Translator: Nox

Chapter 11

‘Even that.’

Vanessa covered her mouth, startled by her own thought. It was an excessively lewd imagination for the middle of the day. Of course, she knew she shouldn’t, but her mind kept replaying that moment over and over again.

The moment they were pressed against each other, the hot and humid breath pouring over her lips, the hand pressing firmly against her throat, the thin fabric crumpling beneath his grip.

The harder she tried not to think about it, the more vivid the sensations became. Her fingers, which had been fretfully teasing her lips, slowly traced their way down. Vanessa’s fingertips trembled slightly as she caressed her lower abdomen, which still held a lingering heat.

“You’re leaving tomorrow, aren’t you? Will I see you here next summer break too?”

“No. We probably won’t be able to play together anymore, Somerset. My parents are worried.”

“You knew who I was.”

Pure memories of childhood days, roaming the garden together while covered in dirt. The day she felt surprised and embarrassed when the fact that she had been hiding her status was discovered.

“We saw each other all summer. How could I not know?”

Mysteriously, the face of the boy who answered like that was blurry. Since it was a memory from when she was only six or seven years old, it was only natural that it was inaccurate. Perhaps even this conversation was a fabrication layered over the past by her delusions.

One thing was certain: they were no longer the innocent boy and girl of those days.

“Lady Vanessa.”

River Ross, who appeared and overrode the afterimage of the boy, was similar to those days yet unfamiliar. His voice, landing softly in her ear, and his deep blue eyes were no longer comfortable or kind as they had been back then.

Rather, he was a man who was provocative in every way. The way he spoke, the smile in his eyes that lacked any particular enthusiasm, the mellow voice, the vibration of the air when he laughed aloud, the solid body moving flexibly under the warm sunlight….

Vanessa let out a trembling breath and let her back slide a little further down against what she was leaning on. Her wandering hand moved slowly up and down from the ribbon on her chest to her lower abdomen. Every time her thighs brushed against each other as if rubbing, the hem of her long skirt rolled up bit by bit.

Vanessa slowly leaned her flushed cheek against the cold floor. She didn’t know what she wanted or what she had to do to cool this terrible heat… but one thing was certain: there had to be more than this.

“What if you don’t get tired of my body even after summer passes?”

The moment that voice finally came to mind, a strange sense of crisis suddenly struck her. A feverish sigh escaped through her lips, which she pressed firmly with the back of her hand.

River Ross had grown into a man who was far too magnificent in every way. That was exactly the problem.

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“…As you can see, this is a new branch that grew, but it missed the time when it should have stopped growing. From now on, the tree will grow its fruit using the nutrients it stored during winter and spring.”

Vanessa let out a sigh, letting the explanation from Mr. Ross, the gardener, go in one ear and out the other. At the end of her glancing gaze was the very man who had made her so distraught. River Ross. The root of all evil and the culmination of everything harmful to a lady.

“A branch that has overgrown like this only sucks up nutrients, making it difficult for the fruit to ripen properly. So when you cut it, if you cut this part like this….”

The man she thought would be undisciplined and debauched had been nothing but polite, like a priest, for several days. As if she were the only one who was anxious. There was no exchange of looks that might occur between lovers, no minor contact, and no suspicious messages promising a secret rendezvous.

They had pledged to be faithful to each other, but since they weren’t a proper couple to begin with, it was a natural enough result. To be honest, she had even braced herself for the possibility of their relationship developing into one where they merely craved each other’s bodies, but she hadn’t expected him to be this indifferent.

‘It would have been nice if we could have built up affection while getting to know each other slowly, but the time is limited for that kind of relationship anyway.’

Even though it was only late spring, the beginning of summer before the heat had even arrived, Vanessa felt the end of this season approaching with every passing moment. And so, the time slipping away so helplessly felt so, so, so very wasteful….

“My Lady.”

At Mr. Ross’s call, Vanessa suddenly snapped back to reality. Before she knew it, a heap of miserably cut peach tree branches had piled up at her feet. Even her shears were halfway through cutting the next victim. Seeing the tree that had become a mess in the brief moment he looked away, Mr. Ross let out a deep sigh and gently took the shears from her hand.

“It’s already this late. Why don’t you go have lunch and rest?”

It was a polite way of asking her to leave. Since she had done what she did, Vanessa nodded gloomily, unable to insist on staying.

“I’ll finish cleaning this up. Please go ahead and eat.”

Watching Vanessa crouched down, picking up branches one by one, Mr. Ross let out a heavy sigh. It was the first time that the young lady, who was always quiet and keenly observant of others’ moods, had caused trouble like this.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ross. I saw the ledgers.”

A few days ago. Lady Vanessa’s face had been pale with shame and guilt as she made her honest confession.

“I know. You needed money for hospital bills for your back surgery, didn’t you? I’m sorry I couldn’t help you sooner.”

“No, My Lady. No matter how urgent it was, I shouldn’t have done that….”

“It’s also my responsibility for not looking into your circumstances as an employer. So at the very least, you don’t have to apologize to me.”

She was such a quiet and kind lady. The reason she had become so strange must be because of that man. A guest so noble it was awkward even to offer a greeting, staying in the abandoned storehouse of the Rose Garden for the duration of this summer.

Seeing Vanessa repeatedly glancing at ‘River’ even at this moment, it seemed this wasn’t just Mr. Ross’s imagination.

Mr. Ross let out a deep sigh and waved his hand toward the men on the other side of the garden.

“Hey!”

The two men carrying bags of fertilizer on the opposite side turned around at the same time. Vanessa glared at Mr. Ross in horror, but Mr. Ross ignored her reproach and awkwardly signaled for his nephew to come over again.

“Well, the lady says she wants to, uh, tend to the bushes in the Rose Garden first. River… why don’t you… help her out?”

Vanessa pulled her hat down low to hide her bright red face. Was her purpose so obvious even to the gardener?

It was at that moment that River Ross’s eyes narrowed slightly. A sound like a thoughtful ‘hmm’ vibrated in his throat. It was quite a distance away, but Vanessa felt certain she heard it. it was a soft sound, like the fluttering of a summer hummingbird’s wings.

“I’ll do that, then.”

Answering readily, he strode toward the Rose Garden. Flustered by the sudden turn of events, Vanessa jumped up from her seat, then hurriedly picked up her hat that had tumbled onto the dirt floor.

Suddenly, she started worrying about everything—her loosely unraveled hair, the dirt on her hem, and her forehead slightly damp with sweat.

“My Lady.”

Mr. Ross nodded as if telling her to follow him. Vanessa squeezed her hat as if wringing it out and crossed the path with a determined stride. Her steps, which had hesitated briefly in front of the rusted iron gate, quickened again the moment she passed through.

The Rose Garden was already overgrown with weeds. The poplar trees and flower bushes were all left neglected and tall. Since it was the central garden that ‘guests’ saw as they came and went, it seemed there was no time to care for such a secluded spot.

River Ross was already waiting for her in front of the storehouse. Vanessa took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. As she approached River Ross with firm, clear steps, the man suddenly thrust something into both of her hands. That is to say, a watering can and a pair of garden shears.

“…What is this?”

“What you need to tend to the rose bushes. The gardener made the medicine for the diseased branches, so just take some of that. It’s over there. As for the roses, focus on cutting the ones with black spots on the leaves.”

Now completely losing her composure, Vanessa stared blankly back and forth between the objects in her hands, the neglected garden, and River’s face. His expression was nothing but serious. As if he weren’t joking and really intended to start working on the rose bushes now.

“Now, start from this side.”

Amazingly, he was a man who suited an authoritative tone and attitude strangely well. Even though he was the one hired as a worker, not her. The leaves swayed like waves in a wind that blew as restlessly as her heart.

The wide-brimmed gardening hat he was wearing tilted back, revealing a handsome face suitably warmed by the summer sun. Along with a smile that sparkled lazily yet playfully.

“Why, Vanessa? Were you expecting something?”