🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 06
“Wow, so that was her… It makes sense now.”
“They said she stopped coming to parties after that, but here she is again.”
Curious eyes surrounded them like hyenas. Anna’s smile became stiff. Her eyes shook, and her tightly clasped hands turned pale.
“……”
Raiden also heard all the whispers around them. His gray eyes, under dark eyebrows, shone. He looked interested in what Anna would do, surrounded by people like hungry beasts.
“……”
But Anna’s worry was brief. She quickly returned to a calm face. Raiden narrowed his eyes in displeasure, but Anna didn’t notice.
‘I’m not afraid of what people say.’
But Raiden was scary. She thought, Did he hear all those rumors too? Does he also think I’m a temptress, like they do? That idea made her so anxious, she held back her tears as hard as she could.
“Lady Evercline.”
A deep, heavy voice echoed through the hall, stopping the commotion. Anna looked up. Raiden placed his hand on his chest and bowed politely. Anna bent one knee and greeted him back with perfect manners.
“Raiden…”
Her lips trembled as soon as she tried to speak. She had no idea why he was here, and couldn’t go on. If even the bank manager came out to greet him, he must be rich or famous now. But the Raiden she knew was just a trainee holy knight living with his mother.
‘Is it really okay to call him by that name now?’
Her instincts said she shouldn’t. Raiden seemed to notice her worry. The corner of his mouth twitched.
“Please call me Marquis Marcus.”
“Marquis… Marcus?”
She repeated it blankly, then remembered. That was the name the noblewomen were gossiping about in the lounge!
‘What happened to him while he was gone…?’
Anna looked at him with wide, confused eyes. Raiden just smiled.
“I found out I’m a distant relative of the late Marquis Marcus. I was lucky, and got chosen to inherit the title. I’ve been so busy with new duties that I could only return now.”
“That’s… that’s really great.”
Anna’s face lit up and she answered just like before, without thinking. It explained why he had to leave in a hurry, and why he was so busy. Inheriting a title must be so hard—so many things to learn and do.
Anna felt truly happy that Raiden’s life had turned out so well.
‘Still… he could have sent a letter.’
Her old doubts and anger started to come up again, but she pushed them down.
‘What matters is, he didn’t forget me. He came back.’
He even had a good reason for being away. Anna was sure things would go back to how they used to be.
Then Raiden said something quietly.
“That’s right. It’s the way you like things, isn’t it?”
“…Huh? What did you say?”
Anna had been lost in thought and missed his words. Raiden shook his head like it was nothing.
In his mind, he heard a sharp woman’s voice from long ago.
[She felt so sorry for you. She said if only you’d been an orphan, she could have sent you off to be adopted by some noble family. But with your mother still alive, she couldn’t do that.]
[Still, there are always ways. Nobles can do anything, can’t they?]
Raiden swallowed hard. To hide his emotions, he looked down and stepped back.
“There are too many eyes watching us.”
The hall was even more crowded now. Raiden spoke gently.
“May I visit you later?”
“!”
Anna’s eyes grew wide. She couldn’t hide the joy that filled her pale face. When Raiden saw that, he looked stunned, as if someone had hit him.
Anna shyly tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded.
“Of course.”
“……”
But Raiden didn’t reply. Anna, sensing something strange, looked up. He was staring at her with a blank face.
“Raiden?”
“Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
He answered calmly, like nothing happened. Anna was confused, but quickly forgot, surprised at how much had changed between them.
‘This reunion is so different from what I imagined.’
She used to dream she’d run into his arms and let out all her anger and sorrow, and he’d comfort her and explain everything, then lift her up and they’d smile together. But now, all they exchanged were polite greetings.
“Then, Lady Evercline, I’ll take my leave.”
“Goodbye, Marquis Marcus.”
Like perfect nobles, they said goodbye. As Anna turned to follow the staff, she looked back one last time. But Raiden was already gone.
‘At least he said he’d come visit. It’s not another farewell with no promise. That alone gives me hope.’
She straightened her back and walked forward.
“……”
Raiden left Somerset House quickly, going down the steps. His assistant caught up to him but Raiden didn’t even look at him as he asked,
“How’s the Oxborough job?”
“It’s going well, sir. We’re moving everything under Baron Caden’s name. Just need to finish the paperwork.”
“No need to move everything. We’ll put things back soon anyway. What else?”
The assistant swallowed nervously.
“The reburial was finished safely.”
“Good.”
Raiden’s steps slowed slightly. His face didn’t change, but the assistant could sense his feelings. After all, the reburial had been Raiden’s greatest wish.
But… The assistant looked back at him nervously.
“Was that woman just now…?”
“Yes.”
Raiden’s answer was blunt, cutting off questions. The assistant stayed quiet until they reached the carriage, then asked,
“Where shall I take you?”
Raiden climbed in and replied coldly,
“To my mother. After so many years, and after moving her grave, of course a son should go see her.”
The carriage started moving immediately.
Even though Anna went all the way to Somerset House, she got nothing done. At least none of the properties had been sold yet.
When she got home, butler Henry told her, with a heavy face, that there was still no news about the missing estate manager.
“I see. I expected as much.”
Anna spoke calmly and said she was tired, so she went to bed early. That night, she dreamed of Raiden. In her dream, he welcomed her warmly, lifting her up and spinning her around as he laughed. Anna hugged his head to her chest and cried for joy. Her tears sounded like the rain pouring outside her window.
That evening, a man stood in the rain at the cemetery next to the city’s largest church. He was looking at a new grave. The tombstone read: “Beloved wife of William, respected mother of Raiden.”
“……”
Raiden stood perfectly still, like a statue from the Bible. Rain dripped from his dark eyelashes and sharp nose, and his face was as pale as a corpse. Only the emotion in his gray eyes, locked on the stone, showed he was alive.
At the cemetery gate, the assistant waited with an umbrella, thinking even this grand graveyard felt eerie at night—especially with the rain.
He glanced at his master and worried.
If he stays like that, he’ll get sick…
Behind silver-rimmed glasses, the assistant’s brown eyes watched Raiden standing motionless. He wanted to stop him, but couldn’t. Before the reburial, Raiden’s mother had been buried in a lonely, wild place.
Knowing how Raiden had survived these five years, the assistant could feel this night was special—a night when Raiden made a firm decision. His back looked just like the wild land where his mother used to rest.
“Let’s go.”
Only after night fully fell did Raiden move. The assistant hurried over and held an umbrella over him.
“There was an old man living in a hut nearby, right? Did you check on him?”
“Yes. We moved him to a good house in the city and hired some servants to care for him in his old age.”
“Good.”
A faint blush appeared on Raiden’s pale face. That old man had once saved him from death, giving him a place to rest and helping bury his mother.
“But…”
He stopped and looked up at the pouring rain, then down at the muddy ground.
