NTBYRI 02

Chapter 02

Kaiden had refused the divorce.

With question marks filling her head to bursting, Elsie, unable to bear the frustration, chose painting.

“I’ll go to the garden.”

“Well, if you insist, I’ll call Nina.”

Ivy answered half-heartedly and slipped out of the bedroom.

Regardless, Elsie, left alone, hummed a tune while waiting for Nina. Her hand—so thin that bones protruded—gripped firmly.

She took out the easel that had been covered with cloth to keep dust from settling, for the first time in a while.

“Madam, I’m coming in.”

“Come in.”

Along with a knock, the door opened slightly, and Nina’s cautious voice was heard.

“Madam, let me carry that.”

Seeing Elsie organizing the easel, Nina rushed to her side as if running.

“Let’s do it together.”

“But……”

“It’s because it puts my mind at ease.”

Nina’s round eyes met Elsie’s. At her clear eye-smile, Elsie offered a comfortable smile.

She was one of the few people in the manor who didn’t hate Elsie.

“It’s a square one today.”

“It caught my eye especially today, so I took it out. Shall we go?”

The Gray Madam, who oversaw the manor’s household affairs, going out accompanied by merely one maid.

Elsie’s hand held a basket containing her easel.

Because it was a sight wholly unbefitting the ‘Gray Madam,’ the gazes clinging to her and Nina were unkind.

For a while, Elsie had resolved her meals with only porridge and a small amount of fruit without leaving her room. There were several reasons, and these unpleasant gazes accounted for a large portion.

“The madam is at it again……”

“Nina is pitiful too. She still can’t shake off her old habits, it seems.”

“She must miss the days when she lorded over people as a noble.”

“Shouldn’t managing the manor come first? Wastefully spending money. That’s why it fell. She’s always playing, isn’t she.”

Dizziness welled up at the conversation tickling her ears.

Her vision spun, but Elsie did not stop her feet from moving forward.

‘My origins can’t be changed.’

Elsie Lesles.

The Count of Lesles’s daughter.

Before she became the Gray Madam, her name held much history.

The House of Lesles, which had enjoyed honor and wealth accumulated over long years and was once counted among the nation’s foremost noble families.

But within the collapsed monarchy, it became an object of citizens’ mockery and met a miserable end.

“Madam, are you alright?”

Nina’s worried gaze was felt.

Elsie nodded.

On her lower lip, struck hard by her own teeth, blood had pooled.

As she went out through the back gate, a cool breeze was felt. As the gentle breeze full of floral scent entered her body, her headache seemed to subside.

“Are we going to the place you went last time?”

“Yes.”

Elsie, slightly lifting her wide-brimmed hat, slowly climbed the small hill.

The low hill created within the garden was the only place in the Gray manor that Elsie liked.

Standing atop the hill, the neatly tended garden filled her vision.

The sun was shining brightly on the garden. Pleased by the sight captured in light, Elsie opened her basket with a rare look of excitement.

The new tin tube contained blue oil paint that was said to be difficult to produce.

“The brush seems softer than last time.”

“Yes. I changed brushes. There was one that came out cheap, so…… I was lucky.”

The only thing Elsie spent her personal money on was art supplies.

Even so, she was by no means extravagant. She went from paint shop to paint shop, buying the cheapest tools.

Things bought that way were discarded only when they were worn down to the point of being unusable.

“Madam, you have no interest in accessories or dresses, do you? Instead you’re buying art supplies—couldn’t you spend a little more?”

Elsie, seated on a simple wooden chair, picked up the palette.

Gazing at the clear sky, gazing at the flowers swaying in the wind, then shifting her gaze to the blank space of the canvas, she shook her head.

“……I don’t deserve that.”

The tip of the brush in her hand was trembling. It was a different sight from when she prepared for painting without hesitation.

“Madam……”

At the maid’s sigh laden with pity, Elsie did not open her mouth further.

The brush that had roughly mashed the oil-mixed paint moved onto the canvas. But that was all.

Not a single dot was made on the pale beige canvas.

Her hand wouldn’t move easily. Because the woman she had seen yesterday too had come into view.

Kaiden beside her looked incredibly happy.

Seeing that, strangely, her hand wouldn’t move.

“Madam?”

As if sensing something odd, Nina, who had been holding the parasol, came close to Elsie.

“Are you alright?”

“Mm.”

Cold sweat beaded on her smooth forehead.

Elsie moved her hand again. The moment the blue-tinted brush tip was about to touch the canvas—

She bowed her head, breathing raggedly.

“Madam, let’s go in. Today, somehow……”

“It’s been a while, Madam.”

Just as Nina was about to fold the parasol, looking at the pale Elsie, a man in overalls climbed the hill.

The man with a round nose and angular jaw who stood out was the gardener, Parker Blair.

“It’s been a while since you went out.”

“……It has been a while. Blair.”

Elsie set down her brush. Parker, like Nina, was someone who did not send looks of contempt toward Elsie.

Elsie, who had greeted him weakly, rose from her seat.

Her gaze touched the woman laughing joyfully beside Kaiden one last time, then barely tore away.

I must tell Kaiden to divorce again.

Thinking that, Elsie swallowed her tears.

“Shall we go?”

She forced the corners of her mouth up, but her awkward expression, looking as though she might burst into tears at any moment, left Nina and Parker speechless.

Unlike when she had climbed the hill, she trudged back to her bedroom with a drained appearance.

* * *

Kaiden Gray was busy organizing the next training schedule.

Since the revolution succeeded and Midland became the New Midland Federal Republic.

Recognized for his distinguished merit, he was summoned every day to the strategic composition meetings planning the future of New Midland with the new leadership.

“This is driving me crazy.”

There was much to do but not enough time.

Managing the army wasn’t enough; he had to concern himself with urban reconstruction and was involved in various policies.

It was a schedule too much for a mere ‘Major.’

Kaiden roughly swept his hair back and moistened the pen nib with ink.

Even the movements of the neighboring country, Duelsha, in a state of truce, were not normal.

To prepare for it, all forces were engrossed in high-intensity training without a moment to breathe.

“How about resting for a moment?”

Jasper Robert, the steward managing the Gray family’s assets, asked Kaiden as he filled the empty teacup.

“You seem to be overworking yourself.”

“It’s because Father threw me an unreasonable schedule. If not for that, it would have been a problem-free schedule.”

At Kaiden’s cold retort, the corner of Jasper’s mouth rose.

“Isn’t it interest and consideration for a beloved child?”

“That?”

Kaiden snorted.

When he supported the marriage to Elsie Lesles, and now he pushes another person onto him.

The problem must be that Elsie’s usefulness has declined, but……

“We, let’s divorce.”

Suddenly, what Elsie had said came to mind.

Yesterday evening was truly strange.

He had never imagined Elsie would tell him about divorce.

As expected, her words that she liked him were nothing more than whim and noble play.

Anyway, the moment her small lips moved and formed the word ‘divorce.’

Strangely, his insides twisted.

“Not that it matters, but Miss Eleanor Underwood has sent an invitation. It appears to be an invitation to visit the completed aerial garden together.”

Jasper placed a neat letter on the desk.

“……Throw it away. I don’t need it.”

Kaiden said without even glancing that way. At the words clearly laden with annoyance, Jasper pushed the invitation toward Kaiden.

“Is Father’s influence in this again?”

“Yes.”

“Haah……”

He couldn’t openly burn the invitation now. Letting out a low sigh, Kaiden rose from his seat and headed to the window.

During the reluctant stroll, he had been thinking of other things. The garden he had painstakingly created was full of flowers Elsie liked.

Perhaps because of that, throughout the walk, the past came to mind—when he had struggled to win her favor with trivial things like flowers.

Kaiden back then was desperate.

“That is……”

Beyond the window, far in the distance, three people leisurely strolling through the garden came into view.

The curly hair, receiving the sunlight, had grown redder.

On either side of Elsie were a gardener and a maid, both holding something in their hands.

Only Elsie had empty hands.

That woman is still the same.

The thought suddenly occurred. That immature woman never did anything on her own.

Kaiden’s jaw tightened. Having jutted up once and returned to its original place, his jaw still held anger.

Elsie was that kind of woman. Her father was merely a Count, yet she had ridden on his halo and enjoyed that status without knowing anything.

At some point he had envied that naivety, and at some point that naivety had looked innocent and beautiful.

“Jasper, who are those two?”

“They are the gardener Parker Blair and the maid Nina Mason.”

“Investigate the two of them. After that, I’ll tell you what to do with them.”

Kaiden roughly drew the curtain, covering the window.

Elsie’s smile was strangely displeasing. The sight of her gleefully empty-handed was so spotless and white.

A woman fundamentally different from him, who had not shied from rough work to survive and had bet his life on a few coins.

The world had changed, and she had lost her utility value. Yet even now, he could not let go of such a woman.

Isn’t it truly pathetic.

Kaiden’s mouth twisted crookedly. The self-mockery directed at himself grew thicker with time.