CHAPTER 26
Abernathy approached Edwin, who was quietly turning the pages of a book. Edwin, showing no sign of interest, remained unshaken by the commotion caused by Vivianne’s disappearance. The indifference displayed by his master brought relief to Abernathy. However, the servants, who had long observed Edwin, had recently noticed a change in him.
A ship that had been sailing smoothly suddenly seemed unsure of its destination, accelerating into storm clouds. With fierce winds and towering waves crashing, the sailors trembled in fear of the unknown. Abernathy fervently hoped that the path Edwin pursued would not leave even a small blemish on the immaculate name of Baytness.
“Your Grace, Miss Aveline has returned,” Abernathy announced.
Even as Abernathy delivered the news, Edwin’s gaze remained calmly fixed on the words on the page.
“Is that so?” Edwin replied.
“The tailor from that time accompanied her, but he only escorted her home and then left.”
Edwin neither nodded nor showed any sign of acknowledgment. Just as Abernathy began to wonder about his master’s reaction, Edwin gave a brief, slight nod.
“And the gatekeeper, Jefferson, will pack his belongings and leave the manor starting tomorrow,” Abernathy added.
Vivianne, who had also been thought to have disappeared, had returned safely. However, the good gatekeeper had lost his job over this trivial matter. The image of Jefferson pleading desperately came vividly to Abernathy’s mind. Jefferson had begged, clutching Abernathy’s trousers, begging him to consider his situation—separated from his family after moving from Farrington to Rodinia and needing to send money home as the sole breadwinner.
“You handled it well,” Edwin remarked.
Each time Abernathy passed through the gate, the once cheerful middle-aged man with crescent-shaped smiling eyes now had a face as blackened as a corpse, tears streaming down. Jefferson’s pitiful and heartbreaking expression sank once more into the depths of Abernathy’s consciousness.
Abernathy left the room without sharing the pitiful gatekeeper’s tale of woe.
And so, the peace Edwin desired returned. Sliding his index finger between the pages to mark his place, he closed the book and opened his pocket watch to check the time. He wondered what kind of expression Aveline would wear as she walked toward him of her own accord. Though no meeting had been arranged, he was certain—Vivianne Aveline would come to this room, to where he was, the moment she arrived.
And his expectations were never wrong. Vivianne appeared, holding a sky-blue gift box against her chest, her eyes brimming with tears. She stood at the doorway, choking back sobs, until Edwin gestured with his chin for her to come in. Obediently, she stepped into the room.
Hesitating, Vivianne finally sat down, placing the gift box on her lap. Edwin’s gaze shifted to the mysterious box.
“What’s that?” He asked.
When he pointed at the gift box on her lap, her sorrowful eyes followed his gesture.
“… I sold my embroidery today,” she began. “With the money I bought a feather hat for Miss Windler and a corsage for Sophie.”
“If I recall, you said you’d use the money from selling embroidery to pay off your debt,” Edwin remarked with a hint of playfulness.
But Vivianne misunderstood his tone, interpreting it as a scolding or mockery, and her head sank lower.
Edwin silently examined Vivianne’s appearance: her shabby dress, her golden hair clinging to her cheeks and forehead, and the sweat-sheened nape of her neck. It was a sight fitting for the early arrival of summer heat.
“Your Grace…”
The sobbing call made Edwin look up into her tear-filled gray eyes. It sounded almost like the first time she had used that tone, with just enough charm to try to sway him, but not too much to be annoying. He expected her to make a heartfelt plea soon.
“… It’s all my fault. If someone must be punished, I will take that punishment.”
Edwin, having guessed correctly, sneered in satisfaction. She had disappeared, but he knew she would return. As long as she understood what he held, Vivianne would not hastily run away to avoid death.
But why had she gone out of her way to get involved in this? Why had I fired the gatekeeper, forcing him to plead with Aveline?
There was only one reason: so Vivianne would come to him. She would try to save the gatekeeper, no matter what.
Thinking about how he had exploited someone else’s crisis just to witness that, a self-mocking laugh escaped him.
“Punishment? What punishment?”
“I snuck out behind Mr. Jefferson’s back. Mr. Jefferson… he did nothing wrong, Your Grace.”
If Vivianne Aveline’s most beautiful moment were to be chosen, it wouldn’t be her swimming like a mermaid on a late-night lake, but rather the way she trembled, uneasy with guilt. Her gray eyes shining defiantly as she challenged him wasn’t bad, but yes, she looked better when she desperately begged.
That was why Edwin was satisfied. On the other hand, sacrificing for others was extremely pathetic.
“Mr. Jefferson… has family in the capital. His youngest child is only four years old. He followed you to Rodinia and has been living far from them. I can’t let him lose his job because of me. Please hold me accountable instead. Please revoke Mr. Jefferson’s dismissal, Your Grace.”
“Why should I?” Edwin replied.
Vivianne’s heart was light and free from worry as she rode Theo’s horse toward the manor’s front gates. That was until she saw Mr. Jefferson begging before her.
It was only after seeing Jefferson crying so uncontrollably, barely able to articulate his words as he begged her to change the Duke’s mind that Vivianne realized the full consequences of her actions.
“… Please, hold me accountable. It’s all my fault. I was the problem. Mr. Jefferson is innocent.”
Vivianne pulled herself closer. Her earnest gestures and expressions, her tone of pleading—they were becoming tiresome. Annoyed at himself for orchestrating this troublesome situation only hours ago, Edwin finally rose from his seat.
“I despise incompetence more than anything. This dismissal has nothing to do with you, Miss Aveline. So leave it be and go back now.”
With those firm words, Edwin sealed Jefferson’s dismissal.
But Vivianne couldn’t let him go and allow an innocent man to suffer despair.
“Your Grace! Please!”
Panicked, Vivianne jumped to her feet and grabbed Edwin’s wrist. Her small hands wrinkled the sleeves of his jacket and shirt as she clung to him. Edwin halted and looked back at Vivianne, who was gripping him tightly.
“I—I’ll beg like this. I’ll plead with you. I can’t let someone lose their job because of me. I promise I won’t sneak out again. Just this once, please forgive me. I swear I won’t do it again, alright?”
Vivianne’s eyes were on the verge of bursting with tears as the heat in them increased. In contrast, Edwin’s icy blue gaze became even colder.
“What can I do? I’ll do anything… really, anything. So please, just this once…”
Edwin’s gaze shifted to his wrist, which she was clutching tightly enough to turn her nails white.
He wondered if he should pull away, but the longer the silence dragged on, the more her hope seemed to crumble before his eyes. At that moment, she shook his wrist slightly, as if checking to see if he was even conscious.
Before she could fully register the massive shadow looming over her head, Vivianne’s body was yanked away.
In the blink of an eye, they were close enough to almost touch.
Reflexively, she tried to pull away, to put distance between them, but instead, her wrist was seized, trapping her in place.
Amidst the fear that coursed through her, another sensation intertwined itself: a deep, intense scent of man, overwhelming and consuming all of her senses. Though she had tried with all her might to break free, he easily cemented his position as the one in control. No matter how much she twisted her body, she couldn’t find even the slightest hint of escape.
“Your Grace…”
“You said you’d do anything?”
Her large, frightened gray eyes shook violently.
His gaze moved down her flushed cheeks, traveled along her neck, and rested on a bead of sweat gliding down her skin, pooling in the hollow of her collarbone. His eyes wandered further, lingering on the neckline of her worn dress.
Inside the stained dress, which he had seen countless times, there was nothing that stirred Edwin’s emotions. Her body, as fair and beautiful as her face, was like a figure from a legendary painting—elegant but detached.
For Edwin, Vivianne was nothing more than that, nothing more.
She had no influence on him, just as he didn’t get excited when he saw something painted.
But the dense, sweet scent of her body was something different.
He wanted to find the source of that intoxicating sweetness. Somewhere beneath the stained fabric, within the body he had glimpsed so many nights, lay the origin of that floral fragrance that clung to the air.
“Tell me—just how far are you willing to go?”
Edwin’s other hand moved slowly, tracing her jawline in rhythm with the unhurried ticking of a clock. His fingers brushed down her chin, skimmed the slender line of her throat, and paused at her long neck.
His breath stirred the strands of Vivianne’s hair.
Overwhelmed, she couldn’t even swallow. The man’s intoxicating scent engulfed her, and the sensation of his descending hand robbed her of all sense of control. His fingers, now at her collarbone, showed no intention of stopping.
A moment of clarity broke through—a vivid memory of a nightmare. She recalled being struck by a bullet fired by Edwin, bending to pick up scattered gold coins he had kicked, clutching her chest in agony.
Without making a sound, Vivianne grabbed the hand tracing her skin. Her lungs expanded deeply. His warmth wasn’t hot or cold but unsettlingly tepid.
Unable to meet Edwin’s gaze, Vivianne lowered her eyes to the hand she was holding. His pale, slender fingers were long, with veins faintly visible beneath his translucent skin.
She had never seen his hand this close before.
The assumption that all men’s hands would resemble her father’s rough, calloused ones was quietly shattered.
Edwin’s hand, surprisingly refined yet firm, twisted within Vivianne’s grasp, threading his fingers between hers.
Startled, she tried to pull her hand away, but his strength had already locked her in place.
When he roughly yanked her hand, their already close bodies pressed together, leaving no space between them. With only their joined hands between them, Vivianne found herself trapped in Edwin’s arms.
“I asked you.”
Their breaths intertwined. His low, heated voice filled the narrow space between them.
“How far?”
Vivianne squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together. A suffocating silence descended upon them.
“How far are you willing to go?”
The lukewarm warmth that had enveloped her hand suddenly grew hot, filling the space between their fingers with a damp heat.
Her breathing eased only when a rush of fresh air swept over her. When the heat of his touch left her hand, granting her freedom, she cautiously opened her trembling eyelids.
Nothing had happened, yet she felt disheveled and shaken. Meeting his cold, unfeeling blue eyes made every fear she had imagined feel all too real.
“You won’t be able to answer, will you? You know why?”
“…”
“Because there’s nothing you can do. Therefore.”
Vivianne glanced down at her chest, fumbling with her hands.
Nothing happened. Nothing really happened.
But why?
Everything was in place, yet she felt naked, embarrassed, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into and hide.
“The gatekeeper’s dismissal is irrevocable.”
What stopped Vivianne from continuing to plead with the resolute Edwin was twofold: the exhaustion etched into his face, which drained her will, and the overpowering shame and humiliation that made her want to escape the situation as quickly as possible.
Morning dawned, but Vivianne, who had barely slept a wink, got up with her mind half-fogged.
Sophie, who was opening the curtains, approached quickly and gently fixed Vivianne’s disheveled hair.
“Oh, miss. Your hair isn’t wet today.”
Ever since she had started visiting the lake daily, there had been no way to properly dry her damp hair. When Sophie commented on it, Vivianne would make an excuse, saying it was because she had sweated through the night, and Sophie’s face would always show concern in the mornings.
But today, seeing Sophie’s bright expression for the first time in a while, Vivianne couldn’t help but smile tiredly.
“… I guess.”
Last night, as always, she had gone to the lake. But instead of swimming, she had simply sat at the dock, dipping her feet in the water and gazing up at the dark sky to end her long day.
In the end, she failed to persuade Edwin. Her powerless hands, incapable of holding onto anything, had proven her helplessness. Vivianne Aveline could neither eat nor breathe without help from someone else.
Facing this inescapable truth made her heart sink uncontrollably.
However, she couldn’t stand idly by when it came to Jefferson’s dismissal, so she quickly began to prepare to meet Edwin. Amid her preparations, another servant arrived with news, and when Sophie heard it, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
“Miss! The Duke has withdrawn Mr. Jefferson’s dismissal! He can continue working as usual!”
Vivianne gasped in surprise, jumping at the unexpected news.
“What? Really?”
“Yes! Of course!”
After the rush of joy and a sigh of relief passed, Vivianne’s legs went weak, and she collapsed to the floor.
“Miss!” Sophie shouted and rushed to Vivianne’s side, startled.
“Really… is it true that the Duke has withdrawn the dismissal of Mr. Jefferson? Can Mr. Jefferson continue to stay in the manor?”
The tears welling up in her eyes reflected Vivianne’s guilt. Her kind heart shook Sophie’s own, and, unable to hold back, Sophie began to cry as well. She fought back her tears, nodding her head vigorously.
Vivianne exhaled a shuddering breath once again. The face of Mr. Jefferson, whom she barely knew, and his youngest child, whose face she couldn’t picture, haunted her, recalling the sleepless night she had spent.
“I should go see Mr. Jefferson. I’ll apologize for yesterday.”
“Oh, right. There was a message from the Duke as well.”
After the relief that almost made her legs give out, the next thing Vivianne felt was a breath of hot air that burned her throat. Her body froze, but her eyelids continued to flutter with intensity.
“… From the Duke? What is it about?”
Vivianne slowly pressed her lips together and nervously rubbed them. After the morning’s refreshing news, another shadow loomed.
“He says to come to the rear garden in time for the fencing session.”
