Seidrick touched her forehead with his palm. Seeing Ophelia’s white face, it was heartbreaking. Since she followed Kendrick exceptionally, her heartache would have been greater.

He hesitated for a while, then patted Ophelia’s shoulder as she bit her lips and tears were dripping.

“Be good to Princess Alyssa, so she can go to the royal family and talk about the good things about Cambridge.”

“Hah, but huh. I hate Alyssa.”

Ophelia whispered in a tight voice.

“Her family killed my brother. I’m not an idiot.”

Seidrick looked at Ophelia with his sunken eyes. She was just 18 years old.  She is still too young to be an adult, and too grown up to be a child. Standing at the border between an adult and a child, she was unaware of what to do like a child who had lost their parents.

Seidrick sighed.

“You can’t be tied to the past and lose anything else, Ophelia. I’ll be vacating the mansion for a while. Then you’re the only one to ask for the princess. My mother is not in good health.”

“…….”

Seidrick himself is stuck in the past and can’t even face the princess.

‘You speak well.’

For Seidrick, Alyssa was only a member of the Avery royal family and at the same time was a medium that reminded him of Kendrick. It was a strategy, but it’s true that Kendrick and Alyssa’s marriage was imminent.

“You can do it, right?”

Seidrick, hiding everything, asked in a deeply subdued voice. Ophelia rubbed her tears with the back of her hand and nodded.

“I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you, Ophelia.”

Seidrick took out a bitter smile. It is exceptionally difficult to get through this year. He felt like his heart was exhausted.

Seidrick looked at the garden where Alyssa was staying from the window over Ophelia. No, will she be back by now?

After turning from Alyssa, he wandered through the forest for a long time.  It’s been a while, so she’s probably back. However, Seidrick, who soon erased his thoughts on Alyssa, told Ophelia.

“Now I have to start washing. Go out, Ophelia.”

“What about your meal?”

Alyssa’s face passed by. I keep thinking of her. Now, when I think of the garden, I thought I would naturally think of Alyssa.

“I have a rough patch in the garden. Enjoy your meal.”

Ophelia nodded with a red-hot face.

After his sister went out, Seidrick stayed in the bedroom alone. This was Kendrick’s bedroom and is now used by Seidrick. His heart was pierced.

Ophelia pretended to be strong, but the same was true of Seidrick, who could not escape Kendrick’s death. He blinked his tight eyes.

It was difficult to stay here. He thinks he still has to leave Kendrick’s place. The vain hope that someday Kendrick might return with a bright smile sometimes ate Seidrick inside.

However, if Seidrick, who became the Duke, uses another bedroom would only create anxiety for others in the mansion. So he wandered further outside on the excuse of being busy.

And Seidrick, who couldn’t get over the pain that night, took advantage of the night and left the house.

***

For Alyssa, every day at the mansion was hard work. She couldn’t even eat meals comfortably. Day after day, only Sasha was watching Alyssa, while stomping her feet.

The people in the mansion became strangely friendly, but not to the point where the blade hidden in it could not be seen.

Rather, Alyssa became more sensitive as they smiled in front of her but was worried about what to say behind her. An unexpected cold affection was eating her away.

Ophelia was told that Seidrick, who had been invisible for a while, went on a business trip to the south. The husband, who she had not seen his face properly, has now gone far away.

As before, Ophelia stopped giving Alyssa mean words. Sometimes she talked to Alyssa and gave her some news. It was a change that happened three months after she got married.

Nevertheless, Ophelia was still clumsy at hiding all her feelings.

As winter the new season arrived, she couldn’t hide her cold eyes.

Alyssa noticed.

The Cambridge mansion was ‘matching’ Alyssa. As Alyssa was the princess, she was given the respect and treatment she should receive, but that was it. Standing in this warm mansion was colder than walking in the middle of a snowy garden.