“What?”
“I didn’t say anything because I thought you might worry too much.”
Louis’s excuse didn’t reach her ears.
Carol leaned against the cold wall and replayed that moment.
“Surely Mrs. Wells was the only one who saw it then…….”
Carol sat down slowly with a confused expression.
Because she had faith in Mrs. Wells, the shock was doubled.
Louis, standing next to her, pondered for a moment.
Would it be better to believe that the person she trusted spread the rumor, or that other people saw it?
The deliberation was brief.
“It seems there was someone who saw me when I pulled you into the room.”
“…What?”
Surely, just before the transformation, she was so busy hiding her body that she didn’t pay much attention to who was around.
“You knew and you didn’t do anything?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you to quit the job.”
“Louis!”
Her voice naturally rose.
“If you had told me, I wouldn’t have gone this far.”
“…We’re not just neighbors anymore. It’s right to keep a distance.”
“I’m still the Louis you know. Nothing has changed.”
“Things can’t stay the same.”
“…”
Quality of clothes. People who fit in. Education. The gap will gradually widen in all these things.
“You know that, right?”
No matter what is said, no one will see their friendship as pure.
“I…!”
Louis clutched his chest.
As she said, there will be changes.
But he wanted her to recognize that there are things that do not change.
Just like his feelings for her.
He wanted to say he liked her.
That he would cherish her more than anyone else, he wanted to say that.
But he couldn’t ruin the feelings he had cherished with a moment’s impulse.
“I don’t intend to make things difficult for you. That’s true.”
“I know. Wishing for me to quit the job isn’t ill-intentioned.”
Even if what Louis does for her goes against what she wants, she believed that his intentions towards her were always good.
“Because the higher the status, the more often they don’t see commoners as people.”
“The Duke is a really good person.”
“…If you say so, it must be.”
“Yes.”
“I must have been overly sensitive. I’m sorry.”
Louis apologized and asked for forgiveness.
Carol never broke her resolve once it was set.
She sensed that it was time to back off here.
The generous evaluation of the Duke irritated her, but she didn’t show it.
“You know that you staying here doesn’t require my permission.”
Because Carol was just a servant, she couldn’t kick out a guest of the Duke’s.
“But if it makes you feel better, I’ll leave.”
“I’m fine. But.”
Carol took a deep breath. She hoped her words wouldn’t sound cold.
“I’d prefer if we weren’t alone in the Duke’s Mansion. Like now.”
This wasn’t just for her own sake.
“…Then they might suspect more.”
At Louis’s words, Carol shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t care about the rumors among the servants.”
She was already the subject of various rumors.
With this rumor added, she would be the talk of the servants for a while.
But it didn’t matter.
After all, they were strangers, and their evaluation of her wouldn’t sway her.
“I don’t think I can clear everyone’s misunderstanding.”
“Then?”
“I just need to avoid misunderstanding from a few people.”
Louis clenched his hands until they turned pale.
He couldn’t ask who she didn’t want to be misunderstood by, and why she had to push him away.
****
Margaret Chesworth was pushed out of the protagonist’s position from the moment her sister was born.
The blonde hair that brought prosperity to the family.
The divine power that supported her, was enough to astonish the clergy.
The family was instantly captivated by Elisha Chesworth.
People called Margaret an ugly duckling.
But it was okay.
Because the family tried to treat the two sisters fairly.
Because Margaret was also captivated by her lovely sister.
But the misfortune started when the two entered society.
A cruel world where there can be no thought of treating them fairly.
[I’m sorry, Miss…I can’t get Miss Elisha out of my mind.]
[I thought if I spent time with Miss Margaret, I could get closer to Miss Elisha…]
The people she met always left Margaret for the same reason.
That’s when it started.
The moment she felt even slightly ignored, she became furious.
The relationship with her sister deteriorated in an instant.
[I’m sorry, sister.]
Every time something like this happened, her sister apologized to Margaret.
At first, she said it was okay.
But as the same situation repeated several times, she got sick of Elisha apologizing.
[Are you really sorry?]
It was disgusting.
She took away the love of the family.
Unable to quell her anger, even if she avoided Elisha, the evaluation of the two always followed her like a tag.
It wasn’t her sister’s fault.
She knew.
But she couldn’t help but think that if her sister hadn’t been there, she wouldn’t have had to go through this.
The title of being a lesser sister than her sibling stuck to her like a tag.
At this rate, she was bound to marry a worthless man.
How wonderful a man would Elisha marry and inevitably ruin her life again?
The thought alone was terrifying.
The nauseating rumors were bound to boil like a rat’s nest.
She wanted to run away.
But to get out of the capital, she had no choice but to marry a worthless family in the countryside.
She didn’t want to run away like that.
In the meantime, all her worries were solved by the Duke.
The loser of the North, Duke Winternox, appeared in society like a comet.
[I wish to be engaged to Miss Margaret.]
The Duke’s gaze piercing precisely at Margaret was still vivid.
She thought the thrill at that time was destiny.
She knew he had proposed looking at the family crest.
But he was a savior who would rescue her from this tiresome social circle.
It was only natural for Margaret to fall in love with such a duke.
The thought of such a wonderful man becoming her husband. There were so many nights when she couldn’t sleep because she was so excited.
“But now you want to break off the engagement?”
Margaret muttered, looking at the burning firewood.
Her nails were already torn and ragged from biting them.
The North was better than she thought.
She knew more about the North than others because of the tourism business the Duke was promoting with her father.
But when she actually saw it, it was more than that.
The snowy scenery was uncomfortable but beautiful.
Warming up by a bonfire in a cold place, soaking in warm water, seemed like a good exotic experience for the nobles to enjoy.
If she lived here, she wouldn’t be judged for running away from the social circle, nor would she be compared to her sister.
As the name of the tourist spot rises, the nobles who have recognized the true nature of the North will never be able to ignore her.
“His voice was better than I thought.”
Margaret sipped her tea and sorted out her thoughts.
If it hadn’t been for that commoner woman interfering, things would have gone smoothly.
“She didn’t seem like a simple servant.”
Even if the Duke’s actions were like that, it was suspicious that even the picky old lady sighed with relief.
“And this castle…I’ve been thinking since I came, but it’s strange.”
As a person not from Cardiff, and from somewhere else, she could look at the Duke’s castle objectively.
It was like a fortress built to hide something.
Even if it was made like a fortress because it was adjacent to the border, it was still excessively closed.
“And it’s strange that all the servants are sent out at night.”
When she heard the news of the accident, Margaret was deeply saddened as if she had become the protagonist of a tragedy.
But now was better than then, compared to when she had to wait for news without knowing anything and feeling helpless.
“I can’t go back without anything like this.”
Going back to the marriage market again, and hearing such a good prospective marriage partner was too much for Margaret, it was out of the question.
Knock knock.
“Miss.”
The maid she had brought with her returned only when the night was deepest.
“Yes. Come in.”
“Miss, as you said, it seems unusually closed compared to other places.”
“What about the gifts I gave you?”
The maid approached the servants here, giving out the valuables she had brought from the capital as per Margaret’s instructions.
“Usually, this much would open the hearts of one or two people, but it’s strange.”
The maid frowned and bowed her head deeply.
“How so?”
“They all really hold their words.”
“And?”
“And despite not speaking, it seemed like there was no one who knew anything properly.”
“They don’t know anything?”
“It’s unusual for all the servants to stay in the annex, isn’t it?”
“That’s true.”
“But a servant named Carol, it was said she had never stayed there.”
At the maid’s words, Margaret remembered the conversation she had during the ruined dinner.
“I heard she goes home because of her siblings.”
“Even when she has to stay at the Duke’s Mansion, she’s given a room in the main building, not the annex.”
“…Really?”
Margaret recalled Carol, a childhood friend of the young Viscount Walden.
