he mixed bodies and kissed her instead of making a normal sponsorship contract in the first place? Why had he used her as a smokescreen for Princess Lambert……

While thinking this and holding the trembling newspaper, she noticed something showing through the thin paper from the clipping on the back. Seeing a familiar photo, Nelie quickly turned it over.

“Ah.”

Coincidentally, it was an article about Princess Lambert. It couldn’t have been a more ironic coincidence.

Nelie forced herself to read the article. Though she couldn’t grasp the exact content since more than half had been cut off, it prominently featured news about her engagement to a prince from another kingdom.

‘Not the Duke…..’

But with a completely different man.

Her mind became jumbled upon seeing this. Though she knew not to believe all the gossip circulating in Tevant, it was astounding how the newspaper treated the rumors about the Duke as if they had never existed while covering her engagement article.

‘Then really, why.’

Had he used her for a princess who would marry another man? Could that proud Duke really have done that? If not, perhaps……

She had mountains of questions but couldn’t properly ask any of them.

A helpless feeling welled up. While Nelie stood silently holding the letter for a while, trying to sort out her thoughts, and Tina watched uncertainly, unable to know what to do with Nelie’s expression. Her father, who had come out to the yard late with his cane, calmly spoke to her,

“You seem troubled, Annelie.”

“…Father, I—”

“Is it about him?”

There was no need to specify who “him” was. While she flinched, her father, who seemed deep in thought, slowly opened his mouth.

“Though I don’t know what history you have with him, Nelie,”

Father looked at her warmly with his deep blue eyes that he had passed down to her. Those comforting words he always whispered to her slowly flowed from him.

“If there’s nowhere left to fall or retreat from here. In other words… if nothing could get worse or hit rock bottom, even if you do something more.”

“……”

“I won’t say things will only get better, but why not try facing it honestly?”

“…We’ve already said everything there is to say.”

“Do you really think so?”

Though it was comfort she had heard many times before, those words created ripples in Nelie’s heart.

True to his words, their relationship had already become a mess. A relationship that couldn’t get any more broken or worse.

…A relationship that was nothing.

Then perhaps it would be okay to really face it. If she could just have an open conversation. If she could just pour everything out, wouldn’t it at least make her feel better?

So Annelie finally pursued the Duke’s whereabouts while holding the letter. She wanted to ask him clearly. Whether he really hadn’t been involved in the judging. Then why he had spoken to her that way. Hadn’t she misunderstood because of it? Why hadn’t he denied the matter with Princess Lambert?

However, the tavern she arrived at after asking around was hardly an atmosphere for having a serious conversation. At this rate, she would have to wait until this gathering ended to catch the Duke and ask him.

“Haah.”

Her heart kept pounding. Nelie slipped into the shadows under the tavern’s outer wall, hiding in the darkness. She was approaching the window stealthily to gauge where the Duke might be and how long until he might come out, when someone suddenly entered the tavern entrance, heavily drunk and in a foul mood.

“What? Came to watch?”

There seemed to be signs of something unpleasant about to happen. A bad feeling rose strongly.

And it proved correct.

When words about a mistress came up, she nearly bolted from her spot. The reason she didn’t was half because she now knew she was innocent thanks to Jerome’s letter, and half because she felt if she ran away now, she would never have the courage to try talking to the Duke again.

However, even knowing her innocence, her face still reddened at the blatant way they discussed her. The one consolation was that the Duke didn’t just listen silently.

The man who only chose hurtful words when speaking with her also spoke piercing words that stabbed others’ hearts. That somehow felt comforting.

Because it wasn’t just her he spoke to with such venom in his words. And she felt somewhat grateful that the Duke was cornering her opponent on her behalf. Even if it wasn’t specifically for her sake, but for his own.

Bang!

“Eek!”

Finally, there was a sound right near the window she was leaning against. The Duke must have cornered his opponent in this direction. Nelie also flinched at the sound.

‘…Should I just leave?’

The Duke’s mood seemed terribly bad for certain. It seemed pointless to try having a conversation with him at a time like this.

‘After I finally gathered my courage to come.’

She couldn’t help but sigh that things had gone wrong because of unexpected troublemakers. The letter she held against her chest crumpled in its folded state.

That’s when a clear voice pierced her ears.

“She is not a mistress.”

Nelie’s brow furrowed slightly as she realized he was talking about her. Of course she wasn’t a mistress. They were nothing to each other now. There was nothing left between them anymore. Hearing those words from the Duke again inevitably stung her heart.