Recalling the vivid image of the unwell Domnemis she had seen a few days ago, Lena’s worried feelings gradually surfaced.

It was a dawn when no one was passing by. If, by any chance, the lord were to collapse, it could become really dangerous. Realizing this, Lena couldn’t bring herself to let her steps falter.

“Should I follow him…?”

Eventually, after a brief hesitation, Lena decided it would be better to follow the lord. However, contrary to her expectation that he would stroll through the garden and quickly return to the mansion, Lord Domnemis was heading towards a detached building slightly away from the main house.
“I heard that no one is living there…”

When Lena asked about the detached building she had seen when she first entered the mansion, she recalled the butler’s words that it was a building no one used.

An empty mansion where no one had lived for a very long time.

‘What should I do?’

Feeling uneasy about her seemingly stalking behavior, Lena hesitated for a moment.

At that moment, when she was contemplating whether to approach Domnemis, the figure of Domnemis, who had been leading, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Huh? Where did he go?”

Perhaps he had already entered the mansion. Lena hurriedly followed Domnemis into the detached building.

The statement that no one used it seemed to be true; thick curtains covered the furniture inside the detached building.

“What am I doing right now?”

As Lena, who was searching the mansion for Domnemis, suddenly questioned what she was doing, she exhaled a low breath.

Seeing that he had entered the detached building, there must have been some purpose.

Thinking that it was no longer polite to follow Domnemis, Lena was about to turn around when—

“What is this…?”

Once again, an inexplicable sensation sent shivers down her spine.

Why? It was definitely her first time here, yet this feeling was so familiar.

Captivated by an indescribable mood, Lena moved slowly.

Climbing the stairs, overcoming the old dust smell that pierced her nose, Lena reached the second-floor corridor.

And then.

“Here…”

Lena, who had reached the end of the second-floor corridor in an instant, stopped in front of a door. An intense urge to open the door came over her.

Without even knowing the reason herself, she grabbed the doorknob.

Click [Dash].

Perhaps it was because of the thick curtains. The cold air of the room, where not even moonlight penetrated, made her body shiver.

Lena cautiously moved forward, opening the curtains hanging by the window. Simultaneously, the faint moonlight illuminated the darkness.

Lena turned around and slowly surveyed the now slightly brighter room. It was an ordinary room with nothing special.

However, there was one strange thing.

“Why is only this room clean?”

Had someone always been entering this room? Not only were the furnishings covered with cloth, but there was not a speck of dust anywhere.

As Lena was running her fingers over the desk in front of her, wondering why this room was exceptionally clean, she raised her head in surprise.

“And, this desk…”

It was just a common desk made of cherry wood. In a strange mood, Lena fumbled with the desk as if trying to find something.

After a while of fumbling, Lena’s attention was drawn to a small piece placed in the center of the desk.

While Lena, who was staring at the horse carving crafted to match the cherry wood, was suddenly bending it backward.

Then, with a sound like ‘thunk,’ a hidden drawer popped out.

“How do I know about this…?”
When she saw the horse statue, she was engulfed in a strange feeling that she should just let it go. But then, the secret drawer suddenly popped out.

What on earth should be made of this situation?

Lena, who wanted to leave this place quickly, pushed the drawer. However, a creaking sound came, and when Lena examined the inside of the drawer closely, she found a small frame placed upside down.

“What’s this?”

Unconsciously picking up the frame, at that moment, she felt someone’s presence from the direction of the door.

“Domnemis…?”

“Why is the Duchess here…”

As if surprised that she was here, Domnemis of Domnemis looked at Lena with widened eyes.

“Well, I was taking a walk in the garden for a moment, and I followed you, thinking about what to do if you collapsed…”

Lena, too, began to babble in confusion, feeling awkward about this unexpected encounter.

As Lena, who didn’t know what to do, avoided her gaze, Domnemis, who was silently watching her, soon smiled gently.

“This is the Duchess’s family home. So, there is no place the Duchess cannot go.”

Seemingly wanting to calm Lena, who was stumbling, about the reason for being here, Domnemis spoke.

“…Thank you so much for telling me.”

The family home. With Domnemis’s words, Lena’s heart began to pound. She, too, had been like an orphan.

Therefore, even if it was only on paper, she was sincerely delighted at the fact that she had gained a family.

“We might be connected by fate. Actually, I was really surprised when I first saw the Duchess.”

“Me?”

“Yes, because the Duchess had the characteristics of the past Domnemis family.”

‘The characteristics of the past Domnemis family?’

Hearing the story for the first time, Lena tilted her head in confusion.

“The violet eyes resembling the iris. It was the symbol of the Domnemis family.”

Come to think of it, the color of Domnemis’s eyes was also a deep purple. But why was it referred to as a past symbol of the family?

As Lena was trying to figure out Domnemis’s words, turning her head, Domnemis shifted his gaze to the small frame in Lena’s hand.

“But this is…”

“Oh, this was in the desk drawer. It seems to be a portrait of someone… ”

As Domnemis asked about the frame, Lena’s two eyes moved to the frame. However, when Lena saw the portrait of a woman inside the frame, her face stiffened abruptly.

As if seeing something one should not have seen.

“This is…”

A woman with black hair and violet eyes. The woman’s face was so similar to her current self.

To the point where it seemed to be the same person.