🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 7
She did it!
“I didn’t think I’d be able to meet you this easily, Dylan Fitzroy.”
“That your luck happened to be good isn’t my problem.”
Dylan answered with a sneer and gestured for the employee who had brought the tea to leave.
His expression looked every bit as annoyed as his tone sounded.
And as if he didn’t care in the slightest that he was speaking to a young lady from a noble family, his words came out blunt and disrespectful.
If it had been any lady other than Evelyn sitting here, she would have immediately felt insulted and flushed red with embarrassment.
But Evelyn didn’t mind at all.
No, she was actually thinking something entirely different.
He’s kinder than I expected, Dylan.
She knew exactly what kind of person Dylan was thanks to the information she had from Beneath the Rose Tree.
In the original story, anyone who wanted to meet Dylan had to schedule an appointment beforehand, regardless of status or age.
Otherwise, they would have to wait for one of the rare occasions when his schedule happened to open up.
But Evelyn knew that such a thing as Dylan having free time practically didn’t exist.
Unless he deliberately made time for someone.
That was why, even as she escaped through the window and made her way to Everdare, Dylan’s company headquarters, she hadn’t expected much.
She had even considered that she might have to wait outside until he left.
Yet the employee she had sent in to ask for a meeting returned with permission surprisingly quickly.
And now she was sitting across from Dylan with a teacup between them.
Maybe you really don’t know unless you try.
Of course, getting here hadn’t been easy.
Evelyn recalled the parasol, bonnet, shawl, and coat she had boldly abandoned during her escape.
She didn’t even have a handbag with her.
An outing like this would have been unthinkable for the Evelyn who usually followed every social rule to the letter.
At least I managed to keep my gloves.
She had been mortified the entire carriage ride here.
And yet…
Why had she been smiling?
Simply leaving behind a few accessories had made her feel astonishingly free.
Just being able to sit across from Dylan felt like a tremendous accomplishment.
So much so that his cold treatment didn’t bother her in the slightest.
Besides, Dylan hadn’t said a single word about her disheveled appearance.
All the worry she’d felt about being thrown out at the front gate of the company building now seemed ridiculous.
Maybe Dylan is actually a kind person.
It was a spectacular misunderstanding.
Unfortunately, no one present realized it.
Dylan watched Evelyn, who somehow seemed pleased despite his obvious hostility.
He had already felt it when she charged straight toward him at the Whitewood family’s banquet.
She really isn’t normal.
The Evelyn sitting before him was dressed far more simply than she had been at the party.
In fact, “simple” might not even be the right word.
She looked somewhat untidy.
At least by the standards of the upper-class nobility Dylan was familiar with.
Her long hair flowed freely down her back, adorned only with a jeweled headband.
She had no coat, no parasol, not even an attendant to carry those things for her.
And her clothing looked far too light to be proper attire for going out.
I thought she was the kind of lady who never left the house without a parasol.
According to the report Noel had prepared, Evelyn was exceptionally proper in both conduct and behavior.
She had never worn a dress with a hem above her ankles.
She had never gone outside without putting her hair up.
People even mockingly called her the “Blue-Blooded Princess” because she behaved more like royalty than actual royals.
Yet anyone seeing her now would conclude that Noel’s report was complete garbage.
The report had even described Evelyn as a quiet, timid young lady.
Every single detail was wrong.
This definitely warranted a disciplinary report.
As Dylan silently contemplated what punishment Noel deserved, Evelyn spoke.
“First of all, I’d like to apologize for coming without notice. You normally don’t meet anyone without a prior appointment.”
“You know that well. And you came anyway?”
“I’m sorry. But I didn’t have a choice. It was rather urgent.”
Of course it was.
Dylan sneered inwardly.
Primrose must have been desperate if they had sent her here.
And honestly, he could understand that.
His expression softened slightly.
“So, what business brought you here without an appointment or even a warning?”
Though he asked generously enough, he already knew what answer was coming.
Wasn’t it obvious?
Either she would beg him to ease the pressure being placed on Primrose—
—or she would give him the answer he wanted.
Since the person directly involved came herself, it’ll probably be the latter.
Even if she tried to negotiate, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Dylan was a brilliant businessman and an exceptional negotiator.
There were about twenty minutes left before he had to leave for his next appointment.
He was confident he could get the answer he wanted from Evelyn within that time.
“Are you going to cancel the proposal? If your answer is yes, I can overlook any amount of rudeness.”
If he heard those words, this tiresome mess would finally come to an end.
At Dylan’s completely undisguised demand, Evelyn smiled faintly.
It was a smile tinged with apology.
The reason was simple.
“I’m sorry, but… I don’t think I can cancel it after all.”
Because she couldn’t give him the answer he wanted.
In truth, after making the proposal, Evelyn had felt relieved.
As long as Daphne and Dylan don’t get involved with each other, everything should be fine for now.
That was why she thought the only thing that mattered was ensuring that her proposal to Dylan wasn’t completely canceled.
That was also why it had taken her so long to come see him.
If possible, Evelyn had intended to remain locked in her room right up until the day she died.
But today, she realized she needed to meet Dylan as soon as possible.
The reason was a conversation she happened to overhear through the open window late that morning.
The maids collecting laundry were chatting among themselves.
“…Hey, you can read, right?”
“Not very well, but I can read a newspaper. Why?”
“The postman came by yesterday. I got a letter from my family.”
The conversation continued with stories about family members living in the countryside.
But Evelyn could no longer hear any of it.
One piece of information had already captured all her attention.
The postman came yesterday?
She ran to her desk and grabbed the calendar lying on top of it.
The postman visited every Thursday.
And it hadn’t even been a full week since Evelyn had been confined.
Which meant that today was the first Friday after the Whitewood family’s banquet.
And if her calculations were correct—
Dylan is going to be seriously injured within a week.
She didn’t know the exact reason.
She only knew that it had something to do with a problem involving the Everdare Department Store, which was preparing for its grand opening.
And that incident had originally become the reason Evelyn first met Dylan privately.
“Eve, I heard Mr. Fitzroy injured his leg. I’m worried about him… Could you visit him on my behalf? If you say it’s a favor from me, it won’t seem too strange.”
“It’s not difficult, but why don’t you go yourself?”
“Mr. Fitzroy proposed to me, and I’m going to have to reject him… You know how it is. Father wants me to marry someone I choose freely, but things aren’t that simple.”
The heir to Whitewood was Daphne.
That meant she needed to marry into a prestigious family in order to lead the house.
From that perspective, Dylan could never be her choice.
Their relationship had been impossible from the very beginning.
To be continued…
