Penelope spent a long time shedding tears in Isaac's arms.
"I bet Bridget is watching us sadly from heaven. She won't blame you. She'll want us to be happy."
"Really? Is that really true?"
"Of course. I know her better than anyone else."
"Oh, Penelope, what would I have done without you?"
Because Isaac was anxious, he wanted to listen to other people, and Penelope, who said what he wanted, became his dependency.
Penelope patted Isaac on the back.
Even though she was sad because of Bridget, she felt happy because she felt Isaac relying on her more these past few days.
'Bridget, you are such a good friend. You even gave me this gift on the way.'
How did the King happen to strike the Count of Kensington that day?
Thanks to that, Isaac is clinging to her like a child.
This incident brought Isaac and her closer together.
A fateful love that overcomes hardships and adversity together!
After all, what else could this be but a gift from Brigitte to me?
***
That night, Penelope lit several candles in a hidden corner of the palace without anyone knowing.
She dug a small hole with a garden shovel. put the bracelets and shoes that Bridget often wore in a cardboard box, and covered it with dirt.
"Bridget"
When covering the dirt, she burst into tears.
"Your death is still a secret, so I'll comfort your soul like this. I hope you can rest in peace, even if only a little."
In the quiet darkness that had descended upon the garden, Penelope's voice mingled with the chirping of insects.
Penelope tamped the dirt with a shovel and placed stone ornaments in place of headstones.
It was a souvenir Isaac bought her when she was traveling in Russel.
It was a crude decoration that the two people personally selected and engraved with the phrase, 'I will be with you forever'.
Penelope, who felt that the phrase was perfect for her and Bridget's current situation, deliberately chose it to be her tombstone.
"Poor Bridget. I will never forget you. Tomorrow, Isaac will deliver the divorce papers to the House of Nobles, and when they are approved, you will be erased from the Winston family. But that is just a formality. Do you understand?"
Penelope stroked the tombstone as if she were caressing Brigitte.
"I will now take your place as Viscountess Winston. Please do not be too jealous, even if it is only for the sake of my devotion today, and please bless our future together. Thank you, Bridget. Thanks to you, I have been happy for many days."
She stood up after saying a short prayer for Bridget.
She believe Bridget would be grateful if she gave her a place to wander without a grave.
A teardrop rolled down her cheek.
"I will remember you."
Penelope wiped her cheek, looked at the tomb she had made, smiled sadly, and turned around. It was a leisurely walk.
Behind her, a stone ornament fell over and crashed into the soft dirt.
***
The rain that started to fall steadily from dawn did not stop until late in the afternoon.
The past few days have been so sunny that it feels like spring is in full swing, but when it started to rain, the air became as chilly as midwinter.
I cupped the warm teacup in my hands. The warmth returned to my cold fingertips, making me feel good.
Millea, unable to keep me locked in my room for several days, eventually allowed me to move around freely within the ward.
As I came out to the restaurant and sat looking out the large window at the scenery outside, the maids glanced at me and passed by.
Although it was a strange first impression, it seemed that I, who was supposed to keep my existence hidden, was secretive and creepy.
I was a presence that added tension to the maids' daily life.
"If you're going to glare so obviously, you might as well look me in the eye."
Millea, who had come into the dining room after preparing Julian's meal, lightly scolded the maid.
"They say that if you don't take good care of your pupils, you'll look like a person without a brain."
"I'm sorry. I'll take the tray to the kitchen, Mrs. Spencer."
The maid, who had been secretly peeking at me, looked at my expression with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused by the maids, Bridget."
I, who had been listening to the conversation through the back of my head, smiled quietly.
"They say even God can't stop human curiosity. Even I would have looked at it out of curiosity."
Those who worked in the palace were, after all, people.
Millea was good at dealing with her employees, but she couldn't control their curiosity or their gaze.
"How is His Majesty?"
"It's the same as usual."
I asked lightly, out of courtesy, and Millea, as usual, was tight-lipped.
Even though we were in the same palace, I had a hard time knowing what Julian was doing.
Although I was curious about how well he ate and what he did in his free time, Millea never opened up to anyone about Julian's private life.
Millea brought up the story of Isaac.
"By the way, I sent someone to find out what happened to Viscount Winston, and I heard that the Winston family spread rumors that Brigitte had run away. I think they're trying to cut off the tail so that the trouble won't reach them."
The story that Julian had struck the Count of Kensington was a hot potato among the nobles.
Millea pieced together the rumors and what she saw firsthand to piece together the events of that day.
Rumors were going around that Isaac had sold Bridget to the Count of Kensington, that Julian had killed the Count of Kensington, and that the Count of Kensington had been politically purged, so Isaac would be afraid.
"Because of the rumors that Viscount Winston started, people are talking about whether Bridget ran away because you were pushed out by his mistress, and the employees of Winston Manor are spreading conspiracy theories that the Viscount has harmed Bridget. It's amazing how different the stories in the gossip papers are."
Millea was a person who valued solving problems effectively by clearly conveying facts rather than examining emotions.
So, at first, the words spoken without reservation sounded cold and indifferent.
She added at the end, perhaps thinking that it might hurt me after she had said it.
"I'm saying this because I think Bridget would like to know. Did I meddle in something?"
"I'm okay. Millea. You're just saying this because you want to help."
"I wish I had just left Bridget alone when you said you wanted to go back. I didn't know that it would come out like this."
Millea clenched her fists under the table.
Instead, I calmly took out a new cup and poured tea for Millea as if listening to someone else's story.
"Try it. It will make you feel better."
"Is it time to comfort me now?"
"I expected it. Isaac probably thinks I'm dead. So he'll blame everything on me without any guilt and start demanding a divorce."
Millea wondered how I could remain so calm.
"What are we going to do now?"
"Isaac committed suicide."
I smiled quietly and savored the scent of the tea.
"If I appear before him alive, he will be afraid of me. I may reveal that he sold me to the Count of Kensington."
"That fear could work to harm Bridget."
"Don't worry. That won't happen."
Millea wondered how I could say such a thing, but I tried to be reasonable.
"But is it really the case that the Count of Kensington's case will be swept under the rug like this?"
I knew who the Count of Kensington was even before we actually met.
He was an opponent of Julian and was associated with the remnants of the deposed Queen Dowager Josephine.
The deposed Queen dowager's forces, centered around the Duke of Linchester, were largely purged when Julian ascended to the throne.
However, because they had held power and wealth for such a long time, they did not completely collapse, rather, their roots remained and they were cowering, waiting for Julian to die.
They grew their power in the shadows without Julian's knowledge, and it was later revealed that the County of Kensington acted as a financial broker for the Duke of Linchester.
They used clever tricks to keep the world's attention away from them while they were again building up their power.
He created a stir in the world by spreading provocative gossip that caught people's attention.
It's gossip like 'Bridget the Buzzard'.
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