Time passed sluggishly.

Catherine hazily awoke to careful hands embracing her body. She had apparently fallen asleep while briefly resting against the bedpost, too exhausted to resist.

Her entire body felt heavy and languid. Though she sensed someone moving before her, she remained limp, lacking even the strength to lift her eyelids.

Her body swayed as thick fabric touched her cheek. The scent of damp earth mingled with rain filled her nostrils. And it was warm.

The touch of hands and the secure embrace felt so peaceful that Catherine exhaled a long breath while resting her head against the chest, her fingertips twitching slightly.

She felt her skirt hem swaying as it brushed against her toes, her feet moving in rhythm. The light filtering through her eyelids alternately dimmed and brightened. The light shining through her closed eyes was reddish-black.

With each step, she heard the sound of clothing rustling. Warm breath cascaded over her head, brushing against stray strands of her hair.

And then the gentle patter of falling rain…

Catherine slowly opened her eyes. It seemed she had been asleep for quite some time. Her vision was blurry, everything within sight appearing smudged. The light hurt her eyes.

The reddish-black light shining directly at her made it impossible to keep them open, so she turned her head toward the chest of whoever was holding her to avoid the brightness.

At that moment, the footsteps halted and the red light filtering through her eyelids was blocked. Catherine slowly blinked her eyes and tilted her head upward. Within the reddish-black surroundings, brilliantly shining blue eyes came into view.

Familiar eyes. Saul… Catherine closed her eyes in relief. Leaning against that warm chest, she exhaled deeply and whispered without thinking.

“…Thank you.”

There was no response. Only slow footsteps continued. Catherine felt warm fingers settling heavily on her eyelids. The light that had been alternately dimming and brightening was completely covered by darkness.

For some time afterward, she thought she felt her skirt hem swaying as it brushed against her toes…

It seemed like a very deep, warm dream.

But when she awoke again, Catherine realized it hadn’t been a dream. The realization struck her the moment she regained consciousness. She sat up with a start. Even in the pitch-black darkness, Catherine could recognize where she was—his bedroom. Someone had carried her there while she slept.

Catherine felt around for the bell pull and tugged it. Soon, there was movement outside.

“My lady, may I come in?”

After Catherine’s response, a girl entered the room. She greeted Catherine respectfully, then immediately began moving around the room, lighting the lamps.

While watching the girl’s busy movements from behind, Catherine asked, “What time is it now?”

“It’s almost midnight, my lady.”

Though the darkness visible through the curtains had made Catherine think it was late night, it seemed less time had passed than she’d thought. While pouring water from a small pitcher on the bedside table, Catherine continued, “Has the Earl awakened? Has anything happened?”

“There’s been no news of him waking yet.”

Ready for this question, the girl quickly turned away from the lamp.

“The Earl,” she said, scurrying over like a squirrel to wrap a thick shawl around Catherine’s shoulders, and began chattering.

“Did he really come back to life?”

“Didn’t you see it yourself?”

“I did. But I still can’t believe it…”

Her voice trailed off while recalling the morning’s events, and Catherine merely shook her head lightly. In truth, Catherine found it equally unbelievable. Anyone who had been there would have felt the same.

“Oh, and while you were sleeping, the gamekeeper came.”

Catherine’s hand froze as she was lifting her cup to drink. When Catherine raised her eyes to look at the girl, she lowered her body toward Catherine, poised to reveal a secret, and whispered, “You know… he confirmed that gentleman is indeed the Earl’s brother.”

Catherine nodded, saying, “I see.” In fact, she had already half-suspected it, since Saul had seemed to recognize David immediately when the commotion occurred at the cemetery.

“It was also the young master who brought you here earlier.”

This statement caught Catherine by surprise. “Him?”

“Yes.”

The girl nodded. Only then did Catherine recall the blue eyes she had glimpsed and covered her cheeks with her hands in embarrassment.

A sound like a groan escaped between her lips. She couldn’t understand why she had made such a mistake. Besides, Saul wasn’t healthy enough to carry Catherine, so once she realized it wasn’t a dream, she should have known it must have been David who carried her…

Clearly, her thoughts hadn’t extended that far because until now, Saul had been the only blue-eyed man allowed to touch Catherine’s body. Both Saul’s newly red eyes and David’s blue-eyed presence still felt strange to her.

“But, my lady…”

After taking a sip of lukewarm water to calm her flustered feelings, Catherine looked at the girl again. Seeing the girl’s very serious expression, Catherine returned an equally grave look.

“What is it?” Catherine asked, sensing something unusual was coming, but the girl seemed hesitant to speak immediately.

In the room where only Catherine and the girl were present, the girl unnecessarily glanced back at the closed door and moved her lips for quite some time. When Catherine took another sip of water and looked at her again, the girl finally spoke in a very small voice.

“Um… my lady.”

After looking around anxiously for another moment, she asked, “Have you noticed anything strange about the young master…?”

“Strange? What do you mean?”

Puzzled by the sudden question, Catherine tilted her head curiously.

In truth, Catherine found many strange things about David. Though some questions had been answered… others remained.

For instance, he seemed to have known Saul would revive, and despite receiving Saul’s letter, he had returned to Cavendish. But the girl appeared to be asking about something else.

“Well, the young master…”

As Catherine set down her water glass and carefully examined the girl’s face, she belatedly noticed that the girl’s face had turned somewhat red. The realization that followed came quickly. Before Catherine could respond, the girl spoke first.

“I was just wondering… doesn’t it seem like he might have feelings for you?”

“Huh.” Catherine couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

“What a strange thing to say.”

As Catherine responded, she recalled her conversation with David the previous night—that cold gaze of his reflected in the dark window. She unconsciously shook her head. Surely no one would look at someone they had feelings for with such eyes.

“But still…”

“Enough. It would be better to stop making pointless conjectures.”

The girl’s lips moved, seemingly wanting to argue against Catherine’s denial, but when Catherine firmly shook her head once more, she quickly closed her mouth.

However, unlike her closed lips, her drooping shoulders and somewhat lingering attitude stood out. Catherine ignored this and asked, “So, who is with the Earl now?”

“The young master is with him.”

Her response lacked energy. The girl hung her head like someone who had been scolded and fidgeted with her fingertips while occasionally glancing at Catherine.

She clearly regretted not being able to say everything she wanted to. Catherine found the girl’s behavior both cute and ridiculous, and couldn’t help but smile.

“And what if he does have feelings? That’s enough now—go prepare for me to visit the Earl.”

They were, after all, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. It wasn’t unheard of for a brother to marry his deceased brother’s widow after inheriting the family title… but that typically happened only when political issues were involved, and even then, it was frowned upon. Besides, now that Saul had revived, such talk was not only unnecessary but uncomfortable.

“Even so…” The girl seemed to understand this as well, and though she acknowledged it, her response still dripped with disappointment. Catherine shook her head as she watched the girl leave the bedroom to fetch clothing.

She couldn’t understand what there was to be so disappointed about.

* * *

The manor was extremely noisy.

Already twice, Catherine had called and cautioned several servants wandering the third-floor corridor. Thinking the commotion was about their master’s return from death, she had lightly reprimanded them and sent them away.

However, upon entering the corridor leading to the landing, she discovered another group of servants peering down the stairs and frowned, sensing something unusual.

Their whispering and bickering while staring up the stairs didn’t appear to reflect concern for their revived master at all. They were so engrossed in their argument that they didn’t notice Catherine approaching the landing until it was too late, at which point they hurriedly stopped what they were doing.

“What are you doing there?”