At first, when I encountered the truth, my mind went blank. I think I was standing there stupidly, stunned by the shock, until Edmond pulled me to sit down and ordered someone to call for a doctor.

The fear of nearly dying entered my heart with a thud, and finally, the fact that Etricia hated me enough to decide to kill me fell like a huge meteorite onto her head.

To me, who was frozen in repeated shock, Edmond said:

That she had misunderstood me as Devon’s mistress and, in a drunken state, ordered the assassination.

Though I understood it in my head, my heart felt as if it was being stabbed with an awl, and I shed tears of sorrow until tissues piled up like mountains. Even if it stemmed from a misunderstanding, I still felt hurt and disappointed.

Then, like picking up seashells buried in the sand one by one, I uncovered the questions I had.

Ah, so that’s why Lady Etricia forgave me so easily. That’s why she helped me. That’s why she was kind to me from the start.

Often smiling awkwardly, indulging my whims, comforting me…

‘Was she… being nice to me because she felt sorry?’

Suddenly, my chest stung.

Perhaps the kind-hearted woman had accepted me, unable to refuse.

Come to think of it, she introduced me to the Viscount Weekly’s wife and wanted me to build friendships with other young ladies. Was that because she found me annoying and wanted to pass me off?

Now that I think about it, she hesitated a lot about the vacation suggestion too. She might have actually disliked it.

A relationship gained solely by my own pushing. A relationship filled only with the other person’s unwanted guilt.

As my speculation extended that far, my resentment towards Etricia grew like a black sphere. If it was out of guilt, she shouldn’t have been nice to me at all… When asked if I resented her for that, I answered that I did.

But right after hearing about her mother-in-law’s cruelty and domestic violence, her heart pounded fiercely with anger. It was when she raised her eyes, sharpened with killing intent, while tearing tissues furiously.

‘That person likes your sister.’

Lilien’s mood sank once again. Was that really true? Not out of guilt, but truly? The doubt that had sprouted like a new shoot remained uncleared.

Afterwards, Edmond explained Etricia’s pitiful circumstances and spoke as if telling her to forgive. In fact, there was nothing to forgive. There wasn’t even a slight wavering in her affection towards her.

But…

Lilien avoided the place, speaking incoherently with a confused expression.

Five days had passed since she rushed into her room and fell into despair like that.

Today was the same. She avoided facing Etricia who had come to visit, not having the courage to do so.

How foolish.

Etricia had said that she was mature for being honest with her emotions, but she probably didn’t know how cowardly she actually was. No, the kind-hearted woman probably noticed but chose not to point it out.

Lilien soaked her pillow with tears. She was so upset that her insides felt like they were melting. Should she run to her now and ask if she had been nice out of guilt? Then Lady Etricia would smile with an awkward face. And I would…

It was then. Lilien, who felt a presence from the door that Mary had left open for ventilation, narrowed her bloodshot eyes.

More precisely, it was a sound coming from outside the open door, by the window. Soon, as she rubbed her eyes that were stinging from the heat and stood by the window, Lilien’s mouth fell open in astonishment.

Tap tap-!

And she ran without hesitation.

Mary, who was coming up the stairs with a tray, was startled by Lilien who suddenly appeared in her nightgown.

“Ah, young lady. Where are you going in such a state-”

Before Mary could finish her question, Lilien rushed down the stairs, causing a gust of wind.

Mary, with a dazed look, put down the tray in a corner of the hallway, grabbed a blanket, and followed. The chase ended in the backyard.

Lilien’s eyes stopped on Etricia.

Sitting in front of the flower bed, she was wearing an elegant wide-brimmed hat and gardening gloves, covering the soil with a trowel. Though it was a somewhat unbalanced combination, when she did it, it only looked refined.

Mary, who had followed, draped the blanket over Lilien’s shoulders, but it fell off due to Lilien’s rush forward.

“Young lady!”

Ignoring Mary’s call, Lilien dropped her gaze onto Etricia’s head.

Etricia, who had been humming while covering the soil, raised her head at the shadow flickering over the flower bed. Her jade-colored eyes filled with shock upon discovering Lilien in her cream-colored nightgown, panting.

“Lilien, what on earth…”

Etricia put down the trowel and stood up. The wide-brimmed hat she wore moved greatly up and down.

“Did something happen?”

“Why… are you… in the flower bed?”

Lilien barely managed to say, breaking her rough breaths.

“What?”

“Why is Lady Etricia here…”

“Ah.”

Etricia, letting out a small sigh, smiled awkwardly.

“I was thinking about what could have upset Lilien so much that she couldn’t even eat properly for days, and then I noticed the flower bed. I remembered how upset you were when the gardener’s dog ruined it last time.”

“So you came here for that?”

Etricia smiled faintly, crinkling her eyes.

“Well, just… I have a lot of time now. Lilien likes to come smell the soil in the flower bed every day, right? It looked easy, but it’s quite difficult when you actually try it.”

Etricia showed her hands in the soil-covered gloves. Lilien bit her pink lips until they turned pale. Something hot was welling up in her chest, and she had to do that to suppress it.

Lilien hugged Etricia’s waist tightly, trying to hide her crying face.

“Lilien?”

At the surprised voice falling on her ear, Lilien squeezed her thoroughly wet eyes shut.

Edmond was right. She had forgotten after being apart for nine years. Her extraordinary younger brother had been insightful since childhood. None of what her brother had said so far had been wrong.

There must not have been a single lie in Etricia’s feelings towards her all this time. How could she have condemned her out of her own inferiority complex.

Etricia, who had been stiff with surprise, spoke hesitantly with a worried face.

“…Have I done something wrong to Lilien?”

Lilien briefly struggled with whether to say that she had learned about the incident and the whole story, but she didn’t want to see Etricia’s troubled face.

“No, it’s just as you said, Lady Etricia… I was so upset about the flower bed being ruined…”

“I see. That’s a relief. I thought you were angry with me.”

“No, absolutely not… I wouldn’t get angry even if Lady Etricia hit me on the back of my head.”

“Really? I should test that sometime.”

Lilien nodded her head vigorously.

You can do it. You can do it as much as you want.

Sorry, grateful, sad, moved. Or even overwhelmingly happy at her existence. It was a multi-faceted emotion she had never felt before.

Among them, the clearest and most special was undoubtedly her affection for Etricia, but.

Indeed, I must become family with Lady Etricia. That’s the only way I can monopolize her forever. Edmond would be a fool to let go of someone so kind, radiant, and beautiful.

Having concluded her thoughts like that, Lilien raised her head.

Etricia’s face was backlit. As the wind blew, lifting the brim of her hat, sunlight occasionally brushed across her shadowed jade eyes.

They were warm, gentle eyes, with a hint of playfulness.

Witnessing those eyes, Lilien smiled brightly with transparent tears like dew hanging from her eyes.

Pfft. At that moment, Etricia turned her head and laughed. Lilien pulled back with a puzzled face. Etricia showed her hand with a troubled expression.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh… I’m relieved that Lilien isn’t angry with me, and this situation is a bit…”

Following Etricia’s gaze, Lilien looked around. Servants turning their heads with reddened faces at her nightgown appearance, maids in great shock, and Mary on the verge of fainting, holding the blanket to her chest, saying she’s now dead.

Herself barefoot with disheveled hair, and Etricia with her hands in dirt-covered gloves held up awkwardly.

Soon, reading Lilien’s shocked expression, Etricia burst out laughing as if she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Wah! Lilien let out a cry and quickly ran up to the mansion. Mary chased after her, panting again.

Shortly after, Lilien came down after changing her clothes.

“Lady Etricia!”

As always, the flower garden in the backyard of the Mifidian mansion bloomed with the conversation of two women.

Whoosh. The tree standing close to the flower bed shook its lush leaves, as if cooling the sweat of the two people. At the end of it, the sound of their laughter mixed for a very long time.

Golden eyes with a cold light lingered on the window before falling away.

Edmond immediately turned and headed to his office, followed by Rail, who had been smiling contentedly while looking at the women in the flower bed.

“It’s fortunate that the two of them have reconciled.”

Fortunate, is it. Edmond blinked once.

Rail, catching the small sound like a breeze, asked with a puzzled expression.

“Isn’t it fortunate? Young Lady Lilien couldn’t even eat, and Lady Etricia was depressed. Even the servants were dejected because they couldn’t hear the laughter of the two women.”

Edmond walked silently despite Rail’s words.

“Especially the Countess’s coy yet elegant eye smile was charming, they said it was sad that it had disappeared.”

At that moment, Edmond stopped. He glanced back at Rail standing behind him with a somewhat fierce look.

“Which bastard made such an impertinent remark?”

At the savage voice that sounded like it was scratching his throat, Rail was momentarily speechless.

“Well… the maids…”

As Rail stuttered out, a flash of embarrassment flickered across Edmond’s face. He turned abruptly and walked down the corridor, speaking after a long while.

“Remarks that ridicule guests will not be tolerated in this mansion. Make sure everyone knows this.”

“…Yes.”

At the delayed response, a suddenly cold gaze pierced him.

Rail turned his head to avoid that terrifying look. He thought gently, creasing his eyes.

‘It seems he’s embarrassed about overreacting to the casual chatter of servants he usually doesn’t pay attention to.’

Although he felt a sense of discomfort at his master’s oversensitive reaction, the idle thoughts that had surfaced quickly sank as he recalled the mountain of work waiting for him.