Bella packed her belongings through the night and headed toward the carriage at dawn. Joshua, who had said he would leave for Netherwell at first light, was already preparing to depart.

“Bella? Why are you…?”

Joshua’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw her. At his startled reaction, Bella forced an awkward smile and asked.

“May I go to Netherwell with you?”

She knew she had no right to ask after what had happened the day before. But she wanted to leave the estate as soon as possible—even if it meant departing like this. There was no chance they would provide her with a carriage outside the official schedule.

“Of course.”

After studying her for a moment, Joshua opened the carriage door. He did not ask a single question.

Once the carriage began to move, Bella rested her head against the window. The estate gradually receded into the distance, and beyond it stretched the vast fields bathed in the fading glow of sunset.

“Thank you, Joshua.”

“Between us, there’s no need for thanks.”

She had been worried that things might become awkward after she rejected his proposal. But Joshua remained as kind as ever. This unchanged warmth filled her with quiet relief.

Bella looked out at the estate, now no more than a tiny speck.

‘I suppose I’ll never see the Duke again.’

Of all people, she understood how improper it was to disappear like this after serving as the Duke’s personal maid. However, if she stayed any longer, she was afraid that she wouldn’t find the strength to leave.

There were plenty of other maids who could take her place. It would be fine.

The Duke would forget her soon enough. To him, she had just been one of many maids who had passed briefly through his life.

A world she could never reach existed only in fairy tales.

Bella resolved to bury the feelings she had kept to herself, sealing them away as a secret she would never reveal. A bitter taste lingered on her tongue, but she knew her place better than anyone.

***

The disappearance of a mere maid caused hardly any change to the estate. At most, it prompted a few servants to whisper about it.

“Did you hear? She left this morning.”

“Oh? That one who used to boast about being the Duke’s personal maid?”

“The girls who share her room said that when they woke up this morning, her bed was empty.”

The maids were delighted to have something new to gossip about. They seized upon the smallest rumor and inflated it, passing it along with relish as they indulged in their own amusement.

It did not take long for the news to reach Amelia as well.

“She asked to be sent to Netherwell herself?”

Just as the morning sun began to rise, Amelia confirmed the report she had received from the head maid. Even as she asked, the corners of her lips curved upward, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.

“How did she know I was about to send her away anyway? Quick-witted, at least.”

Although Amelia seemed indifferent as she applied her make-up in front of the mirror, the way her hand brushed through her glossy blonde hair revealed her excitement. She appeared happier than she had been in a long time as she chose an outfit for her outing with the Duke and hummed softly to herself.

“It finally feels like things are back where they belong.”

It should have been this way from the beginning.

She felt a sense of relief as she reclaimed her rightful place, which she believed had been usurped by nothing more than a maid. The foolish girl who had lingered in front of the duke despite countless warnings had finally left.

With her gone, the irritation and quiet unease that had weighed on Amelia disappeared too. Now, at last, she could devote herself entirely to the duke.

Standing before the mirror, she held a dress against her body and gave a slow, satisfied nod.

***

As usual, Logan opened the door when he heard a knock on it that morning.

“Good morning, Your Grace.”

But the maid standing before him was unfamiliar.

Did she overexert herself again after refusing to listen and end up bedridden?

Logan’s gaze swept over the maid from head to toe as she stood there, tense and shrinking into herself. In a detached tone, he asked.

“Where is Bella?”

“Pardon?”

“The maid who used to attend to me.”

Logan ran a hand through his damp hair. The maid stared at him blankly for a moment before hurriedly lowering her eyes.

“If you mean that maid, she returned to where she originally belonged. I heard she left at dawn today.”

She spoke about it as though it were nothing out of the ordinary.

After all, it wasn’t unusual for a maid to disappear overnight. And yet, Logan found her casual attitude irritating.

He did not know why.

If he had to put it into words, it was akin to finding raisins in the bread he always ate.

“From now until Your Grace departs the estate, I will be attending to—”

“That’s enough. Go back.”

Logan cut the maid off before she could finish speaking. After dismissing the maid who had been sent to replace Bella, he asked Vincent to bring him breakfast.

Once he had finished eating, he returned to his work. Later, he asked Vincent to bring coffee and dessert.

The disappearance of the maid who had attended to his needs all day did not disrupt his routine. There was no task he could not handle on his own. Nothing inconvenienced him.

Vincent grumbled, as he always did, that Logan should simply assign himself a personal maid if this was how things were going to be. It was a complaint that Logan had heard countless times before, and it did not particularly trouble him.

And yet—

Even after returning to his bedroom, Logan’s gaze kept drifting towards the empty space where Bella used to sit and help him with his work.

She used to sit there while helping him.

The furniture remained in place. The paintings on the walls were unchanged. Nothing had been moved. And yet, although the room had felt perfectly ordinary until yesterday, it now seemed strangely hollow.

Only one person had left. Yet the emptiness she left behind felt far greater than it should have.

Logan sat at his desk and opened a stack of documents.

The words blurred.

They refused to form any kind of meaning.

One thought kept intruding on his mind, repeating over and over again: ‘She left in the middle of the night. As if she were running away. Without saying a word to me.’

Why?

The question would not leave him alone.

The dull shock, like a sudden blow to the back of his head, refused to fade. It wasn’t just that Bella had left without saying anything. It was that he could not fathom why she had done it.

Logan had always been good at reading people. With the slightest act of kindness, he could sense their intentions — how much closer they would draw him if he pulled away, and how far they would go if he let them. Every action carried intent. Most motives were predictable.

Treat someone well and, sooner or later, they will cling to you.

Since the day he was born bearing the name Fraser, he had been surrounded by such people: Friends. Acquaintances met at glittering parties. None were exceptions. They approached him, hoping to gain something, and Logan used these expectations to shape his relationships.

But Bella was different.

She had left the things he had given her behind, as though they meant nothing to her.

His gaze fell to the book resting on the edge of his desk — the one she had left on the bed. The Fraser family crest was embossed on its cover.

He picked it up, flipped through the pages, and skimmed the contents; his expression tightened.

‘If she was going to run away like that, she might as well have taken one more thing with her.’

He remembered Bella talking about the book, explaining what it was about and how much she was enjoying it. When he returned to the capital, he considered sorting through his library and sending her the books he no longer needed.

However, now that the book had been returned to him, he realized it would have been a meaningless gesture.

Bella would have refused his gift.

No matter how kindly he had treated her, she still left.

If that was the case, what more could he have done?

Logan leaned back in his chair and exhaled slowly.

There had been a time—uncharacteristically—when he had made a conscious effort to show interest in her. As a temporary guest at the estate, he didn’t have much time. He had wanted answers quickly.

Was he drawn to her simply because the maid resembled the late Isabella?

Or was it something deeper?

He hadn’t decided what he wanted from her or why he had kept her by his side, and yet he had still wasted time.

Now, it all meant nothing.

The maid had left, and he had done nothing to stop her.

After an entire morning of being unable to concentrate, watching the hours slip away without purpose, Logan finally remembered his engagement with Amelia and stepped out of his bedroom.

Even as he climbed into the carriage for their outing, his thoughts remained in that room.

“Is something troubling you?”

At Amelia’s careful question, Logan turned his head. As always, she was the first to gauge his

mood.

“Nothing.”

He replied briefly and indifferently.

Although it was addressed to Amelia, it seemed more like a reminder to himself.

After all, she was just a maid who had left. Nothing more.

And yet, despite his own words, Logan could not stop thinking about it. The same relentless, unanswerable questions kept circling his mind: Why had she left without saying a word? Had she ever wavered because of him?

The realization that he did not know her heart troubled him more than he cared to admit.