Small.

Compared to the days when she had been like a little flour doll, she had certainly grown. But perhaps because Raymond’s hands had grown as well, it did not feel as though she had grown that much.

And when Charlotte was young, her hands had always been soft and warm. Now they were thin and dry, as though they might break if he held them even slightly too tightly.

His hand is so big…

Charlotte found Raymond’s hand fascinating—broad and sturdy, like a solid table. The only young man’s hand she had ever held until now was Charles’s, and Charles’s hand had been a little smaller than Raymond’s, and far softer.

After stepping down from the carriage, Charlotte lifted her head and looked up at Raymond.

She had felt it yesterday too, while trailing after him to the restaurant, but he really was tall. Not merely tall, either—his body itself felt trained and strong.

Was exercising his hobby?

“…What should we do today?”

“Well.”

Charlotte gave an awkward smile at that somewhat irresponsible answer.

“…For now, let’s look around and see what there is.”

With his arms crossed, Raymond glanced at Charlotte as he spoke.

“Provided you are all right with that, my lady.”

“Of course I am.”

Charlotte said it while pulling up the corners of her lips. It was a fairly decent smile, but to Raymond’s eyes, it only looked awkward.

All right, as if.

He already knew her circumstances anyway, so she could have simply acted honestly. Why was she watching his reaction like that?

Feeling a sharp ache prick at his heart, Raymond turned his head toward the shopping district.

“Then shall we go?”

“Ah, yes.”

Charlotte followed Raymond as he walked at a leisurely pace on his long legs.

After they had walked about one block, Charlotte realized, to her surprise, that she was actually doing fairly well.

Had she suddenly found courage now?

No. It’s not that…

It seemed that, because someone had suddenly shouted and scolded her so fiercely, leaving her tense all over, both her body and mind had become strangely calm in the aftermath.

Should I be grateful for that?

At any rate, this shopping district was enormous. She could not even see the end of the street. In Sandem, where Charlotte lived, there were only a few blocks in total.

Raymond, meanwhile, was thinking something quite different.

Just as I was told, the scale of this shopping district is terrible.

Glasko was, of course, a city too small to compare with Romen, the capital of the Kingdom of Belpatsha, or with Divens, the administrative city of the Earlister Duchy, known as the second capital.

The people of Glasko took pride in this place, but from an outsider’s perspective, it was not especially remarkable even among resort towns.

But once the hotel he was building was completed, that would change.

A shopping district of this size would never be able to accommodate the tourists who would come flooding in.

That said, it was not as though visitors were pouring in this very moment, and preparations had already been made for that eventuality. The reason he could not hide his dissatisfaction was…

Nothing looks to be of decent quality. There’s nothing I want to buy for her.

Raymond had never gifted women’s clothing or jewelry before, so he did not know much about such things, but he could tell whether something was well made by looking at its form. No matter how much this town made its living mainly from tourists, how could there be not a single thing here that pleased him?

Still, one never knew. There might be something fairly decent.

Refusing to give up, Raymond sharply examined the items beyond the glass windows.

Charlotte found him curious.

Why is he looking so carefully…?

This was beyond simple browsing. Did he perhaps find the shops fascinating? Like a country bumpkin who had come to a big city for the first time.

Surely not…

But it was strange. When he looked at men’s goods, his eyes became indifferent, yet when he looked at items meant for women, they turned keen.

It would not have been odd if it were the other way around.

Does he have someone to buy a gift for…?

Just as they were passing a women’s dress shop that Raymond had judged with, “The quality here is poor as well,” a woman with sunset-orange hair came out of the shop.

“Oh my!”

With her large eyes and wide mouth, the refreshingly attractive woman smiled brightly at Raymond.

“Mr. Bayen! To think I would meet you here!”

The woman covered her beaming mouth with a lace-gloved hand. Compared to how delighted she seemed, Raymond’s reaction was lukewarm.

Baron Ziave’s daughter.

He could not remember her name. Ordinarily, it would not have been strange even if he failed to remember her family at all. Yet there was a reason he remembered even that much.

“How could such a coincidence happen? It is no easy thing to meet in a shopping district this large! Ah, or perhaps it isn’t coincidence after all, but fate?”

Baron Ziave’s daughter spoke excitedly.

For a moment, Raymond nearly frowned without realizing it.

At parties, there had been all sorts of people, men and women alike, who pestered him in hopes of getting close to him. But most of them would take the hint and withdraw on their own if Raymond avoided them or showed his discomfort.

Baron Ziave’s daughter was different.

She was terribly persistent.

“How about having tea together? My treat!”

“I’m sorry. I am with someone.”

Only then did Baron Ziave’s daughter notice Charlotte.

No—in truth, she had been aware of Charlotte’s presence from the beginning. She had simply been ignoring her thoroughly.

From the moment Baron Ziave’s daughter appeared, Charlotte had regained the tension she had briefly lost.

What should I do? My heart is trembling…

After sweeping Charlotte with a fierce look, Baron Ziave’s daughter spoke.

“This is our first time meeting, isn’t it? How curious. I don’t know any young ladies my age in Glasko whom I haven’t met before.”

Charlotte forced her trembling lips to move as though nothing were wrong.

“I’m not from here.”

“Hmm. I thought so. Where are you from?”

At last, the question she had known would come had arrived.

What if she knows about me…?

Charlotte swallowed dryly and answered.

“Sandem…”

“Sandem?”

“No. Sandem…”

“Sangdem?”

When Charlotte shook her head, Baron Ziave’s daughter lowered the ends of her brows and said,

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s such an unfamiliar place name. Thanks to Glasko being quite a famous resort town, I’ve had the chance to mingle with all sorts of people from other regions every year, but I truly have never once heard of a place called Sandum.”

Baron Ziave’s daughter sharply lifted one corner of her mouth.

At that, Charlotte’s face—which had shown faint signs of tension all along—strangely brightened.

“Ah, I see.”

Even her voice was bright.

The lower lid beneath Baron Ziave’s left eye twitched.

As far as she was concerned, she had just landed a blow. So why did this girl look so pleased?

She must be pretending to be fine on purpose, right?

Forcing the corners of her eyes to curve, Baron Ziave’s daughter said,

“Oh my. Come to think of it, I’m late introducing myself. I am Dorothea of the baronial House Ziave.”

Dorothea emphasized the title as she spoke.

At that, Charlotte’s face darkened again.

Just as Dorothea wore a satisfied smile, Charlotte hesitantly said,

Charlotte nodded heavily.

Dorothea’s reaction seemed rather unusual. Perhaps Dorothea, who looked lively and well-informed at a glance, had heard something.

Maybe the name “Sandem” had not immediately brought anything to mind, but hearing the family name had made her remember…

“A v-viscount’s house? You must be the young lady of quite a fine family. But I’ve never heard of it? How strange. Our family’s connections are anything but narrow.”

Charlotte’s blue eyes sparkled.

Dorothea had been startled not because she had heard something about Charlotte, but because it was a family she was hearing of for the first time.

Just how wide did one’s connections have to be to be surprised by something like this?

“Your parents must not have run any separate business. Even if it were a rural noble family, I would at least have heard the family name if they had done business.”

“Both my parents have passed away. I did conduct business under my family’s name, but all I did was sell spices little by little in my hometown, so it’s only natural you wouldn’t know.”

Charlotte answered with a faint smile.

Dorothea’s face went pale.

“I-I see? I’m sorry to hear about your parents.”

“It happened a long time ago, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

She looked to be in her early twenties at most, yet her parents had died a long time ago?

Then did that mean she had lived as an orphan?

Cold sweat gathered on Dorothea’s face. Her heart felt heavy, as though she had touched upon a needless wound.

She wanted nothing more than to hurry away from this place, but there was one thing she absolutely had to ask before she did.

“Th-then, how do the two of you know each other well enough to be walking around together?”

“Well…”

This was a question Charlotte had not expected at all.

How was she supposed to answer?

“We became acquainted through Madam Spencer’s introduction. Lady Prairie is currently staying there, you see.”

Raymond stepped in naturally.

Relieved, Charlotte gave a comfortable smile and nodded.

Dorothea’s face, on the other hand, turned grave.

The meaning behind introducing a young man and woman to each other was obvious. Especially among members of high society, an introduction meant they should meet and see whether the other person might be suitable as a marriage partner.

Dorothea grew anxious.

Of course, not everyone became deeply involved after a single meeting, but until now, Raymond had kept his distance from every woman.

Yet he was even going out alone with this woman.

He pushed me away so firmly, so why is he fine with her?

Dorothea’s insides began to boil.