Louisa’s heart ached at her husband’s reaction.

“What are you saying? Why are you making such unnecessary assumptions?”

“That’s exactly what background is. What possibilities one is born with more strongly.”

Edward said cynically.

And you’re the one who made it possible for me to grasp the slim chance. I’m the one who rather buried your possibilities.

But Louisa thought differently.

“I won’t deny that. But I’ll just add that dwelling on things that have already passed, no, that we’ve already overcome, isn’t a very wise thing to do.”

“You’re right. Everything you say is correct.”

Edward said, pulling down the corners of his mouth and shrugging his shoulders. Louisa, looking at him with disapproval, said:

“Whatever others say, it’s just their words. I think it’s worse to not do what you really want to do because of that.”

“I’ve heard that so many times I could recite it myself now. That’s not something to worry about so much. It’s more of a problem if you can’t do what you need to do because of such things. How’s that?”

He said, mimicking Louisa’s tone. Louisa glared at her husband and changed the subject.

“By the way, you managed to get a box seat. It couldn’t have been easy.”

“No matter how much the nobles try to ignore the name Allen, it’s not easy for them to do so blatantly right in front of me.”

Edward opened the door to the second-floor box seat.

Louisa felt a little sad seeing her husband speak as if it were natural, ignoring her words.

But as soon as Edward sat down, he cursed quietly at the person sitting across from him.

“Damn it.”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

What he had discovered was Evan Winston.

‘What the hell is he? Why does he have to be sitting right across from us again?’

Even as he thought this, the man looked in their direction.

Having just heard the talk about engagement and whatnot, he felt like the man might have looked at his wife. Edward really felt his mood sour.

Louisa, noticing that Edward’s mood was off, followed his gaze and spotted Evan sitting across from them.

“…It’s Evan. You really don’t need to worry at all about what Evan said today.”

Guessing the reason for her husband’s low spirits, Louisa emphasized to him again.

But what Edward was concerned about now was not his dismissive attitude, but his words and actions related to his wife.

Louisa vaguely watched his reaction and brought up topics that she thought might have upset him one by one.

“The engagement thing was really nothing too. As you might have guessed earlier.”

“I didn’t guess anything. Explain it to me.”

Edward said, glaring at Evan sitting across from them. Louisa sighed and laid out the whole story.

“It’s true that there was talk of engagement between our fathers, but that became a non-issue as soon as our family fell. Practical exchanges ceased after that day.”

“…So that’s why you called it a joke.”

Edward nodded, understanding the situation. But thinking about it, it was absurd. He asked his wife:

“You called that kind of acquaintance with such a family a connection and told me about it? How were you planning to arrange negotiations? Were you going to say something like, ‘Well, I used to be a potential daughter-in-law after all’?”

“How can you say such things?”

Louisa admonished him in response to his sarcasm. She turned her gaze from Edward to the darkened stage.

“I was just thinking of suggesting that if he had any remorse about Father, he should think it over carefully.”

When they met again at the party years later, Evan had apologized to her, saying he was too young and powerless at the time.

But that didn’t erase her resentment towards him for never once expressing his condolences directly.

“If Averitt had completely collapsed, that would be one thing, but thanks to you, my brother is now called Lord Averitt again with an even larger fortune than before. If they think about Winston’s future, they can’t ignore either Averitt or Allen.”

“But it’s also because of me that it collapsed in the first place.”

At his words, Louisa said seriously:

“Ed. You and your father are different. You’re the one who raised our family up.”

“And Benjamin Allen is my father’s name.”

“Edward.”

Louisa called his name softly. He knew it was a reprimand, but Edward didn’t respond.

At that moment, the lights in the audience slowly dimmed. Edward seized the opportunity to say:

“Looks like it’s starting. Let’s enjoy it then.”

The performance began.

The content of the opera was a heart-wrenching love story, far from Edward’s taste.

The vocal prowess of the recently rising famous prima donna, Adelaide Page, was enough to bring tears to the eyes of the audience, and Louisa too felt her heart tighten, unconsciously clenching her fist during the heroine’s monologue.

As soon as the heroine’s monologue ended and the play entered a lull, Louisa shook Edward’s arm and whispered to him:

“My goodness. Did you hear that? How can someone sing such a heart-stirring song?”

“Her voice is certainly impressive. I thought the hall might lift off, her voice is so powerful.”

“That too, but wasn’t her expression amazing? It’s been so long since I’ve been this moved. I wonder what kind of heartbreaking love that prima donna must have experienced to be able to sing like that. It’s truly remarkable.”

“Ah… Yes. I think so too.”

“Not just the singer, but the music is also excellent. Do you know who the composer is? It seems to have drawn a lot of inspiration from Roche’s works. It really suits my taste.”

“Who did you say it was? We can check on the way out.”

Edward answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Louisa gave her husband an awkward smile at his response and then focused on the resuming play.

Several characters passed across the stage.

Even the supporting actors were skilled enough that they could have taken leading roles elsewhere if the characters had suited them. She was drawn back into the story.

When she was young, she used to often go to performances, following her parents who enjoyed opera appreciation.

Later, she stopped going because of lack of money, and then because there was no one to go with. The opera performance she was seeing after a long time gave her quite a deep impression.

Lost in memories, she turned to look at the person sitting next to her.

There was her husband, asleep, leaning on the chair with his head tilted to one side.

He must have been quite tired. Feeling sorry for his head tilted outwards, she reached out to turn her husband’s head inwards.

But the movement seemed to disturb him, and Edward blinked his eyes open.

“Ah… I dozed off.”

He stretched his arms forward as if feeling stiff. He even yawned once, “Hwaaam,” and then cracked his neck from side to side.

Louisa looked at her husband sympathetically and said:

“I told you it was okay to just rest if you were tired, instead of coming out.”

“Yeah, why didn’t you just come out on your own when I was talking?”

Edward retorted, mimicking her words exactly.

“If I don’t come out like this, you never enjoy these things at all.”

“Ed.”

Louisa called his name softly.

“If all of this is you pushing yourself for my sake, really, really don’t do that. You don’t need to do anything for me.”

Because those things you do for me actually make me feel worse. Please don’t do it.

“I’ve said from the beginning… I don’t want you to struggle. I want all of us to be happy.”

At her words, Edward quietly looked back at her.

In the darkness, with eyes that didn’t look like he had just woken up, her husband stared at her intently.

“I appreciate that you paid attention to what I said, but you don’t owe me anything. Don’t try to do things for me as if you’re repaying a debt. That’s really…”

Louisa’s trembling voice soon faded.

Edward slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Behind them, the prima donna’s singing voice resonated again as her turn came.

Exhaling slowly, he spoke in a stiff tone:

“Why is this pushing myself? What’s wrong with me coming to see an opera with you? And even if I am pushing myself, so what? Can’t a husband… do such things for his wife?”

“The opera isn’t the problem. The problem is that you’re sitting here, tired and not really enjoying it. It’s a one-sided sacrifice.”

“To call this little thing a sacrifice, you’re using quite a grandiose word. I plan to gradually start enjoying opera. Or are you saying it’s too much for me to enjoy the culture of the nobles?”

The playfulness that had been mixed in his voice until now, even if somewhat brusque, was completely gone.

The vibration of the orchestra’s majestic performance traveled through their bodies. Louisa tightly clasped her hands on her knees to suppress the trembling as she answered:

“It’s not like that. It’s just—”

“Right. If that’s not what you think, then there’s no problem.”

Edward said to her, his eyes gleaming.

“It’s not for you. It’s for me. I’ll purchase an annual reserved box seat, so help me enjoy opera like you do. You like that kind of thing, don’t you?”

He seemed a little, no, quite angry. Edward spoke in a voice strained as if it might break:

“Help me not to fall behind among those noble aristocrats even without you.”

“What are you saying, Ed?”

Louisa, also angered by his rough behavior, said.

“Why? Others can help by cleaning and doing laundry with their own hands, but you can’t do that for me?”

“Edward.”

Louisa called his name.

Edward, with his whole body tensed and veins standing out on his neck, spoke as slowly and clearly as he could:

“Consider it as if you’re doing charity for me, that volunteer work you love so much, do it for me instead of for Honest.”