As Bronwynner opened her mouth, a flustered expression appeared on the girl’s pretty face.

“S-sorry! Please pretend you didn’t see me!”

With that, the girl slammed the door shut. Bronwynner quickly ran to open it, but the girl had already disappeared.

The corridor was also incredibly luxurious. The ceiling was as high as that of Bathgate Station, and the walls were covered with crimson damask fabric and beautifully carved mahogany.

After closing the door and returning to the room, Bronwynner thoroughly rummaged through it.

It turned out to be helpful that the Baroness Bingham had often grabbed her and shown her interior decoration catalogs, asking for her opinion. Soon she found the closet, and there she discovered her clothes and bag, neatly ironed and hanging.

She opened her bag with relief and examined the contents. Since she had no trunk and had to reduce her belongings, there wasn’t much in the bag. Two blouses, one skirt, one flannel dress, underwear, and a wallet. As she was going through the clothes to check if anything was missing, her hand paused.

Something shiny was attached to the sleeve of a blouse with a missing button.

⌜Even if you spend your whole life cleaning up after Kaylee and Elise, you couldn’t afford something like this.⌟

It was one of the diamond cuffs that Alec Bingham had attached to her clothes. That night, in her confusion, she only now realized she had forgotten to leave this behind.

‘What if the police think someone stole it?’

But she couldn’t go back to return it to its place either. She wrapped the button in a handkerchief and put it deep inside her bag. Perhaps it might be possible to send it anonymously to the police station.

Her coat looked as neat as if it were new.

‘It must have been a mess from the rain……?’

How much time had passed since she got off at the station?

Without thinking further, she quickly changed her clothes. No matter how grateful she was to whoever had extended a helping hand, she couldn’t continue to stay as an uninvited guest.

But it wouldn’t be right to sneak out without a word of thanks either. Fortunately, there was a pen and paper next to the vase. She left a brief message.

[Thank you sincerely for your help. I am indebted to you.]

After hesitating, she signed it ‘B. Howard.’

As she had guessed from looking at the magnificent room, the mansion was much larger than Baron Bingham’s residence. As she tiptoed across the corridor and down the stairs, she didn’t encounter anyone.

That meant it was still morning. Before noon, maids divide areas and clean the house. In a well-ordered mansion, servants wouldn’t pass through the guest room area at this early hour.

She knew the structure of such mansions well and understood which routes would help her avoid people as much as possible. Only when she reached near the entrance did she encounter a tall uniformed servant—probably a footman.

The footman’s eyes widened.

She bowed her head.

“Thank you for your hospitality. Please convey my gratitude to the master of this mansion.”

While a guest needs the owner’s permission to visit, no such thing is necessary when leaving. Recognizing the guest’s intention, the footman opened the door for her. Judging by how he didn’t show curiosity toward the shabby woman who didn’t match the mansion at all, he was quite well-trained.

“Do you need a carriage?”

She answered in confusion.

“No.”

“Then, shall I escort you to the main gate?”

“That’s alright.”

However, as soon as she stepped down under the porch with the footman seeing her off, she realized why he had said such things. The main gate wasn’t immediately visible from the building entrance. Instead, there were endless rows of camellia trees in full bloom. Bronwynner, who loved flowers, recognized that this was a variety that didn’t grow naturally in Lennox.

She moved forward as if entranced.

Along both sides of the path cutting through the small camellia forest ran long waterways, with small fountains installed every few steps. What marvelous device had they used to make water flow in this season? Flower petals that had fallen from the trees floated forward, forward on the waves.

Following this, as she emerged from the camellia forest, she was greeted by a large marble fountain and statues, beyond which was yet another area planted with landscaping trees and shrubs. Had she not heard the sound of hooves, she would have gladly toured the garden, forgetting her own circumstances.

She quickly stepped aside.

A brown horse approached.

She raised her head, then took another step back. Even then, she had to tilt her head all the way back to meet the rider’s gaze.

Ah, he was the owner of an appearance like a prince from Kaylee’s fairy tale books.

A face where each feature formed a delicate and splendid harmony with the others, a straight nose bridge and sharp facial lines adding dignity to his noble appearance. Honey blonde hair flowing over his forehead. Ash gray eyes shadowed under long eyelashes.

Moreover, he was dressed in a very stylish riding outfit. A deep blue coat with golden buttons fit his slender body perfectly, and beneath it, legs wrapped in white pants extended long. Leather boots covering his smooth calves were taut. On his hands holding the reins, he wore black leather gloves.

“Ah……”

Bronwynner blinked.

The young man’s gaze looking down at her was calm and arrogant.

Even so, there was no contempt or malice in that gaze. Rather, it revealed a loftiness as if he had no interest whatsoever in an uninvited guest who had suddenly emerged from among the trees. That’s why she got the impression of arrogance.

She quickly bowed her head.

“Excuse me. Please pass.”

“Why, not asking me to move aside?”

That voice was low and resonant. Her eyes met his again.

This time for longer.

“Pardon……?”

Have I met this man before?

Instead of answering, he leaned over and extended his hand.

“Get on.”

Get on, surely not on that horse……?

She felt like a fool, but she couldn’t help asking again.

“Pardon?”

“I can’t send a guest of Crimsworth Court out looking like an invalid.”

He muttered. Rather than the phrase ‘looking like an invalid,’ another word he uttered captured her attention.

‘Crimsworth Court……?’

‘Court’ was a designation traditionally attached to the manor houses of territorial lords. The grand mansion she had just left was certainly of a scale befitting a manor house.

And the name of the station where she had alighted was Crimsworth.

‘Could it be…….’

He withdrew the hand he had extended.

“Don’t you know how to ride?”

Not everyone knows how to ride. She had rarely even seen horses this close. She answered honestly, with unnecessary politeness.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never learned.”

“You can ride even without learning.”

“How……?”

The man leaped down from the horse.

He was much taller than Alec Bingham. In a flash, the man’s arms lifted her up. Strangely, it didn’t feel disrespectful, but she struggled in surprise.

The man easily placed her on the horse’s back and remounted. She hunched her body tightly to avoid touching his solid frame. Regardless, he lightly wrapped one long arm around her waist and held the reins with his other hand.

“By riding with someone who knows how.”

She belatedly realized that was the answer to her question.

The horse’s back was dizzyingly high, and her body, unaccustomed to the riding posture, shook violently. Her subsided dizziness returned.

Through it all, she managed to speak.

“I was, trying to leave here.”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I can’t send someone out of my house looking like that.”

He pressed his body against her back. It was meant to steady her from swaying, but reminded of Alec Bingham who had tried to assault her, she reflexively shuddered.

Noticing this, the man’s arm loosened slightly. They were close enough for her to feel it.

She took a deep breath.

‘My house……?’

A person who could call Crimsworth Court ‘my house.’

Then this man was the master of the Court, the Duke of Crimsworth.

* * *

The young duke immediately handed her over to the housekeeper. The housekeeper introduced herself as Mrs. Langley.

“How surprised I was when you disappeared while I stepped away briefly to attend to something else! Um, that is, Lady—”

“Bronwynner…… Howard.”

Bronwynner added, “Please call me Miss Howard.”

‘Lady’ was when referring to an unmarried woman indicated a young lady from a family of count rank or higher. Bronwynner wasn’t even the daughter of a mere baronet.

The Duke of Crimsworth gave the housekeeper a nod. The housekeeper took her arm.

“You must be hungry, I’ll prepare a meal first.”

While being guided to the dining room by the housekeeper, Bronwynner finally learned how she had come to be here. The night before last, ‘Lord Crimsworth’ had personally brought her here burning with fever. The doctor’s diagnosis was that she had collapsed from fatigue compounded by mild malnutrition and needed absolute rest for at least five days.

Thankfully, the housekeeper didn’t say a word about the bruise mark still visible on one side of Bronwynner’s face.

“We were very worried yesterday when you didn’t wake up all day.”

“I’ve caused trouble.”

After apologizing thus, Bronwynner asked what she had been curious about.

“Actually, earlier in the room where I was…… a young lady came in……”

While it was common knowledge among people of Lennox that Crimsworth had been the territory of the Lovedale dukes for generations, Bronwynner didn’t know much about the family. The man from earlier was said to be a duke, but he looked only in his early to mid-twenties.

‘Did the previous duke pass away early?’

The housekeeper answered.

“Ah, you mean Lady Maude. She’s Lord Crimsworth’s sister. I told her she shouldn’t disturb you……”

“She didn’t disturb me at all.”

Rather, Bronwynner had startled Lady Maude. From the situation, it seemed Lord Crimsworth was unmarried. If there had been a mistress of the house—that is, ‘Lady Crimsworth’—it would have been her role to look after Bronwynner.

‘Is the previous duchess also not present?’

Entering the dining room, Bronwynner discovered the duke, whom she thought had left.

He was still in his riding clothes, sitting at the head of the long table reading a newspaper. He didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her presence.

The place set with linen and cutlery was for Bronwynner. She sat in the chair pulled out by the footman and waited quietly. In front of the duke was only a cup of coffee.

“Um…… Lord Crimsworth.”

“First, eat.”

He said without lifting his eyes from the newspaper. It was the right thing to say. Bronwynner was now unbearably hungry.

Soon soup and bread were brought out. It was steaming clam chowder and freshly baked rolls. Hoping the rumbling sound wouldn’t reach his ears, she picked up her spoon. Her stomach churned at the smell of food she was encountering after two days.

The savory soup warmed her body as it traveled down her esophagus. The bread wafted a gentle butter aroma.

Since her duties as a nanny included teaching young ladies table manners, she displayed etiquette worthy of a meal served at a ducal residence. At least, her hands holding the utensils did.

But, sitting in a grand mansion’s dining room for the first time in her life with food prepared just for her, trying to suppress the desire to devour it hastily……