Elsie’s lips moved, then stopped. There was no point in saying so.

“It appears you were in the early stages of pregnancy. In some circumstances, this kind of thing can happen……”

“Preg…… nancy?”

“Yes. It’s not uncommon in early pregnancy. Unfortunate, but unavoidable. For now, it would be best to focus on recovering your health.”

He explained in a flat, toneless voice, as though reading from a text that held no feeling.

“You said before that it would be difficult for me to conceive……”

“Yes, your body is quite frail. But it isn’t entirely impossible. Please take more care next time.”

It was the kind of words that placed all the blame on her.

Elsie blinked slowly.

She had been pregnant. The image of the family she had once longed for so desperately, the one she had dreamed of, rose up before her.

A child laughing between her and Kaiden. Walking through the garden together, going to see the sea.

The three of them spending a day like that, then sitting down to dinner. Sharing what each of them loved, then lying in bed with the child in the middle, reading a picture book.

Kaiden’s warm, low voice filling the bedroom, and her patting the child’s round belly.

That was how a perfect day would end.

But the Kaiden of reality, and the family she had dreamed of, were a fantasy that could never come to be.

“I’ll prescribe something to help your body recover. Please make sure to take it without fail.”

The doctor turned away, his task done.

Elsie could only blink blankly. Her body seemed to have broken down, unable to absorb the physical and mental pain that had filled her to the very top.

No thoughts came.

Nothing was felt.

Clear tears began to gather in her vacant eyes.

A single hot tear pooled at the corner of her round eye, then fell down her cheek.

“I just want it all to stop……”

She wanted to give up everything. Nothing was left. No matter how hard she struggled, nothing changed.

She just wanted it to end.

***

Elsie grew thinner still.

Nina prepared the things she usually liked and tried everything to help her regain her strength, but she couldn’t eat anything.

Forcing something down only turned her stomach inside out, and she would retch.

“My lady, this is going to get much worse.”

“Every time I eat, it comes back up. Take it away.”

“My lady……”

Watching Nina’s eyes grow wet, Elsie opened her mouth hesitantly.

Had the doctor told her something.

Nina kept wanting to do things for her.

Elsie shifted her gaze to the window. Sunlight came in and cast a faint glow across the room.

“Could you help me get out of here?”

“……Pardon?”

“I want some fresh air. I want to see the sea I saw as a child again. And visit a distant relative in the east.”

“A distant relative, you mean……”

“I don’t know if they’re still alive.”

They had likely fled to another country, or been swept away in the chaos of the revolution and lost their lives.

But it didn’t matter. The relative was only an excuse.

She wanted to see the open sea. She wanted to sit before the waves and paint the shifting water.

Elsie looked slowly around the empty bedroom. It was a bare place, not a single painting left in it.

“……I’d like that. Nina, I’m sorry to ask this of you. But you and Parker are the only ones I can ask.”

Her voice was low, as though grief had settled into it.

“Tomorrow…… tomorrow the master returns from Eldenmarche. Everyone will be busy preparing to receive him.”

Reading the desperation in her words, Nina answered with a voice thick with emotion.

She quietly took Elsie’s hand in hers. Elsie’s fingers were so thin and fragile.

Touching the knuckles that looked ready to snap with the slightest pressure, Nina seemed to make up her mind and spoke.

“Using an automobile would be difficult, but a cart might be possible. The garden cart comes and goes often enough that no one would think it strange.”

Elsie gave a weak nod.

“I’ll speak to Mr. Blair.”

Nina continued in a bright voice, as though they were making a cheerful plan together, trying to lift Elsie’s spirits.

The tone was almost like humming, and Elsie nodded again, looking as though she found some comfort in it.

***

The day Kaiden was to return from the capital, Aldermaine, to Eldenmarche drew near, and the estate grew busy.

Only Elsie was still. She alone stood apart from it all, as though she had been left out.

After she collapsed, the servants had begun to ignore her even more thoroughly. As though trying to erase her very existence.

Meanwhile, Kaiden had been staying at a hotel in Aldermaine, attending the strategic planning council and overseeing border training.

The longer he was away, the more ruthlessly the servants dismissed her.

But in a strange way, that worked in Nina and Parker’s favor. They could move freely without worrying about anyone watching.

And so Elsie made her preparations to flee to the sea.

***

And today.

The day Kaiden was to return to the estate after midday.

Nina came quietly into Elsie’s room carrying a small leather bag.

“My lady, are you ready?”

She took Elsie’s hand firmly in hers. Elsie was dressed for going out.

“Take care.”

Her parting words were not come back safely.

“You said you wouldn’t be taking anything with you, my lady.”

“Yes. There’s nothing here that belongs to me.”

“Is that so?”

At Nina’s puzzled look, Elsie bit her full lower lip.

The paintings she had poured her love into were gone, consumed by fire.

Then what remained……

Elsie touched the small pocket of her jacket. She had disposed of every other accessory, but this one thing she hadn’t been able to let go of.

The ring Kaiden had given her when he proposed, saying it was the exact color of her eyes.

“Take this with you.”

“No, it’s all right. I have everything I need.”

Nina held out a small, worn leather bag with quiet firmness.

“You’ll need money out there. Anywhere, at any time.”

She pressed the bag into Elsie’s hands.

“Whatever you do, my lady, you’ll need at least this much.”

The steadiness in her voice made Elsie unable to meet her eyes, and she only nodded.

The truth was, she was going to die. But she couldn’t let Nina, who cared for her this much, see what was really in her heart. So she said nothing.

Nina seemed to be holding onto an impossible hope, unlike her, and that made it harder still.

“……Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Let’s go now. Stay close and be careful.”

The two of them held their breath and slipped out of the room.

Following the route Nina had mapped out in advance, they didn’t encounter a single servant.

They came out through an area hung with laundry, and in the distance, a worn-looking cart came into view.

It had what appeared to be a separate enclosed space that could serve as a passenger compartment, so calling it a carriage wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Parker.”

“My lady, this way.”

Parker stood in front of the cart, visibly tense.

He opened the door to the passenger compartment loaded with cargo. The compartment smelled of earth and was stacked with gardening tools.

“I’m sorry. But I thought this would be the best option.”

“It’s fine.”

Parker bowed his head, apologetic. Elsie gave him a quiet smile.

She was deeply grateful that they had gone this far for her.

“My lady, I hope you find some peace on your way.”

Nina said her farewell toward the closed compartment door. She never once said see you again.

Neither did Elsie.

***

The windowless cart jolted badly.

Her stomach lurched and nausea rose in her throat, but she pressed her hand over her mouth and held it down.

After some time, the cart stopped and the compartment door opened. A city train station spread out before her.

“The train station is just across the street. Safe travels, my lady.”

“Thank you for everything, Parker.”

Elsie accepted his final farewell quietly and stepped out of the cart.

Then she walked slowly toward the station.

She took a deep breath, then made her way toward the place Parker had pointed out. She didn’t know what she was doing, but going there first seemed right.

Moving awkwardly through the crowd, Elsie stepped inside the station.

The sheer number of people rushing in every direction made her head swim.

How do I get to the east.

When her father was alive, she had traveled in a new-model automobile. Sometimes in an ornate carriage.

Either way, Elsie had never gone anywhere alone.

No, the truth was, she had barely done anything alone at all.

Elsie walked uncertainly toward a man in uniform.

When she said she was heading east to see the sea, the employee offered to guide her to the ticket counter.

“Thank you.”

“Though I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before…… Oh……!”

The man tilted his brimmed cap up and stared at Elsie.

His mouth opened, as though something had just come to him.

“Elsie Resleth, isn’t it? The count’s daughter.”

The man clicked his tongue. The contempt in it was unmistakable, and Elsie flinched before she could stop herself.

“Heading east alone, you say? Taking a solo trip at a time like this, are we.”