“Whether you were troubled by my letter, whether the yellow rose I sent as an apology was seen as mischievous, or if my letter itself was simply unpleasant.”

Walter seemed somewhat excited. Whether it was a pleasant anticipation for the upcoming hunt or some other negative emotion, I couldn’t tell, but I took a step back from him.

“Um, Lord Chaplin.”

“Yes, speak.”

“But why did you send the letter? Did you have something to tell me privately?”

Walter’s jewel-like eyes sparkled.

“It wasn’t like that. I just… wanted to formally apologize for my rudeness in misunderstanding you.”

“A formal apology, not in the form of an official letter, but through asking a friend?”

He stared at me silently for a moment.

“That’s right. It’s just that…”

I know there was no other way. And that Ricardo was unusually harsh towards him.

That was probably the only way to deliver a letter without letting the Rochester family know there was any connection between Walter and me.

“I understand why you sent the letter to me. I’m somewhat grateful. But I am Lord Rochester’s fiancée.”

“…”

“Of course, both Lord Chaplin and I know well what this engagement… means. However, no, rather because of that…”

I paused for a moment and swallowed dryly. There was no need to be this sensitive.

That day on the balcony, I felt completely exposed in front of him. But after our conversation under the moonlight, a kind of camaraderie resembling friendship had formed between us.

His desire to convey sincere words of apology wasn’t a great wrong. Yet my heart kept growing prickly.

So this is how terrible an inferiority complex can be. Though I realized this, it didn’t stop the words I was saying.

“Please treat me with proper etiquette. If you don’t have anything to tell me privately, it’s not right to send such a letter. I don’t want to do anything that might cause misunderstandings with others.”

“…”

“I’ll be going to where my fiancé is now.”

I politely bid farewell and tried to turn away from him.

“What if I had something to tell you?”

His voice, much more agitated and urgent than usual, stopped me in my tracks.

“Yes, as you said, privately. That’s right. I don’t want to use such an expression, but if I had something to tell you privately.”

At his somewhat loud voice, I unconsciously looked around and met eyes with Ricardo, riding a black horse in the distance. He began to approach us slowly.

With his gaze fixed on me and Walter.

I turned away from Ricardo and faced Walter again. When our eyes met, I saw him let out a big sigh of relief.

Walter also seemed to know Ricardo was approaching, but he didn’t avert his upright gaze from me at all. As if Ricardo, not he, was the one doing something shameful.

“What exactly do you mean?”

“It’s difficult to explain in detail now, but I’ll say this one thing.”

“Please speak.”

“The reason I wish to meet with you privately is related to your and your family’s safety.”

“…”

“So I’ll send another letter, even if I have to borrow the form of asking a friend again. To set a meeting place and time.”

“Is it something my fiancé shouldn’t know? If so, I don’t want to hear it.”

“…Well. But I can say it’s worth hearing even if it means risking misunderstandings with others.”

I was about to refuse. I had just asserted my pride, after all. But my current position didn’t allow me to keep insisting on my pride, so my eyes wavered involuntarily.

The man with teal eyes in front of me seemed to have remarkably noticed this change in my emotions. His eyes, which had been shaking as if looking at a water bird about to fly away, were now relaxed as if looking at captured prey.

“Then I’ll send a letter and wait.”

As Walter’s gaze shifted from me to somewhere else, I followed his eyes. My fiancé on the black horse slowly approached and held out his hand.

“Let’s go.”

I took Ricardo’s hand without adding any words. In an instant, I was lifted into the air and seated in front of him.

On the saddle of a horse much taller than the one I had been riding, I had to experience a momentary dizzying sensation.

“Walter, it seems my previous warning didn’t have much effect.”

The low voice of Ricardo behind me sent chills down my spine.

“I was merely conveying my greetings to Lady Pennel.”

A lie. Ricardo would know better than anyone that Walter wasn’t telling the truth right now. Yet Walter showed no sign of hesitation.

“Well then, I hope you have a safe day.”

Walter nodded lightly and briefly fixed his gaze on me. Even in that short moment, an awkward atmosphere flowed between him and me, almost unbearable. Somehow, I had a feeling that today wouldn’t be entirely smooth.

Ricardo rode the horse without saying a word. When the loud trumpet sound announcing the start of the hunt was heard from afar, angry dogs overtook the horse we were riding and rushed towards the rough forest.

Ricardo turned the horse’s head in the opposite direction from where the dogs had run. The heavy sound of hooves hitting the sporadically wet road, as if it had rained without our knowing, gradually faded away.

A man’s whistle signaling that prey had been found was heard, and the bustle of people moving around soon faded away and completely disappeared from us.

The forest was peaceful, but the commotion stirring in my heart did not subside. Not enough to be relieved by the fact that he was sitting behind me.

Ricardo’s attitude and the horse’s movement were perfectly calm. We walked the forest path for a long time without speaking.

‘What on earth did Walter want to say?’

Although they didn’t show friendly faces towards each other, Rochester and Chaplin had a peaceful history. While they couldn’t be called friendly relations, their responses were aligned when major national issues arose.

For instance, when war broke out, or when the emperor’s autocracy reached the sky.

However, Walter’s attitude today was different from the course of action between the two families that I had known so far.

What reason could there be for him, known as a heaven-sent gentleman, to secretly request a meeting with the fiancée of the Rochester heir?

At that moment, Ricardo suddenly stopped the horse, and the thoughts swirling in my head came to a halt. Only then did I realize that he hadn’t asked me anything until now.

The usual Ricardo should have subtly asked what conversation we had. With a slight smile and a relaxed expression.

“Let’s go back now.”

Ah, he’s angry. Only upon hearing Ricardo’s suppressed voice did I realize that he was truly angry, unlike before.

So angry that he couldn’t even ask what conversation I had with Walter.

The place where Walter and I were standing was an open area. Since we were already acquainted, if it was just asking about each other’s well-being in a public place, there was no reason for Ricardo to be upset.

So the reason for his anger was clear. Ricardo had noticed. In that brief moment when our eyes met, the noisy confusion that had risen in my eyes.

I couldn’t answer words that weren’t asked, but even if he did ask, I had no answer to give.

Would it be alright to say that the young lord of the Chaplin family would send me a secret letter requesting a meeting?

If he looked me in the eyes and asked, I would surely confess everything without missing a single detail, but for some reason, he didn’t try to look at me.

It was just as the silence between him and me was starting to become increasingly uncomfortable.

When the prey, chased by the hunting dogs doing the drive, appeared before our eyes.

“Aaaaah!”

I screamed in terror at the sight of the enormous beast I had never seen before. The hunting dogs, which had appeared out of nowhere, surrounded us and barked fiercely.

‘A bear, it’s a bear.’

As the bear, highly agitated by the attack of people, raised its paw threateningly, the horse carrying Ricardo and me reared up on its hind legs. Ricardo, who had dismounted like the wind, gripped the reins tightly to calm the horse.

I thought we were hunting badgers or rabbits today.

Like the last leaf clinging to a branch flying away in the winter wind, I was thrown off the horse, and Ricardo stretched out his arms to embrace me tightly. The enraged bear scratched somewhere on the horse and charged straight at us.

Just as I thought how fast such a large beast could be, Ricardo drew his sword and beheaded the bear in one swift motion.

Bright red blood splattered all over his pale face. The massive bear stopped in its tracks with its arms raised, unable to make a sound.

At the same time, a scene from a terrible dream I had been having since a very young age unfolded before my eyes.

Ricardo swinging his sword again and again towards something, his empty eyes. The unidentifiable lives fading away before him.

As he raised his sword towards the bear once more, I clung to his neck.