Miss Pendleton looked at him in surprise.

“You must know that my personality is peculiar and brusque. However, I now want to appear as a good husband to ladies. So, please help me get married, Miss Pendleton. Help me appear attractive to ladies. So that I can marry a lady within this year.”

Miss Pendleton was at a loss for words. Mr. Dalton was asking her to help him find a wife. Was Mr. Dalton deceiving her? Or…

‘Did I really misread his heart in the forest last time?’

Miss Pendleton felt extremely embarrassed. To think that all her efforts to push him away, firmly believing he liked her, stemmed from a misunderstanding. Moreover, he must have noticed her misunderstanding. There had never been such humiliation.

But her emotions quickly regained balance. She knew from experience that the best way to maintain her dignity was to quickly compose herself and act with grace.

“I’m glad you’ve changed your mind positively about marriage, Mr. Dalton. I’ll do my best to help you as much as I can.”

Mr. Dalton finally smiled.

“Thank you, Miss Pendleton.”

“The request you’ve made, Mr. Fairfax had already made in the past. I accepted then and received thanks from Mr. Fairfax, so you owe me no gratitude, Mr. Dalton. I’m glad I can now keep my promise to Mr. Fairfax.”

Miss Pendleton concealed her confused feelings with a dignified appearance. Mr. Dalton spoke with a disinterested demeanor.

“In your opinion, Miss Pendleton, do you think I can return to Whitefield with Mrs. Dalton by this year?”

“Of course. If you wish, you could capture the heart of any lady. Um, how about looking for a wife at Miss Lance’s ball? Or do you already have a woman in mind?”

“Well, I do have one lady in mind, but I’m still approaching her, so I’m not confident.”

Miss Pendleton guessed that the lady in mind might be Miss Lance, but she didn’t show it.

“This upcoming ball will be a good opportunity. Ask that lady for a dance. Oh, do you remember the waltz steps I taught you last time?”

“I remember, but my waltz skills haven’t improved at all since I received your tutoring, Miss Pendleton.”

Miss Pendleton laughed.

“To fall in love in high society, you must know how to dance, Mr. Dalton.”

“I’ve never thought seriously about dancing before.”

“Now that you’ve decided to be serious about love, it’s time to be serious about dancing. There’s nothing better than dance to mark the beginning of love.”

“Why is that?”

“Dancing with someone means sharing the most intimate moment with that person. Focusing on each other and matching each beat. Perhaps it’s similar to marriage.”

Mr. Dalton was silent for a moment. A moment of dancing while gazing into a certain lady’s gray eyes flashed through his mind.

“Please teach me the waltz and other dances sometime. If Miss Pendleton teaches me, I think I won’t get bored learning.”

Miss Pendleton looked at Mr. Dalton intently. His expressionless face showed only gentle goodwill.

Ah, an expression of friendship. Her heart, which almost sank, stabilized.

“Of course. Ask me anytime. You’re the first gentleman on my dance list. After all, Mr. Dalton is my best friend.”

Mr. Dalton quietly looked at Miss Pendleton and was about to say something but then closed his mouth. After thinking for a moment, he extended his hand to her.

Miss Pendleton looked at the hand stretched out to her and then gently placed her own on it.

“You are also my dearest friend, Miss Pendleton.”

Saying so, he firmly kissed the back of Miss Pendleton’s gloved hand.

The two then linked arms again and returned to their seats. Already at the finish line, the exhausted representative athletes from both universities were slowly rowing towards the shore, on the verge of fainting.

“Mr. Dalton! Why are you here only now? Cambridge has won!”

Miss Lance exclaimed as soon as he arrived. Mr. Dalton naturally sat down next to Miss Lance again. Miss Pendleton looked at the two sitting side by side. Miss Lance clapping her hands with flushed cheeks. Mr. Dalton watching Miss Lance with a smile.

Yes, Mr. Dalton and Miss Lance. A well-matched pair. Now he can start a new life with a suitable partner. The best happy ending created by the two people I introduced.

Miss Pendleton tried to uplift her mood with such thoughts. While tucking away and tucking away again the inexplicable pain rising in her heart.

Upon returning home, Miss Pendleton immediately changed clothes and headed to her grandmother’s room.

Entering the room, there was no one beside her grandmother except for the maid who usually attended to her grandmother’s room. The uncle seemed to have gone out for a while. Miss Pendleton relieved, took over from the maid. For the past few days, she had often been turned away at the door due to her uncle constantly being by her grandmother’s side.

Miss Pendleton sat beside her sleeping grandmother. And listened to her grandmother’s breathing. With each exhale, there was a mixture of groaning sounds. Even the act of lying down to sleep seemed strenuous.

Miss Pendleton lowered her eyelids with the deep sadness felt in her stomach. And she brushed away her grandmother’s hair that had fallen on her forehead.

Soon, her grandmother’s eyelids opened.

“You’re here.”

“Yes, Grandmother.”

Miss Pendleton smiled. As always, her grandmother asked her granddaughter who had returned from a social event.

“How was the rowing competition today?”

Miss Pendleton familiarly painted a picture of the social scene people in her mind’s eye. What clothes people wore, who new people appeared, and how the people her grandmother knew were doing.

Miss Pendleton vividly described which university people’s bets were concentrated on, and which people tasted the bitterness of defeat. After all, that was the kind of story that would make her grandmother laugh.

But even while listening to Miss Pendleton’s story, Lady Abigail did not laugh. She just quietly looked at her granddaughter’s face. Miss Pendleton only saw contemplation and worry in her grandmother’s expression. Miss Pendleton finished her story halfheartedly.

“Is it very hard?”

Miss Pendleton unknowingly brushed her own cheek with her hand. These days, her reflection in the mirror looked noticeably thinner and paler. But Miss Pendleton was accustomed to lying. She shook her head.

“You’re always like that. Even when you’re struggling, you don’t show it, and even when you’re in pain, you always endure it inside. If you act like that, no one will know how you really feel.”

“That’s why I don’t show it.”

Miss Pendleton said with a faint smile, jokingly. But the smile that came out was not fresh, but rather a deflated one of a tired person.

She was honestly exhausted. The interaction with Miss Jensen wasn’t bad. But everything else was difficult. Her grandmother’s gradually worsening condition, her uncle who ignored her like a bug every time they met at home, and Charles who followed his father’s behavior exactly.

She knew it would end someday, but she couldn’t even look forward to the end because she knew that the end would ultimately mean the death of a loved one, which pained her heart.

“Wait just a little longer, Laura.”

“Grandmother.”

“The end is not far off. I can feel it.”

Miss Pendleton looked quietly at her grandmother. No words escaped from her lips. Instead, a single tear rolled down from her eyes.

“Grandmother, I’m enduring for you. To bring you happiness. I… love you that much. Don’t talk about the end to comfort me. You know what that means. It means I’ll be losing my parents again.”

Miss Pendleton cried, covering her suddenly flowing tears with both hands. Her grandmother just watched her granddaughter quietly. Even though she wanted to comfort and pat her granddaughter, Lady Abigail didn’t have the strength to do so.

Miss Pendleton quickly gathered her tears. She had become the calm Laura Pendleton again. Lady Abigail looked at her granddaughter with a lonely gaze.

“When you first separated from your dad, you cried for days and I could barely console you by letting you sleep in my bed. Now you’ve become a child who can’t cry even when you should… Yes, you’ve become a perfect lady.”

Lady. That’s right. Miss Pendleton had become a perfect artificial flower of the social world. But what could she have done? She lived killing her emotions to survive in the social world. She always tried to be someone who controlled herself well. That also meant she tried to become insensitive.

“Just endure a little longer, Laura. Just a little more. I will compensate you. I will certainly compensate for the past 12 years.”

Miss Pendleton’s heart sank at those words. She became anxious, wondering if her grandmother’s illness had infected her mind as well. Her grandmother had never spoken nonsense before, even though her body was sick. She worriedly placed her hand on her grandmother’s forehead.

At that moment, the door opened with a click.

“Mother, I’m back… Ah, Laura was here.”

The uncle acknowledged her with a sour expression. Miss Pendleton immediately stood up and curtsied slightly.

“I’m here now, so you can go.”

Miss Pendleton looked towards her grandmother. Her grandmother nodded. It meant to follow her uncle’s order. Miss Pendleton, though reluctant, went outside.

As Miss Pendleton was about to return to her room, she turned around at the sound of the door opening behind her. It was her uncle who had followed her out.

“You went to the rowing competition with Miss Jensen today?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t commit any rudeness towards Miss Jensen, did you?”

Miss Pendleton nodded. Her uncle asked various things about Miss Jensen. Her mood today, her tone, her behavior, and such. And even if there were any gentlemen who approached Miss Jensen. Miss Pendleton answered willingly.

“I heard you received a proposal from Tom Price?”

Miss Pendleton blushed. Not from shyness, but from shame.

“Yes.”

“And you refused?”