Once Isabella was able to walk unaided, she decided to visit her parents’ graves first.

Although she still needed a cane for support, she felt this was a victory.

The family headstones stood side by side, bearing the marks of time but still well maintained. There was no creeping moss or sign of neglect. The stone had been cared for.

Standing before them, Isabella lowered her gaze to the bouquet resting at their base. The flowers were still fresh, their colors bright and vibrant.

It seemed that someone had been there before her.

‘Who could it be?’

She didn’t know who had visited her parents, but she was grateful that someone had. Giving a faint smile, she gently placed the flowers she had brought with her next to the existing bouquet.

“Mother, Father. I’m here.”

Kneeling before the grave, she spoke in a trembling voice.

Deep down, she had always believed that if her memories returned, she would see them again.

Even now, the reality of their deaths had not fully sunk in.

She longed for parents whose faces she could not remember; she had never imagined that they would die.

Tears fell onto the headstone.

The sorrow she had suppressed for so long spilled over at once.

“Young Master says he likes me. He says he’s liked me for a long time. But… I don’t know what I should do.”

After crying for a long time, Isabella finally opened up about the fear she had kept hidden from everyone.

Thanks to devoted treatment, even her burn scars had faded. The body that had once seemed beyond repair was healing steadily. But her heart felt as though it were rotting from within.

She could not confess her feelings for Logan to anyone.

She was certain that she loved him. Yet whenever she thought about marriage, the hard walls of reality rose before her.

She did not want to be his mistress. But she knew that the desire to have him wholly, to stand beside him as his equal, was not something the world would easily grant her.

So she ran.

She had fled before her feelings for the Duke became too deep to contain.

Even after he confessed his feelings for her, she fled. His life was too vast and heavy for her to carry.

Logan Fraser was a man adored and envied across the Empire.

Isabella had once been embroiled in a scandal. She knew what it meant to stand at his side. She had seen how easily a life could be shattered by a single careless word and how much harsher the judgement would be if it were directed at her.

“He’s truly a good man… and that’s why I’m even more lost.”

Because she loved him, she could not make her choice lightly. The moment she took his hand, she would never be able to go back to being who she once was.

Not as Isabella Wins, an ordinary girl.

Nor as Bella of the Rosedale estate.

“If Mother were here, she would surely tell me what I should do, wouldn’t she?”

Isabella asked in a voice she tried to keep light, but no answer came. In that silence, the absence of her mother felt painfully real.

“I might as well…”

Just as she began to continue, a guard signaled that it was time. Reluctant to leave after such a brief visit, Isabella lingered for a long while before slowly rising to her feet.

“I’ll come again.”

She turned back several times before finally walking away from the graves.

***

After two full months, Isabella was finally discharged from hospital and returned to the hotel.

Logan had originally planned for her to move into his estate on her discharge date. However, due to unexpected construction delays, they had no choice but to stay at the hotel for the time being.

“We had intended to prepare a larger suite for you. However, as the construction schedule remains uncertain, we have arranged the room you previously used. It hasn’t been assigned to any guests since you left, so you shouldn’t experience any inconvenience.”

As these words sank in, Isabella looked around.

The room was exactly as she remembered it.

The furniture was in the same place and the ornaments were in the same spots — everything was exactly as she had left it.

It felt as though she had merely stepped out for a short while and returned.

“It’s all right. This room is already more than I deserve.”

The staff member who guided her inside was the same one who had attended to her before. Isabella offered a warm smile at the familiar face.

“The manager asked me to convey his apologies for not being able to provide you with a room in better condition.”

However, instead of responding warmly, the staff member bowed even more deeply.

It was only then that Isabella noticed the change in their attitude.

Before, there had merely been the natural distance between guest and staff. Now, however, they were treating her with excessive caution. They no longer met her gaze, despite having once exchanged light-hearted jokes.

“You can treat me as you did before. I’ve fully recovered.”

Smiling gently, Isabella tried to ease the awkwardness. After spending so long in hospital, she felt that she had caused unnecessary concern.

However, the expression on the staff member’s face only worsened.

“How could I possibly do that? And please… speak more casually. You are soon to become the Duchess…”

At those words, Isabella stiffened.

Only then did she understand the strange change in demeanor. They must have misunderstood the Duke’s attentiveness toward her.

‘Even so, I will never become the Duchess.’

The idea of a commoner — let alone a former maid — becoming a duchess was absurd. There was nothing more absurd than the name Isabella Fraser.

For a moment, Isabella considered setting the record straight. But she stopped herself. What she had said to reassure herself might only burden the staff further.

It reminded her of her own past, when no matter how much Young Master Vincent told her to relax and treat him casually, she could never bridge the distance between them.

“I’d like to rest for a while. Would it be all right if I stayed alone?”

“Ah—of course. You must be tired after going out for the first time in so long. I fear I’ve been troubling you too much. Please, rest comfortably.”

Upon hearing Isabella’s words, the staff member hurriedly finished their tasks and left the room.

Left alone, Isabella lay down on the bed.

Although she had returned to a familiar place, she felt uneasy for reasons she could not quite articulate. Still feeling that vague discomfort, she fell asleep.

***

Isabella awoke to the sound of knocking on the door.

She had fallen asleep during her brief outing without realizing it and was now exhausted. Running a hand through her tousled hair, she made her way to the door.

When she opened it, the first thing she saw was a bouquet of yellow flowers.

“Congratulations on your discharge.”

A gentle male voice drifted from behind the bouquet, large enough to conceal the man holding it.

It was Logan.

“The flowers… Thank you.”

Isabella was too startled to speak for a moment. Then she took the bouquet from him. It was heavier than she had expected, so she held it against her chest before stepping aside to let him in.

“Did you visit Henry and Maria?”

“Yes, it was a beautiful place. I was surprised at how well it has been maintained, even though it seems that no one has visited for a long time. Thanks to the joint burial, I was also able to pay my respects to people I used to know.”

After a brief pause, Isabella added quietly.

“Thank you for laying my parents to rest in such a good place.”

Logan looked at her as she gazed up at him, then turned his eyes away. The tips of his ears seemed faintly red.

“They died while serving the family. That much consideration is only natural.”

His tone was calm, yet there was warmth beneath it.

After placing the bouquet on the table, Isabella sat down opposite him and began recounting her first outing in a long time.

She told him about the nurse who had come to see her off when she was discharged and had ended up in tears. She described the people she had seen through the carriage window on the way to the cemetery.

Despite seeing each other every day, leaving little opportunity for new stories, their conversation flowed without pause.

“Isabella.”

Logan listened intently, as if he was unwilling to miss a word of her lively chatter. He called her name in a low voice.

Her eyes lifted naturally to meet his.

Looking into her clear, untroubled gaze, he finally opened his mouth to speak.

“When shall we hold our wedding?”