He ran looking around for traces of her on the paths they used to walk together.

He passed the shining lake they had once seen together, the tall trees she had called beautiful, and the clover field that showed no intention of changing despite the passage of time.

The places filled with memories were still here, but Janet was nowhere to be seen.

She was nowhere.

Only now did the questions and doubts that had been raised begin to raise their heads in his heart as well.

Did Janet… really return to the capital without saying a word?

“Did you find her?”

Rihanel, returning to the orphanage, asked Flan. Though the weather wasn’t hot, he had grown warm wearing just his shirt from running ceaselessly in search of Janet.

“No, she’s not here.”

“See, I think Janet must have gone up to the capital first. I’ve been so worried that I stayed here all this time.”

Panianna and the Tailey Wilton couple, who had been sitting in chairs with bored expressions, hurriedly stood up and walked toward Rihanel.

The three had been reluctantly sitting there, feeling they shouldn’t leave for the capital before Rihanel returned.

They were convinced Janet had returned to the capital. What was the point of looking for someone who wasn’t there! It was fortunate that Rihanel had returned now, as they were reaching their limit watching this meaningless game of hide-and-seek.

“Yes… I see.”

Rihanel looked around blankly.

Janet was gone, and time had already flowed to the point where even the sunset was fading.

“Flan, did you check if Janet was among those who took a stagecoach?”

“We looked, but it’s still difficult to be certain. There are also coaches that go to the capital and return tomorrow.”

“Is that so? I see, I see…”

Rihanel repeated the same words as if chewing on something he didn’t want to acknowledge but had to.

Janet Wilton disliked being here.

She is not here now.

And she had a way to return to the capital.

Perhaps it was a problem with a predetermined answer, a simple solution.

But he had wasted too much time due to needless expectations and worries.

Janet Wilton took a stagecoach and returned to the capital.

Having reached this conclusion, Rihanel spoke in a deflated voice,

“…We should return.”

“Yes, be sure to contact us when you arrive. To let us know if Janet is well.”

Finally! With a pop, Panianna opened her eyes wide, patted Rihanel’s arm a few times as if comforting him, and hurriedly left.

“She may lack a bit of perseverance, but I’m sure she had no ill intentions.”

“Of course. She’s a clever child.”

Tailey and Vanessa, who had also been eager to return, threw out some perfunctory words and hurriedly boarded their carriage.

And as they departed, Rihanel stared at the grass under the setting sun with unfocused eyes.

He rubbed his face with one hand.

Slowly pushed back his disheveled hair.

Now laughter escaped him.

“Did you hate being here that much, Janet?”

Enough to return to the capital as if you had been waiting for me to leave?

The sensation of Janet’s small hand that he had held earlier in the day remained vivid.

A hand that had grown cold with tension.

That’s why Rihanel hadn’t gone looking for her earlier today. He thought it would be fine to show that much consideration since she seemed tense.

But it was the wrong decision.

When he came out of the orphanage and realized Janet wasn’t there, he should have looked for her immediately.

He should have known that Janet Wilton holding his hand and getting out of the carriage was just for show.

She didn’t want to properly face this situation. So she simply avoided it.

What on earth did she do.

She just came to the site of Philodis Cathedral. I even beautifully restored the place that you turned into ruins.

Did you hate it that much?

Even if you hated it, you should have endured at least that much.

If you had even the slightest thought for Father Lapel who died here in that fire.

If you were concerned about the children who were scattered when the orphanage disappeared and had to adapt to new environments.

And if you had even a shred of remorse for Nel Siphren who endlessly waited for Janet back then.

“Your Grace, shall we return…?”

Flan, who had been quietly observing Rihanel, carefully asked. Rihanel slowly nodded and turned his body, staggering slightly.

“Um… Your Grace, the duchess did look unwell.”

Flan said this trying to lighten the mood. Rihanel’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Janet looked unwell?”

“What? Yes. Her complexion didn’t look good.”

“Wasn’t that just because she was nervous?”

It wasn’t a complexion that could be explained by mere nervousness. Flan wondered if Rihanel was joking, and stared at him with wide eyes.

But Rihanel was genuinely frowning as if he didn’t understand. Flan carefully opened his mouth.

“She was probably nervous too. For now, I think you should go to the capital and check on the duchess’s condition….”

“Wait.”

At that moment, Rihanel frowned. His gaze fixed somewhere behind Flan.

When Flan turned around, at the end of Rihanel’s gaze was a dilapidated storage shed.

Rihanel walked briskly toward it as if possessed.

“Your Grace, what’s wrong?”

“Did you check here too?”

“I said we checked everywhere…. Just a moment.”

Flan gestured to the servant who had searched this area. Meanwhile, Rihanel reached the storage shed and roughly grabbed the doorknob.

The door wouldn’t open.

But strangely… anxiety welled up.

With the feeling of a familiar scent tickling his nose, Rihanel’s heart began to beat faster.

Flan ran to Rihanel and reported the situation.

“Your Grace, this is just a storage shed where they keep junk, and the door often breaks, so they don’t usually keep it open.”

The scent grows stronger.

The incredibly warm scent that comes from the cold Janet Wilton.

“Just in case, they knocked on the door several times, but there was no response from inside. They didn’t check inside because they didn’t think the duchess would be in such a place…”

“Damn it.”

Rihanel cursed briefly and grabbed the doorknob roughly again.

The man repeatedly pulling at the doorknob as if he might tear it off looked like a madman. Clank, clank. The sound of the door shaking echoed loudly.

“Janet, are you in there?”

When the door wouldn’t open by hand, Rihanel threw his body against it with all his might. Bang, bang. At the loud noise, everyone present turned to look.

Flan, who had been surprised at this behavior, understood the situation and helped Rihanel.

Thud, thud. A few dull sounds reverberated through the air.

And finally.

The door opened.

Rihanel held his breath and desperately looked inside.

“……”

His heart sank with a thud.

A dusty, dirty storage shed. A dark, dirty, damp place that ordinary people would hesitate to enter from the doorway.

“…Why.”

In the middle of it, Janet had collapsed.

Rihanel quickly walked to the fallen Janet. To be precise, rather than collapsed, a more accurate description would be that she was sprawled out.

“We found the duchess!”

“Quickly, bring the carriage!”

While behind him there was commotion of surprise at finding the duchess in a shabby storage shed, Rihanel couldn’t hear anything.

His ears felt muffled, as if someone had screamed directly into them.

It felt like the whole world was moving in slow motion. Like walking underwater, he couldn’t control his own legs as he moved toward Janet.

Rihanel carefully lifted Janet into his arms.

Cold.

Her body was cold enough to be felt through the shawl. It wasn’t just her hands that were cold. Her entire body was like ice.

The woman with her eyes neatly closed, just as in his imagination.

It seemed like she might open her golden eyes and blink at any moment, but the woman didn’t open her eyes.

That sight filled him with great fear.

His hands were trembling, and he was afraid he might drop her.

“…Janet.”

Wake up. He tried to say that, but his voice wouldn’t come out properly.

After that, how they got to the carriage, and then to the closest place with a doctor… he couldn’t remember those things clearly.

He just felt like he was going crazy.

It felt like something had happened to his head.

***

“Her life is not in danger, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Really…?”

Only after hearing the doctor’s words did Rihanel finally relax and release the tension in his body.

He exhaled what seemed like a breath he had been holding. Only then did he realize how tightly he had been clenching his fists.

“…Then why did she collapse?”

“Her health was already weakened, and it seems she felt some tremendous mental pressure. Did anything like that happen?”

“……”

At the doctor’s question, Rihanel couldn’t answer properly and looked at Janet lying on the bed.

Apart from her pale, bloodless skin color, Janet’s face looked peaceful as she lay in bed. Seeing that reminded him of how she had looked earlier.

Her resentful face when she realized they had arrived at Philodis Cathedral. Her trembling eyes as she reluctantly got out. The way she bowed her head without answering when asked to share her impressions of coming here.

He had clearly seen it. Yet he had simply ignored it.

He thought it would be fine.

He didn’t know she would collapse. That being in that place would give her such pressure….

The doctor, seeing Rihanel’s ashen face, didn’t ask further about why Janet had collapsed. Thinking he knew who was responsible without being told, he examined Janet’s scraped palms.