Chapter 10
Gray saw tears welling up in Anne’s bloodshot eyes.
A sudden urge to comfort her welled up inside him. No matter how suspicious he was, he felt his words had been too harsh considering she was ill.
But Gray clamped his slightly parted lips shut.
A duke never bows his head or apologizes easily, not even to his own people. Nobles were taught to offer compensation instead of apologies.
Feigning ignorance, he turned his back and strode away.
Meanwhile, Anne had forced her torn, pain-wracked body to leave her room and confront him. But even when he saw her misery, her husband didn’t come to her. All of her remaining hope shattered.
Anne finally accepted what she had known all along.
She had to admit it.
“Gray Benton.”
She caught up to him just as he was descending the central staircase in the hallway. Standing at the bottom of the landing, Gray Benton looked up at Anne.
It was only a few meters, but Anne was out of breath. Blood trickled between her legs as her wound reopened.
“How dare I… Why, of all people, did I fall in love with you?”
The hem of her skirt turned red, and crimson footprints marked the path she walked.
“I regret loving you.”
Startled, Gray saw Anne stumble as she approached and stepped back up toward her.
But Anne’s cold gaze froze him in place.
He could clearly hear her unspoken warning—don’t come near me now.
“If I could…”
“Anne.”
“I would undo every moment I spent with you.”
A hollow laugh escaped her lips, scattering all the feelings that had weathered with time into the air.
Clutching the blood-soaked hem of her dress, Anne barely stood upright. She leaned against the stair rail and slowly collapsed.
Through her dimming vision, she saw Gray rushing toward her, shouting her name.
Anne wanted to laugh at how useless it all was.
It was too late.
It was already over.
Their broken relationship was like withered leaves—crumbled, dry, and fragile.
Now crushed underfoot, the shattered fragments were swept away by the wind, flying endlessly to the mountains, the fields, the sea.
So too disappeared the two people once bound by love.
Flicker, flicker.
Anne opened and closed her eyes. She repeated it several times.
Since waking up in the body of eighteen-year-old Anne, this had become a daily morning ritual that lasted about a minute.
I’m still just “Anne.”
That’s a relief. I’ll remain Anne Ferro. I’ll never bear the duke’s name.
The dawn light streamed through the window of the maid’s quarters. Reassured, Anne got out of bed.
Summer had begun.
“Noona, they say the young master is entering the knight academy next year.”
Jamie brought Anne some snacks on his way back from an errand.
Since Gray had given Jamie enough money to cover even the servant’s share, the siblings sat together on the railing of the Benton estate’s backyard, sucking on cold ice to beat the heat.
“Is he taking you too?”
“Yeah!”
Jamie’s cheerful voice burst out immediately.
“Be good when you go. They won’t be as forgiving as they are here.”
Jamie, the youngest of the servants, was cheerful and well-liked.
Even Gray, their master, treated him kindly. That’s likely why Jamie still had such a bright, childish side to him.
If he had been a noble’s child, he would’ve been considered adorable. But as a servant, he should have been more mature than his age.
“I know. Meeting the young master was the luckiest thing in my life.”
“Could you at least remember that I made that luck happen for you?”
Anne had warned him before, thinking he followed Gray a bit too blindly. But it didn’t seem to make much impact.
Jamie probably thought it was jealousy—his sister envying his closeness with Gray.
“Yeah. When I was with Aunt, it was so hard. I’m really thankful you came to get me.”
Jamie kicked his legs restlessly, brushing the ground with his heels, crossing and uncrossing his legs before looking up at Anne with a beaming smile.
That boyish grin, with his visible canines, carried a hidden shadow behind it.
“It was really hard, wasn’t it?”
He’d been underfed, and forced to work.
With no family name to protect him and no dowry as a boy, unless he had an exceptionally strong build, he couldn’t even be sold for much. More often than not, he was just treated as a mouth to feed—a waste.
Only thanks to Anne, who had been sending half of her wages from the Benton estate, had he not been cast out.
Anne had left their aunt’s place when she was fifteen. So Jamie must have been around eleven when he started getting scraps and doing chores.
Anne had started working at an even younger age, but her little brother was always the one she regretted not protecting better—her weak spot.
“But thanks to you, I’m so happy now. It’s okay.”
He was her only family.
If Anne was grateful for anything in her new life, it was saving Jamie.
No matter who you’re with—even if you’re beside Gray—so long as you’re alive, that’s enough.
Anne gently patted Jamie’s head. His soft giggle warmed the air.
But the moment of peace didn’t last long.
The second half of the year was always busier than the first.
Starting with the duke’s birthday in late summer, the birthdays of the duchess and heir followed in the next two months. Preparations for the imperial autumn hunt were also underway.
Before winter set in, the nobles would seize every moment to flaunt their power and wealth.
Of all the events, the Duke of Benton’s birthday was the biggest within the household.
As the date approached, Anne could hear the servants whispering everywhere.
“They say His Majesty the Emperor will attend the duke’s birthday?”
If the Emperor was attending, it meant the crown prince and every high-ranking noble of the empire would be there too.
This event was both a show of the duke’s prestige and a demonstration of loyalty to the imperial family.
Even the Duke of Benton, usually uninterested in household matters, began walking around the mansion, inspecting everything. The maids had no time to even straighten their knees—they were endlessly busy.
Anne wiped the sweat from her forehead as she dusted a white statue near the hall’s entrance.
The statue of a man raising his head toward the sun stood on a pedestal, so from her position, Anne could only see his jawline.
That was the difference between her and the Bentons.
While she had to kneel on the dusty floor without complaint and scrub it clean, the duke looked up at the sun, only his chin visible to those below.
It was the difference between sky and earth.
Anne mentally reviewed the list of nobles attending the ball.
Her rank was too low to even serve in the party hall, but the attendants who did would certainly complain about the nobles while tossing dirty dishes into the sink.
It was a chance to gather useful information.
At the very least, if there were any houses hiring new maids or ones that frequently replaced attendants due to their picky tempers—it was worth looking into.
Clutching her rag tightly, Anne scrubbed the floor again.
The white marble beneath the sunlight shimmered like rippling water.
Just before the summer ended, the duke’s birthday finally arrived.
From the estate’s gates to the grand entrance hall, white marble statues and golden decorations lined the way. The newly planted trees in the garden were groomed down to the last leaf.
Despite all the preparations made throughout the summer, the duke and duchess were still not satisfied.
“Absolutely no mistakes.”
“If you have to relay a message, bow and enter. As soon as you’re done, leave immediately without hesitation.”
“If anyone is caught loitering in the hall to catch the attention of a noble, they’ll be expelled from the mansion at once.”
“Don’t even breathe loudly. Move without a sound. If you see an honored guest, disappear like air. Understood?”
The butler and head maid sternly instructed the staff.
Still, the younger, prettier servants—regardless of gender—had a glimmer in their eyes once the party began.
There had been rare cases where a night’s romance led to someone becoming a count’s or countess’s lover, or even marrying into nobility and changing their fate.
Nine times out of ten, they were just used and discarded. But still, there were countless who dreamed of breaking free from their station.
Anne had once been one of the lucky few.
When she’d loved Gray, she hadn’t sought luck or chance. She hadn’t calculated. She’d just loved him, purely.
If you had nothing, you had to be wise.
Looking back, what she learned was how to see reality for what it was.
Anne thought of Gray, who would make his first formal appearance at this grand party.
Once it ended, Gray Benton would be officially recognized as a member of the duke’s family.
And next year, he would enter the knight academy—away from the duchess’s watchful eyes, using the power of Benton to become a fine knight.
He would never again take the hand of a maid and throw everything away.
“Anne.”
Gray approached her.
“Are you very busy?”
The party would start in just a few hours. Everyone was going through final checks to ensure everything was in place.
Anne nodded.
But Gray didn’t give up.
“Anne, could you take a look at my party outfit? Jamie gave me his opinion, but I’d like to hear from someone with actual taste.”
