NTBYRI 10

Chapter 10

Jasper returned to the study.

“I’ve sent the physician home. I’ll look into finding a new one.”

“……Put out a wanted notice for Elsie Lesles. She wouldn’t have left here alone. She’s a woman who can’t even leave the estate by herself.”

Kaiden commanded with a growl.

“Nina Mason, and Parker Blair, was it. Question the two of them. Then we’ll know where Elsie went.”

“Yes, I’ll confirm right away.”

He had to catch Elsie.

Only then would this bothersome irritation subside. Elsie was a presence that might as well not exist. Yet the moment he learned she was gone, fury surged up.

Something was unpleasant. It felt like an item he hadn’t properly dealt with had disappeared on its own.

And before long, Kaiden learned that Elsie had headed to the train station.

The moment he heard this, he drove his car toward the station.

—

He didn’t know what state of mind had brought him all the way to the station.

All he knew was the thought that he had to catch Elsie, who had dared to disappear while he was away from the estate.

But when he spotted Elsie in the crowded station. Kaiden couldn’t bring himself to approach her.

Her green eyes, which had lost their light, were desperately glowing.

Seeing those eyes, strangely, his feet wouldn’t move.

“I’m trying to go east—could you tell me how I should do that?”

Kaiden, hiding his body behind a pillar, caught her frightened question.

She was so hunched over she looked like a rabbit trembling before a predator.

‘She won’t be able to board a train alone after all.’

She would give up and return home.

Yet she hesitated and hesitated, but in the end bought a ticket.

Strength was in her frail legs that looked like they could barely run. In that sight, strangely, he was reminded of young Elsie who used to wander through the grass like a fairy.

Kaiden found himself following behind without realizing it. Then their eyes suddenly met.

Elsie, pale as death, fled toward the gate and jumped onto the train.

After much deliberation, he hurriedly boarded the train just before it departed.

Fortunately, the compartment right next to hers was empty, so Kaiden could take a seat there.

What am I even doing.

Kaiden let out a low sigh at his own pitiful impulse.

—

“So, where are you headed, young lady?”

“I’m going to see the sea.”

—

The conversation from the next compartment came through in broken, tiny fragments.

She’d escaped the estate, even mobilizing the servants, just to see the sea?

Kaiden inwardly scoffed at her selfish decision.

—

“Young lady, regardless, sometimes you need that kind of time. Standing at the crossroads where what happened is becoming the past, looking back on yourself—that kind of time.”

“I just want to rest.”

“Time looking back on yourself is exactly time resting for yourself. Taking a rest.”

“But…… what if even that time is painful? I just, I want everything to end quickly.”

—

Kaiden’s expression, listening to the two converse, had somehow gone pale and stiff.

Everything to end quickly?

Yes, thinking back, he should have crossed into the next compartment then and grabbed her.

Weren’t those the words comrades wounded in war, friends worn down by the tyranny of nobles, had spoken as they wished for death.

The moment an ominous premonition brushed his mind—if only he’d grabbed her before Elsie jumped into the sea……

—

“Brünn.”

Kaiden’s low voice filled the room.

Having returned to the Gray estate in Eldenmarch, he was glaring at the report spread across his desk. It was filled with information about Ryan Brünn.

He remembered now who he was.

Ryan Brünn, a merchant from the kingdom of Draelsha.

He had built a company centered in Ernest and amassed wealth in the eastern region. Even after the revolution, Brünn survived because he had funded the revolutionary army.

No, not just survived—he had successfully established himself in the new regime.

A man from Draelsha, a kingdom that had constantly warred with Midland, had bet on the revolution and won. That alone deserved applause.

Kaiden slowly turned the pages of the report.

Ryan Brünn had saved Elsie. Could this truly be simple goodwill?

As this question arose, Kaiden’s jaw tightened. As expected, he should have forcibly taken Elsie from his arms.

But strangely, at that moment his body hadn’t moved.

Elsie, limp as if dead in Ryan’s arms, came to him with a sense of guilt.

Because the thought occurred to him that perhaps it was because of him that she, who had always been so timid, had jumped into the sea.

“Send someone immediately to relay this to Brünn. If he doesn’t return Mrs. Gray at once, I will come myself.”

At his command, Jasper bowed and left the room.

Kaiden, having let out a deep sigh, opened a drawer.

Inside was the small bag retrieved from the sea. He rubbed the hardened leather with his fingertips, then slowly opened the bag.

Inside were a single unremarkable shell and a ring set with an emerald, carefully placed.

Kaiden’s gaze wavered. That ring was the very one he had given Elsie when he proposed.

And the shell beside it. Turned over, it had the exact same color as the emerald.

“This…… you still had it.”

He had thought Elsie would have thrown away this ring long ago.

No, he had forgotten about the ring so completely that he hadn’t even considered it.

As he picked up the ring, the green emerald glimmered softly under the light.

The fact that she hadn’t discarded the ring but had kept it made something in Kaiden’s chest feel heavy.

He clutched the ring tightly in his hand.

He couldn’t just let her go like this.

He had to get her back.

Even though he hadn’t dared to dig into why, or what the reason was.

Only the thought that her place was here, and that’s why it had to be so.

—

Elsie sat on the bed for a long while after Ryan left the room.

Her body was heavy and tired, but her mind grew clearer.

If this wasn’t mere coincidence, then why on earth had Ryan Brünn saved her? And who was this ‘longtime patron’ he mentioned?

An ominous premonition crept up slowly.

Turning her head, she saw the sea beyond the window.

She quietly rose and approached the window. Waves broke gently, creating calm ripples.

Looking at the sea made her heart feel somewhat lighter. That moment that had been like death, and the things lost in the cold waves.

First, the small bag that must have sunk into the sea came to mind.

What was inside it, how important it was—the more she tried to think, the more confused her mind became.

Something she should have thrown away long ago but couldn’t bear to discard……

Elsie deliberately cut off her thoughts.

Lying on the bed, she closed her eyes, overcome by exhaustion.

—

A day passed that way.

During that time, the estate’s servants attended to Elsie. She naturally accepted it.

Around the time lunch had passed again. Ryan came to Elsie’s room with a woman.

“Let me introduce you. This is Miss Arthur Spencer. She’s someone I sponsor, and she wanted to meet you. Excuse me.”

Arthur, wearing a stiff uniform like a soldier’s, stepped half a pace forward.

“Mrs. Gray, seeing you in person feels different.”

She, who seemed blunt, was frowning as if something displeased her.

From her expression, Elsie read a familiar emotion.

“I’m Arthur Spencer. From the Spencer viscount family. Ah, well. What meaning does a title like ‘viscount’ have now, anyway.”

Viscount. It was a term she hadn’t heard in a long time.

“It must be an unpleasant word for you, madam. You’re the wife of that damned major. You survived the revolution, and even now……”

Arthur’s brown eyes sharply swept over Elsie.

The loathing she displayed had a different texture from what she’d faced so far.

Many people looked at Elsie Lesles and thought of the tyranny of the old Midland nobility.

But she, conversely, was angry at Elsie Gray, who had survived on Kaiden’s coattails.

In the end, no matter which side one had stood on, everyone hated her.

Unable to hide her complicated feelings, Elsie let out a faint, hollow laugh.

At that, Arthur’s eyes sharpened, interpreting it somehow.

“You seem to be living well. I suppose the divorce the newspapers were clamoring about was a lie after all?”

Arthur’s words weren’t a question seeking an answer. So Elsie quietly kept her silence.

She knew well that to someone expressing such firm emotion, no words would make a difference.

“You don’t deny it.”

Arthur snorted and shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ll take my leave now. You don’t seem to have any intention of conversing with me either. Ah, and I’ll say this in advance—I’m opposed to dragging that woman into our affairs.”

She barged in as she pleased and tried to leave as she pleased. Yet still, Elsie offered no rebuttal.

“Ahem.”

Only after Arthur vacated the spot did Ryan clear his throat lightly, looking apologetic.

“I apologize if you were offended.”

At the hollow apology, Elsie nodded her head.

“I didn’t know Miss Spencer would be so hostile. I apologize once again for the rudeness.”

She didn’t particularly answer. Because she had nothing in particular to say to Ryan.

It was bewildering, but such people were hardly one or two.

“How is it, resting at the estate? Is there anything uncomfortable?”

“……Yes, it’s fine. Thank you.”

“I’m glad. I would like for you, madam, to rest comfortably here going forward…… under my care, not Major Gray’s.”

In that moment, Elsie was certain.

Ryan Brünn wanted something from her. And it seemed he was about to ask something quite troublesome.