Bianca, who finished dinner, was leaning against the sofa and reading a book.

No, strictly speaking, her gaze was fixed on the book.

The pages were never turned even once. Bianca lay down on the sofa and sat up busy repeating.

Watching Bianca like that, the maid whispered softly.

“Milady, are you not able to concentrate?”

“Huh? Umm, hehe…”

Bianca, who subtly closed the book, twinkled round eyes towards the maid.

“Yumo, what story are Duke and Viscountess sharing right now?”

Bianca’s two cheeks, asking like that, blushed greatly.

The maid, seeing such Bianca cute, answered.

“You asked that a few minutes ago. And a few minutes ago, and a few minutes before that too.”

“Oh! Did I say that? Right…”

“Lady, really. Do you like Viscountess so much?”

“…Yeah, very very much.”

It was when Bianca, with a sly smile, let out a hearty laugh.

A maid hurriedly entered the reception room.

“Milady, it seems Viscountess is returning to the Dark Mansion now!”

“Already?”

Bianca asked with a raised head.

‘Yumo said that the longer the two spend happy time, Viscountess would stay here for a long time. Could it be that they’re fighting again…?’

Continuing her thoughts, Bianca stretched out her lower lip and soon pouted fiercely.

“Yumo, I need to see Duke now!”

It was too early to be disappointed.

Bianca ran straight toward the Duke’s residence.

Finally entering the Duke’s residence, Cedric, as always, welcomed Bianca.

However, Bianca noticed in an instant that her Duke’s complexion was darker than usual.

“Duke, by any chance… are you fighting with Viscountess again?”

Worried, Bianca asked a question mixed with concern.

To Bianca’s anxious question, Cedric lowered his head resolutely.

“…No, that’s not it.”
Bianca, who let out a short sigh of relief, spoke again.

“Then why…?”

To the cautious question, Cedric only let out a deep sigh.

Seeing him like that, anxiety subtly returned to Bianca’s heart.

“Perhaps… Viscountess doesn’t want to come back here?”

Cedric’s silence was prolonged.

Although Bianca was young, she could sense some positive meaning in his silence.

Eventually, the child had no choice but to leave the grand hall, her shoulders slumped.

She held the maid’s hand and went back to her room, tottering along the way.

“Yumo…”

Bianca looked up at the maid with a face full of despair.

Large teardrops began to gather little by little in the big pupils of the child.

“Is there really no way to improve the relationship between you two, Yumo?”

“Lady…”

“I only have Duke and Viscountess as family… and I have no one else…”

As Bianca, with a face full of frustration, spoke, large teardrops fell from her cheeks.

The maid quickly embraced the crying child and started to comfort her.

“Lady, have you been very sad all this time? I know, this maid understands Lady’s heart very well.”

With skillful hands, the maid consoled Bianca, patting her small back and wiping her still fluffy white forehead.

However, this time, the child’s tears didn’t seem to dry up easily.

For a while, and a good while at that. Finally, Yumo, who had a good idea, slowly opened her mouth.

“Lady, I do have one good idea.”

“Hmm…?”

Bianca quickly wiped her reddened eyes with the edge of her sleeve and looked up at the maid.

With curiosity in her brightened eyes, looking at the child as if asking when she cried, Yumo smiled gently.

“To be honest, I heard a story from the Dark Mansion recently, and that was…”

On the other hand, Cedric sighed deeply, recalling Bianca’s back.

The sight of the little child leaving with slumped shoulders.

Just today, for the second time already, facing the back she didn’t want to see, Cedric felt nothing but unease.

‘The ‘heart’ you want to regain is not here anymore. Because now… I’m not the Rebecca from back then.’

Up to her last words, the feelings became even more painful.

Of course, Cedric knew that Rebecca no longer loved him.

However, hearing that story directly from her was more painful than he thought.

‘This hellish feeling… Rebecca must have felt it thousands, no, tens of thousands of times because of me.’

Thinking that way, the current agony felt somewhat justified.

At that moment, the imaginary voice of Manakin, who had been soothingly whispering in Cedric’s mind, passed by.

‘You idiot, you can still catch her now.’

Cedric let out a faint chuckle, trying to soothe his forcibly tightened heart.
‘Back then, I vowed numerous times to approach Rebecca, soothe the wounded heart, and promise to heal the pain. Yet, here I am, trying to endure the rejection for the first time.’

Moreover, it’s not like he didn’t anticipate Rebecca’s rejection.

Although it didn’t happen today, he will approach her until his sincerity reaches her someday.

A vow, or rather, a determination.

Making a promise akin to that, he, out of habit, gazed at the Dark Mansion.

However, later on, Cedric deeply regretted this moment he had anticipated for the future.

One early morning, just after finding out that Rebecca had secretly left his castle.