“Thank you once again for making the trip. If you need somewhere to stay while you are in Korenca, you are welcome to lodge at the mansion, so please rest and take your time before heading back. Well then.”

Eleanor had said everything she needed to say and moved to rise from her seat.

“W, wait!”

Of the two, the first to react after a long moment of not quite grasping Eleanor’s words was Baroness Gotren.

“What do you mean by this! A sweetheart, you say! What sweetheart could someone like you possibly have! Mm!”

Baroness Gotren had been fuming, and after letting slip words she would never ordinarily say, she clapped her hand over her mouth in flustered alarm.

“Th, that was a m, mistake, dear.”

Eleanor swallowed a bitter smile as she watched the Baroness laugh awkwardly and make excuses to her, while Eleanor looked back at her with a blank face.

Perhaps she was displeased that Eleanor had spoken first, in a way that strayed from her plans.

It was hardly surprising that Baroness Gotren’s face had gone red.

Before Eleanor Sivert ever came face to face with Marcus Damel, she had been a timid young woman who had not so much as properly participated in social life, let alone had any experience in romance.

So the Baroness had no doubt assumed that Eleanor would simply follow the wishes of a distant relative.

Eleanor had barely shown her face even in the central social circles of Korenca, and she had been so lacking in social graces that she might well have skipped the debut she had barely managed a few years prior, had her late mother, the previous Marchioness, not pleaded with her.

And yet the reason Eleanor’s reputation as a virtuous and beautiful young woman had spread so widely through the central social circles was that it had all started with someone who had spotted her on one of her rare visits to the great temple to offer prayers.

‘That young lady with the pink hair is none other than the daughter of the Sivert Marquisate, is she not? I only saw her from a distance, but she was truly lovely and graceful!’

‘I hear that instead of attending the seasonal parties, Lady Sivert looks after children in need or helps neighbors who require a hand. What a kind heart she must have.’

‘The young lady of the Sivert family is not extravagant like the noble daughters causing trouble these days. She even wears the same dresses more than once, and when His Lordship the Marquis called in a tailor to have new dresses made for her, she sent him away more than once.’

‘I heard that Lady Sivert has memorized the names of every tenant living on the marquisate’s lands. She must be preparing to live as a future Marchioness!’

‘Lady Sivert is……’

The saint of Korenca’s social circles. A woman who regarded men with indifference, loved her neighbors, had a kind heart, and was the picture of propriety.

She had simply disliked going outside, and because she was not particularly sociable and had trouble making female friends her own age, she had not attended parties.

Yet at some point, the nickname and rumors that had attached themselves to Eleanor became a burden, and the words of praise that followed her after her parents’ deaths in that unfortunate accident, now that she had become the perfect bride, grew uncomfortable to hear.

‘What sweetheart could someone like you possibly have!’

Baroness Gotren, who only remembered the Eleanor Sivert of the past, naive to the point of ignorance, had believed she could keep Eleanor in the palm of her hand and manage her as she pleased.

“E, Eleanor. No matter how much you dislike the idea of marriage, what a way to behave in front of a guest.”

Baroness Gotren had finally managed to calm herself down, and now tried to soothe Eleanor with an awkward smile.

Eleanor said nothing and only looked back at her in silence. Baroness Gotren let out a long sigh and rose from her seat before Eleanor could.

“Ah, you said you were unwell, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Well, of course. This aunt of mine is greatly at fault for pressing you when you had not yet recovered your health. I should not have pushed a girl who is not even fully well yet, ho ho.”

“……”

“Marc, let us be on our way for today. Ellie needs a little more rest. It would be better to set another date once Ellie has recovered.”

Baroness Gotren glanced at Marcus as he rose to follow her, then turned back to Eleanor with a smile.

“I, I will come again tomorrow. You had better be well by then. Understood?”

Perhaps she feared that if she lingered even a moment longer, Eleanor would refuse again on the matter of marriage.

Baroness Gotren left the drawing room before Eleanor could even respond. Eleanor watched her disappear in what looked very much like a retreat, and let out a hollow laugh. Then she sensed a presence beside her and turned her head.

The blond-haired man who should have left with Baroness Gotren was looking down at her.

“El.”

Marcus Damel held Eleanor’s gaze as she stiffened, and let a deep smile reach his eyes.

“I am not sure what you have in mind, but there is such a thing as playing too hard to get. Pushing someone away like this tends to have the opposite effect.”

Marcus Damel leaned in and whispered low to Eleanor, whose face had gone rigid at his words.

“I will see you again tomorrow, then, my love.”

* * *

“Urgh!”

“Oh, oh Miss, are you all right?”

Once the nausea started, it would not stop.

Anna, watching from beside her, was the one whose face had gone pale.

“Urgh, ugh!”

Nothing but stomach acid came up. Every last bit of strength had left her body. Eleanor drew ragged breaths and gritted her teeth. The reason she kept retching had come back to her.

‘I will see you again tomorrow, then, my love.’

‘Vile creature.’

She had not been able to bear it the moment she heard that nauseating whisper.

Her former self would have lost all composure at that sweet, tender voice.

But now that she knew every word and action of Marcus’s was a performance staged to take hold of the Sivert family, those words did not sound gentle in the least.

“This will not do. I will call for a physician right now……”

“I am fine.”

“Miss!”

“I really am.”

She had done well to hold herself together while facing those people whose very faces made her stomach turn. Eleanor finally steadied herself, smiled at the anxious Anna, and made up her mind.

‘I need to remove those people from my life as soon as possible.’

Eleanor took a deep breath and spoke to Anna.

“Anna. I have a favor to ask.”

* * *

Bang bang bang bang!

The sun had set.

Bang bang bang bang!

Deep in the night, with the whole world steeped in darkness.

Eleanor, wrapped in a purple robe, knocked on the door of a house.

Bang bang……

Click.

How long had she been knocking?

The door that had refused to open finally did.

“Who on earth is knocking at this……”

The moment Eleanor spotted the black-haired man who appeared through the firmly shut door, she lowered the hood of her robe and smiled.

At the same moment, the eyes of the man holding the door handle went wide.

“Miss?”

Unlike the western district, where the mansions of the central nobility of the Hyder Empire were clustered together, the residential quarter of the commoners only came into view after traveling quite far south from the heart of the imperial palace.

The security here was poor enough at night that even grown men thought twice before going out after dark.

Robberies were frequent the farther one went from the imperial palace, and homes near the outer walls at the very edge of the city were cheap as a result. Cayel’s home was in the lowest part of even that area.

In short, it was a run-down and worn district that the central nobility of Korenca would not easily venture into. For a noble young lady to appear there without even an escort was enough to leave Cayel considerably taken aback.

“May I come in?”

Eleanor caught his hesitation.

Cayel came back to his senses and narrowed his eyes.

“It is late at night.”

Eleanor had been moving to step inside without a care, but stopped short. Cayel had stepped into her path and was looking down at her with a composed expression.

He showed no intention of asking how Eleanor had known where he lived, or what reason had brought her all the way here.

Instead, he turned her away indirectly, then let out a sigh at the dark landscape visible over Eleanor’s shoulder.

“I will escort you back home.”

Cayel did not wait for Eleanor’s answer.

He spoke in a low voice and turned to go. As Eleanor watched his retreating figure, the events of a few nights ago suddenly flashed before her eyes.

‘It seems I have disturbed you, Miss. My apologies.’

Eleanor needed an ally.

To prevent a marriage to Marcus Damel, which might well happen again in this life.

But she did not have a wide circle, and the only man she knew was Marcus. Naturally, finding someone willing to play along in a false performance with her was no easy matter.

On top of that, she had already suffered a tremendous betrayal at Marcus’s hands before her death, and had lost her ability to trust people.

Eleanor had been sighing without end, turning the problem over and over in her mind, when she crossed paths with Cayel late that night…… Could that truly have been a coincidence?

‘That one you can trust.’

No.

It was not a coincidence. Not at all.

The moment Eleanor saw Cayel looking quietly down at her, that was what she thought. Perhaps her father, watching from above, had sent this very person to save her.