Chapter 3 – Unrequited Love, That Difficult Path (Part 3)

Cough- Cough-.

After the coughing fit subsided, Lorraine patted her chest and drank water. Bronchitis had been a frequent visitor every winter since childhood. She had let her guard down because it had been a relatively long time since she had last been ill.

Lorraine pressed her aching eyes and thought.

‘Smoking is a problem too.’

Just then, she heard the sound of a plate being placed down, and when she opened her eyes, Victoria was standing there with a displeased look.

“Just take a leave. This is terrible. How can you go to work coughing like that?”

She muttered, placing the spoon in a convenient position for Lorraine.

“How can I? Cough- There’s a mountain of year-end settlement documents…. Cough, cough.”

Thinking of the mountain of documents, Lorraine waved her hand.

“Get out quickly, or you’ll catch it. Cough-.”

“Geez….”

Victoria looked at her sister in disbelief. Lorraine urged her once more.

“Hurry.”

“Yes, yes.”

As soon as Victoria left the room, Lorraine started coughing again.

Cough, cough, cough, cough.

Her pale face turned bright red in an instant. After barely stopping her cough, Lorraine picked up the spoon. The potato soup looked appetizing, but her throat was too scratchy to have any appetite.

But she had no choice but to eat to take her medicine.

The coughing, which she thought had subsided, continued.

Cough, cough, cough.

Now the words on the documents appeared doubled. Lorraine pressed her throbbing eyes and drank some water. She even refused Anne’s visit, who had come to bring her snacks, to minimize contact with others. But someone knocked on the door.

“I’m coming in.”

“Yes, come in.”

‘What’s wrong this time?’

Lorraine pressed her aching eyes and stood up. Edwin entered the room and just stood there, staring at her. Lorraine tilted her head and asked first.

“Is there a miscalculation?”

Then she turned her head and coughed, taking a sip of water.

“Give me the documents, and I’ll correct them and bring them to your office.”

When there was no answer, Lorraine wondered if she had said something wrong.

“Your Grace.”

Edwin still stood there, staring blankly at her.

“Your Grace…?”

“Oh, oh.”

When Edwin came to his senses, Lorraine was looking at him with her head tilted.

“The amount used for the autumn harvest was wrong. Recalculate and bring it.”

Without waiting for an answer, he almost thrust the documents into her arms and left the office.

Lorraine frowned as she watched him leave.

“What’s with him again….”

She muttered like a sigh and pressed her burning eyes.

She wanted to finish quickly and rest.

***

The rainy season started the day after meeting Erich.

The rain poured so heavily that they had to adjust all their schedules, getting soaked to the bone every time they went out.

That was the least of their problems. The real issue was Philip, who had gone to Astia to attend the memorial service.

「…He’s stranded.」

Sudden heavy rains had caused a landslide, and the debris had accidentally covered the railway. The restoration work wouldn’t be finished in a day or two, and the judicial meeting requiring administrative processing was imminent.

「I’ll go with you.」

There was only one conclusion.

The weather was nice.

Lorraine Wiig glanced indifferently at the scenery passing by the window. In a way, this was her first external assignment as an aide.

She hadn’t expected to carry out her duties in this manner.

‘My sister would be surprised if she saw this.’

The schedule was set so suddenly that there was no way to adjust it. Lorraine turned her head to look at Duke Edwin Duncan, who was checking documents in the front seat.

「He’s really a mad dog.」

「Who? No way….」

「Yes, your boss. The military mad dog.」

On the night of the first meeting, Diana had grabbed Lorraine, who was changing clothes, and vented her frustrations for hours. Lorraine looked blankly at Edwin’s neatly combed crown and shook her head.

‘I wonder how much of a fuss he’ll make today.’

As she expected, the meeting was tense throughout. Lorraine sat by the door, observing the meeting. Diana sighed at Edwin’s argument and said,

“Do you think that makes sense? Permission, you say? Do you not know how influential Marquis Gillas is…!”

The more she thought about it, the more infuriated she became, raising her voice. Edwin, on the other hand, responded calmly without a single crack in his expression.

“I’m saying this because I do know.”

When Edwin extended his hand, Lorraine quickly pulled out several documents and handed them to him.

“If we deny entry, the only option left is illegal entry….”

Receiving the documents, Edwin handed them over to the others and continued speaking.

“…….”

“It’s better to grant entry and at least be able to track his movements rather than dealing with an unknown whereabouts after illegal entry. That’s the military’s conclusion.”

Diana cautiously accepted the documents he handed over. As if waiting for this moment, Edwin began to explain further.

“There are rumors that he is entering to find someone. There are also rumors that his runaway second wife is from Moses.”

At that moment, Lorraine recalled Erich’s bitter smile.

‘No way.’

“Let’s grant the permission but add some conditions. For instance, we could leave the matter of security personnel to Moses….”

When Edwin looked at the people opposite him as if asking for their thoughts, the response came from someone else.

“Yes, that sounds good. We’ll set the other conditions in accordance with international law.”

With that, he stood up and extended his hand, and Edwin also stood up and shook his hand.

“But what are you doing here? Where’s Philip Lloyd?”

“What? He didn’t go?”

After the meeting ended, Diana, who Lorraine thought had left with her colleagues, was leaning against the wall.Glancing around, she picked up some of Lorraine’s belongings and asked.

“I told him to go ahead. What about your boss?”

Lorraine replied as she balanced the load that Diana passed back to her.

“In a private talk.”

“And he left you with all this?”

Diana looked incredulous. Although the document bundles were not too heavy for Lorraine to carry, they were still quite substantial.

“He told me to wait, but I thought I’d wait in the carriage.No point in making a fuss.”

Lorraine shook her head, looking annoyed at having to go through all this.

“I could have carried it.”

Sighing at her sister’s stubbornness, Diana said sarcastically.

“Sure, you can. While not being able to see where you’re going.”

“It’s not that bad.”

Despite Lorraine’s denial, Diana firmly stated.

“It is that bad.”

Speechless, Lorraine looked at Diana with an expression that said, ‘You always have to have the last word.’ Unfortunately, it wasn’t intimidating at all to Diana.

“If it weren’t for me, it would have taken you a hundred years to get to the carriage.”

“I am deeply grateful for your kindness.”

Lorraine muttered with a disgruntled face.

Just as they reached the carriage, someone called her from behind.

“Lorraine?”

When Lorraine turned around, Edwin had returned from his private talk.

“So, you two know each other.”

His brows furrowed slightly.

Having been Duke Edwin Duncan’s secretary for four years, Lorraine could sense what he was thinking from his demeanor.

“This is my sister.”

“Sister?”

At Edwin’s muttering, Lorraine took the documents from Diana’s hands and loaded them into the carriage. Then she nudged Diana’s waist with her elbow.

“Say hello.”

“You could just say I helped. Why make a fuss about being sisters….”

Muttering in annoyance for a moment, Diana then smiled brightly and said,

“My sister is always quite a handful. I’m Diana Wiig, Your Grace.”

“Ah, I see.”

Edwin nodded with a reluctant face.

He was dumbfounded by the fact that the woman who had opposed him throughout the meeting was the sister of the woman he liked.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

After a quick bow, Diana swiftly left, and the area around the carriage fell silent.

“Now then.”

Lorraine was the first to speak.

“Shall we depart?”

She gestured towards the carriage with her head.

“Let’s do that.”

Edwin nodded indifferently and took Lorraine’s hand. He had apparently seen her jump down earlier without a footstool when getting off the carriage.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Lorraine bowed her head.

“Ah… Thank you.”

As she lightly stepped into the carriage, Edwin followed her in.