“Is the lady of Evergale well? It’s been quite a while since she’s been seen at any parties.”

“She often had severe headaches… I wonder how she is now…”

“I owe her a great favor from my childhood and must repay her. I really wish to see her.”

“Even if I was cruel, one word from you and she would stop crying and start smiling. But now she’s expressionless.”

The physician, socialites, his lifelong butler, a foreigner who suddenly appeared, even his mother who scorned her.

Everyone was looking for Helena. Everyone knew Helena.

Everywhere was just Helena, Helen, Madam. It intensified after bringing Natasha to the mansion.

Despite his orders, rumors about Helena’s absence began to spread.

Even the servants, who bowed in front of him, gossiped behind his back about how quickly he replaced the mistress.

However, there was nothing he could do about his revulsion. His mind was no different.

He thought seating Natasha in her place would help him forget. Instead, it made him think of her more. What he believed to be the solution turned out to be a poisoned chalice.

‘What is happening… Damn it!’

Unable to focus on work, Eugene threw his pen and lay down on the sofa.

Covering his eyes with the back of his hand, he tried to alleviate his fatigue. That’s when he heard the door open quietly.

Someone entered the office, bringing a subtle scent of tea with them.
Eugene lowered his hand that was shielding his view and identified the uninvited visitor.

“…Helena?”

The Helena who had disappeared was standing there, as usual, holding a tray with a teapot.

Eugene involuntarily sat up straight, but then realized.

“Um… My lord?”

On closer inspection, the woman was not Helena, but Natasha.

‘Am I now seeing illusions?’

Eugene rubbed his tired eyes and turned his head away.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Natasha, unfazed, placed the tray on the table and approached him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in consolation.

“My lord, please don’t overwork yourself. I’m helping as best I can, so you can afford to rest a bit.”

Her voice was filled with a strange certainty. In fact, there was nothing to argue about. It was true.

Contrary to worries, Natasha efficiently carried out the tasks given to her. She quickly grasped the administrative workings, making her work both efficient and effective.

However, in terms of filling Helena’s emotional void, she fell significantly short. Instead of covering her, she only made Helena more present in his mind.

Eugene got up and went to a shelf between the bookcases. He took out a bottle of vodka from a display case that had been like a decoration and sat down at his desk.

Easily uncorking the bottle, he poured some into a crystal-cut glass and asked Natasha.

“Natasha, have you ever experienced the disappearance of something you thought was unchanging?”

“If it disappeared, perhaps it wasn’t unchangeable.”

Eugene’s brow furrowed slightly at her response.

“Right.”

He nodded slightly and continued.

“I realized that when I was young. There was a huge elm tree behind the house. When the sun set, its shadow would reach my room. Even when struck by lightning, only a few branches would break.”

Eugene wet his lips with the amber liquid and continued.

“I used to lie under that tree reading every day. Even when I attended the academy in the capital, I would come back during the holidays to see it. It always seemed to be there. Like it would be there until I died, as long as the Evergale family continued.”

The sound of refilling the glass interrupted his words.

Suddenly, a bitter smile spread across Eugene’s lips.

“But one day, I went there and it was gone. They had cleared it to expand the estate. I didn’t pay much attention to it as I grew older, but the empty space it left felt surprisingly empty.”

Eugene downed half the glass in one go and held it as if to cover it. His other hand now rested on his forehead.

“But why… why am I feeling that way now?”

A dry sigh passed. It was a breath mixed with regret or self-mockery, or both.

Natasha simply watched him without a word.

After a while, with his head still buried in his hand, Eugene murmured.

“A tree can be replanted, a person can be brought back.”

The heavy glass thudded against the desk.

“She left on her own, so I must go find her myself.”