It was not an illusion that the word ‘unmarried’ seemed to be emphasized. It felt like a reproach, as if daring to be involved with Herald while being married, so Lily deliberately clenched her hands that were instinctively curling up.

“You’re… married?”

Eric looked at Lily with disbelieving eyes. Why didn’t he believe her when she said it wasn’t true, not to make strange misunderstandings? Lily felt a little resentful towards Eric.

“I apologize, my lady.”

Dillon, who had approached Lily’s side, placed his hand on his chest and apologized politely.

“Since Eric doesn’t know much about you, he made a big mistake. I’ll explain it well, so please understand with a generous heart.”

His tone, expression, and actions were polite, but the gaze looking at Lily was not polite at all. Faced with his eyes, which clearly knew about her inappropriate relationship with Herald, Lily remained silent, unable to say it was okay even as a mere formality.

“Ah, I’m late with my introduction. I’m Dillon Lamford, assistant to Count Braden.”

Huh? Dillon Lamford, not Dillon Oppenheimer?

As if reading Lily’s puzzled mind, Dillon added:

“Dillon Oppenheimer is an alias the commander used when hiding his identity. My name has the surname of a noble family attached.”

Ah, so that’s how it was. Lily, finally understanding, was about to introduce herself when Dillon asked first:

“You’re here to pick up the commander’s letter, right?”

Lily swallowed her words and nodded. Dillon said to wait a moment, then held out his hand to Eric.

“Please give me the letter the commander left, Eric.”

“Here you go.”

Herald’s letter passed through Dillon’s hands to Lily’s. Lily habitually checked the name on the envelope’s surface. [Herald Braden]. Not only was his real name properly written, but even his seal was stamped.

So this is what that man’s seal looks like. Lily thought the roaring lion design suited Herald well as she traced the seal with her fingertip. The bumpy surface felt nice.

By the way, why suddenly stamp the seal? Usually, seals were used as a means of proving identity and were rarely used when exchanging private letters.

But seeing his seal on the envelope made her curious and concerned. Her letter was in a plain envelope without even a seal.

“Did you bring a letter for the commander?”

“Here it is.”

Lily handed the envelope to Dillon, vowing to definitely stamp a seal next time. Dillon glanced over the envelope and then looked at her. Feeling like he was about to ask why she didn’t stamp a seal, Lily quickly made an excuse.

“I didn’t stamp a seal because usually we don’t for private letters… I’ll make sure to stamp one next time.”

“You don’t need to make excuses to me, my lady.”

Slightly intimidated by his blunt tone and gaze, Lily lowered her head. Eric, who had been quietly observing the situation, tapped Dillon’s shoulder.

“Even if the lady isn’t the commander’s lover, she’s still a guest, so take it easy.”

“What did I do…”

Dillon, about to protest indignantly, closed his mouth when Eric glared at him with wide eyes. But he still felt wronged. He had corrected Eric’s strange misunderstanding and politely introduced himself. He even kindly told her not to make meaningless excuses, so what was the problem?

Of course, he didn’t like Lily. More precisely, he didn’t like Herald’s attitude towards Lily, but since he couldn’t hate his superior, the sparks flew at her instead.

If Lily had firmly rejected and told him not to approach from the beginning, Herald would have given up. Dillon believed without a doubt that this all happened because Lily had given him room.

Still, she was a noble lady, and Eric was there, so he acted nicely, but being scolded for being mean made his discontent rise. Dillon grumbled inwardly, unable to express it openly due to Eric’s watchful eye.

“…”

Meanwhile, when he met those slightly moist, fresh green eyes, he flinched, feeling as if a huge boulder was pressing on his chest. He felt like a ruffian bullying a weak victim.

“…I’m sorry.”

Even if it wasn’t his intention, if the other person felt bad, it was right to apologize. As Dillon bowed deeply, almost excessively, Lily shook her head, flustered for a different reason.

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you for understanding with such generosity. Well then, I have a prior engagement, so I’ll take my leave.”

Lily tilted her head, watching Dillon’s retreating back as he left with her letter. It seemed he had come to pick up her letter, but she wondered how he knew to come at this time.

Lily carefully put Herald’s letter in her bag and stood up.

“I should be going too. Thank you for the juice.”

Eric replied with a kind smile.

“Not at all. If you have any letters to leave, please bring them anytime, my lady. I’ll make sure to deliver them safely to the commander.”

“Thank you.”

After exchanging farewells with Eric and leaving the restaurant, Lily returned to the art supply store. The carriage she had come in was already waiting.

As soon as she got into the carriage, Lily took out the letter she had put in her bag. She was too curious about whether he had found Megan’s killer to wait until she returned to the mansion.

Though her heart was stained with curiosity, her hands were careful in opening the envelope. She carefully opened it so as not to break Herald’s seal stamped on the sealing wax, and took out the letter.

“It’s 5 pages long?”

That meant he had a lot to tell her, so Lily took a deep breath and read the letter.

[To my beloved Lily,]

The tightly wound string of tension loosened as soon as she saw the first sentence. The phrase ‘beloved’ was etched in her eyes and wouldn’t leave.

Writing ‘To my beloved so-and-so’ in a letter is a common greeting in close relationships. There was no need to think of it as special, but because it was from Herald, her heart wavered.

No, it’s not his fault. It’s because I like him.

“I like you.”

“…”

As she recalled the confession that was quiet but more intense than ever, Lily squeezed her eyes shut.

“Phew.”

Her chest heaved greatly as she exhaled. After calming her tumultuous heart with deep breaths, Lily read the next contents.

Given that the letter was as long as 5 pages, she naturally thought he would have found Megan’s killer, but that wasn’t the case. The first page of the letter was filled with apologies saying he hadn’t found the culprit yet and that he was sorry.

[The weather was cloudy, so I thought it would rain all weekend, but fortunately it didn’t. Thanks to that, I went on a weekend hunting trip with my brother.]

The second page contained Herald’s weekend experiences. Where he went hunting, what animals he caught, and other trivial daily matters, but it was enjoyable to read as he unfolded it eloquently like a novel. It even felt like she had spent the weekend with him.

[While hunting, I discovered a place even more beautiful than that lake. I really want to show it to you, so let’s go together next time.]

At those words, Lily recalled kissing Herald rather than the lake that had been so beautiful it seemed water spirits might live there. Her eyes moistened wistfully as she touched her lips. The sensation that had been more intense than the warmly shining sunlight was still vivid.

So she was excited and anxious at the same time. It was also painful as emotions that could never coexist constantly collided.

Clunk, just then the carriage shook greatly as it hit a bump, and Lily came to her senses and read the letter again.

[I’m curious how your weekend was. I hope you had an even better time than I did.]

It was a wish that could never come true. Because it was impossible to have a good time at the Benjamin viscounty.

The last page was filled with concerns for her, saying the security at the Benjamin viscounty seemed too lax, and he was worried that she seemed to go out alone without escort knights or servants as usual.

[It seems you don’t have a personal maid. I recommend getting one. It would be comfortable for you to have a personal maid you can open up to.]

A personal maid. Lily looked out the window with slightly gloomy eyes. As the daughter of a viscount, she too had had a personal maid named ‘May’. If she hadn’t died in an unfortunate accident two years ago, they would have been together now and in the future.

The reason she didn’t hire a personal maid after losing May was because she couldn’t afford to. There was no way she had money to hire a servant when she could barely pay her mother’s hospital bills.

When she married Fredrick and gained numerous servants, she had thought about getting a personal maid again.

But she didn’t because the servants who knew Lily’s position was precarious in the Benjamin viscounty disrespected her. Lily too declined to keep such people close.

Although it wasn’t greatly inconvenient without a personal maid as the maids took turns serving her, it was certainly more comfortable to have one. She could ask for personal errands, and above all, having someone trustworthy by her side was mentally stabilizing.

Should I try to get one this time? Since she couldn’t use the existing servants, she’d have to hire a new one, but then Samantha would surely object. There was also no guarantee that a newly hired maid wouldn’t fall for Samantha or Fredrick’s whispers.

So let’s give up on getting a personal maid. Having reached that conclusion, Lily read Herald’s letter again from the beginning, which started with ‘To my beloved Lily.’