Chapter 7

Countess Presto examined Elena’s appearance.

‘Where did that rascal go that he’s still not coming?’

Surely as soon as he learned a guest had come, someone would have gone to the annex, but he still hadn’t arrived. When this timid-looking young lady came all the way here, Maxim must have left some opening.

Elena slowly rose from her seat. Placing her hands neatly on her chest and holding her skirt, Elena greeted elegantly.

“Hello, Countess Presto. I am Elena of the Joseph family. Thank you for welcoming me like this.”

My goodness.

Was there such a gentle and lovely child? She wasn’t like the girls these days. Countess Presto swallowed.

“I am Hazel Presto. Please feel free to call me Lady Hazel.”

Hazel increased the internal intimacy.

“Yes, my lady.”

Elena barely managed to smile. When she came to meet Maxim, she hadn’t expected to meet a big shot of Levonto. No, had she been trying hard to ignore it?

Perhaps, for just this reason, relying on the kindness of a man who had danced with her just once, while coming all the way here, she had tried to ignore everything else.

But Elena trusted the Maxim from that day.

She wanted to trust the man who had been a gentleman from beginning to end, unlike other rude men.

“Thank you for coming like this, Elena. May I call you Elena?”

“Yes, my lady. Please do as you’re comfortable.”

Even her smiling face was pretty. She was a child who resembled spring sunshine.

“I heard you came looking for Maxim. I came because that child went somewhere and isn’t coming, so I don’t know what he’s doing. Were you surprised?”

“A little.”

Elena smiled slightly.

“When I heard a guest had come, I couldn’t help but be curious. You danced with Maxim before, didn’t you?”

“Yes. That’s right, my lady.”

She remembered. Elena gulped. Elena from that day was no different from a clown. She had drawn people’s gazes and read contempt and criticism in them.

Countess Presto must have looked at her with the same gaze too. Elena clutched her skirt.

“That day…”

“It was a very wonderful dance. I thought you matched well with Maxim.”

Elena kept her mouth shut and opened her eyes wide. She hadn’t expected to hear such words. Moreover, that she and Maxim matched well? She hadn’t expected such words either.

“May I ask who taught you to dance?”

Countess Presto also knew about the Joseph family. She remembered it was quite a decent family in the past, but after coming to Levonto, it had sunk like a sunken ship.

Since then, she had heard that this child’s mother was causing trouble here and there.

[‘She’s a vulgar woman.’]

[‘My lady, how can that woman not know such shame?’]

[‘She ruined the family with gambling.’]

She remembered stories she had heard in passing. Under such a woman, such a lovely child. Heaven is truly indifferent.

“…I learned from my father. Father would put me on top of his feet and teach me directly.”

Elena answered with a somehow melancholy feeling. Memories bubbled up like water droplets. Her childhood self who had giggled with flushed cheeks and her father who had watched her with loving eyes.

[‘Now, Elena. Hold father’s arm tightly. That’s right! That’s how you move.’]

The affectionate voice lingered in her memory. Longing for her father occasionally popped up and touched Elena’s heart.

“…You had a good father.”

“Yes. He was truly a good person.”

Elena smiled brightly.

‘Thanks to that father, she grew up so prettily.’

Countess Presto clicked her tongue in pity. If that father had been alive, this child’s life would have been a little less arduous. Anyway, since the late Count Joseph had planted and raised the child in soil where light shone well, looking at the child alone, there was nothing bad.

Though Cecilia Joseph was bad.

‘This problem is something to discuss later.’

Hazel smiled gently.

“I learned to dance that way too. My father was also an affectionate person.”

Elena opened her eyes wide. Hazel Presto was an imperial princess. Even though Elena lived in the outskirts, she knew about Hazel.

It was already an honor to meet her like this, but to share such personal stories…

This was the first time Elena had met such a kind noble lady.

“But I wasn’t good at it. Actually, maybe because I was clumsy, I had no talent. So after marriage, I rarely stood on the dance floor.”

Hazel winked.

After conversing with Elena for a while, when Hazel had finished sufficient exploration, Maxim appeared. Maxim frowned around his eyes as he looked at the two.

“Oh my, Maxim. What were you doing that you’re only coming now? Don’t you know you shouldn’t keep a lady waiting?”

Hazel, who lightly scolded him, rose from her seat. Hazel patted Maxim’s shoulder.

“She seems like a good child. I like her.”

At the quietly whispered words, Maxim sighed. What exactly did she like? Countess Presto had been holding him back, preventing him from going up to the capital, so he was still staying in Levonto.

Thanks to that, he had been processing urgent documents received by telegram when the head butler made a fuss and dragged him out.

[‘If you stay so leisurely, you might be dragged to a wedding ceremony tomorrow, young master.’]

But that wasn’t an exaggeration. If it was Hazel, she had the amazing ability to make impossible things possible. Maxim ground his teeth and pushed Hazel’s back.

“Aunt must be getting old. Seeing how you meddle in other people’s affairs like this.”

“Oh my, our Maxim has matured too. He even knows to worry about this aunt.”

The two people who had exchanged conversation in small voices that Elena couldn’t hear made eye contact. Hazel smiled with narrowed eyes.

“Treat her well.”

Maxim slammed the reception room door shut.

Elena startled and placed her hand on her chest. To Elena who was hurriedly trying to stand up, Maxim threw a question.

“What business brought you all the way here?”

It was a question that wasn’t friendly at all. Was this man really the same man who had held her hand that day?

Unable to greet or answer, Elena sat while the seat across from her became Maxim’s. Maxim picked up and put down a teacup with his long fingers with thick joints.

It was a meaningless action, but when Maxim did it, it was both savage and elegant. Elena swallowed.

Elena, who took a deep breath, slowly brought out her belated answer.

“Maxim has saved me twice.”

“So?”

“But you didn’t demand any compensation for your kindness.”

“Because I didn’t need it.”

Even at the cold short answer, Elena courageously continued speaking. What she was about to say was too absurd even by her own thinking, and it was natural that Maxim wouldn’t accept it.

But Elena was cornered in a dead end, and this was the only choice Elena could make to save herself and Leana.

Elena’s fingertips trembled.

Please, God.

You’ve never listened to my prayers even once. Please be on my side just this once.

Elena prayed earnestly.

Her pretty lips opened.

---

The values her father had instilled in Elena were not about selling herself to an old man. So she believed her father would understand abandoning her mother too. Elena decided to abandon this house and her mother.

Elena did her best to dilute her guilt.

Elena opened Leana’s door and firmly secured the bag slung across her shoulder.

Leana was sleeping curled up in a ball, gasping for breath.

“Leana.”

Elena shook her sister’s small hand.

“Leana.”

At Elena’s repeated calling, Leana opened her tightly closed eyelids. Her clear, large eyes that were revealed reflected Elena.

“Wake up, Leana.”

“…Sister…?”

Elena helped Leana up and dressed her. Carrying her good sister who asked nothing on her back, Elena escaped from the shabby house.

She could avoid things like wooden planks that creaked when stepped on and floors so rotten that feet could fall through even with her eyes closed.

Covering Leana’s body with more shawl, Elena walked through the dawn that hadn’t yet brightened.

In Elena’s small bag was a business card. It was a business card with Maxim’s name written in splendid gold leaf. He would have already left Levonto, but traces like this remained.

[‘…When you need it, look for Countess Presto.’]

She was curious about what the man’s identity was that he could drop the name of Countess Presto, who was currently shaking up Levonto’s economy and social circles.

Still, if it was Countess Presto, who was famous for her honor…!

Elena tightly grasped Leana’s hand. So she wouldn’t let go.