Lina’s eyes flew open at the sound of that noise.

After Blair disappeared, Herdin personally went to check anywhere someone with a similar appearance to Blair was reported. He delegated urgent matters to Luth.

This time too, he had just returned after a week of traveling south in search of Blair.

‘Did His Grace bring back the Lady this time?’

An undisguisable sense of anticipation tinged Lina’s steps as she went down to the central hall to greet Herdin.

Right after Blair vanished, rumors spread even within the Duke’s mansion.

Rumors that Blair had an affair and fled in the night with another man’s child.

Of course, Lina and Mellie, who trusted Blair, did not believe those rumors.

They even fought with the maids who whispered such gossip, getting caught and scolded by Mason along with them.

The two believed that Blair and Herdin must have had a big fight over various reasons, including the time just before she disappeared when Herdin had kept Blair virtually confined during their cold war.

If those rumors the maids whispered were true, Herdin wouldn’t be desperately searching for Blair, who supposedly ran away with another man’s child, dropping everything else.

‘The Lady will return once her anger subsides.’

That’s what Lina believed when Blair left.

How could a princess raised without ever getting her hands wet, and not even alone but with child, go anywhere?

But a week passed, then two weeks, then a month flew by, and still Blair did not return.

At first, Lina prayed Blair wouldn’t be caught, wanting Herdin to fret over upsetting her.

But now she was starting to worry about Blair. On the other hand, she also began to resent her for leaving them behind.

‘I wish she would come back now…’

Lina stood at the mansion entrance with mixed feelings, hoping Herdin would bring Blair back but also wishing she wouldn’t be caught.

At last, the carriage that approached the mansion entrance stopped, and Herdin alighted.

“Welcome back, Your Grace.”

Mason greeted the master as the representative of the servants.

At that signal, the servants lined up in a row all bowed their heads at once to pay respects to their returned master.

Amidst them, Lina secretly observed Herdin.

That handsome face was no different from before, but his expression had sharpened even more over the past few months.

He never had a particularly gentle look to begin with, but the uniquely chilling atmosphere was created by his distinctly sharper jawline, eyes that took on a subtly colder light, and dry expression that revealed not a trace of emotion.

He exuded a keen edge, like a well-honed sword.

Lina wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Even the maids who used to secretly admire Herdin’s face now hurried to avoid meeting his eyes.

Eventually, even the servants who initially gossiped about the missing Blair now inwardly wished for her return.

They realized that the suffocating atmosphere permeating the mansion stemmed from her absence.

However, despite the wishes of Lina, Mellie, and everyone else, once again only Herdin emerged from the carriage.

As always, he strode across the mansion with long steps, his face cold and stern.

Even after the servants dispersed with sighs of relief at safely greeting their master, Lina couldn’t tear her gaze away from the carriage Herdin had arrived in, unable to let go of her lingering hope.

But no one else ever emerged from the carriage, and it soon drove away.

Mellie approached Lina’s side.

“Let’s go in too, Lina.”

“…Okay.”

As Mellie entered the mansion with Lina, she observed her expression. Sure enough, Lina’s face had grown gloomy.

Mellie deliberately changed the subject, pretending not to notice.

“The wind’s gotten quite chilly already, hasn’t it?”

“…I suppose so.”

But despite Mellie’s efforts, Lina’s expression remained dejected.

After a moment of silence, Lina muttered as if to herself.

“The Lady has weak lungs, so she often catches colds during seasonal changes. Now that she’s pregnant, she can’t even take medicine… What if she gets really sick?”

As Lina brought up Blair, a bitter smile appeared on Mellie’s face, who had been trying to act oblivious.

Mellie was worried about Blair too. But she felt she shouldn’t show her own anxiety in front of the fretting Lina.

Blair’s last request weighed on her mind.

‘I’m so glad you two are getting along well. Can you continue to rely on each other and stay close?’

Blair probably left those words anticipating that Lina would feel anxious and sad in her absence.

And that final request must be what she wished for.

Mellie stroked Lina’s arm, comforting her.

“Don’t worry too much. She can light candles on her own now. I’m sure she’s doing well somewhere warm.”

“…You’re right. She’s not as afraid of fire as before. She’ll be fine, right?”

“Yes. And we’ll find the Lady before winter comes.”

But contrary to Mellie’s attempt to reassure her, Lina’s expression darkened.

Lina hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Actually, lately I’ve been praying every night. For His Grace to find the Lady quickly.”

Mellie listened silently to Lina’s words. She felt the same way.

But the next moment, Lina said something unexpected.

“But now I hesitate to pray like that.”

“Why?”

“Of course, I miss the Lady terribly. I’m also worried if she’s doing well in an unfamiliar place.”

“But?”

“However… The fact that she hasn’t returned until now means she must have hated living here that much. Is it right to make such a wish out of my own selfishness?”

Mellie was stunned by Lina’s words.

She hadn’t thought that far.

That their feelings of affection, longing, and desire for Blair’s return could be their own selfishness.

“For her happiness, shouldn’t we pray that His Grace never finds the Lady?”

Lina was right. If they truly cared for Blair, they should pray for her happiness rather than prioritizing their own emotions.

After pondering those words for a moment, Mellie suggested:

“Then let’s pray like this.”

“How?”

“For the Lady to be safe and happy wherever she is. That’s a wish we can make, right?”

Lina’s expression brightened at that.

“Oh! That would work.”

As the two finished their brief conversation and began to chatter, a shadow that had been listening from around the corner quietly turned away.

It was Luth, who had come to the Duke’s mansion after hearing news of Herdin’s return.

‘It seems he came up empty-handed again.’

He swallowed a sigh at the unpleasant news and headed towards Herdin’s office.

Not long after Blair disappeared, he too had been afraid to face Herdin, who exuded a murderous aura.

But as time dragged on, that fear gradually turned into concern.

Having observed Herdin closely for many years as a subordinate and sometimes like family, Luth knew that Herdin’s current pursuit of Blair wasn’t driven by simple anger.

However, Blair hadn’t returned for over two months. And she was pregnant.

‘It’s not just a marital spat; she truly doesn’t want to see His Grace anymore…’

Though he couldn’t know the exact reason, Blair had given up on her relationship with Herdin.

So as Lina said, if they really loved Blair, the right thing would be to let her go, but…

He couldn’t bring himself to say those words in front of Herdin.

Herdin would understand better than anyone what Blair’s failure to return meant.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t let her go because he didn’t know that fact.

Luth arrived at Herdin’s office with a bitter taste in his mouth. But even after knocking and waiting, no permission came.

“Your Grace, I’m coming in.”

After waiting a moment, Luth opened the door and entered, only to find an empty office.

Herdin wasn’t there, but it seemed he had been, as there was a finished cigar in the ashtray.

‘Did he go there again?’

As Luth breathed in the lingering bitter scent of cigar in the office, he recalled the place Herdin always visited first upon returning to the mansion.

* * *

After showering, Herdin went straight to Blair’s room as always.

Everything there remained exactly as it had been on the day Blair left. Everything was the same, except the room’s owner was gone.

Herdin lay his body, tired from days of long-distance travel, on the bed that had lost its mistress.

As he did so, Blair’s faint body scent still lingering on the bed sheets enveloped him. Herdin’s eyes, gazing at the ceiling, sank coldly.

The body scent that always greeted him when he entered her room was gradually fading away.

Though he disliked that fact, there was nothing he could do about the scent growing dimmer day by day.

All he could do was endlessly search for the owner of that body scent.

Herdin, who had closed his eyes for a moment lying on the bed without Blair, rose, pressing his eyes.

Though his body was weary from the continuous journey, his mind was alert and rather clear. He was used to it now, as it had persisted since Blair’s disappearance.

Traces of Blair remained everywhere his gaze fell as he quietly looked around the room.

Herdin’s brow gradually furrowed as he surveyed.

Seeing her belongings scattered around the room irritated him. Every time he saw them, he had to face the fact that he was no different from those objects.

Yet a self-deprecating chuckle escaped at his own image, always returning to her room despite this.

In the small frame on the bedside table was a picture they had bought at the clock tower they visited together on a spring day when cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

‘Yes, I like it. I think I’ll be reminded of today whenever I look at this picture.’

He recalled her bright face, unable to hide her excitement, slightly flushed.

She had liked it so much, yet she left even this behind.

Along with himself, left behind in this mansion.