Previously
Killian experiences a strange sense of familiarity when Eleanora touches him to prevent a fall, though he reacts harshly out of instinct. After Eleanora leaves, Owen reveals that the intruder is Lady Delamour, whose powerful family is using their royal blood and influence to suppress the scandal.
Both men’s eyes widened so far they seemed ready to pop from their sockets.
Deciding it was better to show the evidence than keep explaining, Eleanora drew out the slip of paper tucked between the pages of her notebook and held it out toward them.
Though bearing faint creases, it remained relatively well preserved thanks to being kept inside the notebook.
The moment Owen saw the handwriting on the paper, an involuntary gasp of astonishment escaped him. Killian, meanwhile, recognized it at once.
( ‘It really is that woman.’ )
She was indeed the very person who had been stalking him.
Owen spoke with blinding speed, scarcely catching his breath. As soon as Killian gave a nod, Owen darted out in a rush to dispatch a telegram.
Setting the paper she held onto the table, Eleanora spoke.
Meanwhile, Killian’s tongue stirred uneasily in his mouth. He wanted to say something along the lines of, ‘You’ve been a tremendous help.’
Killian answered out of sheer reflex. Eleanora offered an awkward smile, as though caught off guard by his reply.
After Eleanora took her leave, Killian pressed a hand over his mouth.
( ‘No. That woman already has feelings for me.’ )
If he showed her even a shred of kindness, she would only grow far too attached to him. This course of action was the right one.
Killian tried to convince himself that he had acted correctly, yet his heart refused to settle.
Though he told himself he would rather never see her again, he found himself unable to tear his gaze away from Eleanora’s retreating back beyond the window.
Once Killian’s side presented the evidence proving Marquis Delamour’s daughter had relentlessly stalked him, word reached Marquis Delamour, who quietly made his way to Oakbridge.
He had never been blind to his daughter’s long-standing obsession with Killian. Despite projecting confidence, he had secretly dreaded that Killian might uncover the truth.
Yet once the proof came to light, everything crumbled in an instant.
Killian reluctantly yielded to the Marquis’s urgent plea.
To tell the truth, he was hardly pleased to see it conclude this way, but the woman knew about his deep aversion toward women.
Even as she was being dragged away by force, she continued to shriek those very words.
Fortunately, everyone present, including the Marquis, took it for nothing more than the ravings of an unhinged woman.
In any case, considering her condition, having her isolated as quickly as possible was the best outcome.
Holding his wife Emily’s hand firmly, Owen spoke as she gently patted her swollen belly.
Because Owen had kept most of the letters sent by the stalker at his estate, he had immediately wired his wife, asking her to send the letters along with someone trustworthy.
Yet he never imagined she would bring them in person.
Had he known the situation would unfold like this, he would have gone to fetch them himself.
While dealing with the matter of Marquis Delamour’s daughter, an entire month had slipped by without their realizing it.
When Owen first arrived in Oakbridge, Emily had been in her seventh month of pregnancy; now she had entered her ninth month, on the very verge of childbirth.
Emily’s eyebrows drooped mournfully, filling Owen’s heart with tenderness.
Owen turned to Killian, who stood by the entrance of the reception room like a sack of barley set out for decoration.
Meeting the pleading gazes of both husband and wife, Killian nodded without changing his expression.
Though entirely unintentional, he had ultimately been the cause of separating a couple who could hardly bear to be apart, and for that he felt a twinge of guilt.
Emily offered a shy smile.
Killian had felt out of place there for some time, and just as he was quietly withdrawing from the parlor, Owen’s words to Emily stopped him in his tracks.
It might seem foolish to consider it only now after letting a full month pass without doing anything, but he felt he could not rest easy unless a doctor looked after Emily for a short while.
The Hughes couple, who had been looking at each other, turned their eyes toward Killian standing near the entrance.
Feigning the most natural tone he could muster, Killian made a hasty exit.
As Owen stared blankly at the spot where Killian had just been standing, Emily asked,
Emily clapped a hand over her mouth in sheer astonishment.
Yet Killian’s condition was hardly the sort to go easy on a woman simply because she had been helpful. It was a matter of pure, instinctive aversion.
Owen tilted his head in bewilderment.
Killian strode out of the manor with apparent confidence, yet his steps were not as brisk as his demeanor suggested.
Nor was it out of any fear of meeting a ‘woman.’
( ‘What am I supposed to say to her?’ )
Throughout the entire month it had taken to settle the matter, Killian had not seen Eleanora face-to-face once.
All he had done was watch her from afar, standing near the window or occasionally riding her horse toward some destination.
Even without Emily as a pretext, Killian would have sought Eleanora out at least once. After all, he owed her an explanation of how the affair had concluded.
Yet he had not expected the opportunity to present itself so abruptly.
( ‘I must not speak too harshly to her.’ )
He had no desire to give her false hope. At the same time, he did not want to wound her with cruel words.
He wanted simply to say everything clearly and with poise, and be done with it.
Yet that was no simple feat.
( ‘I will just tell her the matter has been settled smoothly.’ )
Nothing more, nothing less.
( ‘Ah, but I must also make the request regarding Emily.’ )
Having sorted through his thoughts to some degree, his stride quickened.
Yet the moment he cleared the high perimeter walls, he ran into someone he had least expected to see.
Julian leaped back in fright upon catching sight of Killian, as though he had stumbled upon a wild bear bursting out of nowhere.
Killian clicked his tongue in distaste and tried to ignore him and walk on, but Julian asked,
Killian countered coldly.
At least until his first day in Oakbridge, he had not despised Julian. Nor had he liked him, either. Yet for some time now, the mere sight of the man’s face was enough to grate on his nerves.
Was it due to his reasonable suspicion that Julian had struck some kind of bargain with his grandmother?
Or was it because those timid eyes were forever busy watching him with cautious scrutiny?
Julian stammered through his words, then bolted as though fleeing for his very life.
Killian shook his head.
( ‘Tch… and they call that a man.’ )
Reaching the clinic Eleanora ran across from her house, Killian stood swallowing hard as he stared in silence at the door knocker.
He could not help feeling that his own hesitation was every bit as pathetic as the Julian he had encountered moments ago.
( ‘There is nothing to hesitate over.’ )
Summoning his resolve, he knocked on the door. Before long, the sound of small, hurried footsteps came running from within.
( ‘Short legs really do force one to scurry like that.’ )
Just as the corner of his mouth was about to lift into an unwitting smile…
Eleanora swung the door open, beaming as radiantly as a blossoming flower. Yet the instant her eyes met Killian’s face, her smile withered away.
Slowly, Killian’s gaze shifted from her face down to what she held in her hands. It was a man’s coat.