Somehow, tears came to her eyes.

Because her situation felt pitiful.

And yet because the food was so delicious.

The tears flowed very quietly down her cheeks and dropped below her chin. Fortunately, she had emptied the soup. Otherwise, she would have dropped tears into it.

He still didn’t look at Bronwynner.

“Have more.”

At that encouragement, Bronwynner took another piece of bread.

A footman appeared at the doorway holding a stew pot. Pretending not to notice the guest’s flowing tears, he filled her empty plate with hot stew. The butler brought wine.

In the silence that filled the dining room, this strange meal continued for a long time.

* * *

⌜High fever, fatigue, dehydration, and mild malnutrition caused her to collapse. And, there are bruises on the patient’s face and body, I hear.⌟

⌜The injuries, are they just bruises?⌟

⌜It seems so.⌟

The ducal family’s physician was not one to speak indirectly. In contrast, the butler who relayed the doctor’s words was extremely careful when speaking about a lady’s body. Only after a few more probing questions did Jeremy discover that those bruises were traces of violence inflicted by another person.

Jeremy couldn’t keep focusing on the strange woman he had brought from the station indefinitely either.

Maude had indeed stayed at the townhouse for a day and only returned home yesterday afternoon. It was impossible to hide anything from his curious sister for long. As soon as she learned there was a woman her brother had brought home in the middle of the night, Maude became very excited, so he had to suppress his interest in the woman.

But the butler’s words kept bothering him.

‘Perhaps she ran away from an abusive husband or lover.’

In the kingdom, a woman could marry at eighteen if her father approved. Since consent was given verbally, cases where the groom abducted the bride with implicit consent were not uncommon. Most such marriages ended badly.

Bronwynner Howard might be a victim of such a marriage.

Or perhaps she had narrowly escaped becoming one.

She certainly didn’t seem accustomed to kindness.

He was dumbfounded when he discovered her, still visibly ill, wearing that unsightly coat and trying to walk out of Crimsworth Court. Even after leaving the main entrance, this area was surrounded by forest that took quite a while to get through. Someone must have been at the entrance, yet they hadn’t even thought to send her off in a carriage. This was an issue to mention to Emil for correction.

Fortunately, in the bright sunlight, the woman didn’t look as pitiful as she had the other day. No, quite the opposite. If not for the bruise on her face, he might have thought a fairy had walked out from among the camellia trees.

On her clear face, deep olive eyes sparkled brightly, and her red hair, hanging down to her waist, rippled and curled with each step. Her small face, as if delicately molded, held a kind of melancholy instead of the vitality befitting a young lady. Perhaps that, combined with her unusual eyes, gave her a mysterious impression. Perhaps it added sweetness to a face that hadn’t completely shed its girlishness.

Even that insignificant coat and shawl he wanted to throw away immediately couldn’t hide her fresh beauty.

The woman’s soft voice perfectly matched her calm manner of speaking. Though not aristocratic, her speech and upright posture suggested she was quite well-educated.

So when the woman started crying in the middle of her meal, he felt irritated rather than flustered. No, it was something closer to anger than irritation, but he couldn’t understand why such emotion arose or toward whom.

Even while crying, Bronwynner ate with considerable grace. As soup, bread, beef stew, salad, grilled fish, fruit, and pie were brought out in a full course, her tears gradually dried up. During this time, Jeremy drank two more cups of coffee.

‘Malnutrition, they say.’

He silently repeated that unfamiliar word.

Thirty years ago, even during the war with Rosvalt, there probably wasn’t anyone suffering from malnutrition in Crimsworth. Wasn’t that a calamity that should have been eradicated in the last century?

A faint look of satisfaction finally appeared on the woman’s youthful face after she had eaten her fill.

“……Lord Crimsworth.”

When he looked at her, she smiled almost imperceptibly.

“Thank you for the meal.”

It was more like a greeting a young girl in the nursery would give rather than an adult woman, but it contained innocent sincerity and was indeed the most fitting greeting for this situation.

He narrowed his eyes.

“Miss Howard. Excuse me, but how old are you?”

“Twenty.”

Now his eyes were openly scrutinizing Bronwynner. However, it wasn’t the gaze of a man looking at a woman, but closer to that of a businessman assessing the value of goods.

Twenty years old. Neat appearance with an appropriate level of education.

This perfectly matched the conditions of the person he had been looking for to fulfill Her Majesty the Queen’s command. Moreover, Bronwynner seemed desperately in need of either a helping hand or money to escape her difficult circumstances.

He asked.

“Perhaps, do you need a job?”

The olive eyes shone.

* * *

Is this what they mean when they say things are going too well?

“Perhaps, do you need a job?”

When the duke asked this, Bronwynner remained cautious.

“Do I look like I need a job……?”

Compared to his riding clothes, she was wearing an old blouse and skirt that could be called shabby. Having collapsed from hunger, she must have looked like a beggar in his eyes.

Bronwynner had never been ashamed of being poor. But……. sitting in the duke’s residence receiving his sympathy, surrounded by things she could never afford with the money she had, made her feel intimidated.

He put down his newspaper.

“If you don’t need one, then never mind.”

His tone was utterly cold.

She snapped to attention. Right now, petty inferiority complexes weren’t the issue. The man before her looked like he might withdraw his offer at any moment. Her mouth opened automatically.

“……I don’t have any letters of recommendation.”

“So you have worked before.”

“I worked as a nanny. For two years.”

Even as she said this, she worried he might ask where she had worked. However, he showed little interest in her previous workplace.

“As a nanny, what can you do?”

“I can read books and write letters…… I know a little piano. I’m also good at sewing and knitting.”

“Embroidery, drawing, dance?”

She could draw with colored pencils, but he seemed to be referring to sketches or oil paintings. She mumbled her answer.

“Embroidery, a little……”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

When he turned toward the servant standing by to attend them, the servant immediately closed the door and left. Without giving her time to look in that direction, the man continued questioning.

“Family? Place of origin?”

She answered honestly.

“I’m from Goldenborough, and both my parents have passed away.”

“Are you good at lying?”

Bronwynner’s expression hardened. If hiding what she had done counted as lying, she was quite good at it.

However he interpreted her reaction, he didn’t force an answer.

“That’s fine too. It’s not essential. But this job requires strict confidentiality.”

Now she was starting to feel uneasy.

When he mentioned a ‘job,’ she had expected work as a maid or governess. But lying, confidentiality, and the refined education of a lady? She organized the conditions the man had mentioned and immediately guessed what they implied, making her shudder.

“Lord Crimsworth. I……”

He raised an eyebrow as if telling her to continue.

She swallowed hard.

“I won’t become your mistress or anything like that.”

He pressed his lips together.

Though he didn’t frown, she could naturally tell he was displeased. Just by closing his mouth, he could make the air in the room feel so heavy. She didn’t have the courage to meet his eyes.

What if he got angry like Alec Bingham……? Bronwynner prepared to flee if necessary.

The next moment, he let out a chuckle.

For the first time, something that could be called a smile appeared in his gray eyes.

“What do you take me for.”

He muttered.

Only then did she realize how ridiculous her words had been. Her cheeks burned hot with shame.

Of course, not all men would be like Alec Bingham. The Bingham name was recognized only around Bathgate and was merely an obscure rural gentry family. Compared to that, the Lovedales were……. famous enough that even Bronwynner, who had never been to Crimsworth, knew about them. Wasn’t it a family with a history older than not only the Lester dynasty but also the Kingdom of Lennox itself?

Why would the duke of such a family want an insignificant woman like her as his mistress? With a face like his, women must already be lining up to be involved with him even once. And those would be young ladies from the kingdom’s most prominent families.

She tried to speak calmly.

“If I’ve misunderstood, I apologize.”

“I accept your apology. Besides not wanting to be a mistress, what else won’t you do?”

Since he deliberately repeated what she had said, her cheeks flushed once more.

“Illegal acts.”

After maintaining silence for a moment, he spoke.

“To be honest, it’s not a respectable job. But I promise in the name of the Duke of Crimsworth that if you face danger or difficulty because of it, I will protect you. The term is three months.”

Then he proposed the amount of compensation that could be paid in advance. “If you complete it within the term, I’ll pay you as much as you ask for a success fee.”

The advance payment was enough to cover the entire two years’ tuition for a teacher training school and more. No, it was enough money to stay in a high-class boarding house with three meals a day provided during those two years.

With that money, Bronwynner could make a fresh start.

She could turn what she thought was a broken dream into reality.

……So she couldn’t readily accept it.

“The compensation is too high.”

If he had boasted ‘I can pay this much without any problem,’ she would have distrusted him. However, the duke seemed to know that it was no small sum.

“There’s a reason for that. Preparations are also needed.”

The word ‘preparations’ revived her wariness.

“Perhaps, do I need to pay money for these preparations?”

He chuckled again.

“If you had to, could you pay?”

He was making the most generous offer Bronwynner had ever received in her life, so she should have been listening quietly, but something momentarily welled up inside her. She suppressed it.

“……I don’t think I could. Are there any other conditions?”

He answered immediately.

“If you’re going to quit midway, don’t even start.”

She looked down at the teacup in front of her.

Ample compensation. Not respectable but not illegal, and a job with safety guaranteed by Lovedale.

Readily accepting a proposal from a man she had met only two days ago would be the height of recklessness. But she would be a fool to reject a job with such favorable conditions and compensation.

It was just three days ago that she had acted foolishly and experienced something terrible.

So perhaps it was better to choose recklessness this time.

A small tea leaf stood upright in the teacup.

……Bronwynner raised her head.

The man was waiting for her answer.

“I’ll do it, that job.”