Garden of May

Chapter 83

“That child nearly didn’t return to Saint Louis. She would have missed graduation and the Grand Tour.”

That day, the Marchioness, after a long, silent glare at her seated in the headmaster’s office, finally rose. Vanessa thought that perhaps Blair and Rosaline would pretend not to know her from the next term onwards. When the next term began, she felt immense relief at Rosaline’s smiling embrace. But to think that Rosaline had suffered such humiliation because of her during the break… Vanessa’s grey eyes trembled with shock.

“I had no choice but to accept the engagement to Cecily to lift Rosaline’s confinement, and… to protect you. Mother had written to the headmaster demanding your expulsion.”

Vanessa stared at Blair, bewildered. She knew the engagement to Cecily had seemed rather sudden, but she never dreamed such circumstances lay beneath it. It made a strange sort of sense. Since they were very young, Cecily had playfully pestered Blair about marriage, declaring she would live alone forever if it wasn’t with him, insisting the three of them were incomplete without each other.

Vanessa vividly remembered how Cecily’s initially playful gaze had slowly, steadily shifted into utter sincerity. She also remembered the secret relief she had felt when she heard her friend was engaged. If Blair wasn’t fixated on her, the Marchioness wouldn’t be so wary…

As Vanessa predicted, after Blair’s engagement, the Marchioness left them alone, no matter what they did or how closely they associated. She even occasionally sent Vanessa gifts, as if finally remembering, after all this time, that she was her friend’s daughter.

“Blair, I…” Overwhelmed by guilt, Vanessa began to speak, but Blair tightened his grip on her wrist, as if silencing her. His face, contorted in a grimace that was almost a smile, was unsettlingly unfamiliar.

“I intended to hide it from both Rosaline and you until I died.”

“….”

“If it weren’t for that, Vanessa…”

He gently pressed his lips against her slender neck. The sensation shifted from moist to painful, then stinging. When he finally pulled away, his breath hitched. He looked down at Vanessa, her face on the verge of tears, then silently released her and turned away. His footsteps retreated with a steady rhythm, followed by the closing of the door. Vanessa, who had been barely supporting herself against the wall, slowly crumpled to the floor. Everything went dark.

***

“Who would have guessed?” It was the early hours before dawn. With each step, dry dirt fell from Blair’s shoes, remnants of his trek across the mounds of earth dug for new rose bushes. He surveyed the dim interior of the shed with feigned nonchalance. “That the Duke, so desperately sought after by the King of Ingram, would be huddled in such… a lowly, cramped space.”

An open window framed by clustered flowerpots, a small wooden table and chairs, a portable stove with a kettle simmering on top—it was quite an idyllic scene, a stark contrast to his description of “lowly and cramped.” The summer garden, bursting with roses, was vibrant, and the bed visible behind the swaying curtain looked comfortable. This made it all the more appalling. How disgustingly entangled the two of them must have been in this place…

Blair’s gaze fell upon a ribbon stained with grass stains, resting on the bedside table. His eyes darkened for a moment, then cleared as he turned back, his expression carefully neutral.

“I’ve heard rumors of your… eccentricities.”

As if unable to bear even a moment of silence, his sharp words continued, his heightened wariness evident. Theodore observed the uninvited guest with calm eyes. The polite young man who had been led in by the Marquess of Winchester just a few seasons ago, offering a respectful greeting, had vanished without a trace, replaced by this sneering creature, bristling like an animal whose territory had been invaded. It was almost comical. Barking dogs seldom bite. If he truly intended to bare his teeth, if their positions were reversed, Theodore wouldn’t be here wasting time like this.

“So.” Theodore glanced at his wristwatch and placed a lit cigarette between his lips. He inhaled deeply, his cheek dimpling slightly, then narrowed his bright blue eyes. Smoke curled outwards like a deep sigh. “You didn’t come here at this ungodly hour just to confirm my eccentricities.”