“Oh, she did. I heard she even took private art lessons from a high-end instructor.”

They pressed forward like predators that had spotted prey, sharpening their words into mockery.

Elsie looked up at Kaiden standing beside her.

Her green eyes fixed on him with desperate pleading, silently asking him to ease the current bearing down on her.

Ah……

But Kaiden’s gaze passed over her without pause.

Her heart began to pound. These people had gathered to ridicule her. Kaiden couldn’t care less. No.

He might even be enjoying it. Waiting to see how foolishly she would fall apart and ruin the occasion.

If it was going to be like this, he shouldn’t have brought her. Or better yet, if it was going to be like this, he should have just agreed to the divorce and sent her far away.

“I, I……. In my opinion……”

Tears nearly sprang to her eyes, but she held them back.

She forced her mouth open and began pulling out words that floated in fragments through her scattered mind.

“What I think is……”

Her stomach lurched.

What had that painting looked like, the one she’d just seen?

A figure in ragged clothes, standing before a lavish estate, screaming in despair.

Had that scream cut so deeply because she had once stood on the side of the estate’s owners?

Elsie’s lips, which had been moving, snapped shut as she pressed her hand over her mouth.

“Ugh……!”

The thought that she couldn’t stay here another second sent her spinning on her heel. Her stomach had gone past lurching. Whatever was inside was coming up.

“Madam?”

“Oh my……”

“What’s happening right now……”

Everyone watched Elsie flee and fell silent, shaking their heads at the wretched sight of her escape.

Kaiden watched and clicked his tongue.

***

She didn’t read newspapers. Even when someone brought one to her, she turned it away deliberately.

But somehow word always got around, and a newspaper was always sitting on the table.

So Elsie couldn’t avoid what the papers had to say.

……In the past, Elsie Resleth received invitations from prominent artists and drew attention as a rising talent poised to make waves……
……Backed by the authority of a count, she held solo exhibitions with an ease no one else could match……
……Her skill tended to be greatly exaggerated……
……Attending the National Museum’s opening ceremony, Elsie Resleth vomited at the sight of a painting depicting a historic moment……
……The painting she assessed before her nausea struck depicted a ragged laborer entering a noble estate and recoiling in despair at the opulent interior, overwhelmed……

Strangely, she no longer felt upset.

Just, oh. That’s how it is. Nothing more than that.

Thinking about it now, the artists who had paid attention to her hadn’t cared for Elsie Resleth’s work. What had mattered was her father’s standing.

The paint tubes others couldn’t easily get their hands on, bought freely and used without restraint. The times she had tracked down a particular apprentice’s paint for its quality and color and paid a small fortune for it.

Taking private lessons from a high-end instructor, something uncommon for a woman.

All of it had been possible because she was a count’s daughter of House Resleth.

Thinking it through that way, she arrived at the conclusion that everything the newspapers said was true. So she felt neither hurt nor angry anymore.

Just blank.

Sleepy……

And then, the energy drained from her all at once, and sleep came flooding in.

Elsie slumped forward onto the newspaper, and it crinkled loudly under her weight.

She stayed like that, face down on the table, and sank into a heavy, graceless sleep.

***

Kaiden glanced at the newspaper sitting squarely on his desk.

How many pages had they used to mock Elsie. Everyone seemed delighted to pile on.

“Master, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but this doesn’t seem right. I feel I must say something, out of concern.”

Jasper Robert handed Kaiden a stack of reports and spoke.

“I cannot help but think of the household’s standing.”

Kaiden said nothing, and Jasper continued, as though he could no longer hold back.

“……The household’s standing.”

Kaiden’s brow furrowed.

The household’s standing, in this day and age. It was a ridiculous thing to say.

“I, I’m sorry. I misspoke.”

The air turned cold, and Jasper apologized quickly.

“Good that you know. Be more careful going forward.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kaiden let out a sigh and set his pen in its holder.

It wasn’t only Jasper. Everyone around him had been voicing complaints about Elsie.

Kaiden had done nothing, and someone had even beaten their chest with a fist while making their feelings known.

“I’m sorry to ask, but handle the fallout.”

“Of course. Also, the asset assessment of the Resleth estate you mentioned previously has been completed. Would you like to review it?”

“Sell everything. Donate the proceeds.”

“Understood. Ah, and this section here……”

What Jasper pointed to was a separate list of Elsie’s personal belongings.

“Get Elsie’s confirmation first, even if it’s just a formality, then handle it.”

“Understood. And by handle, do you mean, if I may ask, that I may deal with it as I see fit on my end?”

“Yes.”

Kaiden’s expression soured.

He had no time to concern himself with each of Elsie’s possessions left behind in the Resleth estate.

At his firm answer, Jasper gave a nod.

That said, Elsie.

“Since she crossed my mind, I may as well stop by. I’ll deal with the rest when I’m back.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

Jasper gave a stiff bow.

Leaving Jasper behind, Kaiden stepped out of the room.

***

Kaiden moved without hesitation and stopped dead in front of Elsie’s door.

How long had it been since he had come to find her before sundown.

Knock knock.

He knocked cleanly.

No answer came.

He knocked again. Still, nothing from inside.

Had she gone out on another pointless errand.

His brow drew together. Elsie clearly hadn’t let go of the old era.

There was no other explanation for why she would trail servants behind her and take unnecessary walks for something as indulgent as painting.

The world was moving fast, working to correct the wrongs of the old order.

The Strategic Bureau and the strategic planning council, created to shape the republic’s future, had hundreds, no, thousands of items on their agenda.

Some people were drowning in work that poured in like madness every single day. And the daughter of Count Resleth, symbol of a fallen monarchy, was strolling around in the sun without a care.

That thought twisted something in him.

Kaiden stopped knocking and turned the handle roughly, pushing the door open.

The sitting room beyond the door was quiet. Where was Elsie.

The bedroom? The small study attached to it?

“Elsie Grey.”

The study. Specifically, the table in the center of it.

“Haa……”

A disbelieving sigh escaped him before he could stop it.

Kaiden looked down at Elsie slumped over the table, fast asleep, and pressed a hand to his forehead.

He had heard endlessly from the servants that her conduct was unacceptable. But this.

She was sprawled out without a care in the world.

What am I supposed to do with you.

Wake her, or not.

Kaiden stepped toward Elsie. His hand moved toward her flushed cheek, close enough to almost touch, then pulled back.

He wasn’t sure what he would even say if he woke her. The only words ready to come out right now were cutting ones.

The laziness particular to nobility seemed to be bred into her bones. He was almost embarrassed to think he had ever, even briefly, held any feeling for her.

“This is maddening.”

Kaiden let out another long sigh.

In some ways, Elsie might simply be unchanged.

And the fact that she didn’t change was the problem.

Eleven, or was it twelve.

The little Miss of House Resleth he had met around that age had been like sunlight. A clear, bright child suited to a blue sky.

Elsie’s eyes, holding the green of new leaves, were like jewels, and the girl who carried nature in her gaze loved it with her whole self.

And a plain-looking boy had felt for that girl……

***

He didn’t know why that moment had come back to him now.

Kaiden reached out again, the way he had as a child, and pressed the back of his hand to Elsie’s cheek.

Her cheek twitched. The movement looked ready to open into waking eyes, and he hesitated and stepped back half a pace.

Elsie’s eyes opened, dull as though the light had nearly gone out of them.

Her green eyes reflected a dark-haired man.

The corners of her lips curved.

A trace of a smile touched her slightly parted lips.

Then, like a candle blown out in one breath, the expression vanished from her face in an instant.

“……Iden.”

She blinked, returning to the present.

Iden.

The nickname Elsie had given him. In all the world, only she called Kaiden that.

“I was tired…… and fell asleep.”

She straightened up slowly and began fumbling through an explanation.

“Same as always.”

Kaiden said it with a sneer.

“I’ve been getting hit with sleep out of nowhere lately.”

“Resting easy without a worry in the world, I’m sure.”

While everyone else is fighting to build a better country.

Elsie’s green eyes wavered. Her red hair shifted with her.

The carelessness of it grated on him, and Kaiden’s tone sharpened further.