“Your behavior was inappropriate.”

“What did I do?”

As I blinked in confusion, Edmond raised an eyebrow and shot me a disapproving look.

He seemed displeased with my attempt to play innocent.

Just then, the carriage jolted heavily. Lilien, who was sleeping with her head on my thigh, fortunately didn’t wake up and only let out a groan. I gently brushed aside the silver-like hair that had fallen across her pale cheek, smiling self-deprecatingly.

I knew it. I had been uncharacteristically generous.

Since when had I become so benevolent as to educate and send away even rude people?

Perhaps it was because the weather was nice today, and the breeze was cool. And because I didn’t want to ruin this precious time with Lilien.

Maybe it was also because there was someone who had been even more sharp-tongued on my behalf than I was.

It had been a long time since I felt like I was being protected under someone’s shelter.

“Thank you.”

Feeling a bit shy about the sincerity that had slipped out, I bit my lip.

“……”

Edmond’s gaze, staring intently at me, was faintly reflected in the transparent window. So I had to try hard to focus only on the scenery until we arrived at the villa.

[This is the timeline separator]

That afternoon, we enjoyed seafood dishes, a local specialty.

Rail, who also serves as an aide, visited, and Edmond left for his office. Although he had accompanied us at Lilien’s request, it seemed he couldn’t devote the entire day to vacation due to the affairs of the duchy he had reclaimed after 9 years.

After dismissing the maid, I took a walk along the sunset-tinged beach with Lilien, chatting idly. We had just returned with our shoes off, our feet soaked in the still cold seawater and covered in sand from the white beach.

I think we laughed for a while when we saw the temporarily assigned maid at the villa running towards us in surprise, our eyes meeting.

When I came out after changing clothes, the maid handed me a package wrapped in kraft paper, saying it was sent by the Vuel family’s legal counsel.

I knew what it was without even opening it. I excused myself to Lilien and took some time alone.

Sipping tea, I stared at the diary placed in the center of the table for a long time, as if having a staring contest. When the churning feeling in my heart, like motion sickness, had subsided and dusk was falling, I picked up the diary.

Count Vuel, that is, my father, wasn’t a man of many words. Rather, he spoke too little. He neither devoted himself fully to educating his children nor neglected them. He was affectionate, but there was little emotional communication, so I could only vaguely confirm his love through his glances and gestures.

He was often away from the mansion on business trips, and the days he left me alone were countless. Because of that, I thought he avoided me because he disliked and felt uncomfortable with the child who had caused her mother’s death at birth.

That’s why I grew up to be a child who craved affection and felt lonely, attracting hangers-on like Berita and Devon.

Resentment remained, and I hurried into marriage as if to defy my father’s opposition to Devon. It was out of spite that he only gave me the opportunity to act spoiled as his daughter after his illness had worsened.

At those times, he would smile a sad smile, his face contorting.

Remembering that smile, a cold wind seemed to claw at my heart.

With a somewhat heavy heart, I opened the first page and was utterly dumbfounded.

[ Don’t leave your carrots, Etricia ]

‘What is this?’

It was like a splash of cold water on my faded memories.

With a strange sense of unease, I hurriedly turned to the next page. And the next. And the one after that. When I finally reached the last page, a wry laugh escaped me.

It was all just records of work-related reflections and plans, with absolutely no stories about me.

Just telling me not to leave my carrots, as if I were still a child.

I was about to close the diary with a hollow laugh when a note tucked between the pages fell onto the table.

It had turned the color of straw, seemingly quite aged.

I naturally unfolded the paper. From the crudely torn traces, I could infer that it had been torn from a page of the book.

The content seemed to be thoughts jotted down in a moment, without much order.

[ Education is no longer the exclusive domain of men, unlike in the past, so learn. If there’s something you want to explore, pounce on it like a wild dog. Don’t be complacent because you’re wealthy, and don’t stagnate, Etricia.

And… you have a nature of giving your heart completely when you do, which worries me greatly. Seeing how you didn’t even come out to see your father off yesterday because Berita was there, it seems you’re very fond of your sister. ]

I burst out laughing at the sentence that stumbled after starting off well. He seemed to have been quite upset.

I lowered my gaze to read the few remaining messages.

[ Etricia, you don’t have to be extraordinarily excellent or superior. Even if you’re not outstanding, you are my proud child. Just grow up brightly without getting hurt, like that sunset. ]

Leaving words here that he never said while alive and then departing. With a bitter and acrid feeling, I smiled and read the date and place name written below, when I felt something hot welling up.

“Why here of all places?”

The place where the note was written was this very beach where I am now.

At that small realization, it was as if a tightly locked box had opened, releasing all the emotions I had held back. It felt as if he was right beside me, looking at me affectionately.

‘I didn’t mean to cry.’

As if throwing a tantrum for the first time in my life, I glared at the note with tears in my eyes and silently wept.

It was because I resented my father for giving me a lonely childhood, and felt guilty for not knowing his true heart for 4 years.

My tears spread darkly on the faded paper like spilled ink, but I had no time to think about it.

Recalling even my married life that passed like a paranoma, I buried my face in the note, using the already burst tears as an excuse.

When I came to my senses after crying for a long time, moonlight was seeping through the slightly open door.

[This is the timeline separator]

Edmond, who was receiving a handkerchief from the maid, suddenly stopped. His shadow appeared elongated on the marble floor, patterned by the moonlight filtering through the window bars.

How much time had passed? Edmond, who had been standing silently, squeezed his eyes shut and let out a deep sigh.

Just before, he had been on his way to find Etricia at Lilien’s request. She had urged him, saying Etricia might be struggling alone while looking at Count Vuel’s belongings.

As he headed towards Etricia’s room, he surmised that her excitement all day might have been due to her father’s belongings.

So he thought. That his sister was worrying needlessly, that surely Etricia would be smiling as usual.

Arriving at Etricia’s room without much concern, the moment he discovered her sobbing with her face buried in the note, Edmond felt as if he had been hit on the back of the head.

It wasn’t the first time he had seen her cry.

He had seen her vulnerable sides several times before, like being afraid of heights or startled by cold ice.

Yet he had only thought of her as a strong person. Sometimes, because she cleverly hid her true feelings to an annoying degree, he hadn’t noticed.

That she was someone who said she was fine even when she wasn’t.

That she was someone who endured alone with no one to lean on, and then cried while clinging to just her father’s diary.

Overlooking how many wounds she must have endured to become so tough.

Ha, Edmond let out a scornful laugh.

He felt a long-forgotten sense of helplessness at the fact that he couldn’t offer any comfort. He had felt a similar emotion when he had to leave his own sister behind.

He felt as if he had returned to being the powerless boy who could do nothing.

Edmond stared at the gap in the door for a long time with wavering eyes. The handkerchief he had intended to give her was now crumpled unattractively in his clenched fist.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was the second day of the vacation.

Rail, who had just finished his report, looked up and saw the scenery outside the opposite window. He smiled faintly at the sight of the bluish sky turning apricot-colored.

Just then, the wind-blown curtain fluttered, revealing the beach it had been hiding. Discovering two women taking a walk, Rail smiled warmly.

“They both look so happy.”

Startled, Edmond’s hand, which had been signing with a fountain pen, stopped.

Noticing the signature had gone awry, Rail handed over an identical document again with a face that said it was no big deal. It was a moment when his cautious nature shone through.

Edmond quickly signed the new document and began to speak.

“Did you say there’s a portrait of Countess Vuel left in the mansion’s storage?”

“Yes, but it’s almost as good as discarded.”

“Find someone who can restore the portrait. With the condition that we’ll pay whatever price they ask.”

She might feel a little better if she sees it. Edmond’s softly muttered words were drowned out by the sound of the wind.

Rail, who hadn’t missed that faint voice, bowed slightly. He had just heard from the villa staff that Etricia, who had received her father’s diary the day before, hadn’t come out of her room until late in the morning.

“Yes, I understand.”

A while after Rail left, Edmond stood up. He leaned obliquely against the window frame with his arms crossed, watching the two women strolling on the beach.

Then, after a long time, when he saw the two separate and one of them slump down on the sandy beach, his eyes shook greatly.

Worried that she might have collapsed from crying all night, he didn’t hesitate to grip the window frame and jump out, landing steadily from the second floor height. A maid passing by just then startled and sat down, but he had no time to pay attention.

Quickly arriving at the sandy beach, he scanned the area with wavering amber eyes, looking for a red color brighter than the sunset. Ha, as he exhaled roughly and ran his hand through his hair,

His casually turned gaze fell on a woman. She was picking up seashells in a corner of the beach.

Only then did Edmond feel his breath fully return. He smoothed his furrowed brow and approached without hesitation.

The woman raised her head with round eyes at the shadow cast over her.