In truth, Shioana's question was meaningless. What was the point of being curious about love that transcends social status?
"I'm saying this just to be on the safe side, but please keep your distance from red eyes. Understood?"
Martha called Etienne "Red Eyes" and remained wary of him.
"When did I ever associate with slaves?"
Shioana's voice trailed off, feeling unnecessarily embarrassed.
"Never look into those eyes. I'm telling you, they steal your soul."
When Martha treated Etienne as if he were some kind of demon, she became depressed for no reason.
"...Martha. I'm going to sleep now."
"I'll just close the window and leave. Please go to sleep, Miss."
After closing the window and making sure the shutters were secure, Martha left the bedroom. At the sound of the door closing, Shioana pulled the covers over her head.
"...Phew."
Shioana turned her head to the side and muttered as she looked at the moonlight squeezing through the gap in the window.
"You know, Martha, I'm not afraid of him at all."
Ever since childhood, she had believed and followed whatever Martha said, but this time, she was wrong. Etienne was far from being a devil.
"He's so sweet."
The image of the back she offered her on that rainy night was still vivid in her mind.
She was barely able to endure the night she was trapped in the annex thanks to Etienne.
Even on the night of the ball, he stayed up all night guarding Shioana, who was wet.
If Etienne hadn't kept the fire burning all night, she certainly might have been seriously ill.
'Whenever I was in trouble, Etienne was there.'
Shioana's heart pounded at the thought of his expressionless face. It felt a little more painful than excitement. Whenever she thought of him, she always felt guilty, and that made her ruminate on Etienne even more intensely.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
"...No way."
Shioana covered her mouth with her hand at a sudden thought.
“No, no.”
She shook her head while lying down, but the more she did so, the clearer Etienne's image became.
It felt as if a familiar scent, which one could smell when held in the embrace of a toned upper body soaked in water and the firm arms that gently lifted her, was lingering at the tip of her nose.
"... Martha, what should I do..."
Shioana stuck her face out from under the blanket.
"I think it would be better to keep a little distance, just like Martha said."
The things Martha had said kept swirling in her head.
'Besides, you should also consider the Viscount and the Count.'
She was afraid that her father and older brother would be disappointed in her.
'I will definitely become a proud member of the Evgenia family, too.'
Shioana closed her eyes again and tried to recall Count Noah's features. After all, just as Martha said, forming an ordinary family, having children, and growing old peacefully was also her long-held dream.
'If I have my own family, I won't be as lonely as I am now.'
However, in her dream, the tall, thin man with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes soon became a man with jet-black hair and burning red eyes.
***
When Eli, wearing a coat with gold tassels, appeared in the reception room attached to Highbell's gambling house, several gentlemen showed him their acquaintance.
"Hey, Viscount Evgenia, it's been a while."
"I've been a bit busy lately, you see."
Eli handed his coat and cane to the servant and walked to a corner seat. There was an unwritten rule in this drawing room, and the areas were divided according to social status.
Eli, who had been glancing around the shrine in the center, sat down in a chair.
"Victor was fuming that he would cut off your wrist, so you'd better be careful."
Someone whispered into Eli's ear.
The stakes at this gambling house, the largest in Highbell, were enormous.
The gentlemen who frequented this place were generally wealthy, but it was beyond Eli's means. With the meager money he earned in Regbell, he could barely afford a cup of tea.
Eli had borrowed money a few times from Victor, a moneylender, to raise gambling stakes. He hadn't repaid it yet, but there was plenty of time left.
"Ah. How much is that measly money anyway? How dare you threaten me?"
Just some lowly merchant, that's all.
"But if I don't pay it back quickly, the interest will just keep piling up..."
A man with protruding front teeth muttered as he tugged at the front of his tattered shirt. The tea stain on the shirt was incredibly squalid.
“Oh. Is that so?”
Eli lightly uncrossed his legs and replied as if it were someone else's business.
"How on earth do you plan to cover all that money? Did Count Noah promise to pay it back, as the rumors say?"
Eli's shoulders stiffened slightly at the mention of Count Noah.
If the Count knew that such rumors were circulating, he was certainly angry. He shook his head while holding his teacup.
If the Count knew that such rumors were circulating, he would surely be angry. Eli shook his head as he picked up his teacup.
"Count Noah? He's quite the joker. Isn't it enough to just win today?"
"Look at this. As expected, Viscount Evgenia is delightful."
At Eli's arrogant tone, the gentlemen nearby praised him.
'...Things like bugs.'
Eli, who had been pretending to laugh along, inwardly cast a sharp sneer. He found those guys pathetic for mistaking themselves for being of the same kind just because they hung out together.
He never once thought of them as friends.
Eli's sharp gaze turned back to the center of the drawing room.
'Because life is something I have to carve out for myself.'
He is sitting here now, but soon he will go over there.
No, I will be able to go to the capital and make a name for myself.
As he pictured a bright future, the corners of my mouth kept crumbling.
If Count Noah and Shioana get married.
'No, it absolutely has to be that way.'
Count Noah was a gentleman who dominated Highbell. With his wealth and background in a distinguished family, countless people sought to forge a friendship with him. Eli was no exception.
However, he had a bigger dream than mere exchange. It was the result of agonizing day and night over how to sell his marriageable younger sister for the highest possible price.
'He's the perfect match for Shioana.'
Although the Count appeared quite sociable on the surface, he had a difficult side. He seemed to get along well with everyone, but he was close to very few people. For this reason, Eli did not do the foolish thing of rashly challenging the Count.
'If I had acted like these flatterers here, I would have been turned away at the door.'
He just hovered around Count Noah for several months and did nothing special.
He purely enjoyed gambling and gradually built friendships with the people here. In doing so, he quietly slipped into the Count's side, maintaining a comfortable distance that was neither weary flattery nor indifference.
'Opportunity is something that only the prepared can seize.'
These days, as the work he had been preparing for a long time was finally going well, Eli really felt alive.
"Viscount Evgenia, are you going to play card games again today?"
Eli snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of someone buzzing like a fly.
"I was thinking of rolling the dice today. What do you think?"
"We’re fine with anything."
Eli's footsteps were light as he led the group to the gambling hall.
***
After spending several hours holed up in the bedroom holding the embroidery frame, Martha, who had brought snacks, clicked her tongue.
"You ran around the fields like a foal when I told you not to go out, but what are you saying now?"
"Martha, can't you see I'm concentrating?"
"Miss, that is completely unusable."
Shioana was a versatile young lady, but she had absolutely no talent for embroidery or sewing.
"...Why?"
Only then did Shioana lift her head and examine her embroidery frame.
"What on earth are you embroidering? Is it straw?"
"...Martha!"
Shioana, her pride wounded, slammed the embroidery frame down and sprang to her feet.
Duduk.
After sitting for several hours, strange noises came from her lower back and upper back.
"Take this and go for a walk right away. You'll get sick if you keep doing that."
After gathering and tidying up the loose threads scattered around the rocking chair, Martha carefully placed Shioana's quilt on the bed.
"No need for a walk."
"Seriously, why are you acting like this lately, making me anxious?"
You used to refuse the food you liked so much, and now you say you don't even want to go for a walk.
It was quite worrying to see the young lady, who had fallen in love for the first time, in such an unstable state. Then Martha remembered that Count Noah hadn't visited here for about three days.
"Is it because you miss someone?"
"Miss someone? Who would I miss? Absolutely not!"
Shioana stomped her foot and denied Martha's question.
"You might trick a ghost, but do you think you'd trick me? You look terrible. So please go out. Didn't the doctor say that the reason there are so many depressed patients in Regbell is that they don't get enough sunlight?"
Martha took a brush from the closet, draped it over Shioana's shoulders, and offered her back.
"I need to do some cleaning, so please go ahead."
As she opened the window and swung the duster, it was no longer possible to insist on staying in the bedroom.
"I will check through the window. Whether you go for a walk or not."
"...Stop the nagging."
Having no choice but to step outside, Shioana looked up at Evgenia's mansion, which was filled with vines. As if she had really been waiting for her, Martha waved her hand with a bright smile.
"...Phew."
Martha really knows nothing.
Her depression isn't caused by not taking walks, but by the walks themselves.
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