“……In the end, was it all for this to happen?”

“What do you mean by that? For this to happen?”

She came to me. That woman who I could never reach no matter what, now in my shadow, by her own will……

“I found it. What I’ve been searching for, for a very long time.”

It was truly an overwhelming thing.

Because I finally had by my side the only existence that wore color in a world that felt monochrome.

Sometimes, even when suppressed, the sinister desires that inadvertently show themselves make her tremble, but Eloise was still in his house.

To Ansel, only that fact was important.

However, even in the face of this overwhelming fact, he had to feel the impatience that boiled inside him from time to time.

A butterfly that sits on a flower does not fly there to stay for a lifetime. Because it can fly away with a very fragile wind.

To a very distant place, somewhere it may never return from.

Ansel still remembered when she froze in shock, as if she had fallen into it, when he returned from Bertero in his teens, having grown up.

What was contained in those eyes must have been rejection, fear, and some contempt.

After all, considering how he looked at Eloise when they met again, he who couldn’t forget her for a single moment for 2 years and even saw her in his dreams, it was an obvious reaction.

Anyway, after that reunion, Eloise ran away and hid, and Ansel had to spend a hellish time trapped in an unbearable longing.

For many years, like a machine with no emotions.

This was why Ansel was desperately suppressing his fierce urges.

Hoping that she would not despise him and leave again.

But what if the day comes when she leaves after waiting like this? If she says she found a new place to live, that everything that happened so far should be considered as if it never happened, and bids farewell once more……

‘In the end, if that’s how it’s going to be, there’s no reason to endure…….’

The moment a gloomy shadow hung over Ansel’s cold eyes, Oscar’s urgent voice shattered his thoughts.

“No, Ansel. The way I see it, you haven’t found it yet. You’ve been practicing asceticism for too long…… I mean, you’ve lived like a monk. On a set path, without ever wanting or choosing anything for yourself. So this is……””

Ansel asked back with a crooked smile on his face.

“The side effect of that?”

In fact, there was nothing wrong with what Oscar said.

For a truly long time, he loved her but never dared to think of having her. It was because he lived a life of only accepting what the family allowed.

A proposal with a twisted purpose and an engagement that followed as a matter of course. The ripple caused by a moment’s impulse was the beginning of all this commotion.

“Marry Lady Bianca, Ansel.”

“Haines.”

As the story took a completely absurd turn, Ansel’s hand, which had been gently caressing the blue cufflinks, stopped moving.

“Isn’t that the best option left for you? You know well what the family wants. If it’s for the preparation of marriage with the duke’s daughter, even the viscount will gladly step forward. You can put everything back in its place naturally. Above all……”

The moment Ansel inhaled to stop Oscar from lengthily unfolding a tiresome story, Lieutenant Haines continued in a lower voice than usual.

“I assure you, the only thing that can stop your wandering is a woman. No matter how great you are, you’re just a man after all.”

“……”

“Even if your pride is hurt, you have to accept it. This is the law of nature. It can’t be helped.”

Oscar believed that the noble Ansel Blaine would still consider a man’s natural desire for a woman to be frivolous.

So he tried to show the most serious gaze he could muster.

The gaze of his old comrade, who talked as much as he walked, was somewhat desperate.

“Ansel, don’t take my sincerity lightly. Okay?”

“……Yes, I’ll take it to heart.”

So it was natural, if natural, that Oscar’s moist eyes widened with joy at Ansel’s answer.

Of course, as always, he had no idea what Blaine was thinking today.

Especially about his fierce desire.

Even in her teenage years, when she was twice as reckless and immature than now, Bianca had never worn such a bold dress.

She could maintain her composure to some extent in the dimly lit carriage.

However, when she actually stood in front of the house where the man who would become her future husband lived alone, wearing a décolleté dress that openly revealed the upper part of her chest, her heart pounded wildly.

‘Phew…….’

Bianca repeated deep breaths several times to calm her trembling heart, thinking.

‘He said he would come straight home at a set time every day, so he should be back by now.’

Even if he hadn’t returned yet, it would only be a matter of moments. In that case, she could wait a little while in the drawing room, composing herself.

Yes. She had to steel herself.

Because she knew that she could no longer shake him with just cute methods.

In other words, she came here today with the intention of committing an act of mischief unbecoming of a duke’s daughter.

It was a raid with a very blatant intention.

She knocked hard on the gate, and not long after, the door opened. Bianca loosened her grip on the shawl and lifted her chin high.

As the cold evening breeze flowed into her exposed chest, her body trembled.

Naturally, what appeared from inside the door was not the man she had been desperately waiting for, but the face of a maid.

“Huh?”

Bianca made a stupid sound without realizing it.

For some reason, the face was familiar. Was it just her feeling? Was there a similar face among the young ladies she met a while ago? It wasn’t a particularly special impression, though.

Concluding that it was because she was nervous, Bianca was about to move her lips when Ansel’s maid opened her mouth.

“Please go back.”

“Ansel…… What?”

The forehead, which had been as white and smooth as the surface of a pearl, crumpled.

However, even if she was a maid, she was Ansel’s person, so it didn’t seem like a good idea to show an aggressive attitude.

Moreover, the maid seemed to have recognized at a glance that the guest who visited the mansion was the daughter of a noble family.

Perhaps she even recognized that the woman standing in front of her was “that duke’s daughter” who had never left the center of high society since her debut.

After gathering her thoughts, Bianca naturally erased her expression and responded in a deliberately elegant tone.

“I came to see Ansel. Has he not returned yet?”

“Yes. He has not returned home yet.”

“Then I’ll wait in the drawing room.”

Even though she spoke quite clearly, the maid stood firm without budging.

It didn’t seem like she hadn’t heard. Bianca’s voice rose a little, annoyed.

“If you don’t know who I am, I’m Ansel’s―”

“I’m sorry. I was told not to let anyone inside.”

“……What? There seems to be a misunderstanding, but I’m an exception. I’ve been to the military office several times, you know?”

Bianca retorted, her face flushed despite herself.

However, the maid’s expression was only frozen without emotion as usual, showing no sign of being intimidated.

“If that’s the case, meet him outside. I’m just following my master’s orders, so I can’t invite you in.”

“Ha, really……. I can tell Ansel to fire you. You think I can’t do that?”

Bianca warned in a sharp tone, gripping her tightly cinched waist with her hand.

However, because she fixed her eyes, filled with clear anger, on the annoying maid, Bianca didn’t notice at all the presence of the woman who was quietly watching her from inside.

Eloise had just finished taking a busy bath and was about to get dressed.

That’s when the commotion on the first floor flew to her ears.

Although the building was called a mansion due to its dignity, after all, the size of this house was not very large, so it happened.

‘What’s going on?’

The voice she heard was definitely that of a woman.

Eloise naturally assumed that a guest had come, but for a guest, the tone was quite aggressive, which was strange.

Eloise, who was neither the owner nor anything else in this mansion, was not in a position to step forward in the first place.

However, she couldn’t help but worry that the maid might be harassed for nothing.

Having made up her mind, Eloise hurriedly put her arms and head through her clothes and pulled them down.

Then, like a puppy who heard an unfamiliar sound, she stepped down the stairs with quick steps.

Hiding quietly behind a pillar and looking out the other side of the door, she saw a very young and beautiful woman standing there.

It was an unexpected situation, so her blue eyes naturally widened.

It was also partly because the woman was dressed so sensuously that even Eloise, a woman herself, blushed.

Nevertheless, she didn’t look vulgar like the women in the back alleys.

At a glance, she seemed to be a lady from a great family, oozing elegance, and above all, her straight posture and upright attitude drew attention.

The dignity and ease that people belonging to a different world from hers inherently possessed.

The noble refinement she had felt from Ansel Blaine, from the Earl of Huntington, and occasionally from those she encountered around the townhouses of Royal Arch.

‘So that woman is Ansel’s…….’

That cautious assumption became a conviction as soon as it began.

It was because the woman at the door herself mentioned that she frequented the military office.

It was common sense that anyone could know, even a child, that not everyone could freely come and go to a strict military institution.

Moreover, due to the maid’s calm attitude, as if she already knew the beautiful visitor, and her plain answer to meet outside, Eloise reached the only conclusion.

‘……What do I do……. She must be his lover.’