It was early morning when Salom came to tell him that today’s schedule had been canceled.

A faint question clouded Aden’s eyes at the sudden news as he was calmly preparing to go out.

Salom handed him cold milk instead of tea and smiled gently.

“Beressa said she would go herself.”

“That child?”

Salom nodded briefly at the question that burst out before he even grasped the milk cup.

Aden silently looked at Salom and picked up the milk cup with a low sneer.

It must be because of yesterday’s incident. Aden easily concluded and recalled yesterday’s events. She was a quick-witted child.

It was clear that she had noticed something between him and Ludmila after yesterday’s incident.

It might be natural since he didn’t intend to hide it anyway.

Aden moistened his lips with the cold milk and rolled his eyes. The just-risen sun was turning the barren land red. That sight reminded him of Ludmila.

“By the way, about Lady Ludmila.”

The moment thoughts of her arose, her name popped out of Salom’s mouth.

Aden’s eyes trembled slightly, but he soon maintained his composure and lowered the milk cup.

“Did you happen to hear where she went out to?”

“…Went out?”

Aden frowned and quietly asked back.

It was bewildering enough to suddenly mention her name, but going out? Salom slowly nodded.

“I was worried about yesterday’s incident, so I instructed a maid to check on her. But she wasn’t in her room. Since it was before dawn broke, she must have gone out in the early morning. I have no idea where she went.”

“The guards? Did no one see Ludmila?”

“No. They say no one left the castle during the early morning.”

Then she must still be in the castle. Since it was such a large and spacious castle, it wouldn’t be easy to find her if she decided to hide.

Aden bit his lip and let out a small sigh.

He didn’t regret what he had said to Ludmila yesterday.

It was something he had to say eventually. One might think it could be ignored since it had only been 4 months, but his insides boiled every time he faced her eyes mixed with fear when they met his.

In such a situation, Aden wasn’t the type to hold back.

Although, because that aspect was highlighted, the imperial nobles clicked their tongues saying the Kan people were barbaric and uneducated, but he didn’t need to look good to them, so it was outside his area of concern.

“I’ll instruct more servants to search for her whereabouts.”

Aden nodded briefly and turned around.

There was no need to think deeply about it. If she was in the castle, she would come out eventually.

He was certain that a woman with such a strong will to live wouldn’t run away or do something extreme.

By now, the lengthening red sunlight of morning was penetrating through the window.

Aden stood in place, gazing at the sun scattering beautifully dazzling light, and only after a long time did he take a step.

It was time to start the day.

“Damn, it’s wide.”

It was right after surveying the entire east side that Aden first burst out in complaint.

Aden, who had left his office before finishing his morning work, was busy moving around until it was almost lunchtime.

The reason was undoubtedly because of Ludmila, who had disappeared in the early morning.

However, Aden denied this.

He made a rather plausible excuse that it was to check and monitor the long-postponed management of the castle.

It bothered him that Salom smiled meaningfully with a knowing expression at this sight, but he couldn’t get angry, so he could only move his steps busily.

It wasn’t just him who got busy with Aden’s castle inspection.

The craftsmen managing the castle and the servants whose cleaning in each area had been inadequate also became busy.

As he went in and out of various places in the east, scanning with eagle eyes, it was natural for them to be worried.

Because of this, the east was turned upside down with an unscheduled major cleaning and large-scale management.

Of course, even during all this, Ludmila’s figure could not be found.

In the end, Aden, who had been searching the castle thoroughly without finding Ludmila until it was almost lunchtime, moved his steps to return to his office.

“Ah…ka!”

It was just as he was passing the road leading to the lumberyard when a shrill voice was heard from afar.

Aden tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes at the rough high pitch ringing from a distance.

Come to think of it, had he never been to the lumberyard before?

He had thought that if she was going to hide, it would naturally be in the wide and complex east. But what if that wasn’t the case? As his thoughts reached that point, Aden’s feet moved.

As he got closer, the voice became clearer.

The moment he recognized that voice as belonging to the lumberyard manager, though rougher and clearer than usual, Aden’s lips curled up slightly.

“Cut that part! Hurry!”

There, the very person who had provided the reason for his hours of searching was urging on the manager.

The manager, who retreated with a refreshed face as if finally liberated, hurriedly left the lumberyard lest he be caught again.

Aden, who had been staring intently at that sight, turned his head to look at Ludmila, who was holding a saw and wearing rough work clothes.

Her beautiful golden hair, which she had groomed like her alter ego, was tightly tied back but strands were sticking out here and there in disarray, and wood chips clung to her work clothes.

A faint flush colored her cheeks that had only been pale before, and her chin was stained with dark dust.

Aden burst into a small laugh at the sight that was unfamiliar to the point of being shocking.

How absurd.

Swallowing the impression he couldn’t voice aloud, he lightly jerked his chin.

“How long have you been here?”

“I’ve been here since the end of dawn.”

So does that mean she’s been here continuously since morning without eating? As his eyes narrowed, Ludmila seemed to read this and hastily shook her head.

“Ah, that doesn’t mean I didn’t eat anything. I ate some jerky the manager had stored.”

“That’s not exactly a meal.”

“Still, it was salty enough to stave off hunger.”

“What a fortunate explanation to hear midway through.”

Ludmila’s face turned red as she realized her answer was largely meaningless.

Aden, who had been silently watching that sight, rolled his eyes.

“So.”

When his gaze fell on the pile of wooden boards behind Ludmila, Aden’s mouth uttered a quiet question.

“What were you doing here?”

With work clothes and a saw. From dawn until lunch.

At the question that was no different from an interrogation, Ludmila bit her lip.

At that sight, Aden suddenly recalled yesterday’s events.

Has not enough time passed to casually ask about such things? Realizing this, Aden hurriedly tried to continue speaking, but before that, the saw was abruptly raised.

“I was cutting wood.”

“From noble marchioness to lumberjack now. Are you trying to develop a talent in your newly migrated place by learning skills here?”

“That’s not bad either. But no.”

“Then.”

Ludmila quietly smiled and turned her body.

Picking up a wood chip that had fallen to the floor, Ludmila approached Aden and held it out.

Aden, who had been alternately looking at Ludmila and the wood chip, sighed at the gesture urging him to take it.

“What is this?”

“Blackwood.”

“Black… what?”

“It’s wood used to make high-end musical instruments.”

Aden frowned and silently looked at the wood chip in his hand.

Unlike the brown-tinged surface, the inside was dyed a deep black.

“The wood itself is rare and precious, so it’s extremely expensive. Moreover, it’s difficult to extract even one proper wooden board from this tree, so the price of instruments made with this blackwood is beyond imagination.”

“No matter how expensive, it’s all the same.”

“Is that so? The price of the cello that a person I know gave to a musician he sponsored was equal to the price of one mansion.”

As Aden’s eyes, which had been silently looking down at the wood, came up, Ludmila’s mouth drew a refreshing smile as if she had expected this.

“Of course, that’s because it’s an instrument born from the hands of a master craftsman, so it was given such value, but basically, it was possible because the raw material, the wood, was expensive. I’m not a merchant, so I don’t know the exact trading price of this wood, but it’s at least twice as expensive as sandalwood. And that wood is here.”

Ludmila pointed to the logs piled up in one corner.

“Piled up over there.”

“…”

“Yesterday dawn, I was about to sleep but it was too cold so I turned on the fireplace. That’s when I saw it. This expensive wood being used as firewood.”

So she came here from dawn to confirm that?

The pointed conversation from yesterday became utterly useless.

He felt foolish for having abandoned his work and searched for hours, thinking he might have been too harsh on Ludmila.

In the end, Ludmila’s essential nature doesn’t change easily. The moment he realized this, a wry smile appeared on Aden’s lips.

“I’ll make it clear to you.”

And at the same time, Ludmila’s voice rang out.

Aden, whose gaze had been scattered, once again fixed his eyes on Ludmila and met the red eyes directed at him.

“You asked me, who am I? Unfortunately, the fact that I am Ludmila doesn’t change. People don’t change overnight.”

“…”

“At the same time, it also means that I am no different now from who I was on that day when I proposed to you to take me away.”

The shadows covering the lumberyard began to lift.

As the view gradually brightened, Aden’s eyes slowly widened.

“I’ll prove to you how much of a helpful existence I can be to you and your clan while I stay here. That your choice to make a contract with me wasn’t wrong.”

At last, beautiful golden light poured down over her head.

“With that survival method you called trash.”

Ludmila was a stubborn woman.

Knowing this, she must have said that she herself doesn’t change.

Aden agreed with that. The Ludmila he first met and the Ludmila now were no different.

Beautiful.

It was a moment of realizing that unchanging impression once again.