The duke opened his eyes and considered for a moment before adding the condition “as much as possible, out of Daniela’s sight.” That went without saying.

The moment he finished speaking, the duke lifted the whiskey glass in front of him and drained it in one go.

“I will take my leave now. I have put Miss Adele’s room at the far western end of the first floor.”

Bailey bowed politely and stepped out of the duke’s study.

The duke said nothing in response to Bailey’s words. It seemed Adele’s room would simply remain where it was.

With the duke’s permission secured, Bailey kept a close watch on the duchess’s movements.

The duchess’s daily routine was fairly simple.

Being a woman of deep faith, she visited the chapel often even on days that were not Sunday, and most of her days were filled with shopping, medical appointments, and tea gatherings with a few other ladies.

That day, Daina, who followed the duchess like a shadow, went out with her as well, so Bailey took Adele to the library.

A gasp of delight from Adele echoed through the library shortly after.

“Wow, this is even bigger than the study at our house!”

“The master and the young master both enjoy reading. There should be many fine books spanning all eras and regions. Pick a few to read and let’s get back to your room quickly.”

“Yes!”

Adele looked around the library with sparkling eyes.

The expensive mahogany bookshelves were arranged in double rows, and a gleaming metal ladder sat neatly on the rail in front of them.

The shelves reached quite high, so the books near the top clearly required climbing the ladder to retrieve. For twelve-year-old Adele, the bookshelf ladder was a powerful temptation.

Bailey grew anxious at the thought of someone walking in and felt time was moving far too slowly, while Adele, breathing in the scent of books for the first time in ages, felt time was moving far too quickly.

Either way, Adele chose a few books that caught her interest and quietly memorized where each one sat on the shelf.

She would need to put them back in the right place next time if she wanted to be allowed to borrow books again.

Adele’s steps were very light on the way back to her room.

The library was on the third floor and her room was on the first, so she inevitably crossed paths with servants moving busily up and down.

They watched Adele with the same mix of curiosity and contempt as usual, but today she barely noticed. All she wanted was to get back to her room and read.

Bailey taught her embroidery and sewing in between, and a few days passed with Adele reading in her room, when she finally received permission to go out to the garden.

That day, the duchess was going to the chapel, and there was also a parish meeting, so she would return to Heitzrind quite late.

Bailey noticed Adele’s eyes drifting again and again to the window and the outer shutters even as she sewed, so she gave her a few firm reminders and let her go out and play.

“Thank you so much!”

Adele said quickly, straightening her shoes at the outer shutters.

A proper young lady would have crossed the first-floor entrance hall and gone out through the front gate, but there was no reason to draw anyone’s attention, so Bailey let her go out through the shutters.

“Keep what I said in mind. You must be back in your room in exactly one hour to continue the sewing you left off.”

“Yes, I won’t forget.”

“Also, as I just told you, you must never go into the garden behind the golden lion statue. The gate will be locked anyway, so you won’t be able to get in, but that is the mistress’s private garden.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Try to walk only on dry ground and stay out of the mud.”

“Yes.”

Adele, usually so composed, was squirming.

She wanted to run out into the sunny summer garden, but Bailey’s instructions had no end.

The charity school strictly forbade going outside to play as well, so the last time Adele breathed the outdoor air freely felt like it was at the very tail end of early spring.

She seemed to recall the air smelling of earth waking from winter.

Bailey seemed to notice Adele’s restlessness and smiled as she spoke.

“Here, these are ginger biscotti. If you get a little hungry, find a spot you like and eat them.”

Bailey pushed something roughly the size of her fist, wrapped in a paper bag, into the pocket of Adele’s apron.

“Thank you!”

Adele smiled, pushed open the outer shutters, and ran out.

My, the joy of it. Bailey shook her head slowly and left Adele’s room. A small smile touched the corners of her lips as she walked toward the corridor.

Heitzrind manor in June was breathtaking.

When Adele arrived, rain was falling, the sky was grey, and her heart was no different from the weather, so she took in nothing properly.

Stepping out through the shutters and looking at the manor from a distance, it was a truly magnificent and stately place.

The walls looked old, built of solid stone, and ivy climbed long up the right side.

The red roof and spires complemented the blue summer sky beautifully, and the arched front gate, the many latticed windows, and the balconies were all striking. Behind the manor, a deep green forest spread wide.

The manor where Adele grew up was said to be quite impressive, but it was nothing compared to Heitzrind of the Clausen ducal family.

A sound of wonder escaped her on its own.

‘This is no time for that. Get to the garden.’

Adele pulled her gaze away from the manor with some effort.

The manor was magnificent, but the rose garden visible from her room window was even more beautiful.

The scent of summer trees drifted richly from all around.

The garden had neatly trimmed trees lined up in rows, and following the path brought her to a place where lovely rosebushes wound together like a maze.

‘It’s truly beautiful….’

Adele thought, gazing around in a daze.

She never knew roses could bloom in so many colors until she saw this place.

Small Tania roses bloomed like jewels scattered throughout the shrubs, and the pink petals of lovely repeat-blooming roses swayed in the breeze.

Walking a little further, she came upon bold, vivid red roses blooming in full, glorious abundance.

Adele touched the petals carefully, mindful of the thorns. The soft rose petals were as gentle as her mother’s hands.

The various rosebushes grew in their own orderly way, stretching on seemingly without end.

A gardener must have just watered them, for small puddles formed here and there in the fine soil.

The puddles held the clear blue Portzsheim sky and the many-colored roses blooming beneath it like a paradise, reflected perfectly within.

Adele remembered Bailey’s warning not to dirty her shoes and stepped lightly to avoid the puddles.

She walked slowly, taking in the seemingly endless stretch of rosebushes with her eyes, and grew a little hungry.

Going outside after so long, breathing clean air and walking briskly, she felt hunger come on faster than usual. Her thoughts turned to the paper bag in her apron pocket.

‘Is there somewhere I could sit and eat?’

Past midday, the summer sun was growing quite intense, so Adele decided to rest a while in the shade of a tree and eat the snack Bailey packed for her.

The rosebushes were all short, so Adele kept walking without stopping, looking for a larger and quieter patch of shade.

Just then, past the edge of the green shrubbery, a blue iron gate came into view in the distance.

Drawn by something she couldn’t name, Adele moved toward it.

The blue iron gate, engraved with a beautiful siren and a ship tossed in a storm, stood half open, seemingly beckoning to her.

Someone must have painted it carefully many times over, for there was not a single chip or scratch on it.

She gripped the sunlit gate and peered inside.

Beside the gate stood a stone wall covered in ivy, so the iron bars of the blue gate were the only opening through which she could see.

Adele poked her head through the half-open gate and looked around.

Unlike the low rosebushes of the rose garden, which barely reached Adele’s height, the garden beyond the blue gate had quite large trees clustered together like a small forest.

In contrast to the soft dirt path of the rose garden, the ground here was carpeted in green-leafed grass, and white birch trees were visible in the distance.

Adele thought she would rest there a while, eat her snack, and then head back.

Then Bailey’s warning came to her suddenly.

‘It’s fine. Bailey definitely said the mistress’s garden would have a locked gate. And I don’t see a golden lion statue anywhere.’

Adele knew the duchess was out, but she still felt a flicker of unease, and had been diligently searching for the golden lion statue throughout her walk in the rose garden.