“What do you mean, Mr. Sheffer?”

With Theo’s departure and the coming of night came despair. The chirping of crickets was gentle, but the news delivered by the trusted Mr. Sheffer with a shameful face crushed Vivian.

“I’m sorry, Miss Eveline.”

“……”

“That person demanded 1 million mori. The money Mrs. Eveline gave was 700,000 mori. We couldn’t offer more than that, and 1 million mori is truly an absurd amount…”

I’m truly ashamed, Miss Eveline. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help.

Sheffer’s subsequent apologies did not reach Vivian.

Set your mind, but don’t worry.

The instruction her father had given through Theo crumbled easily.

“Miss Eveline. While misfortunes continue, there is some good news in the midst of it.”

Her throat was choked, and no voice came out. She gripped the skirt of her only dress tightly, holding back the tears that were welling up painfully.

“The person who won the auction for this mansion is Duke Edwin Baitness, Miss Eveline. Do you know Duke Baitness?”

Vivian pondered for a moment but soon shook her head. Even among those who came to view the mansion just before the auction, there was no one with the surname Baitness. This meant that he had given such a large sum without ever seeing the mansion he intended to live in.

“He’s famous in many ways in Newway. He’s also someone without even an unpleasant scandal, so clean. He’s one of the few nobles that the people of Newway are enthusiastic about, being a nobleman without even a small blemish despite enjoying great wealth. I’ve made a request to such a duke, establishing a brief acquaintance.”

“A request… you say?”

“For you to be able to stay here until Mrs. Eveline returns. If the person who won the auction had been someone else, I wouldn’t have made such a request. It was possible because the other party was Duke Baitness.”

Vivian’s red lips were tightly closed. If it was someone Mr. Sheffer trusted, Vivian would not be wary. The trust in Sheffer, whom she had known since childhood, directly led to trust in Duke Baitness.

She wondered what kind of response this person named Edwin Baitness had given to Mr. Sheffer’s request. It was a moment of curiosity that followed.

“So. Did the Duke give permission?”

“Well… He hasn’t given permission yet, but he says he’ll talk with Miss Eveline tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Does that mean that person is coming here tomorrow?”

The situation of possibly being evicted from the mansion without preparation stimulated Vivian’s fear. The hand gripping her dress skirt tightened, making her knuckles ache.

“He’s the owner of the mansion now, so I suppose so. So, talk well with him tomorrow, Miss Eveline.”

A bag containing 700,000 mori was placed in front of Vivian.

Sheffer asked once more about the source of the money and expressed the same concern as Theo. After listing a few incidents where he had received kindness from her father while working as a butler at the marquis’s residence in Preston, Sheffer suggested that if things got too difficult, they could go south together.

He added that his family would understand too, so there was no need to worry, and not to think of it as imposing. But Vivian persistently refused. She said she would wait for her mother here, feeling she couldn’t ask more of Mr. Sheffer.

Exhausted, Vivian gave a perfunctory response to Sheffer’s insistence that she must write letters, and then bid farewell. Sheffer looked back at Vivian several times, but she waved her hand with a smile that she could now easily put on to reassure others.

She turned back to the mansion with the 700,000 mori of unknown origin. The owner of the grand mansion had finally changed. That would mean her life had become a little more arduous.

“Mother…”

Closing the door, Vivian sat down on the floor and hugged her knees.

“Father, I miss you so much.”

She buried her face and cried silently. Even with the sound of crying echoing through the mansion, no one looked out.

She was alone. The place where she should have been with her family was filled only with empty echoes.

Light was seeping out from some point in the long, dark corridor. The confident steps that had been parting the voluminous skirts of the dress lost their assurance as they neared the light spilling onto the floor.

Charlotte, who had suddenly found herself in front of the door, turned towards a frame hanging on the corridor wall behind her. Using the light leaking through the door crack, she tidied her hair and straightened her clothes before turning back.

Knock knock. Taking a deep breath, she summoned her courage. As she entered, Edwin’s blue eyes settled on Charlotte indifferently from where he sat. Though he knew there was no chance of Charlotte visiting him at this hour, he showed neither surprise nor an unexpected look.

“What’s the matter?”

He doesn’t even put down the documents he was holding to ask.

Standing there awkwardly, she felt as if her appearance was worth even less than the documents he was holding. She shot a resentful glance at Edwin, who had withdrawn his gaze, but it never reached him.

“You came home late today. I thought I hadn’t greeted you properly.”

“It’s too late for that, Charlotte.”

“…And I was curious about something.”

“You don’t need to pry. The search for a husband is progressing smoothly.”

He was a man who knew all too well how to grip a small heart with those beautiful hands. Charlotte sat down with an awkward smile and looked directly at Edwin.

There was a deep shadow under his downcast eyes. The smooth, extended eyeline felt colder and more chilling in that shadow. As he raised his eyes to the prolonged silence, wet blue eyes met hers.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“…I was just curious. I’ve been by your side consistently since I was very young. But lately, you feel like a different person. And the way you suddenly spent a large sum of money, too.”

“Was reporting on my spending part of your role as a guardian?”

There was no malice in his contained smile. There might have been malice in finally bringing up the word ‘guardian’ that he had always wanted to throw away, scratching at her heart.

“No…”

Charlotte’s eyes fell sadly.

“Then is there anything else?”

“Oh, by the way, I don’t see Royce today. Didn’t you return from the auction house together?”

Charlotte, who hadn’t even recovered her losses, hastily changed the subject. Edwin’s lips curled deeper at her eyes darting around searching for his attendant. Shrugging his shoulders, Edwin glossed over Royce’s whereabouts and gestured for her to leave now.

Dejected, Charlotte couldn’t say anything more and left the study after bidding farewell.

As quietness returned, Edwin put down the documents and tilted his head back, closing his eyes. Today’s events floated vividly, parting the soft light settling on his eyelids.

‘I don’t know if you’ve heard the rumors, but the only daughter of the Eveline family is living there. And now she has nowhere else to go.’

On the way out of the auction house, clutching the deed to the grand mansion in Rodinia—no, the Eveline mansion—to his chest, Anthony Sheffer had stopped Edwin. Sheffer, who had difficulty bringing up his request, was desperate to a suspicious degree.

‘Mrs. Eveline will return soon. Couldn’t you let Miss Eveline stay in the mansion until then? I know we’ve just met, but I’m begging you like this. You may understand from the atmosphere, but if that young lady has to leave the mansion, who knows what humiliation she might suffer.’

Would it be cruel to think him pitiful while looking at those eyes pleading so earnestly? But the fact that Sheffer’s wish pleased Edwin was an even crueler thing for them.

‘Please show mercy, Your Grace. Please take in Miss Eveline. The time she stays won’t be very long.’

Sheffer, bowing his head deeply, should have known that his plea was a utterly useless act.

Why did he think that he alone would not want the only daughter of the Eveline family when countless men were gossiping about her?

If he was going to make a request, he should have at least thought that lips that look refined might devour the tender lamb even more cruelly. That was Edwin’s assessment.

As his arm covered his forehead, the light flickering before his eyes was engulfed by darkness.

“Vivian. Eveline. Eveline. Vivian.”

Like playfully rolling dice, the names Vivian Eveline tumbled from the tip of his lips. Depending on which name his hand caught, that woman’s fate was set to change.

“Eveline…”

Edwin, lowering his arm, headed to the window. Gazing blankly at the blue eyes reflected in the glass, he pulled out memories he had kept buried inside them.

Everyone wonders.

Why did Edwin Baitness buy that mansion, they ask. If someone had the courage to ask the reason for the purchase, he was willing to answer without hesitation.

‘If you don’t kill me here and now and let me live, you’ll regret it. Because someday, I will surely kill you.’

It was to keep a promise made 14 years ago, he would say. And because he had received a promise.

‘I’ll regret it. So make sure you live and come to kill me. I’ll be waiting, so you must live. Please live.’

The rapidly growing weeds were already tickling her ankles. The boxwood maze, at a height where sunlight struggled to penetrate thoroughly, was lush with such weeds. Having loved mazes since childhood, her father had created this boxwood maze for her at the marquis’s residence in Preston as well. It was no different after coming to Newway.

Occasionally, after solving all the problems, he would change the maze’s configuration. After she grew a little older, he said there was no need to change the maze anymore, but her father still insisted on throwing new problems at her.

But now the problems didn’t change. Even if she walked the same path, she was just trapped in the same problem where only the weeds had grown.

After her father’s disappearance, she deliberately wandered in the maze that would only be boring now. It had become a habit to retreat here when thoughts deepened and worries piled up, whenever her heart was unsettled.

Today, Duke Edwin Baitness was coming.

He was the very person who had driven Vivian’s steps into this unsolved problem.

“Oh, rain…”

As she was walking wherever her feet took her, she lifted her head at the cold sensation that fell on her forehead. The sky, which had been clear until morning, was now covered with ashen clouds. Thin raindrops fell on Vivian’s pale cheeks.

“I should head back now.”

Vivian murmured with regret as she turned around. When she reached the entrance, finding her way familiarly, she saw Theo hurrying towards her with an umbrella.

“How did you know I was here, Theo?”

“I thought you might be.”

“Huh?”

Now free from the light rain under the umbrella, Vivian raised her eyes, which resembled the dark clouds, in puzzlement.

“In the maze without an umbrella.”

“Why?”

“I saw the article.”

A newspaper was suddenly thrust in front of Vivian. As someone who always hoped for news of her father whenever she saw a newspaper, Vivian felt a surge of expectation. But the headline adorning the front page pushed such a Vivian into an abyss of disappointment.

‘Newway’s Duke Baitness cruelly devours Preston’s fallen noble, Eveline.’

That was how the public viewed the Eveline mansion that had fallen into the hands of Duke Edwin Baitness.

“…Yes. That’s how it turned out.”

Though the bitterness spreading wasn’t a smile, Vivian was desperate to make it look like one. As if to say she wasn’t deeply hurt, so there was no need for consolation.

She thought Theo would read such intentions.

“Let’s go inside quickly. It’s getting cold with the rain. You might catch a cold like this.”

“Huh? Wait a moment.”

As Theo, tucking the brought newspaper under his arm, turned to leave, Vivian grabbed his arm to stop him. Surprised for a moment at the sight of her white, delicate fingers, Theo watched as Vivian took back the newspaper and began reading something.

“What’s wrong?”

“He died…”

“What? Who?”

Theo’s heart sank at her dazed tone. If it were a death related to the Evelines, there was no way he wouldn’t have discovered it. Just as that thought was about to bring relief, Vivian’s lips parted.

“Houd… That person died.”

“Houd? You mean Caspian Houd, that person? The rich man who proposed to you before, right?”

“Yes…”

That human who looked like trampled mud, even spouting vulgar words to you, miss.

Theo hid his true thoughts and moved closer to the newspaper Vivian was reading, reading along with her.

“Caspian Houd, who met with a mysterious accident on his way back after the auction ended yesterday, died on the spot. While the exact cause is unknown, authorities are… to clarify the circumstances.”

As Vivian and Theo were reading about Caspian Houd’s death, they both raised their heads at the sound of approaching hoofbeats.

Someone had passed through the mansion’s main gate. Theo chased after Vivian, who had stepped out from under the umbrella, and held it over her golden hair. He didn’t mind at all that his own jacket was getting soaked in the rain. He only wished for Vivian to be safe from the rain.

The uninvited guest had already passed the fountain and was right in front of them. Two carriages lined up and stopped in front of the two. Startled by the sound of a horse whinnying, Vivian clutched her chest, and Theo stepped a little closer.

Don’t be afraid, I’m right beside you.

Vivian thought he would read such intentions.

As the carriage door opened and an immaculate shoe stepped onto the ground, Theo’s eyes remained fixed on Vivian. The bones in Vivian’s small hand, tightly gripping her dress, were protruding.