The restaurant had an overall warm and neat atmosphere. The brown carpet floor was paired with yellow wallpaper featuring floral patterns and white painted wooden moldings on the walls.

Through the white wooden lattice windows, Ernest could be seen smoking a cigarette on the terrace.

Thinking it would be better to talk while he was away, Sidney opened her mouth.

“I have a favor to ask Vicky and Sarah. Don’t tell anyone, including Ernest, that I was Marien. No matter what happens.”

“What… what kind of thing?”

Victoria, wearing a light blue dress, tilted her head curiously.

Sidney intended to make Marien disappear like smoke. But as long as Victoria Owello was the connection between Marien and Sidney, it was practically impossible.

It would never happen, but.

If, by any remote chance, Logan Redford decided to search for Marien, he would eventually discover that Sidney was Marien.

That’s the kind of person he was.

He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Whether it was blackmail, threats, persuasion, or bribery.

Of course, he would use persuasion or convincing when it came to Victoria, the Owello princess. To make her think it would be helpful to Marien.

Sidney looked back and forth between Victoria and Sarah as she firmly emphasized:

“Even if you think it’s for my own good… don’t do it.”

“Alright. But… even if it’s really for Sidney’s benefit, we shouldn’t say anything?”

As soon as Victoria finished speaking, Sidney slowly shook her head.

“No. If you do that, I’ll never see Victoria and Sarah again.”

“I absolutely, never, won’t say anything. I can even swear.”

“Me too.”

Sidney put her index finger to her lips and adjusted her posture. Ernest, who had been on the terrace, had disappeared.

Victoria leaned towards Sidney and whispered:

“You’ll tell us the reason later, right?”

“After Lord Holden leaves.”

As Sidney finished speaking, Ernest came in with his hands in his pockets. Victoria shot a sharp remark at him.

“Making everyone wait to smoke during mealtime. Ernest, mind your manners.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who eavesdrops on other people’s conversations.”

Ernest retorted as he sat down across from Victoria. Victoria, who was about to argue, closed her mouth. She waited for Sarah to finish bringing all the food. She looked like a racehorse waiting for the starting signal.

“I didn’t deliberately try to eavesdrop. I just missed the chance to go in.”

“The result is what matters.”

“That’s what I’m saying. In the end, Sidney and I waited for Ernest.”

Ernest shrugged once and asked indifferently:

“You never back down. Anyway, why did brother want to meet yesterday?”

“How does Ernest know about that?”

“Because brother sent me, so I know.”

Sidney, who had been quietly eating her stew regardless of the siblings’ quarrel, looked up.

She finally understood why Ernest Holden and Logan Redford had appeared at the Armand Hotel.

“As expected. Steve is really caring.”

“This is strange. The one who went to the hotel to find you in the midst of being busy, who brought you home when you passed out drunk, who came here personally because he was worried about you… was me. How does that lead to the conclusion that ‘Steve is caring’?”

Steve? Sidney had never heard the name Steve Holden before. Moreover, it was unfamiliar to hear that Ernest had a brother.

Probably another cousin. Sidney didn’t think much of it and moved her spoon again.

“Steve is busy.”

“Victoria, the busiest place at the end and beginning of the year is the newspaper company. And I’m the president of the largest newspaper company in the Asnel Empire.”

“So what?”

“Just saying. What do I expect from you.”

The siblings’ war ended with Ernest grumbling.

After that, there were some trivial arguments that even children wouldn’t have, but they managed to finish the meal without much trouble.

After sending Ernest off, Victoria and Sarah took Sidney to the reception room.

“Sidney, you said you’d tell us the reason. I’ve been thinking… What Ernest said earlier, about ‘taking responsibility’.”

“And?”

“No matter how I think about it, you don’t have anything to take responsibility for with me. Then… did something happen last night?”

“…”

The siblings were both straightforward. Sidney lowered her eyes, considering how to answer. Even if they were friends, she couldn’t tell them everything.

But Victoria wasn’t one to wait.

“Why are you silent? Don’t tell me! Did you spend the night with a man?”

“Cough. You, you…”

Sidney covered her mouth with her fist and kept coughing. Seeing Sidney’s red face and stuttering, Victoria pressed further.

“Oh, oh. Are you avoiding my eyes? I’m starting to feel hurt.”

Eventually making a tearful face, Sidney rubbed her forehead and mumbled.

“Well… I didn’t mean to… It just happened.”

‘Sidney Warden’ being hesitant like this.

Sidney had always been confident and straightforward.

For such a Sidney to say it just happened… Victoria, whose thoughts had reached that far, stood up abruptly, slamming the table with a bang.

“Who! What bastard! Sidney, you can’t just do that with any man!”

Victoria shouted at Sidney, panting angrily. Sidney, who was listening, also pouted her lips.

“Is that something someone who gave me the penthouse key should say?”

In a way, that key was the biggest trouble. If Logan hadn’t asked about that key, Sidney would have just left.

Victoria, who had committed the sin, hesitated and trailed off.

“No…, I did that so you could get along with our cousin elder brother. Not to do that with some strange man…”

“When did you say it was good to meet a new man in an unfamiliar place?”

“That’s just a saying. I know reality is different from novels. Anyway, tell me about the man first.”

Sensing that words wouldn’t work, Victoria quickly changed the subject. To the story of the man who spent the night with Sidney.

How to deal with Victoria. Sidney crossed her arms and opened her mouth.

“Vicky, do you know ‘Logan Redford’ by any chance?”

“Of course I know. I’ve seen him a few times because he’s friends with Ernest…”

“…”

Victoria’s eyes grew bigger and bigger as she continued speaking. And she made a strange sound in surprise.

“Hic! You… with Logan Redford… that… Oh my goodness.”

“Is it that surprising?”

“No, it’s just so unexpected. Just between us… there were rumors that Lord Redford wasn’t interested in women. I guess rumors really can’t be trusted.”

After rambling for a while, Victoria stared at Sidney again. Sidney sighed at the desperate look in her eyes, begging her to say it wasn’t true.

“…That rumor is true. He’s not interested in other people.”

“Right. Such a man showed interest in you.”

Victoria sat down next to Sidney with a somewhat lewd smile.

“Why are you smiling like that?”

“Lady Redford, it means nothing.”

“…”

“You, it’s the end of your hardships now. The Redford marquis family is really rich. So… now Emilia’s medical expenses…”

“Victoria Owello.”

Victoria, who had been chattering excitedly, closed her mouth. Sidney’s face had hardened to the point of being chilling, not just cold.

Victoria immediately apologized to her friend.

“Ah, sorry.”

It wasn’t something Victoria needed to apologize for. In aristocratic society, that level of calculation was natural.

But Sidney didn’t want to transfer the burden she had shouldered to someone else in that way.

Even if it wasn’t a big deal for Logan, even if he had mentioned marriage first.

At least, she shouldn’t do that.

Only then could she resent her father and brother who had passed all the burdens onto her.

She needed to hate them freely… to be able to breathe.

For that, Sidney would have to continue earning money herself in the future.

Sidney firmly held Victoria’s hand, who didn’t know what to do.

“Vicky, if you’re sorry to me, keep the secret. The fact that Marien is me… don’t let anyone know.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

“But Sidney, I’m really curious about this… By any chance, was his… um, unsatisfactory?”

Victoria asked with a genuinely worried face. At that moment, Sidney instinctively knew how to persuade Victoria.

“It was the worst. That person… was really terrible.”

“Oh, my goodness…”

Sidney added one more thing to her shocked friend. To ensure that Logan Redford couldn’t persuade Victoria with any words.

“Moreover… he’s that bastard.”

“Huh?”

“My boss, I mean.”

“Oh my, that bastard is… Logan Redford?”

“Yes.”

Sidney smiled gently at Victoria, who had turned pale, confident that Victoria had solidified her thoughts as she intended.

“Bad personality and even bad in bed…. I’m against this marriage.”

“I’m against it too. If that’s inadequate, it’s absolutely not okay.”

Following Victoria, Sarah also expressed her indignation and promised absolute cooperation.

Although it stung to make Logan Redford out to be an inadequate man, there was no surer way to persuade Victoria.

“Anyway, dresses are out from now on. It’s unlikely, but if anyone asks about Marien… send them to me.”

Still uneasy, Sidney repeated her request several times even as she was leaving the apartment.

“27 Dustin Avenue.”

Sidney murmured the address in front of the old apartment. Behind her, children were playing, throwing snowballs at each other.

Sidney’s gaze lingered for a moment on the doorbell that didn’t work, then on the half-open door.

Dustin Avenue was in the 6th district, where impoverished nobles and commoners lived mixed together.

Sidney habitually checked the mailbox and climbed the stairs.

She wasn’t feeling well, but there was no way a building like this would have an elevator. If there was any consolation, it was that she lived on the 3rd floor.

By the time she reached the 2nd floor, her legs were shaking so much she could barely stand. Sidney leaned against the railing and muttered to herself.

“My body is truly the worst.”

This was due to overwork from constant overtime over the past month, plus handling various reports for Logan.

And yesterday, drinking alcohol until dawn…

“Damn it.”

Sidney arrived in front of her home, practically dragging her legs while leaning on the railing.

302.

Sidney mumbled the number indicating her home under her breath.

At that moment, the door opened and a woman Sidney knew well came out. She was an employee who took care of Sidney’s housekeeping about twice a week.

“Miss Sidney, I thought you had gone to work since you weren’t here.”

“Was today the cleaning day…?”

“No, it’s not that… I have play rehearsal tomorrow, so I stopped by today. Did I forget to tell you?”

Sidney felt Betty’s voice fading away and then getting louder.

Sweat was pouring down her body, which had been shivering since earlier. Thinking she should lie down in bed soon, Sidney moved her feet.

At that moment, she felt dizzy and it seemed like the ground was sinking.

“…Miss Sidney?”

She thought she was going to fall like this, but Betty supported her and shouted.

“Miss Sidney! Are you alright? Oh my… You’re sweating so much… You have a fever too.”

She needed to say she was fine, but… The words just swirled in her mouth and no sound came out.

Her ears were ringing and her stomach was churning. No matter how hard she tried to open her eyes, her eyelids wouldn’t lift.

In the end, the world was enveloped in darkness and became quiet.