Chater 3

“What is this?”

A few days later, Elin stared down at the dress her stepmother had held out to her, her face filled with bewilderment.

“I picked it because I thought it would look good with your eyes.”

It was a green muslin indoor dress. The hem was trimmed with abundant, delicate white lace, and thin, long ribbons were adorably attached to the sleeves.

“It belongs to Jenis.”

Even before she had married and left the house, Jenis had never once shared her clothes with Elin.

She had hated it even when Elin so much as touched any of her belongings.

That was why Elin had never even gone near Jenis’s room, afraid that she might be accused of something for no reason.

There were piles of clothes, shoes, and jewelry in her room, and Jenis had left many of them behind when she moved out. This green dress was one of them.

Elin couldn’t understand why her stepmother was handing her this dress with a faint smile in her eyes.

Only a few days ago, she’d made such a fuss over Elin running away from the party. So why was she suddenly acting like this?

“We’re expecting a guest today. How do you think it will make us look if you go around dressed like that?”

“A guest? Who?”

When Elin didn’t readily accept the dress, Rosanna answered in an irritated voice.

“Yes. I’ll be honest with you. Viscount McKinsey is coming. So dress nicely and behave with some dignity.”

A blue flame seemed to ignite in Elin’s eyes.

“What? You really intend to sell me off to that old man?”

When Elin turned away, her stepmother grabbed her by the wrist.

“Let go. I’ll talk to Father.”

She shook Rosanna’s arm off and hurried off in search of her father.

No matter how she thought about it, this was going too far.

What kind of family was this, where a man who called himself her father was either completely controlled by his wife—or worse, actively joined her in tormenting his own daughter?

When the mother and daughter her father had brought home one day took over the position of mistress of the household, Elin had never rebelled.

She had told herself that she had gained a new family, and that if she obediently behaved like a good daughter, her stepmother would eventually treat her like one.

But all she had received in return was indifference and coldness.

When a good marriage proposal had come for Elin, her stepmother had stolen it away and given it to Jenis.

She had also thrown Elin out of the house under the pretense that she needed to nurse her great-aunt, only to take all the money for herself.

And now, after all that, she was trying to sell her daughter to an old lecher?

All the resentment and sorrow that had been building inside Elin for so long erupted at once like a volcano.

She spotted her father’s face in the hallway downstairs.

“Father!”

As Elin started down the stairs, the baron hurriedly slipped into his study.

As though everything had been left to his wife, he cowardly avoided his own daughter.

Seeing her father slyly run away only made Elin even more furious.

“Haa!”

Hot tears suddenly spilled from the corners of her eyes.

Elin bit her lip, wiped away her tears with her fists, and turned toward her stepmother.

Rosanna lifted her chin and looked down at her coldly.

What are you going to do about it?

That was what her eyes seemed to say as she mocked Elin.

Elin snatched the dress belonging to Jenis from her stepmother’s hands and threw it onto the floor.

Rosanna’s eyes widened.

“You. How dare you!”

Unable to contain her anger, her stepmother trembled from head to toe.

Elin had occasionally shown a rebellious look in her eyes, but in the end, she had always obeyed orders without complaint. Her sudden defiance seemed to have caught Rosanna completely off guard.

“I won’t wear this dress, and I won’t meet that old man either.”

“What?”

“Even if it means abandoning this wretched castle, I won’t marry him!”

Elin stated her determination in a firm voice.

The maids nearby whispered among themselves, shocked to see a side of their young lady they had never witnessed before.

Marie, who was among them, secretly clenched her fist in triumph.

My lady! That’s it!

She cheered for Elin in her heart.

Leaving her stepmother behind, Elin ran down the stairs and raced all the way to the front door.

Bang!

She burst out of the mansion as though she would never return.

“Elin! You’d better come back this instant!”

Her stepmother’s shrill voice shook the mansion as she belatedly came to her senses, but Elin heard none of it.

As she ran through the garden, she suddenly came face-to-face with someone and stopped dead.

“Oh, my lady! You didn’t have to come out to greet me…”

It was Viscount McKinsey, whose blunt nose was red like Rudolph’s, perhaps because he had been drinking since morning.

Seeing him outside in broad daylight, he looked even worse than he had at the party.

“You’re even more beautiful in the daylight, my lady.”

A disgusting smell, impossible to distinguish whether it was alcohol or the flowers in his hand, wafted toward her.

Elin instinctively stepped backward.

“W-wait!”

The viscount raised a hand, but Elin avoided him and started running in another direction.

Inside a carriage parked across from Baron Nilson’s residence, Dominic was watching the scene intently.

“Follow her.”

At the duke’s command, the carriage slowly began following her.

She left the residential district and ran along a busy road where carriages came and went. Watching her run like that looked dangerously reckless.

Neighhh!

A horse that encountered her reared up on its hind legs.

She nearly collided with the running horse, but as though she couldn’t see anything at all, she kept running straight ahead.

Does she want to die?

Dominic grew even more anxious as he watched her. His palms had begun to sweat from the tension.

A short while later, a sudden shower fell from the clear sky. She stopped running and began walking listlessly.

Dominic’s tension finally eased, and he leaned back against the sofa.

He let out an incredulous laugh at how absurd it was that he had become so tense because of that woman.

“Keep following her. Don’t let her notice.”

The duke’s carriage followed her while maintaining a constant distance.

His gaze as he watched her through the carriage window was complicated.

The woman was drenched from head to toe and trembling violently.

Her plain brown dress, already modest, was soaked through and made her look even more pitiful.

The red hair he remembered as being more vivid than he had thought clung messily to her wet face, and water dripped from beneath her skirt.

Is she really the same woman?

Seeing her wander the streets like a lost puppy, he couldn’t help but wonder.

Was she truly the same woman who had boldly kissed him first?

The carriage following her slowly came to a smooth stop at one point.

What is she doing?

The golden eyes beneath his narrowed lids darkened.

The woman wrung out her heavy dress as though she were squeezing water from laundry.

She gathered her tangled hair together, squeezed out the water, then twisted it up into a bun.

With moisture covering her face, impossible to tell whether it was tears or rain, she bravely entered a brick building.

Only after she disappeared did the duke’s field of vision widen.

He quickly examined the building.

Unlike the surrounding structures, the Gothic red-brick building looked dignified and solemn.

That’s a convent.

Crossing his legs, he tried to piece together what he had just witnessed.

Despite being from a low-ranking noble family, she had been dressed shabbily.

She had run away from an elderly nobleman with an unsightly appearance.

Her expression had been sad, showing no trace of happiness.

And finally, she had steeled herself before entering the convent.

He felt as though he understood what kind of reality she was facing.

A bitter smile briefly crossed his lips.

I’ve meddled where I shouldn’t have.

Rather than feeling sorry for a woman struggling helplessly in the mud, his first thought was how pathetic he was for what he was doing.

Someone else’s private life was something he normally wouldn’t have cared about at all. Yet here he was, deliberately spending time and effort investigating it—and witnessing something unpleasant in the process.

“Let’s go back.”

He sank into the sofa and no longer looked out the window.

He closed his eyes, trying to erase the scenes he had just witnessed from his mind. It felt as though he, too, were being dragged into the mud.

The carriage bearing the Lindertho family’s crest, two golden keys crossed over one another, slowly moved away from the place.

A few days later, in a quiet study where the sun was setting red across the sky, Dominic was engrossed in something.

As he read the report Higgins had compiled on the Nilson baronial family, he recalled the sight of the woman entering the convent on that rainy day.

“So this is why she went to the convent that day.”

He hadn’t known that she had gone to visit her younger brother, who was hospitalized at the convent’s infirmary.

Apparently, she had a younger brother whose illness was quite serious.

The information that followed was even more surprising.

She almost married someone? The Creighton family…?

He didn’t remember ever hearing of them, so they probably weren’t a particularly influential family.

As he turned another page of the report, he unconsciously let out a faint sigh.

He tapped the leather sofa with his smooth fingertips as he examined his own thoughts.

What do I want to do? Is this woman really worth using?

Am I about to do something insane?

Honestly, it was a family he had no desire to get involved with whatsoever—an unpleasant household.

He knew more than enough about what had caused the woman’s dark expression.

Anyone in such complicated family circumstances and such a bleak situation could hardly be expected to remain cheerful.

His hand, which had been tapping the sofa rhythmically, suddenly stopped.

And that’s precisely why she couldn’t be more suitable.

He felt sorry for her, but he couldn’t imagine finding a more appropriate person to use temporarily.

If the report was accurate, Elin’s father and stepmother were trying to sell their daughter off to satisfy their own greed.

The ugly face of the elderly nobleman he’d seen that day came to mind.

So did the sight of her running as though she wouldn’t have cared if she died by colliding with a horse.

Yes. She would rather die than marry someone like that. In that case, perhaps accepting my proposal would be the better choice.

But making hasty assumptions would be a mistake. He needed to offer Elin Nilson a decisive bait—something she couldn’t possibly refuse.

After thinking for a moment, he seemed to reach a decision and slapped the report shut.

I wonder if you’ll really be able to refuse.

His conscience pricked him slightly at the thought of resorting to such a devious method, but he quickly steeled his mind.

I can pay her enough in return. I’ll compensate her generously—more than she could ever expect.

His cold, calculating mind as a businessman came into play without hesitation at times like this.

“I’ll have to throw a party.”

At the duke’s words, Higgins, who was standing behind him, looked puzzled.

“Pardon? A party?”

“Now that I’ve made up my mind, the sooner, the better.”

“What exactly have you decided…?”

Before Higgins could finish his question, the duke declared,

“I need to get married. As soon as possible.”

News that a grand party would be held at the Lindertho ducal residence quickly spread throughout the capital.

“What could be going on? His Grace is holding a party?”

“Could the Duchess Dowager have returned to the capital?”

“Perhaps the duke has a surprise announcement to make.”

“Looks like he’s finally surrendered to the count’s daughter and her relentless pursuit.”

Everywhere people gathered, they talked about the upcoming party at the ducal residence.

And there was good reason for it.

It had been an extremely long time since the ducal family had hosted a party.

After the previous duke passed away, the Duchess Dowager had been moving between warm villas in the southern regions.

The duke himself only attended parties that were important for business and rarely appeared at social gatherings.

So naturally, everyone was curious when the Duke of Lindertho announced that he would be holding a party and inviting all the capital’s nobility.

An invitation soon arrived at the Baron Nilson residence.