The mansion was so vast that Derek slept soundly, completely unaware that the indoor garden was suddenly undergoing a large-scale renovation.

His sweet sleep ended around the time Raymond arrived back at the mansion. When he had first woken, he felt as though he could still sleep more.

But the moment he saw Raymond looking as though his soul had left his body, all drowsiness vanished.

“What’s wrong with you? Did something happen?”

Judging by his expression alone, Raymond looked as confused as someone who had rolled down a hill for quite some time.

“Nothing happened.”

“Then why does your face look so awful?”

“What do you mean, awful? I always look like this.”

Derek frowned and shook his head.

No. You did not.

You had always looked perfect, as though a skilled sculptor had carved you.

“Anyway, you didn’t make any mistakes with the young lady, did you?”

“What mistakes? Have you ever seen me do something like that?”

Normally, you don’t. But you did make a mistake in front of Lady Prairie.

Derek swallowed the words he wanted to say once again.

Raymond dropped heavily into a seat, and a bundle of invitations came into view.

When had these arrived?

A party…

Normally, he would have told the servants to decline them all without even reading them.

But not today.

He thought it might not be bad to attend a party with Charlotte.

He wanted Charlotte to meet a variety of different people.

It was a problem if Ferris Noves was the only connection she had in Glasko besides her sole blood relative.

<House Noves>

After checking the sender written on the invitation, Raymond roughly threw it onto the table.

Of all things!

Of all the invitations he could have picked, why did it have to be this one?

“You startled me. What’s wrong? Who sent it?”

Derek checked the pitifully abandoned invitation.

“Noves? What is this? What did that house do wrong for you to react like that?”

The nobles living on territory owned by the House of Earlister submitted reports along with their taxes every quarter. There were some families who tried to play tricks during that process. Representative examples included Hemon, Trashy, and Breeze.

But Noves was a noble house that always paid accurate taxes along with clean, proper reports.

They caused no trouble and even served as an example to the surrounding houses—a fine family, one might say.

“There’s a bastard named Ferris there.”

“There is. The third son.”

“You know him?”

“I haven’t met him. I just know they have a son like that.”

“Then you don’t know that he’s been pestering Charlotte.”

“What? Really?”

After being surprised, Derek noticed something strange and asked, “But didn’t Lady Prairie stay at the Spencer estate the whole time?”

“He said that bastard is the tutor for Elena Spencer’s son. He must have kept coming and going from the Spencer family, loitering around Charlotte with that grinning face of his.”

“Oh. Is that so? That sounds quite fated.”

Derek said, his eyes sparkling.

Raymond shook his head so violently that his bangs fell forward.

“What? Fated? Did you even listen to what I said?”

“I said it because I did listen.”

The moment Derek heard Raymond’s explanation, he naturally imagined Ferris approaching Charlotte, who had been hurt and living hidden away in the darkness, with a smile like sunlight, melting her heart.

He did not know what Ferris actually looked like, but since Count Noves was handsome, Derek imagined Ferris as a fairly good-looking man as well.

“Right. I was wondering how someone who had shut herself away for so long could go out without any trouble, even if some time had passed. So there was someone at the estate helping her.”

“Elena Spencer would have helped her. Not that bastard.”

“They both probably helped. Why are you so determined to draw a line?”

Derek chuckled and snapped his fingers.

“How about attending this party with Lady Prairie? She would be far more comfortable at a party hosted by someone she knows than one hosted by a complete stranger, wouldn’t she?”

“No.”

“Why? Is she not ready to attend parties yet?”

“That’s not why. It’s because nothing good will come from getting involved with that bastard Ferris! I’m telling you, he really does have ulterior motives toward Charlotte.”

“Come on. It’s not ulterior motives. It’s affection.”

“That’s the same thing! Either way, no!”

“Why are you being so dramatic?”

Derek waved a hand in the air, then widened his eyes and mouth playfully.

“Gasp! Don’t tell me you’re jealous of this Ferris fellow.”

Raymond’s face, which had been flushed with irritation until just moments ago, turned cold in an instant.

His wide green eyes fixed on Derek’s face, as though aiming a gun at prey.

“Mm. That was a joke. There’s no way you would be jealous of anyone. And more than anything, Lady Prairie is your precious ‘little sister’ from your memories, isn’t she? Though even taking that into account, I can’t deny it feels like you’re fussing over her a bit too much…”

Oops. What was supposed to be an excuse only scraped at him even more.

Derek hurriedly rose from his seat.

“Well, I’ll be going, then. Goodness, I’m sleepy no matter how much I sleep…”

Even after Derek left, the shock filling Raymond’s face did not disappear easily.

Jealousy?

Raymond had thought his insides were boiling like this because Ferris displeased him.

But in truth, it was not simply boiling.

His throat itched, and sitting still felt uncomfortable. He kept feeling the urge to rise from his seat.

What on earth was this emotion?

The more he tried to catch hold of its tail, the more it felt as though he were sinking into a swamp, so he had deliberately pretended not to know.

But the moment he heard the word jealousy, he felt a powerful shock, as though he had struck a boulder, and at the same time, his mind cleared.

Was I really jealous of that bastard?

If so, of what?

At that moment, Charlotte, who had fit entirely into his arms, came to Raymond’s mind.

The sight of her, suited not to a cute doll but to a beautiful bouquet of flowers…

Raymond changed his posture as quickly as if he had been shocked by electricity.

What was that?

Why had that face suddenly come to mind?

Raymond roughly swept his hair back.

In any case, there was no way it was jealousy.

If he truly had been jealous, then he must have been jealous of the fact that Charlotte regarded Ferris more familiarly than she did him.

Ha.

That, too, was childish and ridiculous.

For nearly twenty years, all he had done was turn over memories in his mind. He had only heard news of her from afar.

He had not even been able to attend Viscount Prairie’s funeral.

Of course, it was not that he had deliberately chosen not to go.

At the time, he had been in Grasian, and he only returned to the country dozens of days after Viscount Prairie had died. It was then that he learned everything: the news of his death, the fact that his grandfather had been unwell and had no choice but to send someone else to the funeral, and even what the funeral had been like.

I’m always late.

Whenever you were suffering, I was always too late and could not even be by your side.

And yet, jealousy?

As if he had any right.

So the reason his chest felt so stifled was…

Yes. It was because Ferris displeased him.

There was no other possible explanation.

Wait. If it’s a party hosted by House Noves, did they send Charlotte an invitation too?

Was Charlotte thinking of attending this party?

If so…

* * *

Charlotte stared with hollow eyes at the bouquet showing off its tremendous presence in one corner of the room.

It really is… huge.

Why did this room keep filling up?

And why was every single thing so large?

Goodness.

With a small sigh, Charlotte sat on the bed. Then, all of a sudden, she remembered the moment she had fallen into his arms.

“Uuuugh!”

Overcome by the embarrassing memory, Charlotte collapsed onto the bed just like that.

Even if she had moved suddenly, how could she do that on flat ground? No, she should have just fallen onto the floor instead! If she had, it would not have been this humiliating!

Why did it have to be into that man’s arms?

…Though it happened because Mr. Bayen caught me.

If he had ignored her, she would not have caused such trouble.

Charlotte shook her head hard, trying to forget that broad embrace that kept coming back to her.

Think about something else. Anything was fine, so please, anything else!

She could not stay trapped in this thought forever.

But the thing she thought of in order to forget his embrace was Raymond’s face as he had looked down at her in surprise at that moment.

Charlotte’s face flushed bright red, and she cooled the heat with the back of her hand.

…He’s a strange person.

She kept feeling this way, but that man seemed rude and yet was courteous, seemed unreasonable and yet had common sense, and took surprisingly good care of others.

Does he perhaps have a younger sibling?

Charlotte suddenly grew curious about him.

Should she ask him the next time they met?

Hmm. No. They did not seem close enough for her to ask something like that.

…But she could ask, couldn’t she?

…Where will we go next?

When would the indoor garden he had invited her to see be finished?

Charlotte found it strange how naturally she was looking forward to tomorrow—and even further ahead, to the future.

This really does make it feel like I came here on vacation.

Then Charlotte suddenly remembered how she had come to this place, and a small crease formed between her brows.

Over the past few days, because of Raymond, the number of times she thought about them had decreased. Even so, there were still moments when they came to mind on their own like this.

Yes.

It would not be easy to forget.

Perhaps she would never be able to forget for the rest of her life.

In the end, deep wounds always left scars.

* * *

Fiona, dressed securely in a thick fur coat, came down the stairs with the doctor.

Viscountess Roman, who usually stayed only in front of the fireplace while complaining that she despised the cold, was for some reason pacing in front of the entrance.

She’ll snap at me again, asking where I’m going now.

Swallowing her irritation inwardly, Fiona smiled brightly and said, “Mother, what are you doing there? Are you expecting a guest?”