It was an abrupt declaration.

For a moment, the air in the drawing room seemed to freeze.

“…What did you just say?”

Scarlett asked again, as if to confirm she had not misheard.

“I intend to end my engagement with the young lady of the Everett family.”

Logan repeated himself clearly, as though assuming his mother had simply failed to catch his words.

“What are you talking about?”

Scarlett looked straight at her son, who had uttered the word ‘break off’ as though it were no big deal. Logan was not one to joke about matters like this. If he had said it, it wasn’t a suggestion — it was a verdict.

“Did you know that Father and Count Everett had a debt arrangement between them?”

Logan asked, addressing his mother’s expected reaction.

“That is the first I’ve heard of it.”

Scarlett’s expression stiffened at this unexpected question. A financial entanglement between Everett and Fraser? She had never heard of anything like that before.

“Yes. I only recently discovered it myself.”

Logan explained everything he had uncovered.

While investigating the Everett household for an unrelated reason, he found that money had been moved in a way that ultimately led back to his father.

The orphanage, which the Countess had used to launder money, had received several donations from him. These transactions were recorded in his father’s personal ledger.

“Given what was lost in the fire, that may not have been the full extent of it. And the Everett family has kept this from us all this time.”

Scarlett found herself momentarily at a loss for words. The revelation that such dealings had taken place left her deeply unsettled.

However shocking it was, though, the past and the present were not the same.

“Even so, they saved your life.”

She spoke carefully.

“Compared to your life, that debt is a trivial sum. And even without that money, Fraser prospered. We could consider it money that never existed.”

Even now, she could still see that day as vividly as ever if she closed her eyes.

Logan wasn’t the only one left scarred by the fire. On the day the estate — an ancestral home that had stood for over a century — was reduced to ashes, she lost everything.

Had she lost Logan as well, she doubted she would have survived the grief.

If it hadn’t been for Amelia — if it hadn’t been for that child — Logan would not be standing before her now.

This was why Scarlett felt indebted to Amelia. It was also why she had insisted on moving forward with an engagement that Logan had clearly been reluctant to accept. A promise was a promise.

The press had already romanticized the story, turning it into something fit for a novel: Amelia, the girl who saved Logan’s life. So Scarlett resolved to grant her wish.

Moreover, following the death of the family patriarch, she was left alone to protect the house and her young son, and needed the support of society. The Everetts, along with their allies, had stood by her.

At the time, becoming engaged to Logan was the most practical choice she could make.

“Amelia bears scars on her body that can never be erased—because of you.”

“Can you truly say you believe that story without doubt?”

Logan spoke quietly, addressing his mother, who seemed inclined to let the matter pass.

“The Everett household concealed something this significant for years. Who is to say that wasn’t a lie as well?”

From the outset, there had been too many unanswered questions.

How had Amelia, who had been staying in the opposite wing, managed to find him at that precise moment before dawn? How had she forced her way through the rapidly spreading flames along the old wooden beams?

The only witnesses to Amelia saving him were the Countess and the nurse. In the chaos of the fire, no one else had seen what had happened clearly.

As with the matter of the debt, there remained the possibility that the story itself had been fabricated.

Scarlett fell silent, lost in thought.

Whatever the truth, calling off the engagement now would be costly for both families. Their honor. Their political alliances. The trust she had spent years carefully building.

The consequences would not fall on Logan alone.

They would fall on her as well.

“You may think you are acting out of love for some woman, but it was Amelia who saved you that day. I saw her bringing you back myself.”

She spoke firmly.

“Why are you still clinging on to someone who has already left? No matter what you do, that child won’t come back. You must let her go and start a family of your own.”

For Scarlett, the honor they carried in the present mattered far more than some unproven truth buried in the past. If Logan’s doubts had been stirred by a woman of uncertain background, she could not afford to give ground.

“This has nothing to do with Isabella.”

Logan said firmly, cutting her off before she could bring up the dead girl again.

“It’s about the trust between us and the Everetts. I—”

His voice was steady and resolute. His expression left no room for misunderstanding.

He would not yield again.

Scarlett held her son’s gaze.

She realized that persuading him would not be easy this time.

***

Bella was dreaming.

She was in a mansion that she didn’t recognize.

She walked down a dark corridor. Her viewpoint felt uncomfortably low. If she raised her head even slightly, she could feel the sharp edge of a piece of furniture close enough to cut her.

She was in the body of a child.

It was late at night and the entire household was asleep.

The child had slipped quietly out of her room and was now crossing the corridor on tiptoe, careful not to make a sound. She needed to use the bathroom. She knew she wasn’t supposed to wander the mansion alone at night, but she had no choice because she urgently needed to go.

Unlike the masters’ chambers, which each had their own lavatory, the servants were only permitted to use the designated facilities. Hugging herself against the chill seeping through her thin nightclothes, the child climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Then she heard faint voices drifting from somewhere ahead.

She could not make out the words, but tried to continue on her way. However, the adults’ voices grew louder and sharper, each syllable laced with hostility. As the argument intensified, she slowed her steps, edging along the wall and drawing closer without making a sound.

Her parents had always warned her never to pry into the affairs of those above her and to never let curiosity lead her into matters that did not concern her.

However, a child’s curiosity quickly forgets such warnings.

“How many times has this happened now? You borrow such a large sum of money, only to squander it on gambling? Do you think I would lend you any more money, knowing that?”

There was a brief silence. Then another voice responded, almost defensively.

“I told you! If that damned baron hadn’t resorted to tricks, I would have won and paid you back. Help me this once more and I’ll repay you with interest. I had to spend a bit on my daughter’s birthday celebrations this year, that’s all…”

The closer she crept, the clearer the voices became. The argument was coming from the room of the stern master — the one who always gave her cold looks whenever he saw her near the young lord.

Bella peered through the slightly ajar door.

A guest who had come to the mansion was engaged in a fierce quarrel with the master.

“I lent you money all this time out of respect for our friendship, but this time you’ll receive nothing!”

“Ha! Friendship? Did you just say friendship?”

The guest let out a mocking laugh at the master’s shout.

“It’s not friendship—it’s hush money. You’re afraid the countess might learn what you and my wife did, aren’t you?”

“And haven’t I met all your demands up to now? After taking all that money, you should have kept quiet! Yet you still dare to ask for more?”

With their backs turned, Bella could not see their faces, but she could see that they were making wild and exaggerated gestures as the argument continued. Watching them, she felt an increasing sense that something was terribly wrong.

“You’re not the only one with leverage. If Scarlett finds out the truth, I won’t stay silent either. I know you’ve been dabbling in more than just gambling.”

“James Fraser!”

At that moment, Bella realized that she had overheard something she never should have.

She had to get back to her room before anyone found out.

Just as this thought crossed her mind, there was a loud crash.

A heavy thud echoed through the room, as though something—or someone—had been knocked over.