The moment he realized she could smile and blush for another man, fear began to swallow him slowly. Pressing Hughies was an expression of that fear.

He could not dare say it to Ann directly. Do not love another man. He had wanted to warn her that arranging her marriage had not been his intention. But Ann had given her heart to Hughies. Perhaps she had even come to love him.

The way Yvonne had loved Hughies’s father. So… he had to turn her heart back.

He thought about it as he watched Ann shut herself away after the ball at the Valenska residence. His first plan had been to tell Ann that he would absolutely punish Charlotte. 

That he would not forgive the woman who had done such a thing to her. He had intended to tell her that he would equally not forgive the woman who had gone around with Charlotte and torn into her. But the moment he saw those eyes…

“My lips moved before anything else.”

It was not something he had planned. He had simply been in an unsettled state. What if Ann, burned black with humiliation, turned her back on him completely because of this.

But the moment he saw Ann… the anger that had filled his mind scattered in an instant. Only instinct remained, and it moved his lips.

“Ann.”

Ann looked like a worn-out rag doll. There was nothing in the sky-blue eyes that had once been full of small sparks.

He had wanted to slit Charlotte’s throat and his own. An uncontrollable impulse coiled tightly around him. He barely suppressed the self-loathing and looked at Ann.

Ann had been pale and flushed all at once. The moment he saw her, the only thing that filled his mind was protecting Ann, and… nothing else was visible to him. A helpless anguish filled him completely, like someone desperately trying to cup scattering snowflakes in both hands.

Small and soft like cotton… You are this small and fragile. And yet what have I been doing to you? 

He felt ashamed. Only then did he grasp the shame and understand what sin was. The only words he could say to that pale face were that he would no longer disgrace her. So he had to break off the engagement.

“To no longer disgrace Ann, I will have to bear everything myself.”

Lennox had much. No, he was not simply a man with much. He was the king of a nation. So he had to think about everything that would happen when he chose Ann as his queen.

First, under the laws of Las Palmada, a marriage between nobility and a commoner was not permitted. The royal family had largely repeated marriages with the great nobles known as the eight great houses of the kingdom.

There were times when they were joined with royalty of other nations for diplomatic reasons, but Las Palmada was a conservative country and did not want foreign or other ethnic blood mixed into the royal bloodline. So it was largely the kingdom’s princesses who were sacrificed.

But Ann was a commoner. If Lennox had been merely a noble, like Hughies, he would have proposed to Ann without hesitation. Whatever Ann’s status… he might not have cared much.

But he was a king. To marry her by any means, he first had to have Ann adopted as the daughter of a noble family. And a family distinguished enough to suit a queen. A complex series of calculations passed through him in a brief moment.

“And does Ann want that?”

Countess Hervonne, who had been watching him in the dim light, asked. Lennox did not answer the woman who stared at him coldly.

“She will not want it.”

“Sophia.”

“You never asked Ann what she wanted. I have always thought that is the problem.”

Countess Hervonne spoke those words last and moved to leave. Lennox turned away. Then she turned back and walked toward him again.

“I nearly forgot to say this. Ann will be moving her lodgings to the count’s residence.”

“What?”

“There are limits to how well I can care for her inside the royal palace. And besides… if you declare the broken engagement, Ann will stand at the center of the commotion. I cannot leave her here.”

Countess Hervonne answered firmly to a rigid Lennox. It was Ingrid’s order, but it was also what she herself wanted.

“Your Majesty, I cannot keep leaving Ann alone.”

“I know.”

“I trust you will permit it.”

Countess Hervonne bowed her head. If he truly cared for Ann, that was what he had to do. A thin, low voice reached her.

“Is this my mother’s wish?”

“It is. But I agree with it as well.”

She lifted her head and looked at the man. If he truly cared for Ann, he too had to permit it. Lennox, who had been gazing at the pond with a somber look, nodded.

“See that it is done.”

“Yes.”

Countess Hervonne answered briefly. Lennox watched the woman turn away, saying she would take her leave first. He wanted to ask her to look after Ann. So that she would not hurt anymore. To please tend to the wounds he had inflicted so they could heal cleanly.

But Lennox had no right to say such things. And even without spelling it out, Countess Hervonne would look after Ann more carefully than anyone. So what he had to do was resolve everything before Ann returned.

***

The locked door rattled. Ann opened her eyes and lifted her head. The noise outside the door suggested someone was trying to force it open. She had no strength to react and lay there like a corpse. Before long, the door clicked open. The bright light hurt her eyes so badly they felt like they would shatter.

“Ann.”

Countess Hervonne called to her. Ann did not answer. The maids came in and drew back the curtains. Her eyes ached like ground glass had been scattered into them.

“Get up now.”

Countess Hervonne approached Ann as she closed her eyes again. She slowly patted her shoulder. When Ann did not respond, she called her name once more, “Ann,” in a firm tone.

Ann barely managed to stir and sit up. For the first time, she wanted to defy her foster mother. But she did not know how, so she kept her head down and did not lift it.

“Alissa and Monica will come in and help you change. Once your things are packed, you will be moving your lodgings to Choviez, so be aware of that and get ready quickly.”

The woman looked at her with the expression of someone watching a daughter who refused to listen, and moved her lips quickly. Ann looked up in surprise. But Countess Hervonne did not explain a second time. Ann was still blinking in confusion when, true to her word, the two maids came in and reached out toward her.

Countess Hervonne watched the maids help Ann to her feet, let out a small sigh, and looked around her foster daughter’s bedroom. Since she did not know when Ann would return, she should pack as much as possible, but she could buy the small everyday items herself, so taking only the essentials would be fine.

‘No. This might be a good chance to throw out the old things.’

Countess Hervonne made up her mind as she looked around the room. Unlike other maids who had families, Ann, having none, had largely received her daily necessities and luxuries from the king. 

Before her reassignment, she had received them from the Queen Dowager. But perhaps out of a sense of unease, Ann never bought anything that was not strictly necessary.

Jewelry, dresses, and expensive luxury items had largely been borrowed from her or given as gifts. The king showered her with gifts at every turn, but perhaps also out of unease, Ann rarely wore them. She did receive a salary as a maid, but that pittance would barely cover pocket money…

“This is a good chance to throw out what needs throwing out. There are far too many old things.”

She suppressed the ache in her chest and murmured.

Ann, helped to her feet by the maids, came to stand beside her. She tried not to meet her eyes. She could guess what Ann was about to say. But Countess Hervonne could not stand by and watch her foster daughter like this any longer. What a wretched state to be in. She had always held back her nagging out of heartache, but this time she had to say something.

“…My lady.”

“What are you doing? Go and change quickly.”

Countess Hervonne furrowed her brow. She gestured with her chin toward the maids standing behind Ann holding a dress, but Ann only moved her colorless lips without readily turning around.

Countess Hervonne did not wait any longer. When she moved to pull off Ann’s chemise herself if Ann would not change on her own, Ann stiffened her expression and went into the dressing room with the maids.

In the meantime, Countess Hervonne began sorting through what to take to Choviez and what to discard. The nearly empty pearl powder, a comb with a worn handle, and shoes. A silk hat no longer in fashion, and the ivory-trimmed shoes she had bought Ann as a fifteenth birthday gift… 

All of it could be thrown away without a second thought.

“Why have you been holding onto shoes that do not even fit?”

She picked up the tiny shoes, small as lotus petals, and examined their condition. It was strange that Ann had kept them all this time without discarding them, since they seemed too small to fit her feet.

She let out a deep sigh and looked through the jewelry box. Most of it had been gifts from the king. Regrettably, they were all very expensive, custom-made pieces ordered directly from the royal jeweler, so there was nothing worth discarding.

“My lady.”

Ann, now changed, came toward her as she sorted through the vanity. The haggard appearance pained her, but she did not show it.

“I want to know what is happening. I have not received anything from His Majesty, so why…”

“Get in the carriage first. I will explain on the way.”

Countess Hervonne set a firm expression at her foster daughter’s flat voice and ushered her out of the room. Ann watched her steadily, then had no choice but to follow. Countess Hervonne picked up items to discard and ordered the servants to dispose of them as she walked, all the way until Ann left the palace and stepped into the carriage.