After finishing his meal, Logan returned to his work without hesitation. Faint sounds drifted up from downstairs as the servants began their morning tasks, but he paid them no attention.

Bella, who had not left the bedroom, finished tidying the bed and getting ready for the day. Then she paused, looking around for something else to do. Under the strict regime of the exacting Countess, servants were expected to be busy at all times during working hours. However, as the Duke had given her no further instructions, she felt unbearably restless, as if her whole body were itching with unease while she stood idle.

Standing quietly at his side, Bella stole a glance at him.

Sure enough, the Duke of Fraser was the workaholic he was said to be. Seeing him in person, she finally understood.

Still, she had heard that the young lady’s fiancé cherished her deeply.

It felt strange.

If he had travelled all this way to attend his fiancée’s birthday celebrations, why was he spending the entire day buried in documents?

‘…This is none of my place to question.’

The doubt flickered briefly before she pushed it from her mind and resumed moving about the room.

‘When the body is at ease, the mind wanders to useless thoughts.’

Careful not to disturb him, she softened her footsteps and moved quietly around the room. However, he seemed irritated by her caution, and soon she felt his gaze on her.

“You’ve been moving about since morning without a moment’s rest. If you have nothing to do, why not sit and take a break?”

“I apologize for disturbing your work. I simply feel uncomfortable doing nothing.”

“There’s no one here to monitor you. What does it matter?”

Logan studied Bella, who stubbornly persisted despite his suggestion. He knew she had got up early to coincide with his waking hour; he had only meant to give her a chance to rest. Yet her answer remained as firm as ever.

‘As expected of someone from the Everett household.’

The House of Everett had long since withdrawn from politics, supporting itself with the income from its estate. They were a typical old provincial noble family. Satisfied with their stable and comfortable life in the provinces, they made no real attempt to advance to the capital. Yet, unwilling to relinquish all their influence, they schemed endlessly to forge alliances with the city’s aristocrats.

They were precisely the kind of people that Logan despised: individuals who waited for opportunities to fall into their laps rather than striving for them themselves.

In contrast, Vincent, who had grown up among them, seemed almost like an anomaly.

Leaving the stubborn maid behind, Logan turned back to his paperwork.

“Is there something you’re looking for?”

Noticing Logan rifling through the scattered papers on his desk as though searching for something, Bella spoke up.

“Are you looking for something?”

“I believe I saw an article about the Craig Charity Association. It’s nothing important, so don’t trouble yourself.”

“Craig… I think I’ve seen that somewhere.”

Bella slowly scanned the bedroom. Her gaze fell on a newspaper on the side table. She carefully picked it up; she had gathered it together while making the bed earlier.

“Ah, here it is.”

She stepped forward and held out the newspaper to the duke. As they exchanged it, their fingertips brushed.

Bella flinched as though she had been burned, quickly withdrawing her hand. She hastily turned away to hide the flush rising to her cheeks, but could still feel his gaze fixed on her.

“Can you read?”

She had braced herself for a reprimand, feeling a sense of tension coil in her chest. However, the question that left his lips was wholly unexpected. Taking a deep breath, Bella nodded.

“Yes. I can read simple books.”

A subtle shift flickered across Logan’s expression. After a moment’s consideration, he handed the newspaper back to her.

“Then read this.”

Under his intense gaze, Bella lowered her eyes to the first page of the article and began to read aloud. Although she knew how to read, she hadn’t done so in front of anyone for a long time. Without realizing it, her body stiffened with tension.

The pressure not to make a mistake in front of the Duke was weighing heavily on her mind. She had no mental space left to think about the way he was watching her.

In the quiet room, her voice was the only sound. She read carefully, focusing on each word so that she would not stumble, while Logan observed her in silence.

“That’s enough.”

He stopped her just as she reached the end of the first page. His gaze shifted from curiosity and interest to admiration as he regarded Bella, who had read the dense article without stumbling.

“Did they teach you to read at the count’s estate?”

Bella, who had been returning the newspaper to him, lifted her head at the question.

“No. I already knew how. Even though I lost my memory, I could still read and speak. I don’t know how I learned, though.”

She spoke with a faint smile, but an unsteady tremor lingered at the end of her voice.

“Perhaps… my parents taught me, before I came to the orphanage.”

When she mentioned her absent parents, Bella’s expression gradually darkened.

Sometimes she imagines what life with them was like.

‘Did I ever have days like that?’

A time when she introduced herself by the name her parents had given her, surrounded by boundless love.

If she hadn’t lost her memory, would she be living with her family now?

“Do you miss having a family?”

“I’m not sure….”

At his question, Bella lifted her gaze toward the ceiling.

“I don’t even know who my family is. Sometimes I imagine that maybe I did have a family. Perhaps my parents are still searching for the daughter they lost in an accident.”

Beneath her calm exterior was a quiet sincerity worn thin by years of silent longing. And yet she understood the truth.

Yes, it had all been nothing more than her imagination.

It was impossible for someone who had drifted from one orphanage to another to have a family waiting for them somewhere. Whatever little she knew must have been picked up by chance along the way. She was no longer young enough to cling to fragile hopes over something so insignificant.

She knew it now.

No one was coming to look for her.

***

Before long, Bella found herself assisting the Duke with his work. Her task was to read and sort documents containing photographs and descriptions of various cities.

Initially, she struggled to make progress, re-reading the same lines repeatedly in an attempt to avoid making any mistakes. However, as time passed, her pace slowly improved.

As soon as she finished one file, another would be placed in front of her. She didn’t even have a chance to get up from her seat.

Had the duke been managing all of this on his own?

Seeing the mountain of paperwork remain stubbornly high despite his relentless efforts, she began to understand why he spent entire days seated at his desk.

‘If the duke works without rest, how can I allow myself to be idle?’

Despite the dull ache in her lower back and her straining eyes from sitting for so long, Bella did not stop.

Logan watched her work beside him for hours without hearing a single complaint from her.

She claimed there was nothing she could do properly. Yet the way she handled the documents, and the quiet thoughtfulness with which she drew the curtains when the afternoon sunlight spilled across his desk, suggested otherwise.

He had only observed her for a day, yet she had already overturned every assumption he had made about her. His curiosity deepened.

His gaze shifted from her face to the handkerchief wrapped around her wrist. It hadn’t been there the first time he saw her.

As a faint, unspoken tension settled between them, there was a knock at the door.

They both looked up at once, their eyes turning towards the unexpected visitor who had arrived without warning.