Quickly wiping her eyes, Veronica hid her hands behind her back.

Marienne carefully approached and asked.

“Are you alright?”

A sudden fierce determination rose in her wet eyes.

“How could I be alright when you ruined everything?”

“Miss Rampton.”

“Her Highness suddenly left Rockshield last night. Are you satisfied after driving her away? How could you be so wicked? What if Her Highness develops ill intentions! Will you take responsibility?”

“How is that my fault? I didn’t do anything.”

Veronica sneered and sharpened her gaze.

“How shameless. This is why we shouldn’t deal with low-born stock.”

“Why are you so desperate to torment me? What have I done so wrong every time!”

“Let me advise you. You will fall into the abyss. Only when you’re hanging from the ceiling, turned cold, will you realize, that you wished for an impossible dream. Not knowing that people around you suffer because of that foolish selfishness! Falling in love and struggling…… and then……”

Veronica trailed off and burst into tears.

The girl’s shoulders looked narrow as she collapsed down.

Bell’s words about Veronica Rampton came to mind.

‘Miss Rampton’s birth mother committed suicide by hanging after being discovered having an affair with a servant. The young lady developed mutism from shock without even having her debutante ball.’

Scabs and raw flesh around her fingernails were briefly visible through her hair.

Marienne sat beside the sobbing Veronica.

She felt pity. The pain crystallized at the end of her crying was terribly hard and sharp.

Marienne stayed by her side until the girl’s tears stopped. For some reason, she cried too.

Though she wasn’t in a position to feel sympathy for a noble young lady’s sorrow, the girl’s fingers looked so sore and painful that her eyes kept growing hot.

Wiping her tears, Veronica raised her head.

“This is absurd. Why are you crying? Is something wrong with your head?”

“Let’s get up now. And get your fingers treated too.”

Veronica pushed Marienne away with all her might. Then she glared viciously.

“How dare someone like you pity me? You lowborns who killed my mother and even trampled my life, how dare you! How dare you to me!”

“If you don’t want pity, carry yourself with dignity. Stop persecuting innocent people and abusing yourself with guilt! Because you’re too innocent to be a villain who torments others, my lady.”

“Shut up! Don’t act like you know me.”

“Then tell me about yourself. What fears torment you, how great your pain is. I can’t solve it, but I’ll listen. I’ll pay attention to your words. It’s not pity. I’m not in a position for that either.”

Tears welled up in Veronica’s eyes as she glared fiercely.

Marienne moved a bit closer to her.

“Please. Allow me into your heart just a little.”

Veronica’s lips trembled and her head dropped to the ground.

Her ragged fingers painfully scraped the stone floor. Painful confessions burst out little by little.

“It’s…… the day my mother passed away. No one else knows. I want to see her but there’s no grave to visit, and I can’t speak of it freely. Even when I want to recall her face, I can’t remember. Only that terrifying face when she hanged…… only that face comes to mind and it’s frightening and painful. But I still want to see her. Even though she abandoned me, I miss her so much.”

Marienne embraced Veronica as she collapsed in sobs. And she cried together while continuously stroking the trembling slender back.

The deep pain knotted in their hearts slowly flowed out as tears over a long time.

When the morning fog dissipated, the crying changed to small gasps.

Marienne took out a handkerchief from her robe pocket and handed it to Veronica.

Veronica, who had been hastily wiping her nose on her dress sleeve, hesitated before accepting the handkerchief and blowing her nose.

Their surprised eyes met at the unexpectedly wet sound.

The two turned their reddened eyes away.

Veronica secretly hid the weighted handkerchief in her skirt folds.

“I’ll give you another handkerchief.”

“Alright.”

The thick fog had cleared and morning sunlight spread.

Marienne brushed off her seat, stood up, and extended her hand to Veronica.

“Shall we continue the walk we left unfinished last time?”

About to take the offered hand, Veronica stood up with a prim expression.

“Not to that extent. I just got a bit emotional for a moment.”

Marienne carefully followed beside Veronica as she headed to the garden.

Though they didn’t link arms, they matched their steps roughly without growing distant either.

Marienne quietly began sharing her story.

Veronica, who was shocked by the rat-infested orphanage, mentioned the tutor who made her recite historical texts in ancient language, making Marienne turn pale.

A lukewarm breeze warmed by sunlight passed between the two.

* * *

“Miss!”

Bell ran to Marienne as she returned from her walk.

“I searched every corner of the castle for you. Where did you go dressed so lightly?”

“I went for a walk.”

“Good heavens! Miss, your eyes…… Your eyes have become like a frog’s? There’s a banquet this evening!”

Smiling awkwardly, Marienne glanced at the side of the bed.

Bell noticed and satisfied Marienne’s curiosity.

“The Duke waited for you but left just now. I nearly fainted when I came into the room early this morning. Piles of grass and flowers everywhere in the room with the Duke lying on the floor. And you, nowhere to be seen. You’d better not ask what I thought. You won’t be able to handle it.”

Bell chattered endlessly while skillfully pouring water into the basin.

Having stayed up all night, Marienne yawned while listening to the chattering nagging.

“Bell, I’ll skip breakfast. I’m tired and need to sleep.”

“I’ll bring you cold cloths to put over your eyes while you sleep. But can you sleep in this bed?”

Bell looked troubled at the bed that had become closer to a wooden nest.

“I’m used to it now, it’s fine.”

Marienne lay on the bed with the cloth over her eyelids.

Perhaps because she had cried so much. She could fall asleep with a lighter heart.

Soon she sank into a deep dream.

The smell of damp mold and rotting wood. Looking around at the creaking bed sound, it was Villao Orphanage.

Tears suddenly fell at seeing the orphanage uniform with burst seams on her smaller body.

Why did I come back? I really hate this.

The rat-shaped director screamed while striking down with a switch.

The orphan covered her ears and crouched in the corner.

Crash, bang.

Raising her head at the loud noise, the drunk tanner raised his fuzzy hands.

The shouting with flying spittle was probably cursing her to buy alcohol.

When kicks flew, she quickly ran away.

Her hair was tangled like animal fur and her dirt-stained clothes were no different from rags.

The young slave walked through puddles of sewage without shoes.

When she wiped her tears with her sleeve, there was the Rose Shoe Shop she missed.

Brother and mother, her first family. Kind people who ate together, talked and laughed together.

She suddenly stood up from smiling and embroidering fabric, seized by anxiety.

She couldn’t see anyone.

She was left alone in the dark, pitch-black alley.

Tears fell from loneliness and sorrow. The lonely one sat down sobbing in fear.

Then a boy’s voice came from somewhere.

Marienne. My Marienne. I waited for you.

Through long days and nights, spring and summer, and dry autumn and harsh winter. I desperately wished only for you to come.

Come back to me again. Please, accept my desperate heart.

“Haah!”

Marienne rose from the bed with a deep breath. The wet cloth fell.

It was a dream.

Marienne left the bed and drank the water placed on the table.

Perhaps because of the heavy dream, her heart raced with inexplicable fear.

Sitting at the vanity and collecting herself, she took out the handkerchief stored in the drawer.

Three dried wildflowers lay within.

Soon the petals would lose their remaining moisture and crumble.

She was afraid to touch them, fearing she might hasten that time.

Her stinging eyes grew increasingly hot.

Marienne raised her eyes to look at the unfamiliar woman in the mirror.

It was Veronica’s mother, who chose death out of premature fear of an unrequited love.

Black dead flowers were falling from her perforated heart.

How afraid must you have been of accepting and giving love that you had to throw away your living life? Poor soul.

Marienne lowered her eyelids to drop tears, then raised her eyes again.

The woman’s face with death’s traces on her neck had changed to her own.

The black flowers flowing from her chest were turning red.

Marienne tightly closed her eyes and shook her head.

No. I’m different from you.

Because I already know the end of this relationship.

Even if we share our hearts, I won’t dream of a future.

I’m confident I won’t cross the line where everyone can be at peace.

I’ll only love for the moments, until the permitted time.

So I’m different from you who dreamed of everything and fell.

I was only surprised seeing his woman because it was the first time.

If I keep emptying and discarding my heart, a moment of indifference will come.

Marienne lowered her eyes to the dried flowers covered by the handkerchief. And kissed the Duke’s heart that he had given.

If I can’t leave him, I must endure the pain. This is the best I can do for now.

* * *

“How is it? Do you like it?”

Bell asked while arranging Marienne’s upswept hair.

Having finished her preparations, Marienne smiled at Bell in the mirror and nodded.

From the jewelry box on the vanity, Bell took out a necklace made of pearls and rubies and placed it around Marienne’s neck.

The Duke’s servant had brought the jewels just earlier.

“You’re beautiful, Miss. And fortunately, your swollen eyes have gone down. Soon there won’t be any trace.”

“It’s thanks to your skills. Thank you.”

Shortly after, a servant in formal uniform guided the two to the banquet hall.

“Miss, have a happy time.”

Bell touched the abundant folds of Marienne’s dress and stepped back.

“Thank you.”

“Please go now. The Duke will be waiting.”

Tense, Marienne stepped into the brilliant light of the opening banquet hall.

The nobles’ searching gazes poured down at once.

As the music quieted, silence briefly flowed through the banquet hall.

The Duke’s bella they had only heard rumors about.

And a commoner woman with special healing powers.

Their interest in Marienne Rose was heated to an excessive degree.