Chapter 40
As Lottie stepped down from the carriage, her father strode down the steps. Lottie surreptitiously wiped her eyes, which had been red since entering the fig tree-lined path, and gave her father a bright smile.
“Have you been well, Father!”
“Healthy as a young man, except for the pining from not being able to see you. And was your journey pleasant, Aunt?”
“Indeed. I believe I was quite pleasant right up until the moment I had to witness your peculiar brand of daughter-doting.”
Everyone burst into laughter at Isabel’s harmless teasing.
After a brief rest to recover from the journey, Lottie sat down for dinner with her great-aunt and father.
For some, it was a dinner after three months; for another, it was a family meal ten years in the making.
The flickering light from the ceiling, the neat meal spread across the solid oak table, and her father’s low voice accompanied by the clinking of cutlery.
Whenever her throat tightened at these sights and sounds, Lottie unnecessarily dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin.
“It is a pity. You worked so hard to uncover the truth behind the murder case, only for the perpetrator to meet such an end…”
“I am fine, but I worry for the children left behind at the Britte estate. To have their mother die so horribly before their eyes, and then for their father to end up like that…”
Robert and Isabel, who had been conversing in low voices, caught sight of Lottie sitting across from them and fell silent simultaneously.
A murder case was hardly an appropriate topic to discuss in front of an innocent daughter.
“How was your time in the Capital? I read every single one of your letters, but I would love to hear the stories in your own chirping voice.”
Robert, who had been gauging her reaction, asked Lottie in a deliberately light tone.
Lottie, who had been quietly sniffing, flinched at her father’s question.
The moment had come. Her great-aunt, sitting opposite her, was sending her a meaningful look.
Lottie lowered the napkin that had been covering her nose and mouth and slowly cleared her throat.
There is a man in the Capital I’ve promised to marry. He is likely a man you both know well.
How could she explain this calmly and persuasively?
“Actually…”
Just as the intensity of their gazes felt as though it might set her lips on fire, hurried footsteps approached the dining room.
“Master!”
“What is it, Coleman? Why such haste…”
Coleman, who had rushed in with an uncharacteristically frantic pace, whispered something to Robert. Robert’s face stiffened instantly.
Having delivered his message, Coleman bowed politely, just as he had upon entering, and left the room.
“What is it, Father? What did Coleman say?”
Lottie asked as a heavy silence settled over the table.
In an ordinary household, a girl might have been scolded for meddling in business that didn’t concern her, but Lottie’s father was a man who respected his daughter’s intelligence above all else.
Robert, having fully processed Coleman’s words, spoke heavily.
“It seems the ship carrying the exiled Prince Calyx has gone missing in the Balcote Strait. Word is, there is a high probability it has sunk.”
Her father went on to express concern over the ripples this incident would cause in the political world.
If the mysterious disappearance were revealed to be a deliberate sinking, a storm would surely sweep through the central government to root out those responsible.
Isabel was not entirely unmoved either. After all, she had been standing face-to-face with the man, exchanging conversation, until very recently.
“…!”
Lottie, who should have been the most shocked in this moment, was instead eerily still.
She felt nothing. She was simply blank.
It’s a lie, isn’t it?
That can’t be. He said he would return. He promised.
“…”
As Lottie sat frozen like a doll whose clockwork had run down, Robert and Isabel suddenly looked at each other.
A meaningful look passed between the two.
Just as Robert was about to rouse the dazed Lottie, someone knocked outside the dining room.
“A guest has arrived, Master.”
The dining room door opened, and a man stepped inside.
A guest? This was news to her.
Lottie slowly turned her head and looked at the man who had entered. In that brief moment, a magical spark of hope flared up, only to…
“Forgive me for being late for dinner, Count.”
…be extinguished like a candle in the wind.
Lottie let out a hollow laugh at the sight of the tall young man standing before her.
It wasn’t him.
“Not at all. We have only just begun. Please, sit. Here, across from my daughter.”
A young man with straw-colored curly hair sat diagonally across from Lottie.
Seeing him exchange natural greetings with her great-aunt, it seemed Lottie was the only one unaware that a guest had been expected.
When his eyes met Lottie’s, the man blushed slightly and bowed his head.
“Lottie. This is Ron Garnet-gun, the second son of the Garnet family who moved to our parish. Garnet-gun, this is my daughter, Charlotte.”
Her father, sitting at the head of the table, introduced the two.
Hearing her father’s pleased voice, it seemed this gathering was not intended solely for a long-awaited family reunion.
Lottie shot a glance at her great-aunt, who surely knew the whole story, but she simply avoided her gaze naturally.
I knew it. Since I was lukewarm about marriage the whole time I was in the Capital, Great-Aunt must have put ideas in Father’s head…
As much as she wanted to storm out of the room, she couldn’t bring herself to disgrace her father’s honor.
Lottie remained as silent as possible, praying for this uncomfortable time to end quickly.
Once the meal was over, her father naturally went to smoke a pipe with Ron.
Lottie claimed she had an upset stomach and said she would go for a walk around the house. When her great-aunt insisted on coming along, Lottie left her hat and parasol behind to signal that she would be back momentarily.
Though it was long past dinner, the sky was only just beginning to turn a rosy hue. This was because the summer days in Matila were exceptionally long.
Lottie walked quickly along the path near the house, feeling the cool evening air.
I just need to deal with Ron Garnet in an appropriate way. That’s not even an issue. The problem is…
She walked until her ankles were splattered with dirt, but the suffocating feeling in her heart wouldn’t lift.
No. He’s the kind of man who will show up perfectly fine as if nothing happened. Don’t let it get to you. Focus on what you have to do.
But what if those words were true?
What if Padrick or someone else had targeted that man and put a hole in the bottom of the ship? What if he had sunk to the bottom of the deep sea along with it?
What if… she could never see that man again?
Then what… what am I supposed to do?
Her steps gradually came to a halt.
An answer to the question didn’t come immediately. She felt adrift. Her clenched hands shook faintly.
She remembered herself earlier in the dining room, before she had turned to look at Ron Garnet—how she had hoped, for a split second, that it might be him.
Slowly, she raised her hands and buried her face in them.
It was dark. Everything before her.
“Lottie?”
Lottie slowly lowered the hands that had covered her face.
With straw-colored curly hair, Ron Garnet was standing a short distance away from her.
“…Mr. Garnet.”
“Oh dear. Since you address me so stiffly, I feel quite embarrassed for having taken the liberty of calling you by your nickname.”
As he slowly approached, a strong scent of pipe smoke drifted from him. Judging by his slight panting, it seemed he had hurried over after hearing she was here.
Lottie stared blankly at his confident face, which clearly stemmed from the elders’ approval.
“I believe there has been a misunderstanding. I have only just arrived from the Capital, and I heard nothing about today’s meeting. Whatever the intent, today is not a particularly appropriate time.”
“I am not trying to do anything. I simply came here to commit myself to the beautiful friendship between our two families. Just as I respect both my family and yours, My Lady, I expect you will do the same.”
He meant that for the sake of the family’s honor and progress, it would be best to submissively accept the relationship the elders had arranged.
If nothing else, he was certainly a tiresome fellow. Lottie, whose head felt as though it might explode from complexity, gave a cold snort.
She had intended to send him away politely, but that wouldn’t do.
“Mr. Garnet.”
“I told you to call me Ron.”
“Do you think I spent my time in the Capital guarding my purity like some Holy Mother?”
Ron’s face stiffened instantly at the remark, which she spat out without a change in expression.
“What…?”
“In the center of Ronvernon, there are six department stores that see up to ten thousand visitors a day.”
She had gone from talking about the Holy Mother and purity to suddenly mentioning department stores.
Ron, who had never left his hometown of Dempis since birth, furrowed his brows.
“When the store manager in his logo-adorned hat opens the grand doors, brilliant displays stretch out on either side.”
Her calm voice continued regardless.
“The goods are all top-quality items that aren’t easily seen, nothing but sparkling things. And that’s not all. The clerks tell you it’s fine if you don’t buy right away, just to try touching them. As if they’ll wait in that spot for you forever until you return.”
“What does that have to do with—!”
“It means that my last three months in Ronvernon were exactly like that.”
Lottie’s eyes curved softly.
“When gentlemen are lined up like a department store, anxious for even a single touch from me, do you think an inferior product like you would even catch my eye?”
If Ron had stepped back gracefully when she said today wasn’t the day, she wouldn’t have gone this far. Lottie thought to herself as she watched Ron’s face begin to turn beet red.
But she didn’t feel sorry. She didn’t have the luxury to spare any sympathy for him.
“You… do you know your father is trying to marry me to you when you say those things? And… why have you been speaking so casually to me this whole time?”
“You were the one who spoke casually first. I’m telling you this beforehand precisely because I know my father’s intentions. The woman who is to be your wife is not one who can be satisfied with an ordinary night life.”
“…!”
“Can you handle that? Ron.”
His name, flowing from her delicate face, sounded utterly wicked. Ron’s jaw dropped, and he couldn’t seem to close it.
Now that I’ve dealt with this side, the problem is how to persuade Father and Great-Aunt…
…Persuade them?
How?
When that man is already gone from this world?
I’ll just have to try.
