Chapter 65
Blair swallowed a low groan. He reached out and slowly pulled his sobbing sister into his arms. Their hearts beat in the same rhythm, offering a mournful sense of comfort.
“Don’t think about anything. Just rest, Rosalyn.”
When he closed his eyes, the memories of that day remained vivid. A young girl on a summer day, her hair tied up high, wearing a white dress. A small face smiling back at him from beneath a lush, leafy tree; cheeks flushed fresh with the heat; beads of sweat on the nape of her neck; full lips; the scent of wild strawberries on every breath….
Those first moments when he thought he must protect her.
Blair.
He snapped his head up at the vivid auditory hallucination. A laugh as clear as a bell rang in his ears, as if she might spring out from the darkness at any moment.
He stared blankly into the void before a twisted smile touched his lips. The end of a relationship so mangled it could no longer be mended was this miserable and desolate. Like a pile of ash left behind by a wildfire, or the skeletal branches of a tree in the freezing bite of winter.
Perhaps it was a relationship that should never have begun. Their friendship, even in its finest moments, had been nothing more than a malformed imitation of someone else’s. Rosalyn had followed her mother, whom she had both hated and loved all her life; Vanessa had acted out of a soul-crushing loneliness; and he….
A trembling breath escaped through his clenched teeth. It had been an enduring deception. Not for a single moment had he ever thought of Vanessa as just a friend—not even in those naive childhood days when they first met. It was a feeling he had harbored deeply, hidden even from his twin sister.
He had believed that one day, all her firsts would be his, and all his firsts would belong to her.
But there are moments when one must give up even the things they swore they would never let go. Swept away like a tidal wave, crushed like a landslide, pushed by a force far beyond human control.
A single tear rolled down his long-dry cheek. Perhaps, only now, could he finally let her go….
“This is unexpected. I was certain the Duke was the one leading the scandal.”
It was the private room of a third clubhouse, moved to avoid the trailing reporters. Theodore stared across from him with cold eyes. Instead of the person he had promised to meet, a woman with a now-familiar face occupied the empty seat. Her movements as she handed her rain-soaked coat to the attendant were quite natural.
“I won’t take up much of your time. You seem to have another engagement afterward.”
“Miss Morton.”
The Duke let out a heavy sigh. It was the end of a long, exhausting day. Hailey Morton was the last person he wanted to deal with, especially with his nerves frayed from successive conferences. Just facing her was tiring.
“I believe I’ve warned you enough. I do not welcome meetings of this nature.”
“I decided it didn’t matter what method I used. Even if I had been more polite, I doubt Your Grace would have welcomed a meeting with me. So, I chose the most certain way.”
The woman looked directly at him, a soft smile playing on her lips. He let out a hollow laugh at her appearance: her makeup was minimal and modest compared to last time, her clothing was stiflingly demure, and her hair was half-tied and flowing down.
Hailey Morton’s current look was nothing more than a diligent imitation of Vanessa.
“So, did you blackmail the club owner with his weaknesses again?”
“Oh, my. That wasn’t blackmail; it was cooperation. And this time, the Dowager Duchess helped.”
A hint of venom flickered in Hailey Morton’s pretty eyes.
“Because Your Grace simply would not meet with me.”
“I should tell my grandmother that I am utterly incompatible with her choice for a granddaughter-in-law.”
“Is that necessary? I am likely your best option as well.”
Theodore set down his quill and leaned back in his chair. His posture suggested he would at least hear what she had to say. Even if he avoided her now, she would surely find another hole to crawl through.
“I am here to propose a contract. Or rather, a deal.”
Theodore let out a low chuckle.
“A deal is only possible when there is something of equal value to exchange. And I fail to see any potential in you, My Lady.”
“What if it concerns Lady Vanessa?”
“That is a subject you have no business meddling in, Miss Morton.”
“You’re going to need a shield.”
It was that word that stopped him from calling the attendant to remove her. A shield.
“That scandal is far too filthy for an unmarried woman. At this rate, no one will even look at her. She will be literally ousted from society.”
“…….”
“An affair with a commoner would be better. But the rumor that she sold her body for money… no matter what you’ve prepared for, it will be worse. In newspapers, weeklies, and any gathering of people, she will be crushed like the greatest witch of the age. How many people could endure that process with their sanity intact and without being scarred?”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“If Lady Vanessa were to become the Duchess soon, people might pretend to accept her… but tell me, do you intend to unite with Somerset? With that family?”
Hailey tilted her lips slightly, as if she had already heard the answer without him speaking.
“There is no reason to endure unnecessary bleeding. I’m sure you’ve already done the math.”
“…….”
“There is only one way to restore Lady Vanessa’s honor: to convince everyone that the scandal is nothing more than a malicious, false rumor. An announcement of an engagement would be appropriate. It would be even better if we appeared to be very close.”
“Do I look like the type to endure a marriage just to protect that woman’s honor?”
“If you are sincere enough to give her the ‘Mermaid’s Tear,’ then yes.”
“And why must it be you and not another woman?”
“You will have to choose me.”
There was not a shred of hesitation in her hand as she pulled the brandy glass on the table toward her.
“Because I won’t care who you take as a mistress.”
“Is that because you love Edgar, My Lady?”
Hailey Morton’s smoothly moving lips froze for a moment. Her face, staring back at him palely, finally looked like her own—unlike the confident facade she had been using to imitate someone else.
Her gaze dropped, following her breath which had lost its composure and begun to tremble. It was the first time she had looked like this since he had met her.
“…Love is a luxury. I wish to rise to a higher position. And I want that value to last forever.”
“…….”
“I heard you are infertile.”
Theodore leisurely lifted the glass in front of him. The story Hailey Morton so lightly tossed out was a rumor that had spread through society in whispers. Gossip about a twenty-three-year-old Duke who hadn’t even entered an engagement was bound to be rife.
However, very few knew the truth: that the Duke himself had started the rumor. He had done it to discourage his grandmother’s demands for marriage, to avoid a match with the royal family, and to serve as a convenient excuse to end the ‘Battenberg’ bloodline he had inherited from his terrible parents.
Despite such a fatal rumor, the world hadn’t moved exactly according to his plan, but it seemed he had found someone whose interests aligned with his. A way to end the bloodline, legally and discreetly.
“I only need one child to bear in the future. That is all you have to endure. Since you are cousins with Edgar anyway, the lineage won’t truly change.”
It was a calculation so audacious it was almost laughable.
“After that, I won’t dare care where you go or whom you desire. I can live only at the villa and be a Duchess in name only. Or I could hide your lovely mistress from the cruel eyes of society…. I will do anything. So long as Your Grace passes the Battenberg name to Edgar’s child, whom I will bear.”
Her gaze, now clear again, stared at him.
“And that will be the most stable shield to protect Lady Vanessa for the rest of her life.”
As the end of summer approached, the heat showed no signs of fading; instead, it grew more intense and fierce. There was a brief coolness in the early mornings and late nights, but by midday, the intense sunlight poured down over the lush gardens of Gloucester.
It was a day so hot that sweat gathered even while sitting still. Vanessa sipped on iced apple juice, her cheek resting against the round wooden table.
“I’ll be back soon.”
It was River Ross’s voice, heard for the first time in a long while. Only then did her heart start to beat, her breath come easily, and the muggy wind of the hot season finally feel real. All because of those few words.
