The Duchess?

Ah, it seemed she was personally coming after her son had recently collapsed and experienced a major incident.

Come to think of it, it was rather strange that she hadn’t visited even once while her sick child was sent here.

Occasionally, seeing the young master with empty eyes, I wondered if perhaps Blanchet had no interest in the heir.

But now the Duchess is coming.

Was everything I thought completely wrong?

I don’t know anything about her, the lady of Blanchet, but I had an image drawn from books I occasionally transcribed.

That she was as noble and beautiful as the young master.

It was said that even without speaking a few words, just mixing gazes would inspire fear.

Publicly, the Duke and Duchess of Blanchet were also famous for maintaining a flawless relationship.

Until I met the young master, I thought such people lived without a single worry, the epitome of a harmonious family.

But now that I’ve met the young master… I couldn’t quite picture what it would be like.

Perhaps the reality of the harmonious family is just as it’s known to the world, with the young master still being the robust heir of Blanchet.

Still, seeing the Duchess personally coming down here, maybe she’s not completely uninterested in her son.

Whether that interest is towards her son or towards the heir, I’m not sure.

Vaguely, the conversation between the butler and the young master echoes in my mind.

That the development of the new medicine was nearing completion.

So when the Duchess arrives, will the young master leave Alfonse forever?

What will happen to me when he disappears?

It should just be returning to how things were, but it doesn’t feel that way at all.

Well, I can never go back to the time when I didn’t know the young master.

We’ve come too far to go back.

The lost home and this new foundation I’ve gained, mother’s medicine.

And…

The kiss that was like an accident last night.

Over that, the young master’s various faces pass by.

The dry shadow that didn’t even move when seen in the room.

The cold face that was only frightening when we met.

Then the face that would smile when he saw me.

That face that would take something from me and give me something new each time.

I guess I won’t be able to see it anymore.

He, who was supposed to disappear from the world, will live to become the rightful heir of Blanchet.

It was a beginning with a predetermined end, and he will be given a new beginning.

That was fortunate.

Even in all the moments I wanted to escape from the young master, I never wished for his death.

But whether he disappears into the sky or into the capital, the conclusion was the same.

That he would vanish from this mansion as if he never existed.

That we would never cross paths again.

After all, the noble heir of Blanchet shouldn’t encounter such a lowly thing from Alfonse.

Even though I already knew this, now that it’s right in front of me, my heart is in turmoil.

The young master will just leave, that’s all.

He’ll just go away as if taking a night’s entertainment, that’s all.

There, he’ll meet a new lady and live his life as the heir of Blanchet, and such a past will only be a shame.

He was the one who would create an unforgettable great scar in my life and then disappear as if nothing happened.

I once wished for him to just disappear…

Now that he’s leaving, the emotions stirring my heart are just ridiculous.

Wanting him to disappear yet hoping he wouldn’t, how contradictory and detestable.

Well, even these messy, wretched emotions probably all stem from desperation.

When the young master leaves, my life, which had relied on him for so many things, will be uprooted entirely.

Now that he’s leaving, I realize this even more.

My heavy steps stopped before I knew it at the room where he was.

Butler Raenode noticed me and as usual, knocked before going in, coming out again, and letting me in.

Under the shattered sunlight, the young master who had put down his papyrus looked up.

It feels as if that spot alone was painted with beautiful watercolors.

Beneath the half-rolled up shirt, the arm that had held me was smoothly in place, and in his distinctive red eyes, I was fully reflected, rippling.

One step, two steps…

As I approached, my heart pounded wildly at the sweet scent of water mint that brushed my nose.

It’s a scent that reminds me of yesterday’s memories.

The surroundings were so quiet that I was afraid my heartbeat would be heard.

I tried to move as usual without looking at him.

The young master’s gaze was now fixed only on the letters in the papyrus.

As if he didn’t even remember what happened yesterday.

As if he didn’t even know that someone like me was in this space.

Seeing that, I really felt that yesterday’s events were only significant to me, and nothing to him.

How much would he laugh if he saw how I groaned and tried to forget even in my dreams last night?

In reality, yesterday’s events were done unilaterally by me, so having these feelings itself was detestable.

Wasn’t I the one who, until last night, wanted him to ignore me like this more than anyone?

So everything should be fortunate, but…

Now that I’m actually being treated so blatantly like an invisible person, my feelings are ambiguous.

It really seems like this young master will just leave, that’s all.

His neat side profile gave so much certainty to that thought that it felt like someone was strangling my chest.

Like a thorn stuck in my throat.

Yuriel stood before him, trying hard to suppress her anxious feelings.

It was a while before the young master raised his head.

In his red eyes, Yuriel burned like the sunset.

“Do I need to seat you?”

At the voice that reminded me of yesterday, Yuriel felt a hot flush rising.

Behind the young master, her stupidly standing figure was reflected in the mirror.

Thinking that this miserably reddened face would have been visible, a hollow laugh came out.

“No.”

As I sat down with my answer, the young master handed over the papyrus he had been reading.

As I took the papyrus, I was reminded of when the young master first gave this to me.

Compared to then, when he ordered me to read it as if throwing it down, his manner had clearly changed to be more gentlemanly.

It’s merely a normal attitude to call it gentlemanly, but when applied to this young master, that’s how it appears.

While I awkwardly settled in my seat holding the received papyrus, he seemed to focus on his own work again, turning his gaze away.

“You like organizing things, don’t you?”

“Young master!”

As I looked up in protest, red eyes pierced through me.

A suffocating gaze entangled like shackles.

Cassian, without releasing me with just that gaze, said with a grin.

“It won’t be easy this time.”

At a glance, it seemed like he was teasing, but the smile on his lips was clearly different from before.

A real smile, not a sneer. It was the first time I had seen the young master wear such an expression.

My breath caught at the sight that seemed so out of place on this young master.

Yuriel couldn’t take her eyes off him for a long time.

When she finally lowered her head, there was a pile of papyrus.

The reason he said it would be difficult was immediately apparent. None of the papyrus had page numbers.

A real smile my foot.

The papyrus, and beyond it, busy moving fingers were captured in Cassian’s red eyes.

Cassian’s gaze, which had been tracing the movements of Yuriel’s burnt fingers, slowly lifted up.

The girl who used to tremble and sit just by meeting his gaze was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a face frowning in concentration.

Was this what the shadow in the picture window occasionally showed really looked like?

This new appearance is quite satisfactory.

In that sense, not discarding that manuscript and keeping it was quite a good decision.

I was about to tell that author, who had turned pale saying he forgot to write page numbers, to stop writing manuscripts…

It’s a pretty sight that makes me want to keep seeing that manuscript.

The ashen face that was dying just yesterday now had life blooming in it.

His gaze flowed and stopped at her scarlet lips.

The ones he had devoured for a long time last night.

Those lips that made thirst rise even after swallowing and swallowing again because even the breath was sweet, were in front of him again.

Meanwhile, that child is calmly flipping through papyrus right in front of me.

As if someone like me, who couldn’t sleep a wink all night, doesn’t matter at all, she seems to have slept well.

It’s ridiculously funny.

Last night, this child fell asleep and woke up in my birth mother’s room.

Did she change when she woke up? The girl from the other day who provocatively kissed me was nowhere to be seen.

The image of her hesitating as if surprised to see my face, then blushing, passes through my mind in order.

Today will be the last time I see such a sight.

At dawn, a letter arrived for him.

The letter, sealed with Blanchet’s seal, contained the Duke’s instructions to come to the capital together as soon as his mother arrived.

Seeing that my mother is personally coming, it seems that this so-called new medicine has really been developed.

The fact that my mother is moving directly means that my value as an heir has been revived.

Several days have already passed since my mother left the capital.

She will probably arrive tomorrow, and I will leave for the capital.

In that process, it’s natural to discard everything from Alfonse.

After arriving in the capital, I will either die feeling an unprecedented pain that no one has ever felt, or survive.

If I survive, the life after that will rot in the capital until I die.

So now it was time to wrap up Alfonse.

Everything here, including this girl in front of me.

Anyway, for that wench, I just need to give her the rest of what I’ve been giving her and leave.

Just a room of a few pyeong and that child’s mother’s medicine.

Things that are worthless to me, but will make that child tremble.

Many things changed with yesterday’s kiss.

I decided to release the mourner who would cry for me forever.

I must have been bewitched by a fox.

Or I’ve changed because I’m about to die.

For a moment, a bundle of papyrus was held out in front of him.

It was organized much faster than expected.

Cassian’s face hardened as he received it.

Over his shoulders, a trembling voice was laid.

“Are you… leaving Alfonse?”