On the way back after ending a meal she didn’t eat. Sophie debated whether to tell the news she just heard while watching Vivian, who couldn’t possibly be in a good mood.

For Sophie, it was no small satisfaction, but she doubted whether the kind-hearted Vivian would think the same.

Rather, she worried it might add to this anguish.

“Um, young lady…”

She hoped she would know as late as possible, but on the other hand, she considered it an insult to Vivian to receive news from the mansion a step slower. To Sophie, Vivian was already no different from her mistress, just like the duke.

Vivian turned to look at Sophie with moist eyes. As soon as their eyes met, the desire to turn back flashed, but she steeled herself.

“Today, Win…”

“Young lady, young lady!”

No sooner had she started speaking than a shout was heard from the end of the corridor.

Several maids who had come running stood before Vivian in a polite and courteous posture. As familiar faces shed tears in front of her with humility, a corner of her heart churned bitterly and pitifully.

“Young lady, we were really wrong.”

They were the ones who had openly mocked her, pouring excrement under the guise of mistakes and shirking work, not feeling the need to hide it. They had reversed their positions in an instant.

“We must have gone crazy for a moment. We truly didn’t mean any harm to the young lady.”

“It was all Merian’s orders! Who would dare disobey the words of a child next to the mansion’s master? Moreover, Miss Windler cares so much for Merian. So we had no choice but to do as Merian said, lest we offend Miss Windler.”

Melted into the lengthy speech were the names of Merian and Charlotte. Gripped by fear, they tried to sell out those two to escape from any crisis. Vivian looked at them with eyes full of sympathy, but didn’t put any meaning into it.

“Hmph. What difference does it make if you do that? Didn’t I tell you? Not to treat the young lady roughly. It was you who ignored that and charged in! Are you scared of being kicked out of the mansion like Miss Windler and Merian? You mean you didn’t expect this result after doing such things to the young lady? How truly shameless and detestable! Young lady, you must never forgive them!”

Sophie raised her voice triumphantly, unable to contain her anger. Not even realizing that she had blurted out the fact that Charlotte and Merian had been kicked out of the mansion, Sophie could hardly suppress her anger.

“…Sophie. What did you say?”

“You must never forgive them, young lady. They are evil enough to do such wicked things to you who tries so hard. So…”

“No, no.”

Vivian’s brow furrowed faintly. As she closed her eyes to concentrate, Sophie finally realized her mistake.

It was a moment when she realized that one could be crushed by mere names. The names that had been heard from those sobbing and from Sophie also wrecked her heart.

She briefly thought that all the harassment so far might have been Edwin’s vile deed. For Vivian, who was not used to being hated by many, there was no better excuse.

So it’s not really me they hate, she thought. It’s just foolish people who made a wrong choice under someone’s instigation. But if she had known that such a fact would inflict greater wounds, she wouldn’t have degraded Edwin into a base human.

“Miss Windler and Merian… were kicked out of the mansion? The reason they were kicked out…”

“The duke found out. The fact that Merian had us harass you, young lady!”

Instead of Sophie, who was pouting awkwardly, Caroline, who had poured excrement, shouted with newfound strength. Vivian’s legs weakened, but she didn’t want to show herself staggering in front of these people.

Vivian silently closed her lips and turned around coldly. Sophie, whose anger was not fully vented, said a few more words to the crying maids before following Vivian.

***

The half moon illuminated only half the world. Relying on that light, Vivian walked through the silence, finding a familiar path. Her weak legs entered a forest where even an inch ahead was not visible, parting the undergrowth, and soon reached a place where the quiet lake’s performance sounded.

A low, dark blue light covered the lake in the faint moonlight. It had always been a sanctuary that made her heart pour out, but today it failed to fulfill that role.

Vivian, unable to enjoy the joy of the long-awaited scenic view, quietly sat on the dock and dipped her two feet in. It was cold and refreshing, but she didn’t feel like swimming as if she had forgotten everything.

Yet, bringing a towel, taking off her clothes, and plunging into the lake’s embrace was due to a single inertia.

Parting the water and reaching the middle of the lake, Vivian lay still on the water, looking up at the dark sky. Her golden hair rippled and floated on the water, and her snow-white body became one with the lake surface, painting a single masterpiece.

Instead of almost no moonlight, the sky, studded with countless starlight, was shining its own beauty. In the brilliant colors opened by the stars, Vivian recalled today’s events that now felt so distant.

If she hadn’t met the duke in the barn. If she hadn’t fallen for the duke’s prank. If she had initially won Charlotte’s heart, built a friendship, and stayed close.

Unable to find answers to these questions, Vivian frowned painfully. She was being pressed down below the water’s surface as much as the weight of the visible starlight. Her body was slowly sinking towards the bottom of the lake as if being sucked in.

The body entrusted to the lake slowly burrowed into its embrace. The clearer the events in the barn became, Edwin’s face reminded Vivian of her humiliation. Finally, Vivian stretched her body and pedaled into the deep, deep darkness, parting the water.

She didn’t care if she died like this. If she could only escape from all memories and oppressive situations, she would gladly accept death even if she ran out of breath.

She started to run out of breath gradually. Vivian, who stopped at some point, didn’t even look at the distant water surface and just held her breath.

If only she could die by drinking all the water like this. If only she could. Vivian harbored a reckless thought.

Life is sweet in the face of death.

As her breath reached her chin, Vivian, whose mind had changed, desperately swam towards the water surface. As she approached the boundary between life and death, Edwin’s face and all the painful thoughts were completely erased, leaving only the desire to survive.

She unknowingly swallowed water. The way she moved her hands and feet, struggling to survive, was blind. When she thought she had finally reached her limit, when she was colored with the fear that she would really die, her outstretched hand reached beyond the water surface to a place full of sweet air.

“Puah!”

Vivian, who violently exhaled, retched and inhaled the power of life fully.

Looking up at the sky studded with countless starlight with teary eyes, she greatly appreciated being alive. A hollow laugh also flowed out.

Will I want to live even when I die by that man’s hand someday?

As she recalled the lion, inseparable from death, Vivian’s breath gradually calmed. It was then, as Vivian tried to lie down on the water surface again in peace.

The sound of splashing made Vivian suspicious. It was the sound of human footsteps, not an animal. Startled, Vivian turned her head towards the sound and discovered an approaching shadow in the distance.

The frightened Vivian squinted to identify the lake’s intruder.

Broad shoulders, exceptionally long legs, and a sleek physique. Only after confirming the small face with distinct features did she realize that the shadow’s owner was Duke Baitness.

The defenseless Vivian was confused. She wasn’t wearing anything, so if she went out like this, the duke would see everything of hers.

Then should she hide in the water like this? But what if that mischievous duke refuses to leave?

She wanted to believe in the gentlemanly aspect of the nobleman that the people of New Way loved so much, but the Edwin she had seen so far was far from a gentleman. So he was a man who would do anything to embarrass and torment her.

Let’s run away.

Even if she showed her body, it would only be for a very short moment. It wasn’t very bright today, so it would be difficult to look closely. She judged that he wasn’t the type of man to go through the trouble of chasing her if she quickly put on her clothes and made a run for it.

Having made up her mind, Vivian swam to the dock. He had come halfway closer, and while keeping a close watch on him, she put on her nightgown. She grabbed her shawl and towel and started running without looking back.

The thin nightgown was getting completely wet, but Vivian had no time to check her condition as she was looking back at Edwin.

It was a wrong choice, as Edwin started running along. In the blink of an eye, the distance was quickly narrowed, and the surprised Vivian’s feet got tangled. Unable to even utter a sigh, Vivian fell face down on the ground, losing both her shawl and towel.

Frightened, she tried to get up and run away. But Edwin, who had already cast his shadow, roughly grabbed Vivian’s wet nightgown.

“Let go!”

Vivian, who desperately pulled at the caught clothes, only then realized that her nightgown was soaked through, fully revealing her body. In a panic, she only thought of running away and used all her strength to pull her body away.

Without hearing the precarious sound of the nightgown being pulled tightly on both sides.

“It would be better to stay still.”

“Let this go! I said let go!”

Vivian’s shout was close to a scream. Thinking that pulling her body wouldn’t work, Vivian pinched and hit Edwin’s hand that was grasping her clothes.

“Let this go! I said let go!”

Vivian, who had lost the composure to maintain formalities, struggled fervently. As much as she did so, Vivian’s wet nightgown gradually reached its limit.

Finally, the clothes that couldn’t withstand tore and split. Seeing the cruel noise and the clothes spreading to both sides, Vivian, in a brief moment, found an appropriate alternative through her crisis circuit.

There was only one thing she could do to cover her body.

She threw her body into Edwin’s arms along the grain of his strength. Vivian’s forehead hit his chest. Vivian, who had curled up her wet body as much as possible and buried her forehead in the unwanted embrace, trembled violently.

“Please…”

Edwin, who endured the woman burrowing into his arms, looked over Vivian with indifferent and ordinary eyes. Cold moisture fell around Vivian, wetting the grass.

She seemed unaware that if she clung so closely with her soaking wet body, the other person would also get wet.

That the other’s lukewarm warmth would seep in as they got wet together.

Edwin, feeling the temperature intertwining moistly, was seized by a strange sensation. The feeling of capturing the golden mermaid he had only seen from afar. The brilliant mermaid, docilely nestled in his arms without him having to exert force, stimulated his five senses.

“Please… let me go.”

“I’m not holding you.”

Edwin tried to step away from Vivian, but Vivian, who had come closer, hardly allowed the distance. For the first time, Eveline, who had always only taken steps back, leaped forward.

Such things suppressed today’s unpleasantness and inexplicable anger.

“Duke, please… My clothes are torn and wet… I’m now…”

Edwin’s hand reached Vivian’s crown, her exposed round shoulders, and her small hand grasping his shirt. The woman who was running away now clings to him instead. She threw herself into his arms and begged him not to leave.

Edwin’s palm cupped Vivian’s cold yet hot cheek. She tried to shake her head stubbornly, but couldn’t overcome Edwin’s touch. Vivian’s gray eyes, meeting his, were as soaked as her current appearance.

“Were you trying to die?”

And, at Edwin’s question, Vivian’s eyes trembled finely.

“…Pardon?”

“Just now. I’m asking if you were trying to die. In the water.”