Chapter 23
On my way back from a date with Harold, a smile lingered on my lips.
“Are you that delighted?”
“It’s twice as fun when I’m not spending my own money. But is it really okay to shop this often?”
We’d already bought so much last week.
“Even if you shopped like this every day for a year, it wouldn’t even make a dent in my finances. Besides, you barely spend your allowance on luxuries.”
“I don’t need to spend it because you always buy everything for me.”
Harold crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly.
“You said you enjoy shopping with someone else’s money. Then enjoy it.”
“Okay!”
I replied energetically. Since I hardly used my allowance, I figured this was a fair exchange. Feeling cheerful, I began humming unconsciously when suddenly the carriage came to a halt.
‘Are we here already?’
But the carriage hadn’t even passed through the mansion gates yet.
“It’s because of them,” Harold said in a low voice.
“…Oh.”
Following his gaze out the opposite window, I saw Kaiden and Ella. Neither were particularly pleasant people to encounter, so my mood become soured.
Kaiden unceremoniously opened the carriage door from outside.
“So my younger brother has finally decided to become a rogue?”
Harold clapped his hands slowly, wearing an elegant smile. Kaiden narrowed his eyes in irritation.
“Don’t mock me. I’ve sent several letters saying I would visit, but you never replied, so I came in person.”
“Perhaps because your letters weren’t worth reading? If it were winter, I might have used them as kindling. Such a waste of paper.”
Kaiden clenched his jaw as Harold mocked him with his usual nonchalance. The air between them was tense, like frost and flame colliding.
Then Kaiden shifted his gaze to me.
“I came directly because there was no reply to my letters.”
“…?”
Me? He sent letters to me? I had never received any letters at all.
I glanced at Harold, whose smirk grew even wider.
‘Ah, I see.’
So Harold had intercepted them. I blinked in realization.
“My wife doesn’t need an empty apology from Lady Ella, Kaiden.”
So that’s what the letters were about. Honestly, I didn’t want to go out of my way to meet two people who made me uncomfortable.
I also doubted Ella’s sincerity about apologizing for what had happened. Based on her actions in the novel and my experiences since I transmigrated, trusting her seemed naive.
“Consider the apology as heard. You two can leave now.”
“Your Grace…”
Ella timidly peeked out from behind Kaiden. She clutched her skirt and bowed, trembling.
“I formally apologize for what happened before.”
After apologizing, she immediately hid behind Kaiden again. Kaiden, stepping up to defend her,
“Even while struggling with trauma from nearly being poisoned, Lady Ella came to apologize in person. Please accept her apology. And…”
Kaiden protectively shielded Ella as he turned to me and spoke in a low voice.
“She’s not the only one who should apologize, is she?”
“Kaiden?”
Ella called out to him in surprise, her expression startled. She was such a good actress that I couldn’t tell if she was genuinely shocked.
“You’re right. I should apologize, too, Lady Ella.”
I offered an apology without hesitation.
Hearing my apology, Kaiden’s expression hardened, as if this wasn’t what he had wanted.
‘…Is it just my imagination?’
But it didn’t seem like I was the only one who felt it.
“Kaiden, my wife granted your request. Why does your expression look so odd?”
For a fleeting moment, Kaiden’s pupils trembled.
“You’re making baseless accusations, brother.”
“Hmm.”
Harold’s gaze deepened as he looked at Kaiden. Then he lazily stretched his lips into a crooked smile.
“Coachman, let’s go.”
“But…”
The coachman hesitated, unable to close the carriage door because Kaiden was still holding it.
“Just start moving. If he doesn’t want to fall and break something, he’ll let go.”
Knowing Harold was serious, Kaiden reluctantly released the door. The coachman hurriedly closed it, and the carriage resumed its smooth ride through the gates.
Even after changing into comfortable clothes in my room, Kaiden lingered in my mind.
‘This isn’t the first time.’
Every time I didn’t act like Diana, Kaiden would give me disapproving looks. It was as if he was silently saying, “That’s not what you’re supposed to do.” The thought made me frown.
…Could it be that he wanted me to chase after him and torment Ella, like Diana used to?
‘No, that can’t be it.’
I shook my head. That was taking the idea too far.
Kaiden hated Diana for tormenting Ella. Both the novel and Diana’s memories confirmed that.
‘Maybe he still doesn’t trust me?’
Perhaps my apology had been too unbelievable for him to accept. That seemed like a plausible explanation, and I nodded to myself.
Even through I have explicitly told Kaiden that I didn’t love him anymore, but he probably couldn’t bring himself to believe it yet. That was likely the issue here.
‘How can I make it even clearer for him that my feelings are gone…?’
I pondered deeply, and then a certain item came to mind. I opened a drawer to retrieve it.
***
Evan entered Harold’s study. After a brief greeting, he began his report.
“Young Master Vincent has been frantically running around, borrowing money from anyone who will lend it to him, all in an attempt to reclaim something he pawned recently. Given that the item in question happens to be *that*, it’s hardly surprising that he’s so desperate.”
Evan shook his head slightly as he spoke, almost involuntarily.
He had known Vincent to be the type to get caught up in trouble easily, but he hadn’t expected him to pawn something so crucial.
“Things are progressing smoothly. It’s about time to give Count Garcia a hint.”
“As you wish.”
Harold nodded, signaling Evan to continue with the next report.
“I looked into Lady Ella’s family. While Baroness discreetly goes out once a week without causing much trouble, But Baron is a different story. After becoming the head of the family, he got so caught up in his business ventures that his estate was nearly seized. Although he’s no longer involved in business and has reclaimed the estate, his reputation remains tarnished.”
“Assign someone with good social skills to approach Baron Linomer. And…”
Just as Evan and Harold were finishing their discussion, a knock sounded at the door.
“Harold, may I come in?”
“Come in.”
Evan opened the door for her, greeted her briefly, and left the study. Diana approached Harold.
“I hope I’m not interrupting?”
“No, we’d just finished talking.”
“That’s a relief.”
Diana tucked her pink hair behind her ear which had fallen over her shoulder. Harold stood from his desk and moved to the sofa on one side of the study. Diana sat across from him.
“What brings you here, Diana?”
“I have a favor to ask, Harold.”
She extended a handkerchief she had been holding. It was navy blue, embroidered with the crest of the Vissen family—a handkerchief that had been crucial to ‘Diana’s’ love for Kaiden. She had cherished it even when she was cast out of the count’s estate.
She didn’t know what to do with it, so she left it in a drawer and forgot about it. But when she was thinking of a way to make her sincerity clear to Kaiden, the handkerchief had come to mind.
“I’d like you to return this to Lord Kaiden. I picked it up by chance when he saved me in the hunting grounds and has kept it since. It’s late, but I want to return it to its original owner. Could you help me with that?”
Harold looked down at the handkerchief with a complicated expression. Was it a difficult request? If it was, she decided she would muster the courage to hand it over herself, even though she dreaded the idea.
But then Harold let out a small laugh.
“This is Kaiden’s handkerchief, you say?”
“Yes? Yes.”
“Diana, who told you that it was Kaiden who saved you in the hunting grounds?”
Diana blinked in surprise.
“No one told me… I just assumed. At the post-hunt party, Lord Kaiden was the only one there, so I guessed it was him.”
Harold furrowed his brows as if at a loss for words, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“This handkerchief is mine.”
…What?
