Lady Elise frowned at the cheap silver candlesticks and out-of-season lace curtains inside the building.

With each step, she could not hide her displeasure.

How much would Blanchet’s reputation plummet if it became known that the heir had resided in such a place?

Of course, at the time, she had agreed to send her son here.

There was nothing good about revealing the fact of his terminal illness, and a place far away from the capital was needed.

Back then, Elise hadn’t thought that the treatment for her son would be developed so quickly.

Her gaze, drifting through old memories, fixed on something far outside the window.

Sky-blue petals blooming toward the heavens, split into five crowns and fluttering.

Forget-me-nots, those familiar flowers evoked unpleasant memories for Elise.

Her husband, who made a bouquet with those flowers said to only grow in the south, left his fiancée, her, and ran to that woman to gift such a bouquet.

‘They say the flower’s meaning is true love.’

As if mocking such things, that woman left without a care.

Holding those flowers that wouldn’t wilt, enhanced with magic.

Did that woman know the second meaning of those flowers?

‘Don’t forget me.’

Even now, she might still be gazing at those flowers, forever cherishing that pure love.

In her husband’s drawer, there was still a painting of that woman holding those flowers.

Her husband’s first love, pitied for her humble origins.

That woman who rose to the top of conversations, surpassing even the butterfly of high society acclaimed as the greatest beauty of the era.

Her husband who chased after that girl, and his fiancée Elise who followed behind him, that was her.

That past, when everyone whispered about the pitiful fiancée, was Elise’s greatest shame.

When he was with that noble first love, her husband never once strayed.

Now he’s a man who goes through so many women.

In any case, it didn’t matter to Elise.

After all, she was the one who ended up marrying Duke Blanchet, and that woman left with a tragic ending.

After that woman disappeared to who knows where, her husband, Duke Deviron, drank heavily every day and went mad.

Even up until the moment before their engagement.

Elise did not involve herself in any of it.

When marrying her husband Deviron, then the young master of Blanchet, she extracted only one promise.

Her husband has faithfully kept that condition until now.

Even in the moments of embracing those many women, to this day the only heir has been the son born from her womb, Cassian D. Blanchet.

However… Elise always had a doubt.

‘Is that really true?’

Did he really have only one child, Cassian?

Even if the nights with other women who practiced thorough contraception were merely physical mating, it would have been different with that woman.

Elise had once seen her husband coming out of a room with that woman, his first love.

‘Did really nothing happen that night?’

Her husband’s eyes occasionally lost in memories, and him lingering around the orphanage…

The doubt buried over a decade ago bloomed anew in Elise’s mind.

But she quickly shook off such unpleasant doubts.

At this point, what did it matter where or how that wench was?

In any case, her husband would not be able to return to that woman.

The noble Blanchet should be that way, and Elise was certain it would continue to be so in the future.

Until now, she and her husband have always been the most perfect couple outwardly.

One that cannot be disturbed by such a mere flower.

That was enough for Elise.

Elise’s steps, slowed by her thoughts, reached the center of the corridor lit by chandeliers.

For a moment, a shadow fleeing far away caught her eye.

‘We definitely made eye contact, but…’

The owner of those emerald eyes hid their body like they were running away after meeting her gaze.

The child’s face wasn’t clearly visible, obscured by the newly hung window shade.

However, Elise was certain it was a girl, recalling the faint afterimage.

If it were merely a servant, they wouldn’t have caught her eye.

It was definitely a girl wearing a dress.

Like any young lady.

Lost in thought, she paused for a moment in front of the room where the girl had disappeared.

Though the doorknob was outdated and worthless, it was clearly prepared as a guest room.

‘Didn’t they say the lord and lady of this Alphonse had no children?’

Is there another guest staying in this mansion besides her?

Elise’s low voice chillingly rang in the lord’s ear.

“It seems there is one more person staying here.”

“…Pardon?”

The lord’s face instantly turned pale.

He hurriedly blocked the door and closed the doorknob with a click.

Yuriel, positioned on the other side of the door, held her breath.

Quickly cramming herself into the closet, Yuriel squeezed her eyes shut.

Throughout her confinement, as the lord had said, she could do nothing due to anxiety.

Her mind was filled only with thoughts of needing to meet the young master.

Because of that, it was a mistake to stupidly head towards the young master’s room without even checking if the carriage was coming.

When she heard the commotion, she turned her head to see the duchess descending, stepping on the saddle.

Looking closely, what she stepped on wasn’t the saddle, but a person.

It was a shocking scene. Though she knew from books that high nobles sometimes behaved that way, it was the first time seeing it with her own eyes.

By the time she came to her senses and decided to turn back, it was already too late.

The corridor was long, and she approached without exchanging any words with the lord.

Just as she barely managed to hide in the nearest room, the duchess asked, with just one door between them.

If there was another person staying here.

The sound of the lord closing the door with a click was heard, and Yuriel immediately crammed herself into the closet.

Only then did she notice her own appearance in a dress.

Even to her own eyes, it looked highly suspicious. Not something a maid would wear.

If asked who she was, what could she say?

If not a maid… there was only one answer.

The young master’s page.

It’s ridiculous. A page in such a suspicious attire.

What would the duchess think seeing this appearance?

If she learns of her existence, everything that happened with the young master would be revealed.

The shelter the young master had provided for her all this time, and her mother’s medicine…

Perhaps even the fact that she approached with a fake noble identity might be discovered.

After all, Blanchet’s intelligence network was not to be underestimated.

The reason the duchess hadn’t said anything until now was probably because she considered her as nothing more than passing dust.

Yuriel’s mind turned blank.

‘Please, just pass by…’

The most intense past seasons among the many of Alphonse flashed by.

The young master making her read books.

The young master who said he would draw and just quietly observed her.

The young master telling her to come live in the mansion, the young master bringing down her mother’s medicine…

Her past self kissing recklessly and her cursed mouth shouting that she liked him…

The young master was in all of it.

Her heart pounded violently.

Like a thief caught desiring something beyond her station.

The image of the duchess she had just glimpsed was vivid.

Overlapping with it like a curse was Lady Catherine.

Though the two were clearly different, an eerie intuition settled that they were not so different people.

The duchess who stepped down using a person’s back as a saddle.

She would be more, not less, severe.

Thump― Thump―

Footsteps as rough as her pulse echoed through the corridor.

At the approaching sound of footsteps, Yuriel squeezed her eyes shut.

Fortunately, the approaching footsteps echoed down the corridor and faded away.

It seemed the lord and Lady Leslie had managed to lead her away with some appropriate excuses.

Only when the footsteps could no longer be heard did Yuriel finally come out and catch her breath.

Even after quite some time had passed, she stood still like a statue.

Sunlight now brightened and fluttered into her field of vision.

The floor-to-ceiling window, installed to fully reveal the exterior, was located where the garden leading to the main entrance could be seen.

Because of the sunlight, she naturally turned her gaze there, and the young master was there.

Yuriel instinctively approached that window.

The young master standing straight in front of the beautiful Blanchet carriage, visible at a glance, and the duchess in an elegant dress facing him.

Seeing them in person, they looked even more like a well-matched family.

Such a perfect family that made her understand why people called them harmonious.

The fact that the two had met meant there was no longer any opportunity for her to speak about medicine or anything else.

The young master, who had laughed for a long time at her confession of liking him, told her to withdraw now.

‘Did he think that confession was just a ridiculous outcry?’

‘If so…’

He might be planning to leave, abandoning everything here.

If it were her, she would do the same.

What was she anyway?

Why would he want to take responsibility by dredging up a part of memories he’d rather forget?

The words about providing a place to live, the mother’s medicine that was to be handed over when the time came, were all only valid while the young master was here.

Until then, she had been of use to him.

Now that her usefulness was gone, he had no reason to do such things for her anymore.

Although it was something she had sensed, it seems she had still harbored some hope.

Her heart sank deeply with a lurch.

Unlike the gray interior of this mansion, the world outside the window was filled with pure white light.

In the perfect picture bathed in bright sunlight, a smile bloomed on the young master’s face.

Yuriel gazed at that sight in a daze.

Probably for the last time now.

However, that smile was clearly different from the previous ones.

A chilly atmosphere, contrary to his real smile she had seen only once recently, transmitted to where she was.

‘Is it my imagination?’

It doesn’t make sense unless it’s a misunderstanding.

Recently, the newspapers were full of news about the Blanchet family’s new drug development.

Although it wasn’t yet perfect, hope had arisen.

Moreover, it was a meeting with his birth mother after such a long time.

‘Why does he have such an expression?’