Garden of May

Chapter 33

The torn letter and invitation landed on Rosaline’s lap. She savored the last letter as if it were a delectable, drawn-out dinner, then leisurely lifted her head. With graceful movements, she folded the letter and slipped it back into its envelope.

“It seems my departure will be delayed.”

Accepting a teacup and saucer from Mary, Rosaline sighed and shook her head. The fragrant steam from the tea curled and diffused through the room. She took a delicate sip before adding playfully, “Of course, I’m thrilled to spend more time with you, Vanessa. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Of course. I enjoy your company as well.”

“Father has business in the south. He plans to take the opportunity to hand over a chartered company to Blair.”

“The chartered company near Somerset? The textile factory?”

“Precisely. To coordinate everything, it seems I’ll need to postpone my departure by a few weeks. Your uncle will likely be dismayed to have a bothersome guest linger longer.”

Vanessa laughed and shook her head. “I imagine he’d welcome the Marquess of Winchester with open arms, especially if it involves business.”

The Marquess of Winchester, a prominent nobleman from the capital, had only one reason to travel south on ‘business’: the Duke of Batenberg, the man rumored to be practically missing in the southern region.

It was common knowledge that the Duke conducted all his affairs through mail and telephone, remaining hidden from view. It was also known that the Duke’s weekly correspondence, delivered to the ducal estate, bore the Bath postmark.

Gossipmongers speculated that the Duke’s unusual behavior stemmed from his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Batenberg, pushing for a royal marriage he opposed.

Whenever they gathered, they spun tales: the Duke had taken a secret lover, the war had left him emotionally unstable, he’d suffered a disfiguring injury. In these rumors, the Duke oscillated between being a misogynist and a man with five illegitimate children.

‘At eight years old, he was hailed as an angel of the era.’

In any case, it was safe to say that all eyes were currently on Somerset. Even now, the front page of Rosaline’s local newspaper was about that very Duke.

“….”

A strange sense of unease washed over Vanessa as she stared intently at the front page of Rosaline’s newspaper.

“What is it, Vanessa?”

“…Hm?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No… not really.”

Rosaline arched an eyebrow at her vague reply. Following Vanessa’s gaze to the front page, Rosaline’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you interested in the Duke, by any chance?”

“Vanessa interested in whom?” Blair entered, draping his coat over the sofa and tilting his head inquisitively. Rosaline’s smile deepened. “The Duke of Batenberg. It seems Vanessa has finally taken an interest in a man.”

“It’s not like that. It’s just… the picture. I think I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

“The Duke’s face? All the publicly available photographs are blurry like this.”

“Let me see that for a moment.” Vanessa took the newspaper from Rosaline and carefully examined the image on the front page. It appeared to be a surreptitious photograph of several soldiers standing together, taken from a distance.

The paper was cheap, the print quality poor. It was the best newspaper available locally, but even the best of Somerset paled in comparison to the capital’s offerings.

Still, even in the capital, a better picture would be impossible to find. The Duke of Batenberg’s face had only been publicly seen when he was eight. Every photograph published since then had been too blurred to distinguish his features.

‘Though that alone is enough for people to rave about his good looks.’

The only discernible detail in this photograph was the soldiers’ rigid posture. The fleeting sense of unease Vanessa had felt vanished. She lost interest and set the newspaper down.