Two maids, a coachman, and a cook. I have to prepare meals for myself as well… Do I have to pay rent too? No, shouldn’t I return to the family as soon as possible?

How much longer will he have to live like this…

The moment her thoughts reached that point, Eloise finally returned to reality. In other words, to the dining room where dinner with him was in full swing.

“I have something I’m curious about…”

After chewing on mushrooms for a while without saying a word, Eloise swallowed them and suddenly said those words.

Ansel, who thought she seemed particularly tired as she had been looking dazed since before the meal started, quietly leaned back with a willing look on his face.

After all, there was nothing he couldn’t teach her if she wanted to know.

Even if it was his own flaws.

“What is it?”

“Do you have no intention of returning to the family?”

At that moment, Ansel couldn’t help but chuckle.

Apart from it being a serious matter, asking such a question so abruptly, and with such a desperate face at that…

Slowly rubbing his smooth chin, he asked in a low voice.

“Why?”

“What? Why, you ask…”

Eloise was rather dumbfounded by his indifferent reaction.

“The family is your everything. How long are you going to live like this?”

“Who knows. If I go back, I won’t be able to spend time with you like this.”

After answering like that, he shrugged his broad shoulders.

The smile hanging on the corner of his picturesque lips was somewhat playful yet incredibly beautiful.

However, now was not the time to blankly admire the curve of those lips. Eloise asked again with a seemingly frightened face.

“Your Grace, right now… Could it be that the reason you’re not returning to the family is because of me?”

“No.”

Ansel, who laughed again as if sighing, deepened his gaze.

In a moment of silence, as he quietly counted the beautiful eyelashes drooping under the delicate eyelids, he continued.

“To be precise, I can’t go back. It seems Father is very angry.”

“But you’re his only son, so if you go to him, surely—”

“I can’t meet him even if I go, and there’s no reply even if I send letters. So I’m just waiting for him to look back at me while working diligently in the way he has always hoped for. Like being tested.”

In a voice that couldn’t be more perfect, he added a gentle word.

“Were you worried?”

“No, I…”

“Don’t worry.”

However, even with the kind warmth in his voice, Eloise suddenly became distressed.

‘Don’t worry, he says?’

There was no way that was possible. In the end, the root cause of this trouble was that broken engagement, and according to Ansel, the seed of that crazy broken engagement originated from herself.

Facing that obvious fact again, her heart became unbearably suffocating.

She shouldn’t have met him in the first place. At that fleeting thought, her pretty light brown eyebrows crumpled weakly.

“Eloise. What are you thinking about?”

“…”

If she answered that she regretted meeting him, would it be too cruel?

However, this was a meaningless thought from the start. For Eloise, a world without Ansel Blaine was hard to even imagine.

He was in all her imaginations and dreams, and now in reality as well.

Having dinner with him every evening as if it was natural, being mistaken for his lover and smiling as if it couldn’t be helped, Eloise had to bite her lips several times for fear that she would come to hope for these things to become her natural future.

Struggling not to be crushed by the guilt of deceiving her elder sister, repeatedly reminding herself of the miserable endings of women who dared to love men beyond their status.

How sad and miserable that is, you absolutely…

“Eloise.”

“I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

She blurted out an answer as if spitting out her complicated insides.

Nevertheless, Eloise still felt like she had swallowed a huge rock. The meal, which hadn’t even properly started yet, was already uncomfortable.

Then Ansel lowered his voice.

“…Strange.”

With those words, Eloise realized that his mood had noticeably sunk at some point.

Gently raising her head, their gazes naturally met as expected.

Since when did he have this expression? His eyes were truly merciless like a severe cold.

It was a completely expressionless face, but he was clearly angry.

The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up as if the room temperature had dropped somewhat.

“Why does it sound like a lie?”

Like a frightened child, Eloise couldn’t even blink and began to frantically search her memory.

She was trying to find which of her actions had touched his nerves.

‘Because I brought up the family matter on my own? No. He even laughed a few times.’

Then was it because she inwardly resented that she shouldn’t have met him in the first place? Or was it because she lied as if she wasn’t thinking about him when she had been thinking about him all along?

‘But unless he has the ability to read minds, how…’

Eloise’s eyes, unable to find a place to escape, closed tightly.

It was because she belatedly realized that this impatience stemmed from her own anxiety.

There was no way he could know her heart that was invisible and unspoken. Just as she couldn’t look into his heart even if she wanted to.

“You seem a bit sensitive. You must have had a tough day.”

When Eloise said that and casually opened her eyes, Ansel was lost in thought with his mouth obliquely covered.

Strangely, it also seemed like he was immersed in regret. As if the overbearing air from just before had all been an illusion, his breath was extremely quiet.

“Lord Ansel.”

“…Yes, it seems so.”

“…”

“Eat before it gets cold.”

Unexpectedly, he backed down obediently.

Eloise was relieved by that, but also puzzled. These days, he sometimes seemed precarious. Was it just her feeling?

Even as she obediently picked up her utensils following his words, Eloise was unknowingly worrying about Ansel.

At that realization, her vision suddenly went dark.

She could let it slide that she had come to this house under the absurd excuse of preparing to leave him.

It was also a situation where it was difficult to find a place to stay right away. But it was simply pathetic to see herself going back and forth between winter and spring, fretting over his every little action.

If the day to leave him comes soon, will it really be the end? Will time really solve everything? Then, will these moments become so faint that she will have to try hard to recall memories with him?

For now, she had no choice but to hope for that. Futilely, that was the case.

“By the way, the new job I started is at a textile factory. My colleagues are all so kind that I don’t know how happy I was from the first day. I’m working in a pleasant place without much difficulty, so you don’t have to worry.

Come to think of it, I don’t know if you sent a reply before, but I haven’t received anything. Actually, there’s a letter thief rampant in this neighborhood these days. It seems to be a fairly common occurrence here, the capital is such a strange place. Don’t you think?

So please don’t send a reply for the time being. It would be too sad to have a letter I wrote with effort stolen, right? You feel sorry for Ellie who has to send letters without replies for a while? I’m fine. When the letter thief settles down, I’ll ask you to send all the overdue replies then!”

Perhaps because she wrote the letter late into the night, she overslept a little.

As a result, Eloise left the mansion with an empty heart, unable to have breakfast.

“Brr, it’s cold.”

Eloise shivered at the noticeably chilly weather.

Even though there were still calendar pages to turn before winter arrived, the cold air of early morning already had the scent of early winter.

Anyway, Eloise wasn’t just terrified of the approaching winter.

After all, the inside of the workshop was filled with humid heat that made her sweat, and as the days got colder, the stench around the factory would subside a bit.

“Phew, I should hurry.”

Muttering like that and wrapping her arms around herself, Eloise’s brows narrowed for a moment.

She hadn’t even reached the main street yet, but at this hour, there was a rare old lady standing on the road. Moreover, she was looking at her as if she was curious…

‘What? Is she also surprised to see someone out at this hour?’

It was a bit unpleasant, but when she tried to ignore it and take a step, the old lady approached her with a puzzled face. Eloise had no choice but to greet her.

“Good morning, ma’am.”

“Young lady, do you happen to live in that house?”

“Pardon?”

When a question came back instead of a greeting, Eloise looked back with a dumbfounded face.

The place where the lady’s gaze landed was undoubtedly Ansel’s house.

A neighbor living in Royal Arch? Then she might run into her often in the future. Noble people tend to be more curious.

After reaching that conclusion, Eloise showed her characteristic bright smile and answered.

“Ah, I’m a newly hired maid from a little while ago.”

“A maid? Didn’t you just come out of that house?”

“Yes? Of course, since I’m a maid working there.”

“Why would a maid…”

“I’m sorry, but I overslept, so I’m a bit late now. I’ll be on my way first.”

Eloise, who bowed her head, hurried her steps toward the main street.

In the meantime, a noisy bell was ringing in her head like a warning.

‘Come to think of it, why didn’t I think that there could be as many eyes watching as possible?’

In fact, unlike Mayvery, it was common for several houses to be gathered in one area in the capital. So it wouldn’t be strange if this kind of thing happened again.

The thought that she had become a woman of the capital since she was no longer afraid of pigeons was a miscalculation.

Eloise shook her head as if mocking her complacent self.

‘I should be careful just in case. From now on, I should use the back door like a real maid.’

Naturally, the old lady’s monologue left behind where Eloise had departed did not reach her ears.

“Strange? There shouldn’t be anyone living-in among the servants in that house.”