Winter was unable to speak for a long moment.

Perhaps it was because she could feel how sincere he was being that she was at a loss for what to say.

They were sitting facing each other, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

Instead, she lowered her gaze.

Her fingers brushed the back of her neck awkwardly in an unconscious attempt to hide her embarrassment.

But even that felt clumsy.

Watching her, Gabriel slowly shook his head, as though to reassure her that she didn’t need to answer immediately.

“You don’t have to give me an answer right now. I just wanted you to know how I feel.”

“…Lord Gabriel.”

“Did I make things too serious?”

A smile appeared on his face.

Despite the tension, he somehow looked more at ease than before.

“I’m not asking for an answer tonight, nor am I expecting us to start anything right away.”

He paused briefly before continuing.

“If anything changes, that’s a conversation for another day.”

Winter, who had been staring down at the table, slowly lifted her head.

In the dark eyes that met hers, she saw nothing but sincerity.

There was no hidden intention.

No pressure.

Just exactly what he had said.

He had simply wanted to tell her the truth about how he felt.

***

“In recent years, demand for iron has increased dramatically with each passing year.”

The report from Mayer Company’s representative continued from the podium at the front of the spacious conference room.

Today’s meeting was the final executive session—and the first one in over a month attended personally by the company’s owner, the Duke of Mayer.

Rumors had spread because the Duke no longer spent as much time at the company as he once had.

Yet despite the gossip, the company continued to experience remarkable growth.

“Railway expansion projects are already increasing demand, and now they’re being compounded by the Royal Palace’s naval shipyard modernization initiative. Our existing supply network alone can no longer keep up with the volume of orders.”

The world was changing at an astonishing rate.

New railway lines were being built through city after city.

Ports were expanding, too.

The rapidly advancing industries of the time, from shipbuilding to the construction of massive bridges, could not function without a strong iron framework.

The market demanded opportunity.

These opportunities were flooding towards Mayer Company, one of the kingdom’s leading steel enterprises.

“Therefore, Santero is the ideal location for the second steel mill, given the importance of maritime transport. It is directly connected to the southern mines by rail and has a steady influx of labor.”

Several executives studying the charts and logistical projections displayed across the conference room walls nodded in agreement with the chief engineer’s assessment.

“We’ve reached the same conclusion.”

“The new production facility needs to be located somewhere with easy access to maritime transport. Based on our analysis, the Port of Santero is the strongest candidate. The terrain, workforce availability and shipping routes are all highly favorable.”

Despite the succession of reports and explanations, Eden merely glanced at the map spread out on the table.

He showed little reaction.

To him, the proposed steel mill was merely a series of figures, reports and engineering plans.

If the management team had concluded that it was the most rational decision after careful consideration, then there was no reason not to proceed.

As he reviewed the stack of documents before him, his eyes eventually returned to the title page.

[Santero – Final Proposal for the Second Steel Mill]

The site was located at the edge of the inland region, bordering the Eastern Sea.

Eden had never been there himself.

There had been a time when he had planned to visit.

This was around the time he first suggested going on a trip with Winter, after finding out that she had never seen the ocean before.

She hesitated before answering.

In the end, though, she smiled and gently rested her head against his shoulder.

“I’d like that. By next summer, there’ll be plenty of time. I can adjust my work at the studio. My teacher will understand too, since it would be my first vacation.”

Winter smiled as brightly as the midday sun.

She hadn’t asked where they were going.

She hadn’t asked when they were leaving.

She hadn’t asked for a single detail.

She simply nodded, trusting him completely.

After making that promise to her, Santero had become one of the possible destinations he had set aside.

He thought it would be the perfect place for her to paint.

He wanted to share the little joys she found in even the smallest moments with her.

Back then, he truly believed they would have that future together.

And yet, before he could even tell her where they would go, he was the one who destroyed that promise.

Gripping the documents in his hand, Eden slowly closed his eyes before opening them again.

Even that small movement made his eyelids feel unbearably heavy.

“Would it really be alright? If I came with you?”

“Why would you ask that? Of course I meant for us to go together.”

At the time, he answered her without hesitating for a moment.

He never imagined that this memory would one day tighten around his throat like a noose.

Eden’s scattered thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

A low cough echoed through the conference room.

As though snapping back to reality, he straightened the document folder in front of him and picked up his pen.

His signature flowed neatly across the final page.

His handwriting was as elegant and disciplined as ever, but the conviction that had once accompanied it was gone.

“Proceed.”

After receiving his brief approval, the staff bowed and collected the documents.

They, too, had noticed that the duke seemed different somehow.

However, none of them were particularly concerned.

The Mayer Company continued to flourish.

The duke no longer appeared as frequently as he once had, but he always showed up when it mattered.

The company had entered a period of stability, and his signature still carried the authority of a final decision.

As Parker picked up the pen that Eden had put down, he couldn’t help but notice the difference.

In the past, the duke would have buried the staff beneath layers of meticulous questions.

Now, however, he simply signed whatever required his approval.

***

News that Mayer Company planned to build a new steel mill spread rapidly throughout Vartz.

The moment Count Lindal heard the rumors, he summoned his wife and daughter as soon as he returned home.

“My dear, this is no time to sit around doing nothing. The Duke of Mayer is building a new steel mill. Just imagine how reassuring it would be to have such a man as family.”

“Dear…”

“I told you long ago to find a way to arrange another meeting between Violet and the Duke. Whatever happened to that?”

The Count repeatedly pressed his wife, his expression full of frustration.

To him, both his wife and daughter seemed unbearably passive.

Countess Lindal replied with the look of someone who had run out of patience.

“That match has fallen through before. What do you expect Violet and me to do now? There isn’t even a mistress of the Mayers’ household for me to approach. I can’t just march up to the duke myself.”

Instead, she voiced her own frustrations.

And she wasn’t wrong.

If there had been a Dowager Duchess or another senior lady of the household, she could have arranged an introduction through her.

But House Mayer had no such figure.

Opening her fan fully, the Countess turned towards her daughter as though seeking agreement.

“Violet, don’t you agree?”

“Yes, Mother is right. Father, the Duke of Mayer and I simply aren’t meant to be.”

Violet, who had been sitting quietly until now, shook her head.

Even she thought the idea was unreasonable.

Watching his daughter refuse to be more calculating, Count Lindal clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Honestly, why are you being so frustrating too? I don’t understand why you’re talking about fate and compatibility when this is about what’s best for the family.”

“Father, I think another marriage prospect might—”

“The reason I’m acting this way is because none of them meet my standards. Tell me then. Is there anyone who can compare to a ducal house?”

Seeing that neither his wife nor his daughter would simply agree with him, Count Lindal lost his temper.

Startled by her father’s raised voice, Violet fell silent.

There was a name on the tip of her tongue, but she lacked the courage to say it aloud.

In truth, she had been seriously seeing someone for the past two months.

Cedric Lav.

If she were to marry anyone, she wanted it to be Cedric, the son of the Count of Lav.

However, Cedric had been divorced once before and therefore had little chance of inheriting the title.

In short, he was far from being the ideal son-in-law that her parents had envisioned.

Violet’s complexion darkened as she nervously bit her lip.

“A person needs to see the bigger picture. Matters like this are exactly why the head of the household should take the initiative.”

“My dear, the Duke of Mayer was already seeing someone when the marriage discussions were taking place. That alone makes me uncomfortable with the idea.”

The Count snorted in exasperation.

“Good heavens, woman. If you start nitpicking every little flaw, are you planning to find a son-in-law in a monastery? When choosing a husband, you pick the man with a hundred strengths, even if he has one flaw!”

His voice rose even higher as he scolded his wife.

But Violet could barely hear any of it.

She already knew that Cedric was friends with Eden Mayer.

Still, that wasn’t much of a concern.

She had only met the Duke of Mayer twice in her life.

Both occasions had been at official gatherings.

More importantly, during those two meetings, Eden had never shown the slightest interest in her.

Cedric also seemed unperturbed by the fact that marriage negotiations had once taken place between the Mayers and the Lindals.

“Honestly, I think it would be fine to tell Eden about us first. But, knowing him, I don’t think he’d care enough to gossip about something like that. The problem is that we haven’t seen much of him lately. Anyway, don’t worry about that, Violet. The marriage negotiations were over by the time you and I met.”

Violet let out a long sigh as she remembered Cedric’s gentle reassurance.

She had already been planning to tell her parents everything soon.

This was why she resented her father’s sudden attempt to revive a marriage proposal from long ago.

The words ‘There’s someone I’m seeing’ rose to her lips.

But she swallowed them back down.

If she said them now, she was certain her father would forbid her from leaving the house that day.