Translator: Nox

Chapter 6

Surprisingly, what flickered across Mary’s pale face was a faint look of favor.

“Ah. You mean Mr. Ross’s nephew?”

“…That man is Mr. Ross’s nephew?”

“Yes. I believe his name is River Ross.”

Vanessa looked at Mary with wide eyes. No matter how generous one was, Mr. Ross was far from a handsome man, and his hair was closer to dark brown than black. Furthermore, her memory of River Ross’s appearance was…

Vanessa cut her runaway thoughts short. Then again, who knew anymore? No one was left in this castle who remembered those days.

“He’s serving as a navy sergeant. Apparently, he fought in the Battle of Potsdam recently and was granted a long leave for his distinguished service.”

The maid, usually so reserved, seemed uncharacteristically excited as she rambled on about him. Of course, the change lasted only a moment. As if suddenly remembering her place, Mary’s face turned bleak again, and she continued with a sigh.

“Well, he’s not the kind of man you’d expect to find in the countryside. Nor is he the kind of man to associate with maids like us.”

At first, Vanessa thought Mary might have been mistaken. However, after that, two more maids gave exactly the same answer as Mary.

River Ross. The nephew of the gardener Hugh Ross, and a noble, honorable sergeant of the Ingram Navy.

Word was he wasn’t seeing anyone, and he was twenty-three years old. He had a tall, imposing stature with a rugged, solid physique to match, and a character so diligent and kind that he had volunteered to come to Gloucester during his summer leave to help his ailing uncle. And above all else, there was that face.

Vanessa bit the end of her pen, her brow furrowed. Seeing it all written down on paper, the qualifications made even less sense.

“Vanessa. What on earth are you thinking about so intently?”

Rosalyn, who had been lounging with an ice pack against her cheek, approached her with unsteady steps. Just how much had she drunk last night? Her face, haggard from the hangover, was paler than ever.

Resting her chin on Vanessa’s head, Rosalyn picked up the paper left on the desk.

“Is this the protagonist of a new novel? A sailor?”

“Something like that.”

“Something like that…?”

Vanessa replied, her gray eyes blinking calmly.

“If there is something you don’t want to sell, you just have to make it so no one wants to buy it.”

“What?”

“What if it developed a flaw so great that no one would dare purchase it?”

She used indirect phrasing, conscious of any eavesdropping ears, but the meaning was clear. Rosalyn looked at Vanessa with an incredulous expression, then shook her head and slumped back onto the couch.

“It would take a massive flaw to make your uncle give up. Your uncle only feels safe while you’re inside Gloucester; the moment you step over the castle threshold, you’re a person followed by all sorts of surveillance. How could you possibly—”

“Exactly. That’s why it’s even more perfect.”

At that strangely ominous answer, Rosalyn sat back up. Vanessa’s porcelain face usually looked quite docile, but her eyes, which slanted upward like a kitten’s, often gave a surprising impression.

Bold despite appearing timid, and generally gentle but never wavering once her mind was set—just like Vanessa’s own nature.

“What kind of wicked plan have you come up with?”

Vanessa gave a bright smile to the bewildered Rosalyn. She felt slightly guilty for hiding the plan even from her best friend, but she had no intention of involving Rosalyn in this matter.

The scandal had to belong solely to Vanessa Syren Somerset. In that sense, River Ross was appropriate in many ways.

Even if things went wrong, he could simply return to the military or apply for an overseas deployment, and as a commoner, he had no honor to protect. His status as the gardener’s nephew was also optimal for ruining a reputation. Furthermore, he was a man who had risen to the rank of sergeant as a commoner in a navy teeming with aristocrats. His competence was as good as proven.

‘He’s also quite physically impressive.’

Vanessa, having evaluated him as lightly as one might grade livestock, smiled as she put away her pen. No matter how much she thought about it, the man was surely an apostle sent by God to save her. For the first time, Vanessa decided to believe in fate.

---

For the next few days, Vanessa watched River Ross from a discreet distance. She didn’t need to do anything extra. Even just sitting by the window in the drawing room, she could see him working in the garden.

From her observations, she realized that River Ross seemed as unfamiliar with gardening as she was. However, his speed in adapting to a task once learned was faster than anyone else’s.

Now, he looked like someone who had spent his whole life cutting dead trees, digging soil, and thinning out bushes. Yet, he never lost his soldierly discipline and composure for a single moment.

“Vanessa. You should be looking at me.”

Vanessa, who had been unconsciously searching for River Ross among the clustered workers, snapped back to her senses. Across the tennis court, Blair was looking at her with a subtle smile.

“If you don’t focus, you’ll lose this time too.”

Vanessa let out a sigh and gripped her tennis racket, taking her stance. She had no idea what had gotten into these twins, who were never usually up in the morning.

Blair, who had been complaining about being restless since early dawn, had finally succeeded in dragging her out to the tennis court. Vanessa toyed with her racket, feeling a strange sense of sentimentality. When she was around ten, she seemed to have quite a competitive streak, but now, it was just exhausting.

Vanessa wiped the sweat dripping down her chin with the back of her hand. Her sweat-soaked blouse clung uncomfortably to her skin.

“Do you want to stop if it’s too hard?”

Blair suggested, tossing her a canteen. Vanessa nodded fervently. Unlike her, who was exhausted, Blair looked as fresh as if he had just taken a light stroll.

After emptying his own canteen, he handed his racket to a servant standing nearby and spoke.

“Rosalyn was worried. She told me to tire you out so you wouldn’t have any other thoughts.”

“Aha… No wonder… you were being so persistent… about playing…”

“Let’s go in. It’ll be perfect to wash up and head out to Bath for lunch. We’ll leave the matter of getting permission from your uncle to Rosalyn.”

It was at the moment she readily nodded in agreement. River Ross was standing alone in a secluded path leading to the Rose Garden. He had skillfully shaken off the maids who had been following him like a pack of sharks. As soon as she saw him, the words jumped out of her mouth before she could think.

“Wait a moment, Blair.”

“Why?”

“I just remembered something I need to say to Mr. Ross. It won’t take long.”

“Is it urgent?”

“Go on inside first. I’ll follow you in a moment.”

“Whoa, don’t push.”

Even though he staggered playfully at her light shove, he looked back at her with a curious gaze.

“You’re not sending me away to go meet another man, are you?”

“…Good heavens.”

“It’s a joke, a joke.”

He shrugged his shoulders, picked up his canteen and towel, and left the court. As soon as Vanessa was certain she was completely out of Blair’s sight, she turned and began to walk quickly. Her heart grew more anxious as the faint, sharp scent of tobacco smoke in the air began to dissipate.

Where did he go? He was definitely here just a moment ago… The path leading to the Rose Garden was overgrown with unkempt weeds that often hid her footing, and the ground was a muddy mess from the rain a few days ago. Having struggled to the end of the path, Vanessa was dismayed to find a wrought-iron gate firmly locked with a padlock.

This was the only path from the back garden, where the tennis court was, to the Rose Garden. If River Ross had tried to come back out the way he came, he would have had to pass her at least once. So, if that wasn’t the case.

‘It means he’s inside.’

Vanessa looked at the garden with conflicted eyes. The iron gate was too high to climb in a voluminous skirt, and it was dangerous, wrapped in dead rose vines. It was evidence of neglect during the three years she had been away at boarding school.

‘This is no time to hesitate.’

Vanessa clenched her hands as if hardening her resolve. She couldn’t change anything by hesitating and standing still. She hurriedly knelt on the ground. She reached her arm through the bars and felt around beneath a tilted statue.

‘I left the key around here somewhere.’

Was her memory wrong because she had been so young? No matter how far she stretched her hand, she couldn’t feel any metal. It was then. Along with a rustling sound, she heard the footsteps of someone approaching. She hurriedly pulled herself up from her crouched position. The presence was drawing closer, heading straight this way.

In her flustered panic, Vanessa failed to see a plank lying on the ground and stepped on it. At that moment, the thin wooden board snapped, and her left foot plunged straight down.

“Ack!”

Vanessa let out a short scream and tumbled straight onto the ground. Her weight shifted onto her twisted ankle, followed by an immense surge of pain.

Vanessa groaned and sat there, clutching her ankle. Only then did she remember the butler’s warning not to go toward the garden for a while. That they had dug up all the ground there for electrical wiring work… It was pathetic how she had forgotten everything in pursuit of her goal.

It was a moment of slight misery as she sat there covered in mud. A dark shadow fell over her head. Like a frost that had no business falling in a summer garden.

“Just what kind of trick is this?”

---

Theodore looked down at the woman sprawled on the ground, an unlit cigarette between his lips. He felt like a character in a cheap play all of a sudden. An unwanted role he had been forcibly dragged onto the stage to perform, without ever asking for it.

Women were always like this. Whenever they stood before him, they would drop all sorts of things, lose their way to their lodgings, stumble on perfectly flat ground, or suddenly fall gravely ill. Every single one was a dramatic, utterly clichéd trick.

Of course, Lady Vanessa’s condition appeared a bit more serious than a mere feigned illness. Her ankle, visible beneath her mud-stained hem, was swelling up into a bruised purple by the second.

Theodore narrowed his characteristically cold eyes and reached out a hand to support the woman. Before being an aristocrat, it was the habit of a soldier to protect the weak.

“You…”

Lady Vanessa gasped and grabbed his arm with a damp, mud-covered hand. Though her grip wasn’t particularly strong, it was desperate enough to feel forceful.

“I have a proposal for you, River Ross.”