When James nodded lightly, Selini asked for a drink. James gladly agreed and left his seat.

“But do you still have a fever? Doctor Jones said you had completely recovered.”

“Oh, no. That kind of thing…… I wanted to look pretty for you, Mom, so maybe I put on too much blush.”

Dahlia was startled and brought the back of her hand to her cheek. She had no idea her cheeks were still flushed.

⁕⁕⁕

While watching champagne being poured into a transparent glass, James caught his breath for a moment. The people who sharpened their claws and were wary whenever they saw him were mostly men, but somehow in the Corellin family it was the women who did so. But even so, he didn’t hate the Corellin family because it was where Dahlia belonged.

Even during the years when he worked frantically after joining the Foreign Ministry, James hadn’t expected that he would fall for one person to this extent. The same was true on that day when he finished his field work and left work early for once. James had made an appointment to meet his old friend Aiden at ‘Sky Blue Salon.’

Since it was a sudden appointment and would take some time, he answered that he would wait while drinking tea. There had been too few occasions to meet friends. It was partly because he was too busy with work, but even when he went to social parties or gatherings, it was all marriage talk, so he often just showed his face briefly and left.

If you miss the right age, it becomes difficult to find a good match, or something like that. Each time he thought to himself that he could just bring a distant nephew and raise him as an heir. That was because James at the time was crazy about his work and career. The salon had many customers, fitting for the afternoon hours.

“Welcome.”

The clerk guided James to a relatively quiet window seat. It was close to the group meeting seats, but most gatherings in the salon consisted of book clubs. Listening to conversations coming from beyond the thin, low partitions was quite interesting, so James preferred such situations.

“I think the protagonist is too mean. But since there’s usually a lot of content where the protagonist goes against the villain, it does feel unique.”

“I thought the same thing. I was really shocked when he directly made poison to get revenge on his brother in the middle part.”

The discussions of noble ladies were more interesting. It was the only time when they, who usually hid their true feelings, honestly displayed their eloquence. Add warm black tea and soft custard pudding to this. James spent his leisure time satisfactorily with this perfect combination.

“I actually liked it because the protagonist was bad.”

But suddenly a completely different opinion came out. There were often people who found evil protagonists attractive.

“Really? Is that so?”

“That’s right. I’m curious why you thought that way.”

“I never thought that way once while reading to the end.”

The book club members showed high interest in the member who presented a considerably different perspective. James was the same as them.

“He tells his story without hesitation and honestly confesses that he likes someone. I wanted to see such a refreshingly straightforward protagonist at least once.”

James empathized with every single word she said. The protagonist might be a bad person within the novel, but we who see that person don’t need to view him only badly. James glanced to the side. The woman who was calmly expressing her thoughts had a very striking appearance.

The peach-colored dress and ribbon decorations suited her really well. A person who sparkled like sunlight on water. He felt like he would be sucked in instantly. In the midst of this, what she was saying stuck in his ears. Had there been someone who caught his attention like this?

She was a beauty hard to forget once seen. But why did he feel like he had seen her somewhere before?

“Miss Corellin’s taste is indeed different.”

That’s strange. The only Miss Corellin I know is Aiden’s sister.

“Jimmy, do you have no one to meet after work but me?”

“……Is that woman in that meeting perhaps your sister?”

Without even looking, Aiden carefully pointed toward where Dahlia was.

“What are you talking about, suddenly? Is that…… That’s right. That is Lia.”

Then James realized.

That he had developed feelings for his friend’s sister.

⁕⁕⁕

“Ugh. I’m dying.”

Her throat was scratchy and her whole body ached faintly. Did she talk too much yesterday? The fundraising event ended successfully. Dahlia and James also donated 15,000 rounders. It was enough money to open a small shop in Robenty.

The two had income coming in monthly from three buildings in Robenty’s downtown area in addition to James’s salary. Also, the Luperton couple had assets inherited from each family when they married. As the saying goes that generosity comes from abundance, James and Dahlia could readily contribute large sums to year-end donations.

“My body feels more stiff today.”

At times like this, Dahlia acutely felt the difference in their stamina. James got up early in the morning without difficulty and went to work, while Dahlia slept in until the sun was high in the sky. Because of the party that went on until late at night, she fell asleep as if fainting as soon as she returned home. It was hard to understand how he could get up like clockwork and go to work.

Of course, Dahlia had had such days too. Even if she came in shot, she had to go to work normally the next day without fail. Just three years of rest had made her body much weaker. Just like how she was known in social circles as having frequent minor illnesses since childhood. In reality, when she was young, she often had fevers and caught colds frequently.

But as she became an adult, Dahlia was healthier than anyone, and her family also knew well that she no longer got sick often. However, because James and her family members wrapped Dahlia up so extraordinarily, they still thought she was weak. On top of that, rumors also circulated that James was a devoted husband who wanted to have children as late as possible. Anyway, the director was thorough even in creating public opinion.

“I want to be alone, so just bring up some tea.”

“Yes, madam.”

Dahlia sent Lucy away with a bright smile and barely crawled out of bed. Whenever she went to places where many people gathered, her energy was drained and she had to rest thoroughly in the bedroom all day. Time alone was important to her. This was why spy work, which mainly involved acting alone, was sometimes comfortable. She wanted to rest leisurely today too, but she had to go out for a dinner appointment shortly.

“I told them no one should come in until you call for a bath, madam.”

“Thank you. I’ll drink it well.”

After Lucy left, Dahlia immediately pushed away the armchair that James cherished. The couple’s bedroom had a hidden space that the maids would never know about. If you pushed the armchair and rolled up the oatmeal-colored carpet, there was a small door on the floor.

Through that door, if you went down to the mansion’s basement, there existed a spacious area that Dahlia could use for exercise. Dahlia changed into comfortable clothes and stretched for the first time in a while, thinking that she was probably the only bride who received an underground gym as a wedding gift from her husband.

“Huff. Huff.”

After finishing some light stretching, Dahlia began to jog slowly around the underground space. Her pace gradually quickened, and the sound of her footsteps echoed harshly through the wide area.

Thud thud thud.

“Red! Get it together!”

Thud thud thud.

Thud thud thud.

“Red!”

“……”

“Red! We need to get out of here right now.”

Thud thud thud.

Thud thud thud.

Thud thud thud.

“Can you get up?”

“……”

“Red!”

The afterimage of the blood-covered Chloe and the chaotic square where an explosion had occurred kept overlapping. Even as she became short of breath, the afterimage only became clearer. Just as all of Dahlia’s files at S11 had been disposed of, Dahlia wanted to dispose of all her memories too.

“Aah!”

Thud. Perhaps because she had too many distracting thoughts, Dahlia, who had been running intensely, finally fell. Her arms and legs were all scraped on the floor. Her right knee was bruised and most of the scraped areas were torn, with blood beading up.

“Huff. Huff. Haah……”

All the wounded areas throbbed and her heart pounded madly. Dahlia gasped with all her might. Her body and mind were all difficult and tired. Even though she had quit work, she wasn’t rescued from pain.

Why couldn’t we know about that incident in advance?

Why couldn’t we prevent it?

Breaking through the afterimages of the past, one fundamental question arose.

However, the answer always remained in the past, never resolved at all.

Dahlia habitually pushed that question back along with past memories.

“You don’t need to know or be curious about what happened to your family. The past isn’t important.”

Peter brought the young Dahlia and gave her various warnings. Among them, what he repeatedly said was to forget her birth parents and younger sibling.

“Just forget everything and be faithful to your future life.”

But family weren’t people who could be forgotten just because someone else told you to forget them. There was no one to comfort the young child who had lost precious people in an instant. Dahlia always thought of her family. She missed them regardless of good and sad times.

She couldn’t even erase the family she had been with in her very early childhood, so burying that incident from just a few years ago was naturally impossible.