Three days had passed. The Hervonne family was as warm and close-knit as it had been in the old days. Every evening, the family gathered around the same table, sharing meals, asking about each other’s days, and exchanging light conversation. 

Fortunately, Ann blended in among them without difficulty. Count Hervonne in particular, who had long wished for a daughter, was especially kind to her.

He had not been as earnest as his wife, but there had been a time when he too had thought positively about it and pushed for Ann’s adoption. However, after failing to win over not only the courts but even the family elders, he had not tried again.

Even so, his affection for Ann was genuine, and he had wanted to raise her at the Hervonne manor. But Ann had been a royal page. 

Once she understood her own situation, Ann had told him she wanted to stay at the royal palace before the Count could even bring the matter up with Ingrid. By that point, she already knew the purpose behind Ingrid keeping her as a page.

The reason Ingrid had kept a mere commoner like Ann close was that Ann had captured Lennox’s attention. She must have thought that keeping Ann by Lennox’s side would settle him and keep him from fixating on Yvonne the way his father had. And that idea had actually worked.

After Ann arrived, Lennox stopped seeking out his wet nurse Yvonne as often. And Richard, who had been using his son as a pretext to summon Yvonne to the palace, lost his justification. 

Things had gone exactly as Ingrid had planned. In that regard, she had been very fond of Ann. And for that same reason, she had wanted to keep Ann at the palace.

So the adoption had been difficult from the very start. Even back then, Ingrid had made her displeasure known to Countess Hervonne, who had been pushing for Ann’s adoption. The Countess, who would stop at nothing when it came to Ann, had tried to press forward regardless, but…

‘Still, the adoption never would have gone through.’

Ann thought to herself and let out a quiet sigh. Just then, Alissa knocked.

“Miss, Count Altuart has come and wishes to see you.”

It was an unexpected visit. Ann furrowed her brow at the thought of a man who had come to the Hervonne manor without any prior notice. He was someone who ordinarily observed every courtesy, the kind of man who would never commit the rudeness of visiting a noble’s home unannounced. And yet Hughies had come to see her, seemingly in urgent need.

‘He must have heard the rumors.’

She covered her face with both hands. Schemer, bastard, sleeping with the king… Sharp accusations too embarrassing to even repeat had been swelling with sensational rumors and making their rounds on the lips and ears of the court. And there was no way Hughies had not heard.

‘He might slap me the moment he sees me.’

Ann bit her lip. Hughies was an upright and courteous man, but the things Ann had kept from him were ugly enough to anger even someone like him. No matter how much goodwill he had felt toward her, he would not forgive a woman who had brought shame upon him and his family.

“…Please tell him to wait a moment.”

“Yes, miss.”

Alissa gave a small bow and turned to leave. Ann rose slowly and walked to the vanity. Her haggard appearance felt even more unbearable to look at today.

Ann applied the pearl powder the Countess had given her two days ago and combed her hair. She dabbed a little rouge on her colorless lips, but her former vitality did not return. She stared at her own reflection for a moment, then stood up.

Seemingly troubled by having come without notice, Hughies had not taken up Alissa’s offer to wait in the parlor and was instead standing in the garden. Ann looked at the man waiting for her. Swallowed by the shadow the trees cast, he was still straight-backed and solid.

“Count.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she called out to him. The man turned his gaze toward her. Ann pushed down her fear and moved toward him, one step at a time. 

She had steeled herself for a slap, but facing him was still difficult. It was not the violence he might unleash that she feared she could not bear, but the moment when the man who had shown her such sincere devotion and warm smiles would let out his disappointment and sense of betrayal.

“Ann.”

The man spotted her and stepped forward, one step at a time. Ann did not know what expression to wear and dropped her gaze.

Throughout all this time, thinking of Hughies had always weighed on her. For a while she had not known what to do, and in the end she had resolved to go along with what he wanted, but… seeing him today, she understood. Ann could not marry him.

“Have you been well? I should have told you before coming to Choviez…”

“No.”

“I’m sorry. I myself had no warning, it was all so sudden…”

“Ann.”

She was still looking down, moving only her dry lips, when a long hand lifted her chin. Startled, Ann fell silent.

His shadowed face looked gaunt. Ann felt her heart grow heavy again with guilt. No, heavy was not the right word. It hurt and weighed on her terribly. She wanted to say something, anything, to him, but the thought of how much pain it would cause him made her wish she never had to see him again.

And yet she knew she had to end things quickly. She could not let this go on any longer. Now was the right time. She had to tell Hughies everything and ask for his forgiveness.

“…I imagine you’ve heard the rumors.”

Ann moved his hand aside and stepped back. She steadied her breathing. It was obvious how the rumors about her would circulate in social circles. That world turned even the smallest flaw into something scandalously sensational. 

And the subject was Ann. A woman who drew contemptuous looks simply by existing there… And yet the stories, sensational even without embellishment, had come from the lips of none other than Charlotte’s closest friend.

Charlotte had not refuted a single word and had given her silent approval. It was now clear how Ann would be treated among the nobility. The one small mercy was that Hughies would simply be seen as a victim deserving of sympathy. That was the only one.

“What I want to say is…”

“No, Count. I would like to speak first. Everything you have heard is true. I don’t know exactly what you were told, but… three years ago, I slept with His Majesty and became pregnant with his child.”

Ann lifted her head. She looked at the face she had been dreading to meet all this time. Strangely, the more she tried not to think of him, the heavier her guilt toward him grew.

Perhaps that was why. Ann had seen him often in her dreams. Sometimes he was angry. Sometimes he wept. Sometimes he demanded the truth. Sometimes he acted as though nothing had happened and asked her to marry him.

No matter what form he took or what he said, Ann found it hard to meet his eyes in her dreams. Seeing him in reality made it even harder. She simply hung her head and asked for forgiveness, reciting it blankly like a prayer.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hide it… No. I won’t make excuses. I hid it. I hid it and tried to marry you.”

Her nose stung. Her eyelids twitched relentlessly. Ann blinked. Tears spilled down and wet her cheeks. It was awful. She had not wanted to become this kind of woman. She had not wanted to live like this… Without realizing it, Ann had become the vulgar and dirty woman the ladies of society spoke of.

She had conceived a child outside of marriage, pretended to miscarry while actually having an abortion to deceive the child’s father, buried all of it to move on, and deceived a man who had sincerely confessed his feelings to her, acting as though nothing had ever happened.

“…It’s awful.”

Ann wrapped her arms around herself and held back her sobs. She had not wanted to become such a worthless woman. 

No matter how people pointed their fingers at her, she had sworn she would not live the way they said she would. But looking back at herself now, she was no different from the vulgar woman in the mockery they had thrown at her.

“Is there anything else you wish to say? May I speak now?”

She had been crying for some time when a quiet question reached her. Ann looked at him. Unlike her, who had fallen completely apart, he was still firm and sharp. And contrary to her expectations, he showed not the slightest sign of being shaken. Ann felt caught off guard.

“Count.”

“Call me Hughies.”

“No, I…”

“Ann.”

He insisted on the name a second time. Ann shook her head. She had no desire to grow any closer to him, not when they were on the verge of breaking things off.

“I am nothing to you, Count.”

Ann wiped her cheek and raised her head. Tears kept blurring her vision, which was a nuisance, but she no longer looked away.

“Count, I’m sorry to repeat myself, but I…”

“Your past does not matter to me. Even the fact that you carried His Majesty’s child is not something I consider important. I do not know how long that relationship lasted between you. And even if the child you once carried is alive somewhere, I will not be angry.”

He closed his mouth. Then he turned his head and drew in a quiet breath. Ann stared at him blankly. She had never seen Hughies speak so quickly before. She watched him in a daze, then pressed her lips tightly shut.