The storm that had raged all evening subsided.
Olivia took a deep breath.
'If you weren't in my womb… Elena, my daughter, could have had a fresh start. So, you must be useful, even for your mother’s sake.'
Count Blanchett, having gathered the bank guarantee, identification card, and passport, looked down at Olivia, who was collapsed on the floor of the chaotic room, with contempt before turning and leaving.
It had been a night stained with merciless violence. Anne sobbed, but for some reason, Olivia couldn't shed a tear.
Six years old. After the business failed, her father passed away, and her mother left home, leaving her all alone. Han Ji-an survived.
Everything was a mess, and it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, but she didn't cry then either. Crying wouldn't solve anything.
After all, this world was full of problems that couldn't be solved or controlled.
Nevertheless, she didn't give up on life.
"Don't cry, Anne."
It was a second life given as a gift.
I can't let them take everything away like this.
Even if she felt suffocated by the despairing reality, she had to struggle as long as she hadn't stopped breathing.
That was how Han Ji-an had lived. She had faced the harsh world head-on and lived that way.
"Everything will be alright."
Olivia whispered, embracing the small, trembling back.
"Did you open your account here?"
Olivia snapped out of her thoughts at the employee's surprised question.
"No. I did it at Lemonde. The Lemonde branch in Rondo."
"Are you from Rondo?"
"Yes."
The employee was thoroughly businesslike.
"It will take some time to verify. What's your name?"
"……."
"Your name."
"……Oh, Olivia Blanchett."
The Rose Ball scandal was no exception, even for the rigid banker who only knew numbers.
That Olivia?
The employee, now wide awake, craned his neck and stared intently at the woman's face through the bars. The man's eyes widened as he pulled up the glasses that were perched on the tip of his nose.
The shameless woman who coveted the necklace Anne Boleyn wore and even the princess's ex-lover. The woman the gossip rags were claiming had even followed the princess in getting a divorce was standing right in front of him.
Now that he knew it was Olivia Blanchett, her strangely seductive makeup made sense. If he had a face like that, he would fall for her a hundred times over.
"May I see your ID?"
"That's… I don't have it with me."
"What about your passport?"
"I don't have that either."
The employee looked up at Olivia.
"You don't have them?"
"No."
When he asked again, he was finally able to see the woman's face instead of the large hat. Her beautiful face was a mess. Could the princess have done something terrible to her?
No, that couldn't be. He shook his head. Not that kind, elegant, and devoted person.
"It was stolen along with the guarantee. Is there no other way? I have to stop it."
The woman, wearing vulgar makeup unlike a Litten lady, seemed quite desperate. Even that appearance was so captivating that the brain of the bank employee, hardened by profit and loss calculations, softened.
She was a person guaranteed by leading daily newspapers.
Well, her face wasn't in the photos published in the newspaper.
If it weren't for the stern bank manager, he would have solved it nicely on his own and had a wonderful day leading to a dinner date.
"First, you should go to the police station and report it. Then go to the consulate and get your ID and passport reissued. That seems to be the order. Ms. Blanchett."
The woman's disappointment made his heart uneasy, but thinking of the bank manager who could curse with his eyes, this was the best an ordinary employee could do.
"What do I do now?"
"Let's go to the consulate first."
Olivia and Anne, who had come outside, quickly caught a carriage and headed to the Rondo consulate.
However, Olivia couldn't get the answer she wanted from the consulate employee either. He was even stricter than the bank employee.
"It will take about ten days to reissue your ID."
"Ten days?"
Count Blanchett would have already arrived in Rondo.
It would take only two days to forge a power of attorney with Olivia's ID, take the train to the capital, Leiden, and handle the matter at the International Bank headquarters.
She had to block the account before that. Ten days?
"Can't it be done any faster? Please."
"Unless we fly from here to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Leiden, and even if we did, I can't guarantee how diligent the officials there will be."
Olivia calmly calmed herself and explained the situation in detail once again.
"I understand the situation well enough. I understand, but there is no way. How would you like to fill out the application?"
The employee consistently gave perfunctory answers.
"……Is there really no way?"
Olivia couldn't back down.
The consulate employee, from Leiden, the capital of the Kingdom of Rondo, was a patriot.
He loved Rondo, respected the hero of his country, Duke of Edinburgh, and revered Yohan the most among his sons.
He couldn't possibly like a woman who had brought disgrace to such an honorable family. He wouldn't want to help even if there was a way. He probably would have felt that way if the face of the woman rumored to be a femme fatale wasn't covered in wounds.
Who is beating her like this? That was why the rigid employee's heart softened. The fact that he was far away in a foreign country also made his sense of kinship stronger.
"If you have a guarantor who can vouch for Ms. Blanchett's identity, it can be done right away."
"A guarantor?"
For the first time, a spark flickered in her bruised eyes. The blue eyes were pure in the bloodshot whites of her eyes. Being captivated by those clear eyes narrowed his field of thought.
"It must be someone with credibility. Someone who can take full responsibility if something happens to Ms. Blanchett. For example, Marquess Lancelot."
Of course, that powerful and arrogant man wouldn't bother with a divorced woman he had spent a night with and gotten caught up in a scandal. He could bet his entire fortune on that fact.
The woman would come to her senses at the man's cold refusal.
The consulate employee thought as he watched Olivia quickly leave the office.
***
The woman who got out of the black carriage ran towards the hotel's main entrance. Her face was hidden by a cumbersome hat, but it was Olivia Blanchett.
"Ms. Blanchett."
Edgar, who was about to get into his carriage for a lunch appointment, stopped her. The woman stopped climbing the stairs and turned around. The hem of her skirt swirled and rippled.
"Ah! Mr. Lancelot."
The tone of her voice, filled with delight, wasn't bad.
No. It was quite good.
The shadow had disappeared. In the midday sun, the woman's wide hat brim fluttered in the wind as she ran towards him.
Her skin was particularly white today, and the sight of her tacky eye makeup and lip color made him chuckle.
Then, the woman's wounded face, which had stopped in front of him, caught his eye. The terrible result of last night's indifference.
Edgar had heard about the situation in the room where Count Blanchett was staying through the manager, but he hadn't ordered any special measures.
He looked at the woman with sunken eyes. He was a very barbaric old man in the way he treated his granddaughter.
"Your face. What happened?"
"Ah… this. Somehow… I fell."
"Somehow?"
"……Yes. Just, somehow. More than that, I have something to tell you. Are you busy now?"
She avoided his gaze, but then looked up at Edgar again with determined eyes.
"Is it urgent?"
"Yes. Very."
The woman's blue eyes were filled with anxiety.
"I can listen to you while we go. Would you like to ride with me?"
Edgar politely extended his hand. The woman took his hand without hesitation for the first time.
He smiled gentlemanly and helped her into the carriage. As he captured the cornered herbivore, he felt a slight twinge of conscience that he didn't even have.
Even at this moment, flashes were probably going off somewhere.
Hidden by the midday sun and the noise of the street. There was no better hunting ground than in front of the hotel to hunt for upper-class gossip.
As the carriage moved, the golden hotel slowly receded. A peaceful landscape flowed outside the window, and silence flowed between the two.
Edgar leaned back in his seat and enjoyed this sweet tranquility for a moment. He had no need to be in a hurry.
The woman was fidgeting with her clasped hands. Only the large hat with the pink ribbon came into view instead of her face.
The ribbon swayed back and forth with the jolting movement of the carriage. He suddenly wondered what the woman's expression was under the shadow of the hat.
"So. What's the urgent matter?"
Only then did Olivia slowly raise her head.
She didn't want to get involved with this man again. But the world had no interest in Olivia's decision.
Please let me live quietly and peacefully.
Perhaps because there were so many people praying to God, Olivia's wish seemed to have been omitted. Otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting face to face with Edgar Lancaster Lancelot.
Olivia lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Tell me."
It was a soft voice.
When she left the consulate, she thought she could ask a little brazenly, but she couldn't bring herself to speak.
It was all because of that absurd scandal. Wasn't this man a little responsible too?
That confidence had disappeared somewhere when she actually faced the man, and instead, a sense of shame returned. The thought that he was also an innocent victim of the false rumors made her speechless.
But, if this continues…….
Olivia took a breath, organized her thoughts, and carefully began to speak.
"We made a bet. To grant a wish."
"Ah! The bet."
Edgar smiled.
"I remember."
He remembered.
Olivia was finally relieved. Now this had become a somewhat legitimate request.
"Grant that wish. Now."
Her earnest plea rang out clearly.
