Maria stared at him intensely with a reddened face.

“Yes, I will certainly come.”

Karl slightly tilted his head in greeting while maintaining eye contact with her.

“My secretary is waiting, so I’ll take my leave now.”

He moves away with an elegant gesture.

Maria’s gaze wouldn’t leave him.

He descended the grand staircase with those long, firm legs, then got into his carriage without looking back once.

Clack.

“This is…….”

As soon as Karl closed the carriage door, he removed the gloves he was wearing and handed them to Chris, saying,

“Burn them.”

A cold contempt subtly colored his calm voice.

Chris accepted the gloves Karl had removed with his fingertips and bowed his head obediently.

“Yes, President.”

Maria might think Karl had kissed her hand, but that was impossible.

How could he press his lips against something that gave him goosebumps even through gloves?

He had merely pretended to do so, lightly pressing her hand with his finger.

“……But will you really be invited that day, Mr. President?”

Chris asked, looking at Maria Tartien who was still standing blankly in the same spot through the carriage window.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the back of the departing carriage, as if in a trance.

Her face was so entranced that it was hard to believe she was the haughty Maria Tartien.

“Who knows. Well, we’ll see.”

Karl leaned back his head, massaging his nape as if it didn’t matter either way.

Fatigue was setting in.

It had been well over a week since he’d seen Lumiere.

This was because Fuego, who had discovered his side injury, had firmly threatened that if he went out on his own, he would also leave the palace.

‘Making such a fuss over a minor injury…’

Karl sighed, conscious of his bandaged side.

He missed Lumiere.

He wondered if she was eating well, if she was having nightmares.

Whether her memories still hadn’t returned at all, whether she still… didn’t miss him at all.

He wanted to fill that small head of hers with thoughts of him.

When walking, when sleeping, when eating, when looking at the sky.

He wanted Lumiere to think of him.

‘They say there’s no cure for a man obsessed with a woman.’

To think that would be me.

Karl swept his face with an arid smile.

Ah, if only he hadn’t tasted it at all……

Since that night, after holding her, his thirst for Lumiere grew stronger.

Every chance he got, Lumiere’s scent, her voice whispering his name, her small and soft body squirming in his arms came to mind.

‘……I’m tired.’

He wished he could hold Lumiere and take a long nap.

She would push him away with her paint-stained hands and struggle, but once he pulled her tight and laid her on the bed, Lumiere would embrace him back helplessly.

‘Such a spoiled child.’

His scolding voice would carry a hint of laughter.

Then he would fall asleep with his face buried in her fragrant hair, pretending to be honored.

It would be a peaceful and lovely rest.

……Ah, this won’t do.

“Chris.”

“Yes?”

“Where is Lumiere right now?”

“Lumiere had an appointment with Elina today, so she went to her mansion.”

Karl glanced at the clock.

He had about 2 hours left until his appointment with Fuego.

Elina’s mansion wasn’t far from here.

“……Shall we head there?”

“Ah, come to think of it, I believe I had something to discuss with Elina about the contract……”

‘Hasn’t Osman always handled such matters?’

Chris held his itching tongue and spoke to the coachman.

“……Please take us to Hennessy Town, 5th Avenue.”

The moment his words ended, Karl’s tense brow smoothed out.

Seeing that, Chris felt he made the right choice.

‘I apologize, Miss Elina. You’ll be surprised, but please accept this as a penalty for suddenly breaking the contract.’

Either way, looking after his master’s well-being……

Isn’t that what a capable secretary should do?

Chris sadly realized that today too, he had taken one step closer to becoming a capable secretary.

This unavoidable brilliance and competence were truly frightening.

* * *

“I received the painting well. Thank you for drawing it so beautifully.”

After sending Michael outside, Elina set up a tea set at the window table.

The fragrant aroma of black tea spread pleasantly.

“The subject was excellent. I merely captured that.”

“Now you even know how to speak smoothly? You used to be such a clueless child.”

“Child? I was already twenty then.”

“Was that so? You looked about seventeen since you had such a young impression……”

Elina smiled with downcast eyes, seemingly lost in memories.

Even without makeup and in plain clothes, Elina was Elina.

Her neat smile without a single wrinkle captured attention.

Lumiere moistened her lips with the black tea Elina poured, then looked at Michael visible through the window.

The child was playing with paper airplanes with a middle-aged man wearing glasses and very light brown hair.

The paper airplane that shot up into the sky spun around and hit the forehead of the middle-aged man with messy gray hair.

The child burst into laughter.

Seeing that, a smile naturally bloomed on Lumiere’s lips.

“Isn’t my grandson cute?”

“Yes. Very much so. But he seems quite timid.”

“Hmm, I met him for the first time last month. I brought him in when he was about to enter an orphanage.”

“……”

In truth, she had already suspected there would be some story behind this.

Elina’s daughter left home 7 years ago, and there hadn’t been any news of her return since then.

But suddenly a grandson……

“Did you find your daughter?”

At Lumiere’s words, Elina pulled out a well-dried cigar from her cigar case with a self-deprecating smile.

“May I smoke one? I’ve been holding back lately because of the child, but I can’t resist today.”

“Of course. I don’t mind.”

“Thank you.”

When they met Madam Rosa last time, she used a holder to smoke tobacco.

In contrast, Elina now was lighting a thickly rolled cigar directly.

Lumiere didn’t know which was stronger or which made one’s head hazier, but she thought the expressions of both women while exhaling smoke were similar.

It was the tired face of someone who kept walking and walking an endless road.

‘I know that face.’

Very occasionally, Karl would make that expression too.

Like they were seeing their destination in that dispersing white smoke, they stared into the smoke with slightly clouded eyes.

“Actually, I knew from the start who she married and where she lived.”

“What?”

“But I never went looking for her intentionally. She left home firmly rejecting my opposition, so I thought she should take responsibility for her choice.”

Elina spoke with a bitter smile.

The daughter of a lowly commoner.

A woman who sold her laughter and voice.

And the daughter of such a woman.

She must have hated it that much.

Elina’s daughter, Diella, excessively admired nobility.

Though she lived without want as the daughter of a successful opera singer, that deep-rooted inferiority complex ruined her.

She spent a night with the son of an insignificant viscount family who might sell off their possessions at any time, even got pregnant, and finally left home against her mother’s opposition.

Elina was upset with her daughter.

In truth, she might have wanted to punish her a little.

She could have helped if she wanted to……

She only kept track of where her daughter lived and turned a blind eye.

During that time, Diella lost her first child to pneumonia, and her in-laws were living off the money she earned tirelessly instead of their incompetent son.

Her husband was running himself ragged following around nobles and accumulated massive debt.

Not satisfied with just that, he even broke their second child’s leg trying to use him as a means to look good to the nobles.

“They had a horse riding competition among noble children, I think? The other kids were all nine or ten years old, but he sent out that little one. A child who had never even ridden a horse before.”

“Ah…… Then at that time……”

“Looking back, it’s fortunate he even survived. If Michael had been trampled by the horse, he would have died instantly.”

Lumiere couldn’t help but frown.

How could such a fool exist in this world?

Even if one loved entertainment, how could they involve their five-year-old son in such a dangerous bet?

“That’s when Diella finally exploded. She must have loved her child dearly despite everything.”

Holding her child who had fainted with a broken leg that hadn’t even been properly treated, Diella cried a lot.

Then, unable to quell her anger, she grabbed a stone and went looking for her husband.

“She said ‘I was going to smash his head in, since it’s useless anyway. I thought it would be fine to just smash it.’ You know what I told her?”

“What did you say?”

“You’re right. But why didn’t you do it? You should have smashed it first, then come find your mother. Even if you had killed him, I would have taken the blame for you.”

“……”

“……I really could have done that.”