Edwin ordered a servant on his way to his room to bring Charlotte to his room in 30 minutes. After that, he took a light bath and changed clothes. As he was adjusting his sleeves in front of the mirror, Charlotte arrived, and the disgruntled Charlotte sat down without even glancing in his direction.

He softly sneered as he stared at the rigid Charlotte in the mirror. Edwin, having finished tidying his sleeves, faced the sulky Charlotte.

“Tea?”

She responded by turning her head at the question. Edwin, showing no interest in her stubborn attitude, instructed a servant to bring a cup of coffee. He wore a spotless smile along with his clear, even-toned voice.

“Since you’re not the type to apologize for not being able to take me to the royal event, I suppose you called me here about the marriage that doesn’t include any of my opinions.”

“You’re the one who said it was difficult to handle mother.”

Charlotte’s lips closed tightly, feeling wronged and hurt. Her freckled eyes were red. Even though she looked ready to burst into tears at the slightest touch, Edwin remained calm, as if looking at a picture in a frame.

“And I said I would ask for your opinion on the marriage. I told you I invited that man to Rodinia.”

“That’s not what I meant. I, I just don’t want to get married! That’s my intention. I’m not ready yet, but why are you, Your Grace…”

The excited Charlotte whimpered. Fearing that her unladylike appearance might count against her, she bit her lips to suppress her tears. Even in this moment when he was callously ignoring her feelings, she was desperate to make a good impression on him.

“Then what should we do?”

However, stopping the tears was beyond Charlotte’s ability. She finally lowered her head and shed tears profusely.

“Should we not get married and continue living together?”

Charlotte, who had been sniffling, raised her head. Her eyes were filled with naive expectation.

“I’m not your husband. Which means I have no reason to feed you now that you’re grown up.”

She knew.

If she didn’t get married, he would hand her the meager fortune of Baron Baitness and send her out of the mansion. Even that wouldn’t be tolerated by Baron Baitness’s wife.

Then what?

There was no proper place for a penniless woman without parents, guardian, or husband. Wasn’t the best example right beside her?

Vivian Eveline.

Even Vivian, who had been treated like nobility even after coming to Newway, became prey to all the beasts of Newway once she was alone.

Would I be any different?

I’m likely to suffer an even worse fate than Vivian. There was no way people would treat me, who was even more insignificant than Vivian, with care.

“When your guardian says he’ll marry you off to the best man in Newway, when he says he’ll provide a dowry and arrange a marriage where you’ll be respected. That’s when you do it. Otherwise, it’ll be too late, Charlotte.”

He instilled in her the fear that while she could be the best bride in the marriage market as long as she had the weapon of being Duke Baitness’s ward, that weapon could be withdrawn.

“You now need to repay me for keeping you as my ward in accordance with your father’s will, despite your mother’s opposition.”

“Your Grace, I, I… I really…”

I can’t marry another man when I have someone I love. This feeling is so deep that I can’t see any other man.

Those words were stuck on the tip of her tongue.

The reason she couldn’t convey her true feelings in the end was simple. Because to Edwin Baitness, Charlotte Windler was not a woman. The confession she was about to make now would only be seen as a childish emotion by Edwin.

“And Charlotte.”

Just then, a servant bringing coffee provided a distraction between the two. Charlotte, not wanting to show her crying face, wiped it roughly and sniffled. After the servant withdrew, the heavy atmosphere settled between the two once again.

“I don’t like anyone touching my things without permission.”

Edwin’s voice deepened unusually. Charlotte felt a chill down her spine as she faced his icy cold expression.

He had never been affectionate, but he had never been cold either. She tried to recall why she had made him so angry, but couldn’t find an appropriate reason. He wasn’t the type to become this frosty just because she was being stubborn or grumpy.

“And that applies to you too.”

He slowly rose from his seat and headed somewhere. Charlotte couldn’t follow him. She didn’t have the courage to face his cold expression again.

“You said you’d embroider the scarf?”

Charlotte flinched as his footsteps came closer and stopped beside her. She looked at what he was holding out in front of her. And it was Vivian Eveline’s scarf.

“Embroider it and bring it back.”

The scarf that Edwin had worn throughout his absence from the mansion. The one that had disappeared from Vivian’s neck late at night. The one she had said she would embroider to test Vivian.

“Never touch my things again. Charlotte, this is not advice. This is…”

She reflexively took Vivian’s scarf, which had now become Edwin’s scarf.

“A warning.”

Spring was ripening more and more, approaching the beginning of summer. On the road to the Duke’s mansion in Rodinia. Under the sunlight, transparent and fresh leaves brightened the long journey, making it far from boring. Gideon stopped his horse to take in the green fragrance fully.

“I heard that the garden of Rodinia is so beautiful it’s as if all the flowers of Newway have been planted there. I wonder if it’s true?”

In contrast, James Zimmerman squinted and made a shade with his hand. The sun was so hot that he was worried all the hair on his crown might fall out, while Gideon was harmonizing with nature, leaving his cousin to nearly burn up.

“Who cares about flowers? I’m burning up. Burning up! I could be served as meat on the table. So let’s not stop and keep riding. If we gave up the carriage, let’s at least ride. If we’re on horseback, let’s make the horses run!”

“Cousin. Let’s not live so harshly.”

Whew. James shook his head and overtook Gideon as if he couldn’t bear it anymore. Only then did Gideon speed up to chase after James, grumbling that they should have done this from the start.

“Besides, the rumors about the mansion are from when Lawrence Eveline was the owner. After Lawrence died, the garden’s reputation hit rock bottom long ago. Now, well. No one knows how the Duke has decorated the garden.”

“Lawrence Eveline died?”

I clearly heard that Lawrence Eveline had started a gold mining company, but when the discovered gold vein turned out to be fake, he disappeared, leaving only the stigma of being a fraudster.

Gideon, who prided himself on never falling behind when it came to information, heard a sound like his pride cracking.

“Wouldn’t he have died?”

Fortunately, James added a question mark to the information, restoring Gideon’s cracked pride.

“If he were captured by creditors, would they have fed and housed Lawrence until now? They would have worked him to death. If he were alive, he wouldn’t have not appeared.”

“…But his daughter is alive, right? Isn’t that why he’s hiding?”

“That’s exactly why he must be dead. Think about it. As you say, his daughter is alive. But why are the creditors leaving the daughter alone? Isn’t that strange? Therefore. It means the creditors have already squeezed everything they could out of Lawrence and washed their hands of him.”

The Eveline family was the sun of Preston. A ray of sun amidst the dark clouds. How did Eveline, who was considered the will of heaven, end up like this?

When it comes to such an end, the beautiful world visible to the eye feels like a complete lie.

Nothing can last forever.

Seeing how the deeply rooted Eveline family collapsed like that, anyone would agree with this thought.

“By the way, I heard that Duke Baitness kept Eveline’s only daughter in his mansion?”

After Duke Baitness won the bid for the mansion, people referred to Duke Baitness and Eveline’s only daughter like this.

They said Vivian Eveline met Duke Baitness and was saved. That the grace of taking in, feeding, and housing the poor and homeless Eveline was as great as the heavens.

“Indeed. I wouldn’t have found it easy if it were me. He’s truly someone with many admirable qualities. Just look at how he recently gave his villa to flood victims. He’s such a warm and caring person that it must have been difficult for him to turn away Eveline.”

It would be strange for a citizen of Newway not to have respect for Duke Baitness. Gideon was also one of the many who couldn’t stop praising Duke Baitness.

From the days when he was a low-ranking nobleman bowing his head for a single coin until now, Duke Baitness had been an inspiration throughout all times. When he received a letter from Duke Baitness, he couldn’t believe it and lost sleep for a week.

“Gideon. Listen well. A wife is about money, not beauty. No matter how beautiful she is, if she has no money, she’s plain, and even if she’s plain, if she has a lot of money, she becomes beautiful. So you must make this marriage happen no matter what.”

The conditions the Duke put forward when proposing an engagement with his ward were shocking.

The ward’s enormous dowry, investment for the expansion of the Zimmerman carriage business, and even collaborative development with the Baitness weapons company. If he missed this marriage, the countless pointing fingers from others would be unbearable.

“Money isn’t everything, James.”

While the figure of Duke Baitness had a profound influence on his life, it hadn’t changed his values about forming a family.

He had run breathlessly to get this far. He had worked hard all his life and that wasn’t going to change in the future. So he wanted the family he would create in this life to be filled only with people he loved. People who could let his tired heart rest comfortably.

Walking through the vibrant garden, the vitality of nature took root in one’s heart. Even though the world had collapsed, there was still room to enjoy the sweet scent of a single flower. It was the useless and futile things that became the reason to live in a collapsed world.

“Whenever you come out to the garden, miss, your expression brightens a hundred times more. It’s like you’re gaining weight, becoming fairer. Anyway, you become much more beautiful than usual.”

“Thank you. For saying that.”

Vivian blushed shyly and smiled. To hide her flushed cheeks, she bent down to inhale the fragrance of flowers blooming in the shrub.

“By the way, what time will the guests arriving today come? Sigh. I’m really worried about Miss Windler.”

Sophie, crouching beside her, pursed her lips in concern. Vivian’s expression wasn’t much different from Sophie’s.

Vivian had heard from Sophie about Charlotte being thoroughly upset.

Charlotte, who had just passed her nineteenth birthday, was facing marriage under Edwin’s not-so-subtle pressure.

Although it wasn’t her place as an outsider to interfere, based on the information she had gathered, Vivian was certain that Charlotte had a clear obligation to marry. As someone who had gone through everything to get here, Vivian could be sure that it would be beneficial for Charlotte as well.

“But why does Miss Windler say she won’t get married?”

“That’s just it. She’s just saying she won’t do it without any reason, so the Duke must be extremely frustrated. Even I’m getting frustrated.”

Vivian, feeling equally frustrated, sighed deeply and touched the brightly blooming flower petals.

If Miss Windler gets married, she’ll leave this mansion, right? Then will it be just the Duke and me in the mansion?

Suddenly, as that situation came to mind, she felt quite uncomfortable. Although they rarely encountered each other in this mansion, the problem was the meal times, which were the only times they met. She recalled the moment when she was left alone with Edwin after Charlotte had left without finishing her meal recently.

Shaking her head, Vivian stood up and walked through the garden, carrying deep concerns. Worrying about a future that hadn’t yet come was useless, but anxiety made her mind dwell on useless things.

At that moment, the sound of horse hooves that had been echoing from afar drew closer. Turning her eyes, she saw two men on horseback looking around the garden with wide eyes. She instinctively knew they were Edwin and Charlotte’s guests.

The guests visiting the Duke’s mansion appeared surprisingly modest. There was a clear difference from other suitors who tried to win favor with flashy carriages, their own servants, and all sorts of gifts.

The contrast between the impeccably neat man and the man who had given freedom to his buttons allowed her to guess Charlotte’s match. When her eyes met with the well-groomed man, Vivian gave a light greeting. He also returned the greeting with a small smile. After moving away from the guests, Vivian immediately returned to her room.

It was courtesy and consideration for the outsider of the mansion to quietly hide when official guests arrived. Thinking about being quietly confined to her room for just ten days made her feel quite light-hearted.

The fact that she wouldn’t have to face Duke Baitness relieved her of the burden. At least until an unexpected knock sounded.

“Oh? Who could it be at this hour?”

Vivian, puzzled, gestured for Sophie to open the door, and Sophie trotted over and opened it. Beyond Sophie, another servant appeared and faced Vivian.

“A guest has come to see you, miss.”

The servant surprised Vivian once again with this completely unexpected news.

“A guest? But I don’t have any guests coming to see me. You must have mistaken Miss Windler’s guest.”

It must be a small misunderstanding, a mistake.

“No, that’s not the case. A person named Theo Evans is looking for you.”

She thought so, but the name that vibrated the air and reached her eardrums stopped Vivian’s thoughts.

“T-Theo?”

Strangely enough, today the Duke’s mansion was bustling with visiting guests. That fact planted a deep uneasiness in Vivian’s heart.