Last evening, the raging storm that had swept through finally calmed down.

Olivia caught her rising breath.

‘If only you weren’t in my womb… Elena, my child, could have had a fresh start. So fulfill your usefulness, even for your mother’s share.’

The count, who had gathered bank guarantees, identification, and passport, looked down with contemptuous eyes at Olivia collapsed on the floor of the chaotic room, then turned and left.

It was a night stained with merciless violence. Anne sobbed, but for some reason, Olivia couldn’t cry.

Six years old. Even when the business failed, dad passed away, and mom left home, leaving her all alone. Han Ji-an survived.

Everything was a mess, and it seemed nothing could get worse than that, but she didn’t cry even then. Crying wouldn’t solve anything anyway.

This world was full of problems that couldn’t be solved or controlled anyway.

Nevertheless, she didn’t give up on life.

“Don’t cry, Anne.”

It was a second life given like a gift.

I can’t let everything be taken away like this.

Even if you’re suffocated by the crushing despair of reality, if your breath hasn’t stopped yet, you must struggle.

That was how Han Ji-an had lived. She had lived by confronting this unforgiving world head-on with her bare hands.

“Everything will be alright.”

Olivia whispered, hugging the small, slightly trembling back.

“Did you open the account here?”

Olivia shook off her thoughts at the sound of the employee asking with a surprised expression.

“No. I did it in Le Monde. The Rondos Le Monde branch.”

“Are you from Rondos?”

“Yes.”

The employee was thoroughly businesslike.

“It will take some time to verify. Your name?”

“…”

“Your name, please.”

“Oh, Olivia Blanchet.”

The scandal of the Rose Ball was no exception even to the pedantic banker who only knew numbers.

That Olivia?

The now wide-awake employee jerked his head up and stared intently at the woman’s face through the bars. The man’s eyes widened as he pulled up the glasses perched on the tip of his nose.

Following the necklace worn by Princess Anblyn, even coveting the princess’s former lover. Didn’t she even get divorced following the princess? To think that the woman the gossip magazines were buzzing about was right in front of him.

When she said Olivia Blanchet, even that strangely alluring makeup made sense. With a face like that, he’d fall for her a hundred times over.

“Your ID, please.”

“That… I don’t have it with me.”

“What about your passport?”

“I don’t have it.”

The employee looked up at Olivia.

“You don’t have it?”

“No.”

Only when asked again could he finally see the woman’s face instead of the large hat. Her beautiful face was beyond words. Could she have been mistreated by the princess?

No way. He shook his head. That kind, elegant, and devoted person.

“They were stolen along with the guarantee. Is there no other way? I must block it.”

The woman with vulgar makeup unbefitting a lady of Ritten looked quite desperate. Even that appearance was so captivating that the brain of the bank employee, hardened by profit calculations, softened.

She is a figure vouched for by influential daily newspapers, but.

Well, it’s not like her face was shown in the photos in the newspaper.

If it weren’t for the stubborn bank manager, he would have brilliantly resolved this at his level and ended with a wonderful day leading to a dinner date.

“First, you should go to the police station and file a report. Then go to the consulate to reissue your ID and passport. That seems to be the order, Miss Blanchet.”

Though his heart was uneasy at the sight of the woman unable to hide her disappointment, thinking of the bank manager who could hurl curses even with just his eyes, this was the best a mere employee could do.

“What should I do now?”

“Let’s head to the consulate first.”

Olivia and Anne hurriedly caught a carriage outside and headed to the Rondos consulate.

But even from the consulate employee, Olivia couldn’t hear the answer she hoped for. He was even more strict than the bank employee.

“Reissuing an ID takes about ten days.”

“Ten whole days?”

Count Blanchet would have already arrived in Rondos.

It would take only two days to forge a proxy authorization with Olivia’s ID, take the train to the capital Leiden, and handle matters at the International Bank headquarters.

She needed to block the account before then. Ten days, he says.

“Isn’t there any way to make it faster? Please.”

“Unless we fly from here to the Foreign Ministry in Leiden, and even if we fly, who knows how diligent those civil servants will be.”

Olivia calmly settled her mind and explained the situation in detail once again.

“I understand the situation fully. I understand, but there’s no way. How would you fill out the application form?”

The employee persisted with perfunctory responses.

“…Isn’t there really no other way?”

Olivia couldn’t back down.

The consulate employee, originally from Leiden, the capital of the Kingdom of Rondos, was a patriot.

He loved Rondos, respected the country’s hero Duke Edinburgh, and revered Johan the most among his sons.

How could a woman who left a stain on such an honorable family be pleasing?

Even if there was a way, he didn’t want to help. He probably would have felt that way if the face of the woman rumored to be a seductress wasn’t full of injuries.

Who on earth had beaten her like that? That’s why the heart of the pedantic employee softened. The fact that he was alone in a foreign country, causing ethnic solidarity to play a big role, was also one of the reasons.

“If there’s a guarantor who can vouch for Miss Blanchet’s identity. It’s possible right away.”

“A guarantor?”

For the first time, a sparkle appeared in her eyes, bruised blue. The blue pupils in the bloodshot whites were pure. Captivated by those clear eyes, his field of thought narrowed.

“It must be someone with public credibility. Someone who can take full responsibility if any problems arise for Miss Blanchet. For example, Marquis Lancelot.”

Of course, that powerful and arrogant man wouldn’t bother himself for a divorced woman he had a one-night fling with and got embroiled in a scandal. He could bet his entire fortune on that fact.

The woman would come to her senses upon the man’s cold rejection.

The consulate employee thought as he watched Olivia quickly leave the office.

A woman alighted from a black carriage and ran towards the hotel’s main entrance. Though her face was hidden by a cumbersome hat, it was Olivia Blanchet.

“Miss Blanchet.”

Edgar, who was about to board a carriage for a lunch appointment, called out to her. The woman who was climbing the steps stopped and turned around. The hem of her skirt swirled in waves.

“Ah! Mr. Lancelot.”

The tone tinged with delight wasn’t bad.

No. It was quite good.

At noon, when shadows had disappeared. Under the sunlight, the wide brim of the woman’s hat running towards him fluttered in the wind.

Seeing her unusually pale skin, tacky eye makeup, and lip color today, he couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Then he noticed the woman’s face full of injuries as she stopped in front of him. The horrific result of last night’s indifference.

Though he had heard about the situation in Count Blanchet’s room through the manager, Edgar hadn’t ordered any particular measures.

He looked at the woman with sunken eyes. The old man’s treatment of his granddaughter was quite barbaric.

“Your face. What happened?”

“Ah… this. Somehow. …I fell.”

“Somehow?”

“…Yes. Just, somehow. More importantly, I have something to tell you. Are you busy right now?”

She asked, looking up at Edgar again with determined eyes, as if avoiding his gaze by lowering her head.

“Is it urgent?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

The woman’s bright blue eyes were clearly filled with anxiety.

“I can listen while we go, if you’d like to ride along?”

Edgar politely extended his hand. For the first time, the woman took his hand without hesitation.

He helped her into the carriage with a gentlemanly smile. It felt like his non-existent conscience was pricking him slightly as he captured the cornered herbivore.

Even at this moment, flashbulbs must be going off somewhere.

Discreetly, buried under the midday sun and street noise. There was no better hunting ground for upper-class gossip than in front of a hotel.

As the carriage started moving, the golden hotel slowly receded. Peaceful scenery flowed past the carriage window, and silence fell between the two.

Edgar leaned back against the seat, enjoying this sweet tranquility for a moment. He had no reason to hurry or rush.

The woman was fidgeting with her clasped hands. Only her large hat with a light pink ribbon entered his view instead of her face.

The ribbon swayed back and forth following the jolting movement of the carriage. Suddenly, he became curious about the woman’s expression under the shadow of the hat.

“So. What’s the urgent matter?”

Only then did Olivia slowly raise her head.

She didn’t want to get involved with this man again. But the world had no interest in Olivia’s resolve.

Please let me live quietly. Peacefully.

Perhaps because there were so many people praying to God, Olivia’s wish seemed to have been omitted somehow. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be sitting across from Edgar Lancaster Lancelot.

Olivia lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Tell me.”

It was a gentle voice.

When she left the consulate, she thought she could demand somewhat shamelessly, but now she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

It was all because of that ridiculous scandal. Wouldn’t this man bear some responsibility too?

That confidence disappeared once she faced the man, and instead, her sense of shame revived. Thinking that he too was an innocent victim of false rumors, she found herself at a loss for words.

But if things continued like this…

Olivia composed herself, organized her thoughts, and carefully opened the conversation.

“We made a bet, remember? About granting a wish.”

“Ah! The bet.”

Edgar smiled brightly.

“I remember.”

So he remembered.

Olivia finally felt at ease. Now this became somewhat of a legitimate request.

“That wish. Grant it now.”

Her desperate plea rang out clearly.