Chapter 3.2

At the climax of the atmosphere, the curtain fell, leaving an air of lingering emotion. As if waking from a dream, the lights came back on.

“Is it over?” 

Natalie asked in confusion.

“It’s just intermission.” 

Mr. Salinger explained kindly, making Natalie realize she had revealed herself as someone new to theater.

“Oh, intermission.” 

She repeated awkwardly, once again masking her embarrassment with a forced smile. It was then that she saw Mr. Wharton rising from his seat in the opposite box. He bowed slightly and said something to Miss Windsor before leaving the box.

This was her only chance to meet him. Natalie stood up abruptly. She hesitated when her eyes met Mr. Salinger’s, who looked puzzled.

“I’ll just… step out for a moment.”

She said, struggling to come up with a reason for leaving. With no better excuse, she simply said, 

“I’ll be back after a short break.”

Her heart raced as she hurried out of her seat. She had to find Mr. Wharton before he returned to his seat. Natalie quickly made her way to the hallway. The crowded corridor slowed her anxious steps repeatedly. Why was the opposite box so far away? Before she knew it, Natalie was practically running.

She rounded the corner leading to the opposite box and collided with someone coming from the other direction.

“I’m sorry!” 

Natalie exclaimed, her face buried in the chest of the stranger she had bumped into. She stepped back, clutching her forehead where it had hit. When she looked up, she saw a familiar gentleman.

It was Mr. Wharton.

Their eyes met as they recognized each other. While Natalie stood frozen in shock, Mr. Wharton wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Where are you rushing off to?”

Even as she was pulled closer to Mr. Wharton, Natalie’s face remained blank with surprise. It wasn’t until she heard his voice that she fully realized the man before her was indeed Mr. Wharton.

“To you.” 

Natalie stared at his blue eyes, which were fixed on her. The time she had spent waiting for his gaze from afar suddenly felt distant. As Mr. Wharton held her gaze, a gentle smile spread across his face.

“You’ve found me well.”

Only after catching her breath did Natalie realize she was in Mr. Wharton’s embrace. She became acutely aware of the arm around her waist, her gaze wandering aimlessly as she fidgeted. She tried to free herself from the arm encircling her, her hands floundering without a place to rest.

Sensing her discomfort, Mr. Wharton released his hold. Natalie took a step back, widening the distance between them. Mr. Wharton didn’t close the gap again. Instead, he leaned against the wall, mirroring Natalie as she pressed her back against it.

“Did you run all the way here just because you wanted to see me?”

Natalie recognized the playful glint in Mr. Wharton’s eyes. His affectionate gaze and mischievous smile seemed ready to slip past her guard. Steeling herself, Natalie answered firmly.

“I have something to tell you.”

Edgar looked at the young lady who wouldn’t admit it, even as a joke. He had no intention of crossing the line she had drawn.

“What is it?” 

Natalie glanced around before rising onto her tiptoes. Realizing she had something to say in secret, Edgar bent down to accommodate her.

“I sent a letter.” 

She whispered into his ear. Edgar thought he had never heard such an innocent confession before.

Natalie’s eyes sparkled with a pure light as she whispered. Her lips curved into a smile, unable to hide her pride.

“To Miss Windsor. Did you know I sent her a letter?”

Edgar, seeing her expectant expression, widened his eyes in mock surprise.

“I had no idea.”

Natalie, completely fooled by his act, beamed brightly.

“I thought if I wrote a letter to Miss Windsor, she would understand your true feelings. So, I sent a letter in your name.”

Her smile was so radiant that Edgar felt a mischievous urge. He deliberately furrowed his brow slightly.

“You impersonated me?”

“……”

Edgar watched as her wide eyes blinked, her lips gradually losing their smile, and her straight neck swallowed nervously. Her innocent reaction made Edgar bite his lower lip to suppress a laugh.

Natalie’s expression grew increasingly serious. Edgar was about to tell her it was just a joke when she spoke first.

“But it worked, didn’t it? You’re on good terms now, right?”

The letter forger was unapologetic. Her confident gaze seemed to demand acknowledgment: “It’s all thanks to me, isn’t it?” In the end, Edgar couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Natalie looked at him with a puzzled expression, clearly unaware of why he was laughing. Edgar replied with a voice tinged with amusement.

“Yes, we’re on good terms now.”

Only then did Natalie’s smile return. Edgar took a step closer, closing the distance until their shoulders nearly touched.

“You’ve saved me, Miss Maron.” 

At the sincere compliment, Natalie’s cheeks lifted with joy.

“Oh, it was nothing.”

Even so, her reply was utterly aloof.

Edgar smiled as he gazed at her rosy cheeks.

“What did you write in the letter?”

He asked as if he had never read it.

“…I wrote that you like her.”

The pause before her answer revealed her reluctance to share her feelings.

“I need to know exactly what you wrote to claim it as my own.”

“……”

Natalie responded with silence. Edgar turned his body toward her, meeting her gaze.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“The truth.”

Trapped between the wall and Edgar, Natalie quietly looked at him. Edgar, ensuring she could no longer evade him, spoke softly.

“I love you.”

At Edgar’s words, Natalie blinked slowly. The bright yellow theater lights seemed to light up her eyes as well. Edgar stared into her illuminated gaze and asked,

“Is that what you wrote?”

Though she had no room left to retreat, Natalie pressed herself against the wall, her lips tightly sealed. A whistling sound interrupted them, coming from someone nearby. It was a clear act of mockery, likely directed at the couple standing so close together.

Natalie frowned, but Mr. Wharton appeared unbothered, as if accustomed to such whistles aimed at affectionate couples. In that moment, Natalie felt as though the beautiful man before her was someone she didn’t truly know.

She was familiar with Mr. Wharton, who shared her concerns about marriage and enjoyed ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’. But she didn’t know the Mr. Wharton of the rumors—one surrounded by countless lovers. The gentleman before her and the dangerous man of the rumors didn’t seem like one and the same, yet the whistle reminded her that they were.

Thus, Natalie found herself engulfed in contradictory feelings—close to him yet distant, knowing him yet not knowing him.

I love you.

She looked at the man who said those words so easily. To him, they weighed as lightly as the wind. Perhaps it was a phrase he had heard so often that it had become tiresome.

Natalie looked at Mr. Wharton and, after a delayed moment, responded.

“…You’re not the kind of person who would say such things.”

“You know me well.” 

Mr. Wharton replied with a bright smile—one that could lift anyone’s spirits.

Natalie quietly watched that radiant smile, waiting for the unfamiliar emotions that had tensed her body to melt away.

From the other side, a voice announced the resumption of the play. The hallway, which had grown quiet, began bustling again as the audience hurried back to their seats.

“Enjoy yourself, Natalie.” 

Mr. Wharton said as he bid her farewell. Natalie felt a sense of joy when he called her by her name. It made her feel as though they had truly become close friends.

However, before Natalie could call him “Edgar,” Mr. Wharton departed. Left alone in the empty hallway, Natalie eventually returned to her seat.

***

The same play, seen many times, never grew tiresome.

Edgar believed that the charm of theater lay in how it changed with the actors’ performances and the audience’s reactions. Therefore, the only reason he couldn’t focus on the stage was one person—the audience member seated in the opposite box.

It was Edgar himself who had given her the ticket for that seat, so he had known from the beginning that Natalie would be there. No matter what Leonard said, the young lady listening to him smiled brightly and nodded. She appeared undoubtedly happy.

Good.

The anxious student, once like a child by the water’s edge, could now lead conversations and laugh effortlessly, even without Edgar’s presence.

He tried to set aside his worries and focus on the Duke’s daughter. Whatever Miss Windsor said, he responded with a smile, expressed agreement, offered compliments, and smiled again.

Was what she said truly amusing enough to laugh at? That didn’t matter. What mattered was knowing what the other person wanted. Miss Windsor desired a Mr. Wharton so kind and amiable that the audience below the box would envy her.

When the house lights dimmed, Edgar finally allowed himself to look toward Natalie. While everyone else focused on the stage and no one paid attention to the audience, Edgar continuously gazed at her seat.

He smiled quietly as he watched Natalie lean toward the railing, completely absorbed in the play. Even as he turned his eyes back to the stage, a faint smile lingered on his lips.