Crunch, crunch.

The sound of walking on sand felt pleasant. Vivianne was strolling along the beach wearing the shoes Matilda had given her. Though not pretty, they were very comfortable on her feet. That’s why she quite liked them.

So this is what it feels like.

Walking on sand.

Though she wanted to try walking barefoot if possible, she still had bandages on.

Vivianne walked a bit and glanced back. Theodore was following while maintaining a certain distance.

After exchanging greetings, he had been like that the whole time. Compared to when they first met, he had definitely become less talkative.

Vivianne stopped walking for a moment and crouched down. Because she had found something very cute on the white sand. She quickly picked it up and ran to Theodore who was following behind.

“Um, Theodore.”

“Yes?”

“You said I could call you Theo, right?”

“Of course.”

Though she didn’t know what circumstances there were, even while saying it was fine, he couldn’t hide his awkwardness. Vivianne wanted to try loosening up this stiff atmosphere a bit.

“Here—”

She held out her small closed fist.

“…”

“Hurry.”

“What is this?”

“A gift. Your hand.”

When he uncertainly held out his palm, a seashell dropped onto it.

So that’s what it was. It was so trivial that a smile broke out without resistance.

“It’s to repay you for the herbal ointment from before.”

As if that was anything special.

It seems she had been keeping it in mind.

“I’m grateful. Thanks to it, my wrist has completely healed.”

Vivianne waved her wrist in front of him. A lace ribbon was cutely tied around her wrist.

Then she quickly seemed to find something else and walked over with small steps while beckoning him. He had no choice but to follow with wider strides.

“What’s this, Theo?”

She pointed at what seemed to be someone’s name scribbled in the sand.

“It looks like graffiti.”

“What kind of graffiti?”

“It seems like someone wrote their name.”

“Ah—”

Vivianne looked at it intently before saying shyly.

“Then how would you write my name?”

“Your name?”

A momentary intuition struck him.

Seeing that she didn’t know her own name written down, it seemed she couldn’t read or write.

“Just a moment.”

Theodore picked up a suitable branch from nearby and drew in the ground.

“Though it can vary depending on the spelling, probably.”

Letters were carved in rough handwriting on the sand.

VIVIANNE

Vivianne quickly took the branch and started copying exactly what she saw.

Crooked handwriting. Seeing how long it took her to copy it, it seemed certain that she couldn’t read.

“Then how do you write Kian?”

She calls him by name.

Seeing a woman call the master familiarly made him feel strange.

There was a time when he too used to call him by name. That time felt distantly far away now.

“The master’s full name is written like this.”

KIAN VON LARSON

Vivianne hesitated a bit looking at the letters. Perhaps he shouldn’t have written the full name. This time it seemed a bit difficult because it was longer.

But it seemed she really wanted to write it. Though it took quite a while, she struggled through copying it all the way to the end.

“It took a long time, right? I don’t know letters very well.”

It was an unpretentious confession. Among the employees working at Larson, there were none who couldn’t read.

However, among commoners, there were not few who couldn’t read. So, it wasn’t strange.

“That’s why when Matilda gave me a book to read… Actually, I couldn’t read any of it and only looked at the pictures.”

“…”

“If I get the chance someday… I’d like to learn to read and write.”

For some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off her face flushing pink.

She would probably be happy if she had the chance to learn how to read and write.

It would be awkward to talk to Kian directly about it. It would probably be better to talk through his mother.

“Ah right, you need to eat.”

Theodore quickly averted his gaze and spread out a mat on the sand. Then he took out sandwiches and drinks from the basket Matilda had packed.

Vivianne plopped down on the mat and started eating the sandwiches. Holding them firmly with both hands and taking bites that made her cheeks puff out, she looked just like a squirrel.

Won’t she choke eating like that? Even when trying to look away, he kept finding himself watching her munching away.

“Theo.”

Then he met those bright blue eyes. Though he quickly averted his gaze, he heard the pat-pat sound of her hitting the spot next to her with her palm.

“Aren’t your legs tired? You must be hungry too. Theo should sit and eat together.”

“I’m fine. I’m not very hungry.”

“But it’s too much for me to eat alone.”

Though he knew Matilda was generous.

The basket full of sandwiches she had packed was clearly too much for one woman to eat alone.

“You said before to tell you if I needed help.”

“I did.”

“Matilda prepared this for me and I don’t want to waste it. So hurry.”

“Then. After you eat as much as you want, I’ll eat what’s left.”

Having gone this far, even Vivianne seemed to have nothing more to say. She stopped urging him.

An awkward silence fell between them. Only the intermittent sound of waves crashing could be heard.

Though he wondered if he was being too harsh, it felt right. She had officially become the master’s woman. Maintaining certain boundaries with her was the most basic thing.

“I wonder if Kian.”

Vivianne hesitated for a moment while speaking.

“…cares for me?”

“Pardon?”

Theodore’s eyes widened slightly at the somewhat abrupt question.

“Matilda said that Kian sent Theo to me because he cares for me. That Theo is very strong.”

Her blue eyes curved prettily. Her deep blue pupils somehow resembled that sea. A sea that looks calm but has endless waves rolling.

Until just a few days ago, she had been drifting here and there. The last glimpse he had of her back at the training grounds had looked as precarious as a candle in the wind.

Finally she had a room, and people to care for and protect her, but for some reason her smile looked rather lonely.

Does he really care? In the mansion, rumors were already rampant about how the master had picked up a woman who had risen from his bed.

That after fooling around with her, now he was openly displaying her. How else would she get a room on the same floor, they said. Surely his intention was to visit frequently enough to wear down the threshold, they said. Even trying not to listen, the unsavory rumors kept reaching his ears.

However, Kian himself had immediately scheduled external appointments and left the mansion. Recalling the orders he had given when they went horseback riding together, Kian must not have been unaware of the circulating talk.

Was it because this side of the master felt unfamiliar? His mood kept sinking. Though how dare he try to fathom the master’s inner thoughts. No, even constantly trying to understand was probably presumptuous.

He had to maintain boundaries.

“I will do my best to protect you.”

Theodore quietly put the seashell he had been holding into his pocket.

* * *

A large new department store had opened in the busiest part of the capital. This place dealt only in expensive luxury goods, with high-ranking nobles as its main customers.

Inside the department store. Dante casually asked Kian, who was examining a catalog while sitting on a sofa.

“Are you sick or something?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Because Duke Larson keeps doing things he doesn’t usually do. You know how they say people die when they do things they don’t usually do.”

The reason Kian had brought along Dante Garcia, this noisy troublemaker of the count’s family, was purely because of the department store. Liber Department Store was run by Dante’s future father-in-law.

“Maybe I should just retire. Seems better to benefit from my fiancée than deal with the troublesome newspaper business.”

“Do as you like.”

“At least try to stop me for courtesy’s sake. Come on. How disappointing.”

“Why should I?”

Dante had been sticking to Kian since their military academy days. To be precise, Dante was the one who had stuck to him.

He had helped Kian loosen up just the right amount. Things like cigars. Poker. Whiskey. Horse racing. While teaching him everything one needed to know for social activities, he never recommended brothels or drugs.

Though he seemed noisy on the outside, he strangely never crossed certain lines. The Garcia count’s family ran a newspaper company and had become quite useful connections.

Of course, it was annoying to hear him boast about how he had made Kian into a proper person. Still, he wasn’t a bad connection to keep around lightly and for the long term.

When Kian selected several samples from the catalog, an employee automatically measured his foot size. He heard that a craftsman who supplied to the imperial family would make them, and they would be delivered once production was complete.

“The women’s catalog too.”

“Yes.”

When Kian gestured, the employee immediately brought over the catalog. Dante looked at him with an intrigued expression.

“A gift?”

“Maybe.”

“For your fiancée?”

Seeing there was no answer, it was suspicious.

“Who is it for? Hmm?”

“Aren’t there any with lower heels? Something comfortable to wear.”

Regardless of Dante’s prodding, Kian was completely focused on explaining his order requirements to the employee.

“Those are over here. It’s a design that many young ladies who aren’t yet used to shoes often wear.”

This crazy bastard has really gone properly crazy, Dante thought to himself.