Chapter 8
Aunt Lila’s face looked deathly pale as she saw the doctor off.
“Ann.”
“Yes…?”
“Have you ever met your aunts?”
It was a sudden, unexpected question. Ann slowly shook her head. Lila’s face darkened with worry. Ann didn’t ask why. She simply watched as her aunt let out deep, weary sighs.
“How old are you this year?”
“I’m five.”
“I see…”
Ann was five that year. She was skinny like a twig and small for her age, but people often said she was mature beyond her years. And she was smart, too. She could solve math problems that even the young mistress of the house couldn’t understand. That’s why taking care of her mother didn’t feel too hard for her.
“…You have to take good care of your mother, alright?”
Lila, gently wiping away her tears, reached out and caressed Ann’s cheek. Ann nodded firmly. But even Lila couldn’t stay with her long. She had seven children of her own to care for. If it hadn’t been for her close friendship with Ann’s mother, she wouldn’t have been able to leave home for this long.
Ann didn’t fully understand the complexities of adults, but she knew Lila worked hard, and so she encouraged her to head home quickly. That left just Ann and her mother, alone in the room. She looked down at her pale, fragile mother. Her face had all the signs of someone seriously ill.
“Don’t worry, Mommy. I’ll take care of you now. You just focus on getting better, okay?”
She whispered those words as she gently wiped the cold sweat from her mother’s face. Ann wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck as she groaned in pain, unable to respond. Then she prayed—to the father she couldn’t remember.
Daddy, if you’re watching from the sky… if you’re really up there looking after us, please help Mommy get better. Let us live long, healthy lives together. Please…
But her prayers went unanswered. Her mother didn’t live long.
Now, as Ann quietly recalled her mother’s fading face, she looked toward Lennox’s mother. The Queen Mother had her long black hair elegantly styled and was, as always, looking at her son with gentle affection.
But Lennox didn’t return her gaze. His eyes were fixed on the teacup in Ann’s white fingers. Sitting silently between mother and son, Ann gently ran her fingers along the cup. The carved floral designs held a deep red tea.
“I heard you’ll be accompanying Ann to the Sapphoras estate. Will Charlotte be going too?”
“No, Charlotte doesn’t like the forest.”
“That’s odd. I thought Charlotte would enjoy anything she gets to do with you.”
“She finds fishing boring, and she’s not particularly fond of hunting either.”
“But I don’t think Ann’s very fond of hunting either. Isn’t that right, Ann?”
Caught between the two and their unspoken battle of wills, Ann felt like she might wither away from the tension. Ingrid’s cool blue eyes turned toward her. Her dry lips barely moved. Ann didn’t know what to say. No—what was she even supposed to say in moments like this?
The subtle conflict between Lennox and his mother had gone on for years, and yet Ann still didn’t know how to respond. What reaction would be right? The Duchess of Valenska had told her not to sit with the two of them in the first place. But if it were easy to avoid, it wouldn’t feel this impossible.
“I…”
“Ann enjoys walking through the forest. She likes watching me hunt, too.”
“If that’s the case, I’m sure Charlotte would enjoy it as well. Take her along this time. That way, Ann won’t be bored either.”
“Did Charlotte say that? That she wanted to come with us?”
“Lennox.”
The queen’s voice was sharp but composed as it slipped past her crimson lips. Lennox met her steady gaze with an equally unwavering one. He didn’t want Charlotte at Sapphoras. That place belonged to him and Ann. It was their retreat.
Every summer, they went there. The seaside estate, nestled between forest and ocean, was quiet and peaceful. It offered little for someone like Charlotte, who preferred glamorous balls and the bustling atmosphere of the capital. He knew this well—he’d seen it firsthand.
Charlotte always grew bored in country estates. And when she did, she’d bring her friends along and spend the evenings playing cards, dancing, and gossiping.
Lennox didn’t mind any of that. Not really. But only if she didn’t try to separate him from Ann… or if she didn’t give her those cold, cutting glances, whispering little “harmless” remarks to her friends whenever Ann wasn’t looking.
Ann’s constant worrying glances, always trying to read the mood, were starting to feel irritating. It was tiresome. Ann belonged to him. Whether she was a friend or something else, it didn’t matter. No matter what label others tried to place on their relationship, it changed nothing.
“The royal wedding is fast approaching.”
“I know that, even if you don’t remind me.”
Lennox’s curt response made Ingrid’s expression harden. Her son had grown increasingly sharp-tempered lately. Of course, he had never been an easy child to begin with. Her thoughts wandered to her late husband—aloof, at times frustratingly indifferent. Lennox resembled him in appearance, but perhaps not in temperament.
Still, they do share one thing in common…
They both longed for women who didn’t quite suit their place. Yes—that was the one thing they had in common. Ingrid turned her gaze toward the pale girl sitting stiffly like she was on pins and needles. Fourteen years had passed since she first laid eyes on her. Even back then, when she was nothing more than a scrawny little thing, Ingrid had thought: She’s unusually pretty for her age.
“Still, she’s no match for Lady Charlotte, wouldn’t you agree?”
The noblewomen who were close with Charlotte’s mother had always thrown comments like that at Ann—quiet little barbs hidden in polite conversation. She’s beautiful, but no comparison to the radiant Charlotte… Charming, for a commoner child, but that’s all there is to it…
They all said she was nothing.
And yet, Lennox’s heart had stayed with that “nobody” of a commoner girl all these years. That was the problem. It didn’t matter how dazzling Charlotte was—none of it mattered to Lennox.
“Still, Ann knows her place.”
It was something Helena de Valenska often said. She had raised Ann with more care than most realized. As close friends with Countess Sophia of Herborn, Helena often spoke up for Ann’s sake. Ann never wanted anything. She never dared to dream of becoming queen—or even of being adopted into a noble house.
But what if Ann had been someone else? A girl just as clever, but far more ambitious?
“Ann doesn’t know how to want things. If she did, she would’ve tried to become my or Sophia’s ward. And that would’ve certainly stirred Lady Charlotte’s nerves—even if she never became queen.”
Helena sipped her tea calmly before adding her thoughts aloud. And she was right. Ann knew her place. That was why, aside from Charlotte, no one truly hated her.
Even the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, who often defended Ann, didn’t do so because she was special. It wasn’t because she was “too beautiful for a commoner,” either.
“Ann, what do you think?”
Ingrid’s lips curved into a testing smile. Ann, who had been gently tracing the rim of her teacup, slowly raised her head to meet the queen mother’s eyes. Her pale face looked even more shadowed than usual.
“…With my limited understanding, I think… since the royal wedding is near, it might be better to spend the summer at the palace this year instead of the estate.”
Ann tried her best not to stumble over her words. Lennox didn’t look at her. Ingrid, however, seemed pleased.
“That’s a good thought,” she replied.
Ann nodded quietly.
“We can always go to the Sapphoras estate another time. Next year… or the year after….”
Her voice trailed off. Lennox’s gaze, cool and sharp as a needle, landed on her. It made her chest tighten—but she knew this was the right thing to say. To steady herself, she took a small sip of the hot tea in front of her. They’d said it had a bit of honey in it, but she couldn’t taste even a hint of sweetness.
