Translator: Nox

Chapter 3

River Ross, who had been staring blankly at Theodore’s question, suddenly snapped to attention. His superior did not take kindly to dazed behavior.

“I’ll likely be… heading south. To Gloucester Castle.”

“Gloucester Castle? Is that your hometown?”

“Oh, no, sir. My uncle has been working as a gardener for the Somerset family for a long time. They need extra hands this summer, so I was planning to go down and help out.”

Theodore stared at his excessively diligent subordinate, briefly lost for words. Feeling the weight of that silence as an obligation to explain further, River Ross hurriedly added more.

“I thought it would be better to help out than to just lounge around during leave. The air is good at Gloucester Castle, and there’s a river nearby that’s great for swimming. My uncle said I could stay in one of the empty storehouses. He said the Earl of Somerset gave his permission quite readily.”

Of course he did; he’s welcoming a free, able-bodied laborer with open arms. Theodore curled his lip in a cynical smirk, biting back the caustic words he couldn’t bring himself to say to the Sergeant’s face. There was no way this easygoing subordinate of his was capable of looking out for his own interests.

Then again, who was he to worry about anyone else? In a few hours, he would be surrounded by the wolves of high society, forced to attend an endless string of exhausting events. The mere thought of it brought on a wave of fatigue and a budding headache.

“The train to Bath should be arriving shortly. Well then, if you’ll excuse me, Captain…”

“Ah. Right.”

Theodore nodded dismissively, signaling him to go, but his movements froze in that instant. It was the exact moment the train, heated by the southern sun, screeched to a halt before them, and the shimmering waves of heat rose from the tracks.

“You seem to have no zest for life.”

At the sudden echo of the past, Theodore slowly exhaled the breath he’d been holding. The whisper of the dead scorched his mind like a siren’s song. In a hallucination, a sick man’s thin hand tapped lightly against his heart.

“Beyond fulfilling your duties, you don’t seem to enjoy living much at all. I suppose you’ll keep on like that. Just once, I’d like to see you follow this instead of calculating everything with your head.”

“This?”

“Your heart. Your impulses or desires.”

It came upon him with startling suddenness. Perhaps it was because the sunlight was exceptionally fine today, the breeze was cool, and the sky was just too clear. Because of that.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“Pardon?”

Theodore flashed a picture-perfect smile at River Ross, who was staring at him with wide eyes. While those lucky enough to encounter the Captain’s smile were usually busy showering him with admiration, River was one of the few who felt a sense of foreboding at the sight of that face.

“You said your relative is in the south?”

“Yes, sir. But…”

“I believe I’ll join you on that wholesome summer vacation of yours.”

“Wh-what?”

As River Ross stood there in a daze, the doors of the train opened behind him. It spewed a cloud of gray smoke, much like the Sergeant’s now-uncertain future.

---

The twins of the Winchester family arrived late in the afternoon. Fortunately, while Baron Howard’s arrival had been delayed several days due to car trouble, the vehicle carrying the twins passed through the main gates of Gloucester Castle exactly on schedule.

Vanessa ran out gladly to greet her old friends. Though they had parted only a few weeks ago, the joy of meeting outside the school grounds made the reunion feel fresh. While the Winchester servants moved the large traveling trunks, the three sat in the grand drawing room overlooking the garden and caught up.

“Just ruin your makeup completely,” Rosalyn advised with a serious face.

Blair crunched on a sugar cube and chimed in. “Or act like you’ve got a screw loose.”

“How about bursting into tears the moment you see him?”

“Or just act dreadfully provincial. I can lend you our grandmother’s old dresses if you want.”

“…Why on earth did you even bring those?” Blair asked, looking appalled.

Rosalyn shrugged nonchalantly. “To take photos in front of the temple in Santra. I wanted the exact same composition as the photos Grandmother took during her Grand Tour.”

“Wouldn’t that just make him like her more? Baron Howard must be nearly seventy by now.”

“Oh.”

Rosalyn’s exclamation sounded more like a gag. It was a stomach-turning age gap. A girl nearly twenty and an old man pushing seventy.

“I’m just so jealous of you two,” Vanessa said honestly, stretching her long limbs out. She leaned back, sinking deep into the plush sofa. It was a breach of etiquette, but the only person who entered this room besides them was the maid who brought ice when the bell was rung.

“A Grand Tour. You’ll actually get to see the palaces in Hessen, the temples in Santra, and the battleship museum in Espeda…”

“Why don’t you come with us? We can cover the costs.”

“You know a woman can’t do anything without her legal guardian’s permission. And my uncle is eager to finalize this ‘transaction.’”

Transaction. Using that word brought a sting of misery, but there was no other way to describe her situation so accurately.

Unlike Rosalyn, who was huffing with indignation, Blair took a leisurely sip of his tea and set the cup down on the saucer with a click.

“Should I help you out, Somerset?”

Vanessa’s half-closed eyes snapped open. Blair’s pale blue eyes were fixed on her.

“Help me?”

“What if we announce that you and I are in a relationship?”

Vanessa’s cat-like eyes widened into circles.

“You and I? Blair Fabian Winchester, who already has a fiancée?”

“I’ll explain it to Cissy separately.”

“A vague thing like a ‘relationship’ won’t make my uncle give up. If anything, he’ll just increase the surveillance.”

“He might find the Winchester heir a bit more appetizing.”

Blair shrugged as he answered. Despite his playful and lighthearted tone, he was quite serious. For some time now, he had felt a certain desire for Vanessa. It was too lukewarm to be called love, still closer to a sense of possessiveness over a long-time childhood friend.

A girl who was beautiful yet poor, seemingly demure yet bold. Looking into Vanessa’s moist gray eyes, he felt he could understand how the sailors were lured by the sirens.

“You’ve truly lost your mind, little brother,” Rosalyn interjected, arching an eyebrow elegantly. “That’s a terrible thing to do to Cissy. She’s already so conscious of the two of you.”

“That’s not Vanessa’s fault. Nor is it because our mothers were best friends.”

“Spare me the sophistry.”

“Besides, Cissy needs to see more of the world. In this day and age, she has a private governess instead of going to school, and she takes bridal lessons instead of a Grand Tour. I wouldn’t be able to stand living with her for an hour; it would be too boring.”

“That’s enough of that.”

“Vanessa is much better.”

“Blair Fabian Winchester.”

A faint note of anger seeped into Rosalyn’s level voice. It would be one thing if Blair were truly pursuing her, but half-baked pity and lukewarm desire would only make everyone miserable.

Furthermore, rumors always had a way of spiraling toward the scandalous, regardless of intent. For Blair, it might be dismissed as a temporary lapse in judgment, but in the end, Vanessa would be the only one ruined.

An unmarried woman who took a lover without shame.

The world was changing by the day, yet people still obsessed over a woman’s purity. That age-old custom was beyond tiresome; it was horrific. Yet, as long as they were born nobles, it was a yoke they could not escape. Rosalyn, Vanessa, and even Blair knew this.

“Yes, Blair. Put an end to the joking.”

Vanessa smoothed her troubled expression and walked to the window. They were all born with blue blood. They had been taught since they could walk that sincere alliances between families could not be disrupted by personal feelings. Moreover, Cissy’s family, the Brontes, was a far superior match than her own Somerset family, which was now little more than a name.

“If you even pretend to abandon her, the Marquis of Winchester will faint on the spot.”

“It’ll be a miracle if you aren’t sold off to some wealthy woman in the New World immediately after,” Rosalyn added cynically.

Vanessa gave a small laugh. Yes, those were the times. An era where technology advanced and commoners refused to live as tenant farmers any longer. Traditional aristocrats, whose wealth was tied to land, were slowly declining, while those who moved quickly to the New World amassed fortunes through slave labor, and factories equipped with the latest machinery lined the riverbanks.

“Still, Vanessa. If it becomes truly unbearable, tell us anytime.”

Standing by the half-open window and feeling the breeze, Vanessa glanced back at Rosalyn’s voice. Her friend’s face, usually so composed, was filled with a rare look of worry.