Shortly after, Walter spoke in a low voice.
“I understand what you mean.”
Joy spread across the Countess and Flora’s faces.
“I would like to rest now. You may leave.”
The Countess rose from her seat with a benevolent smile.
“Yes, then please rest well.”
Flora too spoke in a whisper, putting on the most lovable expression she could muster.
“Rest well, Your Grace.”
As they stepped outside, a maid hurriedly cleared away the tea set. Unlike the Countess and Flora, who had at least taken a few sips, the cup placed before Walter bore no trace of having been touched.
Once even the maid had left, Joseph, who had been standing beside Walter the entire time, muttered under his breath with a whistle.
“Whew, my knees buckle whenever Your Grace smiles like that. I suppose to someone who doesn’t know, it just looks cool.”
How will he deal with that, just watching like this.
Walter didn’t even reply, his expression cold. Instead, he gestured with his eyes toward the large vase that Flora had brought, claiming she had arranged flowers in it.
“Remove it.”
“Yes, I was planning to do so even without the order.”
What kind of family is Lewen? Is it not the family that did its utmost to help the Count and Countess send Walter to the wall of death, and rendered meritorious service in driving out the knightly houses?
While Joseph removed the vase, Walter took out the documents he had been looking at earlier.
They were statistical documents regarding the total income of the estate for the first half of the year. It was impossible not to know that most of the revenue had gone into the Count’s faction’s pockets. No, they hadn’t even tried to hide it in the documents. Thieves who had slipped in during the master’s absence were holding a feast.
“Respect.”
Walter leaned his head back against the sofa and murmured.
“Let’s see just how respected a master I was.”
His sharp tone seeped into the bright autumn sunlight and vanished.
* * *
Flora’s expression brightened the moment she stepped into the corridor.
She placed her hand on her pounding heart and breathed in short, ragged gasps. A corner of her chest tingled, and her hands and feet prickled.
This feeling, this sensation!
There was no doubt! The Duke’s heart had stirred for her, even if only for a moment!
As Flora pressed her hand firmly to her chest, the Countess whispered.
“I thought she was at least a fallen noble, but it seems she isn’t even that? Judging by how he merely mentioned her name.”
“How could she mimic a noble so well?”
“What can’t lowly things who only have their own bodies to offer do? They say if you go to the café run by Hazel Chernin in the capital, there are many commoners who look like nobles to anyone. But the genuine and the counterfeit are bound to be different in the end.”
The Countess looked fixedly at Flora and smiled.
“In that barren place, his heart may have gone to a woman without even a title, but when the environment changes, one’s gaze changes too. As expected, the Duke’s gaze upon you was truly unusual.”
“Please don’t say such things, I’m embarrassed.”
The Countess smiled and took Flora’s arm. She held Flora’s arm as if linking elbows and walked leisurely down the corridor.
“Visit him often with the bearing of a Duchess. Show him that you cannot even be compared to a girl merely pretending to be elegant.”
“Yes, I will.”
“I cherish you. Perhaps because I have no daughter of my own, you have been like my daughter since you were young.”
“I too have thought of the Countess as a mother.”
“Yes.”
Then, just as they reached the central staircase, the two women’s steps stopped as if by agreement.
Brilliant sunlight was streaming in through the huge arched glass installed on the landing. The woman’s golden hair, bathed in the sunlight, looked as splendid as scattering light.
The moment strength entered Flora’s brow, the Countess whispered.
“The Duke is fortunate. He will only be able to stay here comfortably if he has a child like you by his side. Try keeping some woman of unknown, lowly origins beside him. Who would hold respect for the Duke?”
At her words, Flora nodded with a determined expression.
“Yes, you are right. I… will do my utmost for His Grace’s honor.”
Grace lifted her skirt slightly with one hand and ascended the stairs gracefully. She could feel two pairs of murderous gazes upon her, plain as day, but she intended to pass by, thoroughly ignoring them.
But that seemed to further provoke the Countess’s temper.
“This is not a place for you.”
At the savage words, Grace stopped walking. When she turned her head to look at the Countess, the splendid necklace hanging from her neck caught her eye first. Seeing the large diamonds reminded her of Eliza’s annex, which had resembled the ruins of a fallen kingdom’s royal palace.
As her heart grew even colder, the Countess fiercely snapped.
“This Richmond Ducal Castle is a place where not even a single hair of the likes of you may enter, so leave on your own two feet.”
Grace found her self-satisfied expression so laughable that she simply couldn’t let it go without a word.
“Do you know who I am?”
It was Flora who reacted as if having a fit to the soft voice.
“You lowly thing, how dare you open your mouth?! People like us can tell just by feeling. Whether one is lowly or noble. Because your actions are different from the start.”
“Feeling?”
“Yes!!”
Grace quickly mulled over Flora’s words, then smiled thinly and laughed gently.
“I see.”
Then, before the two could even react, she turned around and gracefully moved away, leaving them no chance to grab her.
Jessie, who had been gnashing her teeth behind them the whole time, muttered savagely.
“What is she saying.”
“Hush.”
As Grace silenced Jessie and moved away, the Countess, who had been glaring at their retreating figures, spoke as if chewing on the words.
“The nerve to leave without even greeting us!! She acts so arrogant and insolent, believing in the Duke’s love. Watch that pathetic sight closely, Flora.”
“Of course, Countess.”
The plan to bid farewell with tears was cancelled.
‘I’ll hold his hand and smile right in front of you. I’ll make it painfully clear. Who is the one who truly suits him.’
Thinking such thoughts, warmth seemed to spread in her heart that had gone cold.
The Countess descended the stairs, ordering the maid.
“Do not provide any support to the Chandelier Room.”
“Yes, Countess.”
It made her skin crawl that someone who wasn’t even a lesser noble was using that room.
Both the Duke and that insolent woman needed to learn. That no one unpermitted by Countess Rinko could stay in the Richmond Ducal Castle.
* * *
After the Countess and Flora left, Walter went back to reading his book. But he couldn’t concentrate at all. His attention kept drifting toward the door connected to the Chandelier Room.
It had been quite a while since Grace went to the annex.
‘……Grace.’
His thoughts wandered this way and that like a winding stream.
When Walter looked fixedly at Flora, Joseph had felt as though he were a ferocious beast with its prey before its eyes, but in truth, Walter had been thinking of Grace at that very moment. It was something like an inevitability.
The expression, gaze, and actions that changed each time their eyes met.
It had been exactly ten times, yet all ten remained vividly clear.
“Ha.”
Walter let out a sharp scoff and ran his hand down his face.
Grace Taylor is a dangerous person. He would need to be firmly resolved not to be cut by the very blade he grasped and swung.
Just as he was trying to push her from his mind.
“…….”
Even Joseph’s hands, which had been picking through and arranging flowers from afar, stopped dead.
The two simultaneously glared in the same direction and held their breath. An unfamiliar presence was felt from the Chandelier Room.
A presence too large and heavy to be a woman’s.
Joseph approached noiselessly and asked.
“What shall I do?”
Walter glared at the door and answered swiftly.
“Check it.”
As soon as his master’s order fell, Joseph headed for the door. Prepared to fight if necessary, he felt for the presence beyond the door in silence, then opened it by surprise.
With a bang, as the door opened, Joseph’s eyebrows twitched.
A tall man was standing just one step away from the door. He was staring intently at Joseph, who had opened the door and entered. Just as Joseph had read his presence, the man too had read Joseph’s presence and was waiting.
A handsome man with curly silver hair and red eyes like blood.
Joseph quickly checked for weapons and asked.
“Who are you?”
At that, the man pulled his lips, as red as his eyes, into a smile and languidly retorted.
“What if I am.”
Huh, I’ve heard that somewhere.
At that moment, Walter, who had been observing their standoff, rose from his seat. As he stood up, the red gaze that had been directed at Joseph turned toward Walter.
Walter walked toward the man, fully revealing his presence.
An assassin? No.
The Count’s spy? No.
Joseph stepped aside, and Walter passed through the door. But the man did not step back. Instead, he gazed at Walter with eyes that seemed to dare test him.
Walter, staring directly into the red eyes, asked lowly.
“Did Grace call you?”