“I’m planning to divorce Astaire.”

For the first time, the Grand Duchess turned to look at Daphne.

That small action alone was enough to read the Grand Duchess’s agitation.

Ignoring the piercing gaze trying to gauge her true intentions, Daphne spoke calmly.

“But Astaire doesn’t seem to want a divorce. I don’t know why either.”

Clop, clop, clop.

The dull sound of hoofbeats in the distance was rapidly approaching. Soon, the Grand Duchess’s carriage, drawn by four black horses, came into view.

The heavy iron gate slowly swung wide open.

As the prison-like ducal estate opened, a new world was approaching from beyond.

The scenery outside the iron gate looked shabby and desolate compared to the splendid garden of the ducal estate. There were no brilliantly blooming flowers, no sculptures meticulously carved by artisans.

That made it even better.

Daphne wanted to quickly fill that empty world with her own colors. Her heart pounded.

“As the Grand Duchess said, I’m far inferior to him, shabby, and pathetic.”

“……”

“So I’m not capable enough to escape from Astaire, who’s far more remarkable than me.”

“How unexpected. This isn’t like the you I know.”

The Grand Duchess’s words sounded almost like praise.

The Daphne the Grand Duchess knew would never bow her head and extend her hand to someone who disliked her.

Until now, Daphne had never tried to win favor with those who despised her. If anything, she would make such people hate her even more.

“Still, I’m glad you’ve come to your senses now, even if it’s late.”

It was a strange feeling.

‘Child, are you in your right mind?’

Her blood father said she was crazy, while the Grand Duchess who had despised her was praising her judgment.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The Grand Duchess was quick-witted and had good insight. She immediately got to the point, just as Daphne wanted.

Why Daphne wanted to divorce Astaire wasn’t her concern. The only thing that mattered was that she wanted to divorce her son.

Daphne hid the corners of her mouth from rising and said.

“I’d like you to lend me money.”

“Money?”

The Grand Duchess narrowed her eyes and asked back.

“My father, Viscount Brandley, owes Astaire a great debt. That’s become an obstacle to the divorce.”

“How much?”

When Daphne told her the amount, the Grand Duchess’s eyebrows rose sharply.

“……Unexpected. I didn’t think that child would go that far.”

In what way was it unexpected? Astaire was just a merchant to his bones.

“So, you want to divorce Astaire but you need to repay him the money. You’re asking me to lend you that much.”

Daphne affirmed with silence. Then the Grand Duchess let out a small laugh.

She didn’t even hide her probing look as she scanned Daphne from head to toe and muttered.

“The old saying is never wrong. Debtors are more shameless.”

Daphne couldn’t think of anything to deny, so she laughed instead.

That shamelessness was one of the few useful things she had learned from her father. The Grand Duchess saw correctly.

“Still, I’m not the only one who wants this divorce to happen.”

This time the Grand Duchess was at a loss for words.

Of course, even without the Grand Duchess, there were many people who wanted Duke and Duchess Seyfried to divorce. The only person who wanted this marriage to continue was surely Astaire alone.

Daphne had sensed victory from the start.

That the Grand Duchess would ultimately grant her request.

“Ha!”

The Grand Duchess wasn’t unaware of this fact either. She laughed in disbelief at Daphne’s composure, not blinking an eye.

“……I’ll send you a letter soon, child.”

This time the Grand Duchess’s voice even sounded kind, unlike before. It was surprising.

Before long, the coachman had stepped out of the carriage and was waiting for Grand Duchess Seyfried.

“I hope you have a safe journey home.”

“I will.”

Just before boarding the carriage, the Grand Duchess turned around and said.

“Take care. Until we meet again.”

It was the first and last time.

That Grand Duchess Seyfried didn’t ignore Daphne’s farewell greeting.

* * *

The Grand Duchess’s carriage heading toward the horizon gradually melted into the darkness. When the sound of hoofbeats had completely subsided, Daphne finally turned around.

She looked up with indifferent eyes. She scanned the numerous windows in the massive ducal estate.

The very moment she stared clearly at a certain window with a bright light on.

Like a lie, the light in the window went out.

Just as Daphne was watching the other person, the other person was now watching her too.

The conversation with the Grand Duchess wouldn’t have reached that far anyway.

Daphne turned back and headed toward the room where the light had just been on.

Her feet moved toward it like she was possessed without realizing it.

Only when she reached the door did Daphne recall that this room was Astaire’s personal space.

In fact, this entire floor was a place only Duke Seyfried could enter and exit. Before or after marriage, she had never set foot here, not even as his wife.

She should have turned back.

But her hand was faster than her feet.

Creak.

The door squeaked in a way unbefitting the ducal estate. As soon as she entered, a cold wind blew in.

The window was wide open.

As the purple curtains fluttered, Daphne’s hair danced along with them.

The ceiling light was off, but thanks to the moonlight streaming in, it wasn’t too difficult to make out the interior.

It looked more like an old storage room than a bedroom. All sorts of belongings in cardboard boxes and dust bunnies rolling around between them.

The easel and canvas placed proudly in the middle of the room stood out from the surrounding atmosphere, even seeming out of place.

She’d heard that Astaire used to paint long ago. Was this also a trace from that time?

Daphne approached the canvas.

“……Huh?”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the canvas.

At first, she thought it was a blank canvas with nothing drawn on it. Up close, it wasn’t.

Thin gray lines. On the canvas, only the faint outline of the subject was drawn before coloring.

Daphne traced the rough canvas. White, dusty powder felt at her fingertips. From the texture alone, she could easily guess that a long time had passed.

The person in the canvas, this woman……

She was someone she knew well.

Daphne from the past, not the present.

Judging by the clothes and facial features, it seemed to be a drawing of herself as an Academy student. Under a tree, with a book on her lap, talking to someone beside her.

Naturally, the other person’s appearance didn’t appear in the canvas.

It felt strange to see her own face smiling brightly in a painting she hadn’t even known existed.

Had there been a time when she smiled like this?

Was she even someone who knew how to smile like this?

The strangest thing in this painting was herself, a girl who seemed as cheerful as spring forsythia.

According to this painting, Astaire was thoroughly in the position of a third party.

What had Astaire been thinking while sketching this?

Why had he secretly drawn her face and left it here unfinished?

Or had he left it here because he thought it was no longer useful?

It was a painting he didn’t particularly want to show to the world. She instinctively felt that seeing this wouldn’t be good for her.

Daphne stepped back one step, two steps from the canvas.

The person who had been looking down at her from this room through the window earlier was surely Astaire too. Naturally, her feet headed toward the window.

Sure enough, there were faint handprints on the dusty windowsill.

What had Astaire been thinking while watching her talking to the Grand Duchess from here?

She quietly placed her hand over his handprints.

Standing where he had stood and looking down through the window, she could see the fountain garden of the mansion and the view of the main gate at a glance.

Naturally, Daphne shifted her gaze to the spot where she had been standing just moments ago. To the place where no one was now.

Looking down like this, it felt close. It seemed like she could reach out and grab it.

It was quite different from the sense of distance that had felt so distant when she stood in front of the main gate looking up at this storage room.

It was far if you called it far, close if you called it close.

Just like the distance between her and him now.

She had been thinking about Astaire for a while in the place where Astaire had stayed.

“……Daphne?”

At the familiar voice, she whirled around. She met the green eyes that held the same cold air as always.

She belatedly blamed her useless curiosity. She clumsily made excuses for why she was intruding on his personal space.

“I’m sorry. I thought you might have been standing here earlier.”

Astaire slowly raised his eyebrows, but it seemed more like puzzlement than displeasure at having his space invaded without permission.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t here.”

A stiff face with a flat voice. He had returned to the face of Duke Astaire Seyfried that she knew well, wearing a mask that thoroughly and perfectly hid his emotions.

His composure without a moment’s hesitation left her speechless instead. No way. She couldn’t have seen an illusion of him beyond the main gate earlier.

But with Astaire acting like this, she had nothing to say.

It wasn’t the first time anyway. He had always been like this.

Whenever Daphne asked uncomfortable questions, Astaire would subtly change the subject, or if not that, he would shut his mouth completely.

Still, Daphne didn’t even have the right to confront him about it. They had never been equals from the start.

Daphne wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. She wanted to get away from him, but she couldn’t ignore the presence of the canvas occupying the middle of the room.

Astaire’s head also turned toward where her gaze landed.

She looked at the portrait and arbitrarily concluded the situation.

“You put it out to dispose of it, right?”

She spoke matter-of-factly. Astaire wasn’t the only one hiding his true feelings in this place.

Daphne, who had learned much from him, had also become terribly similar to Astaire.

“You should throw away what needs to be thrown away quickly.”

In truth, Daphne didn’t know what to say to him. The only side of him she knew was Astaire as Duke Seyfried.

Then who was the man she had fallen for?

Could the past feelings she had for him even be called love in the first place?

One thought led to another.

“……If nothing else, I know this isn’t behavior befitting the Duke I know.”

She moved her dry lips with difficulty.

In any case, it wasn’t like Astaire to hold onto someone who was leaving. That much was certain.

He wanted people who were more desperate than anyone. People who could devote their body and soul to get what they wanted. He needed people burning with such longing and desire.

That was why Astaire kept Daphne by his side even though he knew she liked him. Rather, that’s why he chose her, and he never stopped using those feelings.

The distance was so close that even the patterns engraved in his iris were visible.

Because they were so close, it was harder for Daphne to grasp his intentions. She couldn’t determine the other person’s emotions just by looking at their eyes.

She felt suffocated in a different way.

Please let me go now.