Startled, she quickly drew the curtain.

“……”

Her heart pounded roughly, beating wildly as if she were a child caught doing something bad.

Fiona exhaled a trembling breath and slowly sat down.

Then she tried hard to shake off her thoughts.

⁕⁕⁕

“Fiona.”

Fiona stopped abruptly. She stared blankly at the face of the man blocking her way, then hurriedly lowered her gaze.

“What about Marienne?”

“She seems tired from getting up early.”

She had been bustling around since morning saying she would go out with Lennox, so she was definitely taking a nap by now, her stamina exhausted.

Fiona nodded her head slightly. Silence flowed between them for a moment.

“Fiona.”

Lennox called her name once more and took a step closer. Fiona stared at the man’s chest area for a moment, then spoke somewhat awkwardly.

“Thank you for taking good care of Marienne. Thanks to you, my younger sister……”

His hand reached out and lightly grasped Fiona’s wrist.

“You’re avoiding me.”

“……”

“Is it because of Marienne?”

Startled by those words, Fiona shook off the man’s hand.

“Avoiding? I’ve never done that.”

She rubbed the spot where Lennox’s hand had touched. It felt like his warm body heat still lingered there.

He seemed like a person sculpted from metal. The fact that he lived and moved felt strangely fascinating all over again. Enough to make her wonder whose kiss it had been that made this man move.

“Fiona, I—you…”

“Um, I’m sorry, but I have something urgent to take care of. Could you move aside?”

“……Are you running away again.”

“No. I really do have something urgent. Oh, you’ll eat with Marienne when she wakes up, right?”

“……”

“Marienne eats more than usual when she has meals with you. Please.”

Fiona passed by without waiting for Lennox’s answer. Then she rushed down the stairs and entered the empty drawing room, slamming the door shut.

“Haah.”

She let out a trembling breath.

She had a pretty good idea of what Lennox was about to say. She wasn’t so oblivious that she couldn’t tell he had feelings for her.

Just from the way he looked at her sometimes, she could guess the man’s heart. The way he tried to reveal his feelings in moments like this when they were alone together.

‘Once I hear it, there’ll be no going back.’

Fiona bit her lip hard.

If she learned that Lennox’s heart was with her, she wouldn’t be able to maintain even this precarious relationship. Right now, this situation was only possible under the assumption that she didn’t know where Lennox’s heart lay.

And learning who Lennox liked was a problem in itself.

‘There’s no way I could accept it.’

Fiona smiled bitterly and lowered her head. She let out a long sigh and leaned back against the door with a thud.

Marienne had boldly revealed her feelings. Even if she had never directly used the word ‘love’ in front of others, everyone in this castle knew how much she liked Lennox.

So even if Lennox revealed his feelings to Fiona now, accepting them was impossible.

Fiona didn’t want to hurt her sister’s heart. She couldn’t imagine being happy with Lennox in front of Marienne.

‘I don’t even know how Marienne would react.’

Marienne was a good child. Would she bless her sister with a forced smile while feeling sad?

Or, since she was a child who had always gotten what she wanted in life. Would she collapse, saying she couldn’t accept the feelings between the two of them?

Fiona shook her head hard.

Just continuing to avoid Lennox like this was the best option. She had never revealed that she had feelings for him.

Of course, feelings of affection couldn’t be completely hidden just because you tried to hide them, so she couldn’t assume he was completely oblivious. Still, she was confident she hadn’t shown it enough for him to be certain.

Fiona had always blatantly avoided Lennox and instead created opportunities for him to be with Marienne. She had no choice but to believe that Lennox would eventually give up on his feelings for her. It takes two hands to clap, doesn’t it? He wasn’t the type of man to foolishly keep reaching out to empty air.

‘The best thing would be for him to love Marienne.’

That thought made a corner of her heart ache a little.

“Hah……”

Fiona let out a trembling sigh and slid down to the floor while leaning against the door.

All sorts of emotions welled up toward herself for reacting this way.

It was ridiculous to feel heartbroken while thinking about someone who was practically her sister’s man. Pathetic. Miserable. At some moments, she wondered if she could be greedy about just this one thing. After agonizing over that thought, she felt wretched.

Come to think of it, Lennox accepting Marienne’s feelings would be problematic in many ways too.

If that happened, wouldn’t Fiona become a woman who had feelings for her sister’s husband?

‘No. It’s just…… just a little bit of affection.’

She desperately made excuses to herself.

She didn’t ‘love’ him. Wasn’t that enough?

She just thought he was a good person. There were no feelings beyond that.

She pulled herself together with that thought.

Fiona shook her head hard.

⁕⁕⁕

“When will Lennox come again?”

Marienne lay in bed and asked with a beaming smile.

After Lennox stayed for a few days and then left, Marienne came down with a fever. It was clearly because she had overexerted herself being active while he was there.

Fiona stroked her sister’s still-warm forehead.

“He’ll come again once you’re healthy.”

“I’ll get healthy if Lennox comes.”

Fiona smiled faintly.

“Then let’s write him a letter asking him to come.”

“Letters take too long.”

Considering that it only took about a week for a reply to come back even if it took a long time, it was actually quite fast, but Fiona didn’t bother pointing that out.

“Have you been to Lennox’s castle, Sister?”

“The Ternin County? I’ve been there once.”

“I’m jealous. I want to go too.”

Marienne pouted her lips.

“Later…… once you’re very healthy, let’s ask him to invite us.”

“I’ll never get to go then.”

“Why would you say that.”

Fiona frowned slightly. Her sister smiled sheepishly with an apologetic expression.

If they took a carriage to the Ternin County and traveled leisurely, it would easily take a week. A week-long carriage journey would be too much for Marienne. After making one trip like that, wouldn’t she be sick for at least a month?

It would also be rude to be sick at another family’s home for a month, so she couldn’t readily suggest going.

As Fiona absentmindedly stroked her sister’s forehead, Marienne blinked and hesitated before carefully speaking up.

“Sister, do you think I could get married too?”

“Marriage?”

Fiona tilted her head at the sudden question.

“It’s been a year since I became an adult.”

“That’s true……”

Marriage. Fiona blinked at the unexpected word.

For nobles, it was normal to enter society upon becoming an adult and find a suitable match. Hadn’t Fiona herself made her formal debut in society when she became an adult?

‘Though my parents passed away before any marriage talks or anything……’

Right around the time when Fiona should have been starting to exchange marriage proposals, her parents very coincidentally died in an accident.

After that, she inherited the title, and while sorting out her parents’ affairs and simultaneously caring for Marienne, she was too busy to take care of her own marriage prospects. Living in such a haze, she had somehow missed what could be called her marriageable age.

‘Well. I didn’t particularly want anyone anyway.’

No one caught her eye except Lennox. So she had no desire to marry anyone. Though she couldn’t exactly say she wanted to marry Lennox either.

By the time Fiona made her formal debut in society, Marienne had already met Lennox. Her sister chattered about the name Lennox every day even in front of their parents—how could Fiona have said she wanted to marry that man?

“Even if you haven’t made a formal society debut, families do arrange marriages, don’t they?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Fiona nodded. She hadn’t been planning to have Marienne debut in society because of her weak health. Her sister didn’t seem to want a society debut either. But it seemed she did want to get married.

‘An arranged marriage between suitable families……’

Fiona couldn’t help but know who Marienne was talking about. Just moments ago, hadn’t she repeatedly asked Fiona when Lennox would come again?

As a marriage partner for her sister, Lennox was quite a decent match. As the second son of the Ternin County, he couldn’t bring anything grand, but the same was true for Marienne, wasn’t it? It was just right as a union for friendly relations between families. They didn’t need any grand merger of the families.

“I’ll think more about the marriage talk.”

Fiona smiled evasively and pulled her sister’s blanket up a bit.

“I forgot you were an adult, so I didn’t even think about it being time for you to marry.”

“Sister, it’s not that I want to get married right away.”

After bringing up marriage herself, Marienne seemed embarrassed now that Fiona was talking as if she would proceed with the marriage. Her cheeks flushed as she trailed off.

“In case a marriage proposal comes to me. I’m sure you’ll handle it well, Sister! I’m an adult too, and also.”

“Alright. If a marriage proposal comes, I’ll definitely think about it seriously.”

Fiona reassured her sister once more and patted her chest. Marienne smiled brightly and closed her eyes as if to sleep.

Fiona gently brushed back her sister’s pink hair, quietly got up from the bed, and left the room.