Chapter 21
~Chapter 21~
“You couldn’t possibly read every single one of those letters, so isn’t that why I’ve gone ahead and sorted them for you?”
Normally, everything was forwarded straight to Trisha, but the sheer volume of mail at year’s end was simply overwhelming. Letters from known senders were sent directly to her, while those from unfamiliar names were first checked by the butler, Andre. Only the ones he deemed worth her time were passed along.
As the seasoned butler swiftly sorted through the stack of letters, his hand paused upon touching an envelope without a noble family crest.
“Harriet Listerwell?”
Was this name truly unfamiliar? It was the first time receiving a letter from her, but Andre, who kept tabs on all the major and minor rumors of high society for his mistress, already knew it well. Besides, the Listerwell family was Trisha’s own natal house.
“Should I just pass this along? Or check it myself first?”
Andre hesitated, tapping the letter thoughtfully, then finally placed it on the silver tray. The shabby envelope stood out starkly amid the New Year’s cards from Trisha’s longtime acquaintances.
“Ma’am, today’s mail.”
Trisha, who had been sitting on the sofa by the fireplace reading the newspaper, looked up as Andre brought the tray and gave a brief nod.
“Set it there. I’ll read them later.”
The elderly woman with brown hair streaked with white, neatly combed back, had a somewhat stern impression due to her arched eyebrows. But her bright blue eyes sparkled with sharp intellect.
As Trisha tried to finish the editorial in the newspaper, she noticed her loyal butler hesitating and turned her head again.
Meeting her puzzled gaze, Andre bowed his head.
“Most of them are New Year’s cards from your acquaintances, but there’s also a letter from an unexpected sender mixed in. I considered opening it first, but somehow it didn’t feel right for me to do so.”
At his words, Trisha arched an eyebrow slightly and extended her hand. Andre quickly picked up Harriet’s letter and handed it to her.
Trisha checked the sender’s name and frowned in surprise.
“Why would this girl write to me…? Ah, could it be?”
Without hesitation, she tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter. The paper quality was poor, but the handwriting on it was neat and elegant.
“To my dear Great-Aunt Trisha, first, I pray that fortune follows you throughout the new year. I wish you good health. You might be startled by this sudden letter. I am Harriet Listerwell, daughter of Arthur Listerwell. Thirteen years ago, I visited Wellhav territory with my parents to see my grandmother—perhaps you remember me.”
One corner of Trisha’s mouth curved up.
“Of course I remember. You didn’t exactly give me a chance to forget, did you, my dear grandniece?”
Scandals surrounding the Listerwell family were everywhere you turned. After Arthur’s death, Trisha had all but cut ties with the family, but she had long believed that John, who was supposed to protect Harriet, was failing her in many ways.
In any case, her thoughts reached that point, and she could roughly guess the letter’s purpose.
And sure enough, the main point soon followed.
“She wants me to be her guardian….”
“Pardon? Her guardian?”
Andre, standing beside her, asked in surprise. He seemed to have caught on to the letter’s content as well.
Trisha chuckled lowly.
“Arthur’s daughter is bolder than I expected.”
“Bolder? Her reputation in that regard is already quite notorious, isn’t it?”
“Well, I think those rumors have been greatly exaggerated.”
She knew well how rumors involving affairs or romance were sensationalized and inflated.
“She must have been perfect fodder for people to chew over.”
John Listerwell was Harriet’s guardian, yet he hadn’t protected her at all.
When a child makes a mistake out of a desire to be loved, and the adult meant to guide and protect her fails to do so, who should be blamed?
“And now, it seems the child who was effectively banished from society due to that adult’s negligence is plotting something.”
Though the request seemed presumptuous, the letter carried no desperation, which piqued Trisha’s curiosity.
“Intriguing.”
Trisha’s eyes gleamed with amusement as she finished reading. Something entertaining seemed about to enter her otherwise dull life.
The first news to heat up the New Year’s social season was that Daphne Laurel had been jilted.
It was the story of none other than Daphne Laurel, one of high society’s most revered beauties.
“Weren’t those two engaged for quite a while?”
“I think it was about five years? I heard they were marrying this year, and now this. Tsk, tsk….”
“Why did they break it off? They seemed like such a perfect match.”
“Exactly.”
The rumors grew, fed by speculation and curiosity, heedless of the parties’ pain.
“Sniff… sob… waaah….”
“Daphne, you’ll collapse like this. Please eat something, won’t you?”
The Countess Laurel once again tried to soothe her endlessly weeping daughter. But Daphne just shook her head and cried even more piteously.
Her precious daughter, raised with utmost care since childhood and praised by many families as the perfect bride, had been suddenly discarded without explanation. Daphne wasn’t the only one suffering. Her parents’ hearts burned too.
The Count Laurel, who had been pacing the room while watching his daughter’s mood, suddenly exploded in anger.
“That insolent bastard! How dare he declare a broken engagement now? What are we supposed to do with our Daphne?!”
In such situations, the woman always suffered the greatest damage from a broken engagement. A woman’s past—even if it was merely a prior betrothal to another man—was seen as a blemish, often forcing her into a less advantageous match later.
“My life is over. I can’t even go outside anymore. Everyone will gossip about me—how could I step out of the house?”
For days, she had done nothing but weep, refusing food and drink. Everything felt like regret, driving her to the brink of madness.
‘I should have spoken to him when I sensed something was off. No, even the day after Melody visited, I should have called James….’
She blamed herself, wondering if all this stemmed from her fear of facing James too soon.
Daphne berated her own indecisiveness and cowardice time and again. But wasn’t it natural not to easily believe the betrayal of her once-kind fiancé? She had assumed it was some misunderstanding and quietly waited when he asked her to. She believed he would eventually explain everything clearly and apologize, saying, “I’m sorry for making you misunderstand.”
But all that returned was a cold “notice of broken engagement.”
“How could he do this? It’s not just between us—it involves our families too….”
The broken engagement severely damaged relations between the Laurel family—excellent partners in the railway business—and the Cheslow family. James’s father, Count Cheslow, expressed some regret but couldn’t override his son’s decision, leaving Count Laurel furious at the Cheslows’ betrayal of trust.
Daphne felt such guilt over the shame she’d brought her father that she wanted to die.
‘Please come back, James. If you just apologize and say it was a mistake, I’ll forgive everything. Please.’
That day too, Daphne wrote yet another tear-stained letter to James. She had already sent more than five, but not a single reply had come. Still, she clung to the hope that he might be conflicted and reconsidering.
However, a few days later, even that faint hope shattered.
“Oh my, look over there! Isn’t that James Cheslow with Lady Bella Listerwell?”
“Heavens! It is! So Bella Listerwell has taken Daphne Laurel’s place?”
“There were rumors of them together before, but it turns out they were true!”
James brought Bella as his partner to the New Year’s party at Cheslow Manor.
Most people found James’s decision puzzling. Bella was undoubtedly a beauty, but so was Daphne, and in terms of family prestige, the Baron Listerwell household couldn’t compare to the Count Laurel house.
But it was clear James was utterly captivated by Bella.
“Looks like Count Cheslow lost to his son this time. Well, no parent beats their child, as they say.”
“If the other party is Bella Listerwell, it’s understandable. Plenty of men envy James, right?”
“Still, breaking off with Lady Laurel and bringing Lady Listerwell right away? Isn’t that a bit much? What about poor Daphne?”
Some pitied Daphne, while others understood James’s actions. At the same time, everyone found Bella’s behavior unexpected. No matter how much James pursued her, stealing another woman’s fiancé didn’t fit her angelic image.
‘Idiots.’
Bella flashed a sweet smile at Daphne’s friends glaring coldly at her. Their expressions hardened further in anger, but to Bella, they were merely amusing spectators.
“Another letter from Daphne. I had no idea she was so obsessive.”
Just yesterday, James had shown Bella Daphne’s letter with an irritated tone.
