I’m perfectly fine. Truly, perfectly fine, and quite calm…

Inside the carriage, Charlotte breathed deeply and worked hard to soothe herself. But her heart simply would not steady.

Ahh, honestly…

This was already her third outing. Surely she ought to feel more matter-of-fact about it than the first? And yet today made Charlotte the most nervous of all. In a bad way, at that.

The first outing she’d at least made together with Elena, and the second, though she’d gone alone, had been a visit to a place she’d been to once before, so it had been bearable enough. And she’d had no leisure to let her mind wander, what with the fifty gold and all, and since she’d ridden the carriage straight from the manor to the Bayen manor, she’d had no need to feel any other burden.

But this time was different. A shopping district, of all things.

Charlotte’s feelings were tangled. She was relieved he hadn’t summoned her to some stuffy, enclosed place, yet anxious all the same, wondering what she’d do if, in so wide and open a spot, she came face to face with someone who happened to recognize her.

No. Stop thinking about it. Stop.

The thing she feared wouldn’t come to pass. It would be a pleasant time…

No. Spending it with Mr. Bayen—can it really be a pleasant time?

No matter how she thought about it, Raymond Bayen was a man far removed from the ordinary.

Was there another person in all the world who’d secured a companion to enjoy his holiday with for fifty gold? There wouldn’t be.

Charlotte let out a sigh and brought a hand to the window. The sunlight was warm.

…In any case, this place really is warm.

Elena had grumbled about the cold, but to Charlotte, this was nothing of the sort. Around this time last year, Charlotte, back in Sandem, used to shiver and tremble even tucked under her blankets.

Was the temperature differing this much between the two regions purely a matter of geography, or was this year unusually warm? If the latter, then Sandem too would be awaiting the coming winter amid warmer-than-usual weather.

In that instant, Charlotte recalled the sight of Charles and Fiona walking the street so affectionately. Months had passed, so Fiona’s once-flat belly would be quite swollen by now. Would Charles, warm weather or no, fret and fuss, worried Fiona might catch cold? And how would Fiona respond to that? Would she, harboring discontent at Charles’s excessive worrying, puff out her cheeks adorably?

…The things I think about.

Charlotte bit the tender flesh inside her cheek. Compared to several months ago she had improved a great, truly great deal, but she couldn’t entirely sever her thoughts of Charles and Fiona. Especially on nights when she wasn’t tired, lying awake, tormented by thoughts of them, was an everyday thing.

Will I be able to escape it someday…

If it was like this even now, when they were out of sight—then if she returned to Sandem someday… and happened to run into them by chance…

The me of that moment…

…will I be all right?

When Charlotte hung her head low, the carriage slowly came to a stop.

Have we arrived already?

Just as Charlotte was about to check outside the window—whoosh!—someone threw open the carriage door.

“!”

Startled, Charlotte’s upper body recoiled backward. Folding both hands over her thumping, pounding chest, she stared with eyes opened wide enough to fall out at the spot where the pure white sunlight came flooding in.

“Lady Prairie.”

Gripping the carriage’s doorframe as though he’d crush it, Raymond pushed his upper body into the carriage. His face looked dark, in a sense quite apart from his having his back to the sun.

“A-am I late?”

“No. You’re not late.”

Then why had he opened the carriage door so abruptly, with such a grim face?

Ah. He really is a strange person…

Just as Charlotte forced down a dry swallow, he said,

“Yesterday.”

He spoke a little hurriedly. Charlotte blinked, waiting for his words to continue. But what should he do but watch for Charlotte’s reaction, his lips merely parting and closing without sound.

What’s the matter with him? Did I do something wrong?

No. Looking at Raymond’s manner just now, it seemed rather as though he were the one who’d done something wrong. Could it be he regretted staking four hundred gold on the wager…? Ah—surely he didn’t regret writing off the fifty gold.

Then, knitting his brow, he moved his lips.

“When I said I’d buy your time, I meant it in a truly pure sense.”

It was so utterly unexpected a statement that Charlotte didn’t immediately grasp why he was saying it. Only after his guilt-laden green eyes were caught within her blue ones did her mind work sharply.

“Ah, yes. I knew that.”

Charlotte said, wearing a soft smile. Having stared fixedly at that face, he suddenly whipped his head around and moved his lips.

“But just yesterday, didn’t you keep asking things like whether you really only had to meet with me? Wasn’t it because you were worried that you asked such questions?”

“I did, but I cleared up the misunderstanding once I heard your answer, Mr. Bayen. Otherwise, would I be here right now?”

“It’s not that you cleared up the misunderstanding completely—you may have come here soothing yourself with the thought that surely such a thing couldn’t be the case.”

“…”

When Charlotte couldn’t manage any reply, his head turned toward her once more. Onto the face that had been laden with guilt mere moments ago, a different emotion was now surging.

“When an unpleasant thought occurred to you at my proposal, you should have gotten angry on the spot.”

“It might have been my own misunderstanding. And this time it was a misunderstanding too…”

“Making you misunderstand in the first place is itself my fault!”

Raymond reproached her fiercely. Charlotte’s fingers twitched.

“If getting angry was hard, you should have at least asked.”

“I-I did ask, though…?”

“You should ask outright. How can you go around it in circles like that? Of course, even if you ask firmly, the sort of bastards who’ve made up their minds to deceive you will play innocent and make excuses that they didn’t mean it that way—!”

In that case, wasn’t there no point in asking at all…? Just as Charlotte was chewing over the question squirming up inside her, he said,

“The world is so full of irredeemable, no-good bastards you’d trip over them. So why do you trust people this easily? What if it led to something truly dangerous—!”

Raymond swallowed his words and let out a deep sigh.

“Haah…!”

Just speaking of it turned his stomach and made his head spin. Fortunately he wasn’t that sort of man, but there was no guarantee that, going forward, Charlotte would meet only people like him in her life. If a piece of garbage who’d hidden vile, dreadful desires behind the mask of a kindly gentleman approached pretending to offer help, would this naive young lady suspect him first, or choose to trust?

“From now on, be careful. Tap the stone bridge several times before you cross it, I mean. No matter how tempting a thing someone offers, if it leaves you with an uneasy feeling, refuse on the spot. No—refuse even if you don’t feel uneasy.”

Charlotte was utterly dumbfounded.

I just got scolded, didn’t I…?

Raymond’s words were not so different from telling a child that you mustn’t follow a stranger who offers you candy.

Huh…

Charlotte had never in her wildest dreams imagined that, fully grown, she’d be on the receiving end of the sort of nagging meant for children. And from this man, no less.

Then, roughly sweeping his hair back, he said,

“Who gives financial help for no reason at all? A man, to a woman, especially? As if that’s even conceivable. Most of them are harboring filthy ulterior motives.”

Charlotte thought so too. Even Elena, who saw the world so happily, had worried over that very point. But surely Raymond, of all people, shouldn’t be giving Charlotte advice like this…?

“Excepting me, of course.”

As if he’d read the question Charlotte harbored, he said hurriedly. His voice carried well enough, but somehow it sounded like he was making an excuse.

At any rate, Charlotte was at a loss. How was she supposed to respond? I’m sorry? I’ll be careful from now on?

“…Thank you for worrying about me.”

Charlotte said, watching Raymond’s expression. At that, Raymond’s furrowed brow eased slightly.

“As I said before, it was I who was careless.”

With any other woman he’d never have created such a situation in the first place, but even had things come to this, he’d have ended it with a mere apology. But because it was you. Worried as if over a child set loose by the water’s edge, he found himself urging caution upon her, again and again.

Ahem, ahem. Raymond cleared his throat and said,

“…I apologize once more, Lady Prairie.”

He extended his hand toward Charlotte. When Charlotte just kept gazing at the hand, Raymond said quickly,

“I offered it as basic manners. There’s no other meaning to it.”

“Ah. I know. I’m sorry. My mind wandered for a moment…”

Just now, Charlotte had remembered the fact that she was Lady Prairie of a viscount’s house and that he was a Bayen.

Anyone watching would think Mr. Bayen was the noble.

That was how Raymond’s manner came across. It was plainly the tone one used with an inferior, wasn’t it? No matter how rich a man might be, it would be unthinkable in Sandem. Was this acceptable in Raymond’s home country? Or was this simply the atmosphere of Glasko? In any case, it wasn’t that Raymond’s manner had hurt Charlotte’s feelings. She could lower herself however much was needed in the face of fifty gold. And above all, his tone wasn’t merely all sharp edges, after all.

It feels like he’s worried about me, so it isn’t entirely unpleasant.

Raymond raised an eyebrow. He was curious what she might have been thinking. But the unfamiliar sensation of the small hand that soon rose into his promptly hijacked his every nerve.