15. Alone

“Mr. Federway, it’s been a while.”

“Yes, Mr. Benson. Have you been well?”

Today, perhaps wanting those sharp eyes to look less fierce, Levery was wearing a monocle. Unfortunately, despite such efforts, there was absolutely no gentle or benevolent impression to be found in him.

“Why are you here?”

“Well, you’re probably thinking I ran here because too many people are after my life?”

“Ah, so that was the reason.”

Levery looked at me with an incredulous face at my response.

“You really.”

Levery sighed and shook his head.

“Excuse me for a moment. I have business with that gentleman.”

Straightening his posture after holding his head with both hands, he walked toward the shop owner. Then he whispered something to the shop owner in a voice so small that I couldn’t hear it at all.

I had no idea what kind of conversation Levery might have secretly with the owner of a music store, but I wasn’t curious either.

Instead, I decided to take advantage of this good opportunity to escape from this place. It was a very good plan. If only I hadn’t heard what was said from behind.

“Didn’t you say Elaine was interested in music?”

I stopped walking. I did seem to have told Levery something like that, but I didn’t expect him to remember it.

Small excuses for debt defaults were like greetings between us.

‘Elaine even gave up music, Levery. Please give me a little more time. I’ll definitely pay the interest.’

That was just an excuse, but it seems it actually functioned as a greeting.

“W-well?”

I feigned ignorance.

“Were you in the middle of choosing an instrument for Elaine?”

“N-no? Elaine said she doesn’t want to do music anymore?”

It was a lie that would obviously be discovered soon. After all, thanks to my deal with the Duke, Elaine had recently started taking music lessons again. But without realizing it, I had defensively answered him as usual.

“If you want, I could increase your loan. Your credit has improved since before.”

“No, I’ll pass!”

“Look, Rosaline. You shouldn’t speak with that attitude like you usually do to me. This is about Elaine, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean by how I usually act?”

“This stubborn insistence is your specialty. But doesn’t Elaine have the right to choose opportunities? I’m trying to make a good proposal to your sister.”

How petty to bring up someone else’s sister.

“Ask Elaine. Among the regulars of this music shop, there’s a pianist named Gregory. I hear he’s an extremely talented person. As it happens, I have connections with him too. I could put in a word for your sister to be invited to his upcoming performance.”

“How……”

Before I could finish my words, a voice interrupted.

“That’s right. He is an extraordinary person who has been specially invited for solo recitals at various royal courts famous for music in other countries. He’s also a generous person who gives opportunities to outstanding newcomers to take the stage at the end of his show.”

The shop owner supported Levery. I became quite embarrassed. Judging from the offer he was extending and their explanations, it was clearly a tremendous opportunity that would be tempting.

But there was one thing that bothered me too much.

It was Levery standing there, narrowing his thin eyes and smiling coldly. I didn’t want to owe any more debts to him. There were already too many debt relationships between us.

“Well, I’ll ask her. But I don’t know if she will accept.”

But this ultimately seemed like a precious opportunity for Elaine. Although I was very displeased that the person recommending it was Levery, it was clearly going to help Elaine, so it became difficult to firmly refuse any longer.

“Alright.”

“It will truly be a wonderful opportunity. Since your sister is a talented young person, I sincerely hope it works out well.”

The old gentleman had a rapturous face, his eyes twinkling as if he had witnessed the second coming of a saint. Not wanting to flatter him, I awkwardly nodded and greeted him.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“I hope you’ll come see this violin with your sister later.”

“Ahaha, yes.”

Levery had a mysteriously meaningful expression. But that was beyond my concern. I quickly slipped out of the shop, leaving them behind, and began walking to where I originally needed to go.

The red sunset of late noon was coloring the sky, but fortunately, I saw the last remaining public carriage.

“To Riverton House, please.”

A protruding white-gloved hand snatched the ticket as if to tear it.

My mind was filled only with thoughts of returning quickly.

After that, I boarded the carriage and returned to my residence so frantically that I didn’t even know how I got back. Luckily, there weren’t many people wandering around the residence.

The fact that Annie and I had been absent seemed to be quietly buried.

Deep blue darkness had already settled on the darkening garden, and the stairs above were utterly silent.

Except for the occasional sound of the candle attendant lowering the candlestick and lighting the fire with a whoosh from outside, no other sound could be heard.

❀❀❀

I ended up staying up all night revising and rewriting a letter to Elaine.

Though the message was simply ‘Would you like to meet a renowned musician?’—clear and concise—it was truly difficult to begin.

The key was how to preserve Elaine’s pride.

It absolutely couldn’t seem as if I had been concerned about her for a long time, which would feel sympathetic. That would be disrespectful, trampling on her dreams. But at the same time, it couldn’t appear to be a casual suggestion either. If it felt like a casual proposal, she would casually reject it too.

By the time the crumpled sheets of paper I had used so sparingly piled up on the desk one by one, the night sky was gradually fading to a watery hue.

I still couldn’t choose any words.

I began to regret the day I first pretended not to notice Elaine’s feelings. I should have acted like a tactless person and reported directly to Mother that day.

That Elaine still had her sheet music, that Elaine hadn’t given up on music yet.

Perhaps even if her pride had been hurt momentarily, wouldn’t she have achieved her dreams at a much earlier age than now?

I wanted to hear Elaine’s performance again. She was so pretty back then.

Sometimes, even while we were together, she would suddenly jump up saying she had thought of a musical idea and scribble strange squiggly characters. Even the worn-out violin from the neighbor’s child would emit beautiful melodies when cradled in her hands. The faint excitement on her cheeks always made us smile.

Suddenly, a very loud sound came from outside the window. Something like a carriage sound.

A carriage?

Who could have come?

I must have dozed off.

When I came to my senses, my face, which had been leaning against the hard floor, felt numb. I saw the desk in a mess with ink. Even worse, my cream-colored indoor clothes had been completely ruined.

Aside from the unfinished letter, it seemed I needed to deal with these clothes.

Oh no! Today was the tenth day since I had met the young master. That is, it was the day to go meet him. I couldn’t believe I had completely forgotten this fact.

At the same time, I remembered that Annie was temporarily absent at my request.

It seems my mind had run away along with my rare outing.

Though Annie was absent, I could still manage on my own. An ordinary member of a comital family might not have been able to, but I was a Brienne.

In Brienne, servants were only welcomed on special national holidays through a labor exchange system.

In other words, I was quite confident in handling such unexpected accidents.

First, since I didn’t know how to remove such high-quality ink stains from clothes, I just took everything off.

Then, like last night, I jumped into a bathtub filled with cold water.

My ivory-colored petticoat billowed and clung to my body, but this was the minimal protection to preserve body heat in this ice-cold water, so it couldn’t be helped.

If it weren’t for that carriage outside, I wouldn’t have needed to make such a reckless effort to get clean.

Before entering the water last night, I had at least had time to mentally prepare and gradually adapt my body to the cold water.

But today, having jumped into cold water without even taking a deep breath, my whole body felt like it would go numb. But the sensation soon recovered, only to be frozen anew with pain that lapped up to the top of my neck. I floundered in the water that was so cold it hurt.

The ink stained on the petticoat diluted slightly, spreading into a light sky blue.

Following this, I hurriedly dried my hair and body with a spare towel, and began putting on clothes that Annie had hung up in advance. After quickly applying makeup, I decided to run with my hair still slightly damp.

I didn’t forget to deliver the lines I had prepared in advance, anticipating that the coachman and attendant might suspect Annie’s absence.

“Actually, ink spilled and made a mess of everything—the bed sheets, the sofa, everything. My maid is currently cleaning the room, so it will take time for her to come down. I can’t keep the young master waiting, so today I’ll just depart alone.”

“Oh, I see. That… furniture is important, but Miss, your hair.”

“Watson! You can’t just comment on a lady’s appearance.”

“Y-yes. I’ve committed a great discourtesy.”

“Oh, n-no. Don’t worry about it.”

It seems my half-dried hair was a bit of an error.

No, judging by that coachman’s gaze, there seemed to be a few other issues as well, but if I paid attention to each one, the appointment time would clearly be further delayed, so I decided to ignore them.

“Then Mr. Watson, please depart.”

“Yes, understood.”

After I boarded, the carriage soon began to move. I leaned my head out the window to dry my hair in the blowing wind.

The outer layer of hair that had just dried began to puff up again. There was one advantage to having slightly wavy hair. Thanks to this volume, it seemed I could hide the fact that the inner hair hadn’t dried at all.

However, the dull grayish hair, which wasn’t pretty, grew and grew like dandelion seeds, to the extent that I could see it in real-time within my field of vision.

Though the young master would probably be quite shocked if I appeared like this, there was nothing I could do.

Since I didn’t have the beauty to be forgiven for being very late through charm, becoming a slightly late mountain goat head seemed like the better option.

“We’ve arrived.”

As always, the carriage stopped far away at the path just before entering the outer castle.

“Thank you! I’ll be back!”

Desperately pretending not to notice the attendant and coachman with their incompletely hidden embarrassed faces, I ran toward the outer castle.