There Is No Paradise Where I Ran Away To (14 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 47

The corridor leading to Vivian’s room was so still that not even an ant could be found beneath the candlelight illuminating the path. The mansion had fallen silent under the sudden weight of darkness. It was past the hour when everyone should have been asleep, and I assumed Vivian herself had by now extinguished her lamp and sunk into deep slumber.

So I didn’t knock.

Only when I saw the candle’s shadow flickering through the narrow gap of the slightly open door did I realize Vivian’s night had not yet begun. Yet nowhere inside the room could I see Vivian startled awake by an uninvited guest, her eyes wide with alarm.

Judging by the disheveled bedcovers, she must have lain down to sleep but gotten up again for some reason.

Seated on the bed that Vivian would be indebted to for a few more days, I stared blankly at the closed door. I was deeply curious about the expression Vivian would make upon entering and finding an unexpected guest occupying her room.

But the one who opened the door and stepped inside was not Vivian, as I’d hoped, but Sophie. Startled by the unfamiliar silhouette, Sophie froze—then, recognizing the master of Rodinia Estate with a finger pressed to his lips, she couldn’t conceal her shock.

“Y-Your Grace! Why are you here…? If you’re in this room at this hour… it’s not right….”

Sophie pleaded in a hushed voice, careful not to let sound escape beyond the room. But Edwin, with no intention of rising from where he sat, merely gave a single nod before gesturing for her to leave.

“Your Grace… Miss will be furious. And what if someone sees you…?”

Unlike Sophie, who stamped her feet anxiously, Edwin remained perfectly calm, blinking slowly and saying not a word—only staring silently through the stillness.

Lacking the courage to defy her master, Sophie stopped trying to persuade him and turned away, her shoulders trembling with suppressed tears.

Even as she left the room, Sophie paused several times, hoping Edwin might change his mind—but Edwin stayed put, as if this were his own chamber.

Where could Miss Ebelline have gone, leaving Sophie behind like this?

I retraced Vivian’s movements carefully. Her absence from the room didn’t seem to alarm anyone, suggesting her disappearance tonight had been prearranged with Sophie.

There was nowhere suitable for swimming in Rottermond, and even if there were, Vivian wasn’t the sort of woman bold enough to undress in an unfamiliar place—surely she hadn’t left the estate grounds.

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