Chapter 10 (Part 2)

Amelia stared at her friend’s face for a long time, someone she hadn’t seen in a while.  

Noticing how her friend looked somewhat gaunt, she commented.  

“How is the Ducal household treating you? You’ve become half your size since I last saw you.”  

Charlotte, unaware that her friend’s words were close to genuine concern, laughed.  

Picking up the glass in front of her, Charlotte replied.  

“Isn’t the Marquisate the same? Why are you so thin yourself?”  

At this, Amelia pursed her lips.  

She downed her glass of wine in one go and sighed as she spoke.  

“I exercise, you know.”  

Charlotte, finding her friend’s audacity amusing, chuckled in disbelief.  

“Are you calling the swordsmanship practice of the empire’s greatest swordsman mere exercise?”  

“What else would it be, if not exercise?”  

Watching her friend drink so nonchalantly, Charlotte let out a light laugh.  

How had they ended up marrying men from opposing factions, making it difficult to meet openly despite still considering each other their closest friends?  

‘Though, it seems our husbands don’t think much of it.’  

Charlotte thought of her husband, who had happily sent her off to this meeting upon receiving the invitation, and smiled.  

She then looked at Amelia, who had invited her but was now silently sipping her wine without saying much. Charlotte finally asked.  

“So, what’s the matter?”  

“Hm? What do you mean?”  

At Amelia’s nonchalant response, Charlotte frowned slightly.  

Even as Charlotte’s expression twisted in disbelief, Amelia continued to feign ignorance, simply tilting her glass.  

Knowing this was her friend’s habit when she didn’t want to discuss something, Charlotte pressed further.  

“Do you know how much you startled my butler? He thought a war was breaking out.”  

“That butler of yours must be rather timid. Should I send him to our Marquisate for training? I’ll make sure he returns well-educated.”  

Seeing her friend continue to dodge the topic, Charlotte softly called out her name.  

“Amelia Sherman.”  

Hearing her maiden name, Amelia reluctantly set her glass down.  

She looked at Charlotte quietly before asking.  

“Has anything unusual happened at your house lately?”  

Though the question seemed vague and out of nowhere, Charlotte, who had been tense, not knowing what her friend would say, slid down the sofa in relief.  

Fluttering her long eyelashes, Charlotte asked back.  

“My house? What do you mean?”  

No matter how many times she asked, as if she didn’t understand, Amelia gave no direct answer.  

Feeling a strange unease, Charlotte straightened her posture. She stared intently at her friend, as if trying to see through her, before sighing and speaking.  

“I almost wish it were about political issues. That would have been easier to address…”  

Saying this, Charlotte downed the glass in front of her in one gulp before asking.  

“Did Leo and Gracie… made a mistake”  

At Charlotte’s unexpected question, Amelia’s eyes widened.  

Of course, she had intended to ask about Leonardo, but her thoughts had been in a different direction. Before Amelia could respond, Charlotte continued.  

“That boy may be quiet, blunt, and overly direct to the point of offending people, but he has a warm heart and takes care of others better than anyone. So, if he caused trouble and is pretending not to—”  

As Charlotte’s words veered further off course, Amelia’s face turned redder.  

Lowering her head, she stretched her hands forward and exclaimed.  

“No, no! Wait! That’s not what I meant!”  

Startled by Amelia’s reaction, Charlotte looked at her in confusion.  

“It’s not? Then what are you trying to say?”  

At Charlotte’s question, Amelia took a deep breath.  

Given her personality and profession as a swordsman, Amelia, who was far removed from the social world, and Charlotte, who had become more deeply involved in it as a housewife, naturally had different perspectives.  

“Why do you think… that… my child and… um, that is…”  

Watching Amelia struggle to speak with a flushed face, Charlotte smiled and finished the sentence for her.  

“Did you think they caused trouble together?”  

“Yes, that.”  

Even after having three children, her friend still blushed like a young girl. Charlotte found it endearing and replied.  

“Well, I heard rumors.”  

“Rumors?”  

“Yes, rumors. That Leonardo Fernandez and Grace Lowell meet separately every morning. They weren’t like that before, were they?”  

Charlotte’s casual tone, as if discussing gossip unrelated to herself, caused Amelia’s expression to harden.  

However, the phrase “every morning” brought something to Amelia’s mind.  

With a serious face, Amelia leaned forward. She cautiously asked as if she were about to inquire about something she shouldn’t.  

“Have you seen the young Lord Fernandez recently?”  

Despite her serious expression, Amelia’s light question prompted Charlotte to quietly search her memory.  

Her younger son was always busy, and even when he came home, he would only greet her briefly before retreating to his room.  

He was someone so busy that there wasn’t even time to sit face-to-face and have tea together. But he was also such an exceptional son that it seemed inevitable.  

However, after hearing Amelia’s words, she realized it was indeed strange.  

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t had the chance to sit down and face him. Even so… when he’s home, he always came to greet me in the morning.”  

“And he always kept in touch.” 

Charlotte added, to which Amelia sighed.  

Unlike Charlotte, who had a busy son, Amelia saw her daughter Grace every morning.  

But lately, there were moments when she faced someone so unfamiliar that she couldn’t tell if it was her daughter or not.  

‘Then, before long, she returns to the Grace I know.’  

But for that to happen, Becky’s crying had to erupt first.  

As if that moment marked the switch between two completely different people.  

Amelia, as if trying to erase her rising thoughts, spoke.  

“These days, my daughter feels unfamiliar to me.”  

Charlotte quietly stared at Amelia, who seemed to be speaking like an ordinary mother worrying about her adolescent daughter.  

Even though Amelia was aware of Charlotte’s gaze, she slowly added.  

“Every morning, her personal maid runs out crying, saying, ‘The Young Lady isn’t breathing.’”  

At the mention of her daughter not breathing, Charlotte involuntarily gasped.  

As a parent herself, she couldn’t imagine how her friend must have felt hearing such words every morning.  

Charlotte clasped her hands tightly, her heart sinking with worry.  

“When the family doctor rushes into her room… there are days when her heart really isn’t beating.”  

Amelia’s voice trembled slightly at the end, prompting Charlotte to call her name in concern.  

“…Amel.”  

“Then, there are days when she smiles as if nothing happened and asks, ‘Mother, what’s wrong?’”  

Charlotte couldn’t even respond as she looked at Amelia’s faintly smiling face, which seemed forced.  

Amelia spoke as if she were fine, but Charlotte, listening to her, felt a crushing pain in her chest.  

As Amelia continued, Charlotte’s face grew more distressed.  

“But… every time, I see it.”  

“…What?”  

“The golden mana clinging to my daughter.”  

At those words, Charlotte felt her heart drop.  

Her composure shattered in an instant as Amelia, with sharp eyes, asked.  

“Charlotte, have you heard anything?”  

***

The next day, Grace woke up thinking her back ached strangely.  

‘Ah, right. It’s because of my period.’  

Otherwise, the pain was so intense that she might have thought the events in her dream had become reality.  

Holding her unusually sore back, Grace pulled the bell cord.  

“Young Lady! Did you call?”  

“Yes, my back hurts a little. Could you bring me a warm water bag?”  

At Grace’s words, Becky’s face filled with worry. But she quickly nodded and brought what her mistress requested.  

Grace placed the warm water bag on her back and closed her eyes.  

‘It’s a shame it was just a dream.’  

Startled by her own thoughts, Grace slapped her cheeks with her hands.  

A dream was just a dream. No matter how passionate it got in the dream, it would vanish upon waking. Nothing would remain, truly nothing at all.  

Unlike the one time they had been together.  

‘Don’t think about it, Grace Lowell.’  

It was enough to have rolled around with Leonardo Fernandez in a dream. She had no intention of doing so in reality.  

That was the last shred of pride Grace had left. No matter how much she longed for him, she wouldn’t let it happen in reality.  

‘Never, not a chance.’  

Once her back pain subsided, Grace realized it was later than usual and hurried to get ready for work.  

As if by habit, she rushed to the 1st Knight Order, where she saw Leonardo.  

To be precise, she saw Leonardo Fernandez standing across from a beautiful woman, smiling brighter than ever as they talked.  

“…Lord Fernandez?”  

How should I feel, seeing the man who whispered sweet nothings to me in my dream last night smiling brightly with another woman?  

Grace asked herself the question and answered.  

‘Disgusting.’  

And when she saw his face, which had clearly been smiling just moments ago, stiffen the moment he saw her, she thought:

‘Who is that woman?’  

The moment Grace’s eyes met Leonardo’s, she instinctively smiled brightly.  

As if she were someone catching a cheating lover.  

And as she caught the faint jasmine scent wafting on the breeze, she realized.  

‘It’s her. That woman.’  

The woman who had left a strong floral scent on Leonardo.