The noise from Ernst’s daughter was so irritating that I didn’t even look at her face properly.

Because of that, I don’t remember it well, but if there was a reason for such a thing to be here, there was certainly no other day I could think of besides that day.

“…Lady Ernst.”

Edward muttered through clenched teeth.

He only realized it now, due to being so preoccupied and his habit of not taking in anything unnecessary to his sight.

Edward belatedly recalled his wife’s question.

[Did you say there are no female employees here?]

She clearly asked specifically about female employees.

What did he answer to that question?

[Ah… that’s right. The few who were here left along with Gilford.]

“…This is maddening.”

Edward cursed under his breath.

No matter how he thought about it, that day’s question must have been asked after seeing this lipstick case.

Jeffrey seemed to have the same thought as their eyes met.

He let out a small exclamation.

“Wow. Boss. You just went from an inattentive husband to a trash husband.”

Meeting that gaze, Edward felt like his head was about to explode.

To Louisa, he really was an irredeemable piece of trash.

Edward rubbed his face with both hands, feeling dejected.

Jeffrey covered his mouth with both hands and mumbled.

“I wondered what happened when your condition suddenly worsened that day…”

Oh, our poor madam, what should we do?

He muttered with tears in his eyes.

Normally, Edward would have said something out of annoyance. But not this time.

Edward, his face pale, covered his lips with his clenched fist.

“This is a complete misunderstanding.”

His wife was also at fault. If she had such suspicions, she should have just asked outright, why did she keep it to herself until she broke down?

And before he could ponder further, Jeffrey exclaimed as if reading his mind.

“That’s why you should have been transparent from the start. Don’t shut her out saying this isn’t allowed or that isn’t necessary!”

Right.

It was ultimately his own karma.

Being a husband who never explained anything properly, with misunderstandings already piled up between them, would one more suspicion have mattered?

Bang!

Edward slammed his hand on the desk roughly.

He was so angry at himself.

It was always like this with everything.

I should have asked. I should have talked.

Why did they know so little about each other despite talking every day?

As he just hit the desk without saying anything, Jeffrey froze in place, only rolling his eyes to look at him.

“I need to explain.”

Edward stood up abruptly.

“I need to go to Louisa…”

He stepped forward as if he would go to his wife right away.

His leg gave out and his knee buckled forward. Edward steadied himself by grabbing the desk.

He picked up his coat and gloves. The gloves kept slipping as he hurriedly tried to put them on. Edward muttered like a half-crazed person.

“I’m going. I need to go now. I need to tell her it was a misunderstanding, that my true feelings weren’t like that…”

But Jeffrey’s gaze as he watched him was cold. He spoke in a voice suppressing his sympathy.

“No, boss. I understand you’re sensitive and that madam misunderstood, but is it okay for you to go see her now?”

He had to go now. Even though it was late, he knew now.

He would no longer put off matters concerning his wife. The current situation was the result of his complacent thinking.

But at Jeffrey’s next words, Edward had to stop in his tracks.

“Didn’t she just leave to recuperate? If you meet her now and she gets more stressed…”

Suddenly, as if doused with cold water, a chill ran down from the top of his head to the back of his neck.

His face, drained of all color, now looked like a corpse. He moved his dry, parched lips and said.

“Seeing me… causes her stress.”

“I’m just talking about possibilities.”

Jeffrey wasn’t comfortable bringing it up either. He quietly met Edward’s gaze with a gloomy face.

Once the excitement subsided, acceptance came quickly. Edward had to agree with Jeffrey’s words whether he wanted to or not.

Would that one misunderstanding be the only reason his wife was stressed by him?

If he tried to resolve their relationship with shallow thinking, he might end up driving them all further into the mud.

That was the blood flowing in him after all.

Edward’s tattered heart ached so much he couldn’t breathe.

[This is the timeline separator]

Louisa locked the front door with her key and left the house today as well.

Her daily routine had changed a lot since coming to Tanasen.

She received treatment at the college’s affiliated hospital and learned lip reading. The instructor introduced by the professor told her that her speed in learning lip reading was quite fast.

Then when the college day ended, she would be caught by Julia to go shopping around all the neighborhood stores, and in the evening, she would go out with Daniel to find delicious restaurants nearby.

Thanks to that, she came to freely enter and exit Tanasbahnian College as if going to work.

Though awkward at first, life here became quite familiar after a few days.

The time here was quiet and modest but cozy. The smell of freshly baked bread, apple jam, and the aroma of savory coffee wafting by. It was almost as if this moment embodied the word ‘peace’.

Louisa looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. The clouds drifting high and the scent of winter tickling her nose seemed to cleanse her mind.

Leaving the capital where emotions ran to extremes, she felt like she had regained her original self. Each day felt like a vacation, her heart at ease.

It wasn’t entirely wrong to say so since she wasn’t attending meetings, but it was her first time experiencing such rest regardless.

“I’m happy…”

Louisa stretched her interlocked hands out in front of her. A faint smile hung on her lips.

She left behind all the burdens, worries, and sorrows that troubled her in Lindblum, the capital.

This was the peace she wanted. A comfort where she could fill her days with small joys before her eyes without any particular stimulation.

Her husband crossed her mind occasionally. While eating, she would remember dining with him, seeing a passing car would remind her of him diligently researching magic stones. He who existed in countless moments would suddenly wedge into the spaces of her mind.

Still, she could be okay because he remained only in her memories. Perhaps due to the change in environment, the memories that fleetingly crossed her mind would soon sink below the surface after a moment.

And so, the time she spent thinking about her husband was gradually decreasing.

Near the main gate of Tanasbahnian. A man was standing among the groups of students passing by.

A man leaning against the doorpost beyond the sculptural monument at the main gate.

It was Evan.

Nine out of ten passersby glanced at him. As he raised his head after checking the time on the pocket watch he took out, giggles from female students erupted around him.

Spotting Louisa, he walked towards her with a bright smile as if his soft blonde hair was glowing.

“Louisa.”

“Hello, Evan.”

“Let’s go together. Julia asked me to take care of you.”

He said, extending one arm as if escorting her. Louisa placed her hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry you’re busy. And thank you.”

“It’s alright. I’m doing this because I want to.”

He flashed a gentle smile with smiling eyes. He shook his head saying he really couldn’t stop Julia.

“Sister told me to try learning lawn tennis with you this time. But I’m not fond of racket sports.”

He shook his head, pushing out his lower lip. At his playful, childlike expression, Louisa chuckled and asked.

“Then what’s fun? Cricket?”

“That’s right. You have to really send the ball flying with the bat. Just watching a six-point swing is thrilling.”

When Louisa hesitated for a moment, missing his words, he took her hand and wrote ‘A six-point swing is thrilling.’

Finally understanding his words completely, Louisa smiled and said.

“The sound of a ball flying that far is certainly different.”

“I’m glad you know that. Want to go watch a cricket match together when the tournament is held in spring? I think your condition will be much better by then.”

“That would be nice. It’s been so long since I watched a tournament, I’m looking forward to it. I hope Ellie can make it too if her schedule allows.”

Louisa nodded and smiled brightly.

She had been forced to watch cricket matches a few times when she was young because her father liked them.

‘Come to think of it, Edward used to watch them occasionally in the old days too.’

She unconsciously thought of her husband again.

Edward had mentioned that he used to go watch cricket matches in person during his college days.

Of course, since his father Benjamin Allen ran away, he became distanced from all such cultural activities. And of course, her husband never went to watch such sports games after marrying her either.

‘I wonder how Ed is doing.’

Louisa thought about how her husband might be living in a place without her.

Was he wandering aimlessly, not knowing what to do now that the object of repaying his debt was gone?

Or was he feeling unburdened about a new life now that she had disappeared?

Perhaps he was in the process of gathering the pieces of himself that he had lost long ago, just like her.

Louisa hoped it was the latter.

She wished her husband could live a new and happy life as much as she did. She hoped he would be with such pure happiness that she, who gave him a sense of guilt just by being near, could not give him.