Chapter 11
The Black Panther That Has Caught Its Prey and the Memory of a Mini Ball
Alec lifted one corner of his lips slightly and smiled, then leaned closer to whisper again near my ear. His breath brushing against me was rougher than before.
“Have I done something wrong to you, my lady?”
Unlike Lawrence’s gentle lead, Alec’s was rough and overbearing—almost suffocating.
He held me so tightly that I could hardly control my own body, moving me entirely at his will.
When I danced with Lawrence, I felt like Cinderella dancing with a prince.
But dancing with Alec felt like being a small animal trapped in a hunter’s snare.
His deep pink eyes held my gaze firmly. Even though I trembled in fear, I couldn’t look away.
As the dance neared its end, Alec tightened his strong arm around my waist and spoke.
“You said you were curious why I’m acting this way, didn’t you?”
I slowly nodded.
A faint curve formed on his lips. Lowering his head, he brushed his lips near my ear and whispered softly,
“It’s because you resemble the prey I’m chasing… Lady Adeline.”
His warm breath tickled my ear.
My face flushed instantly.
At that moment, the music ended.
Leaving behind only those cryptic words and his breath, Alec pressed a kiss to the back of my hand and disappeared into the crowd.
Lawrence, who had been watching us instead of dancing, approached me.
“Adel.”
Still dazed, I placed my hand on his arm when he offered it.
He led me toward the table.
“They have Western chocolate over there. You like that, don’t you? …Are you okay? What did you two talk about?”
“No… just… hunting.”
I put the chocolate he handed me into my mouth.
Still absent-minded, I suddenly blinked as the sweetness hit me.
‘Just like a young lady’s taste. Extremely sweet… and soft.’
Personally, I preferred something less rich.
Lawrence kept trying to feed me more chocolate, but I refused, saying my stomach didn’t feel well.
“I heard you used to eat a whole box by yourself. Are you really that unwell?”
Before I could answer, Sophia approached us.
“To be honest, I want to dance with our Adel—but I’ll settle for her fiancé instead. That’s fine, right, Adel?”
I barely held back my laughter and nodded.
In truth, Lawrence found Sophia’s bold and carefree personality a little overwhelming.
But when I nodded, he put on a perfectly composed smile and extended his hand to her.
While the two of them danced, I decided to sit down and rest.
As I sat on the sofa, about to sip some champagne, I felt a sharp gaze on me.
It was Alec, seated on the opposite sofa.
I thought over his words.
‘Prey?’
Comparing a person to prey—how rude.
I shot him a cold glance, then deliberately looked away.
He was not someone I wanted to get involved with.
After the party, I returned to the mansion and spent several days lying in bed.
I had always been known for being strong and healthy—but after months of constant tension, it seemed my stamina had finally run out.
Lenore and Mary took turns caring for me as if I were gravely ill.
“Lenore… Mary…”
“Yes… my lady…”
“I’m not dying, you know? Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”
“It’s just… we feel sorry for you. Even during the mourning period, you haven’t been able to rest…”
They truly worried about me from the bottom of their hearts.
I tried to reassure them.
“I’ll be fine after a few days of rest. Don’t worry, alright?”
After a few days of proper rest, I finally felt a bit better.
I got up to take care of the work that had piled up.
Lenore, who had just entered with porridge, was startled and tried to stop me.
“My lady! You need more rest!”
“Even the physician said it’s just fatigue. If I rest any longer, the work will pile up so much I might actually collapse later.”
“Leave the small matters to the head butler! Your health comes first!”
“Lenore, thank you for worrying. Please have my meal brought to the study today.”
Even as she helped me change, Lenore continued to grumble with concern.
“How can I ever win against your stubbornness, my lady!”
With my hair loosely tied to one side and dressed in light indoor clothing, I went down to the study.
The butler had already handled simple letters and documents, but there were still many that required my personal reply.
Living as the head of a household was certainly not easy.
“My lady, your meal.”
While I worked through the letters, a simple meal was brought in—bread, strawberry jam, and cream cheese.
After the kitchen maid left, I spread a generous amount of jam on the bread and ate it with my hands, just like I used to as a child.
The familiar habit brought me comfort.
‘Comforting… but not very fitting for a noble lady.’
I took a sip of tea.
From the aroma, I recognized it as black tea produced in the kingdom.
Since the young lady had loved tea so much, I had studied it enough to identify it by scent alone—even if it meant suffering through a numb nose.
Fortunately, I had a better memory than I thought.
As I sipped the tea, I reviewed the documents.
The count’s income came from the knight commander’s salary and taxes from the estate.
After the count’s death, a pension was provided, but it wasn’t nearly enough to rebuild the burned Beaumont villa.
There were also reports that tax revenue from the estate had been steadily decreasing.
Since I was feeling better, I decided to visit the estate myself.
Inside the carriage, Arthur sat beside me, awkwardly fidgeting with the sleeve of his black uniform.
He had clearly been dissatisfied with being treated as a mere porter, so they had forcefully given him the title of “butler” when I began going out more often.
At Lorienne’s birthday party, he had performed his duties flawlessly—as expected, Arthur was good at everything.
Even so, he still seemed a bit awkward.
When I kept glancing at him, he turned to look at me.
His gentle gray eyes were deep and moist.
Sometimes, he looked at me like that—as if seeing someone else.
Was he seeing Pieni in me?
Whenever that happened, I felt a strange jealousy toward my past self.
“What is it, my lady?”
“Arthur, what did the staff do at Lorienne’s party? She said meals and desserts were prepared separately for them.”
“Ah… yes. We had a simple meal in the dining hall.”
He seemed unusually tense.
Not knowing why, I tried to ease the mood with a casual question.
“Did you dance too? Have you ever been to a ball?”
“No… not social dancing… Though I do remember a festival in the village square when I was young. It was more like children playing than a real ball.”
His eyes turned distant, as if recalling a dream.
Hearing that, the memory surfaced in my mind as well—the noisy square, children running around, the smell of delicious food.
Arthur smiled faintly, still lost in that memory.
“They held a small dance during the festival. I went to ask my childhood friend to dance, but even when I held out my hand, she kept pretending not to see me. I thought she was rejecting me and felt hurt… but then she said she was afraid she’d step on my feet.”
He chuckled softly.
“She did step on them a lot… but I was still happy. She didn’t smile like that very often back then.”
‘Childhood friend…’
Something stirred quietly in my chest.
‘Me too… I was the same… I was afraid I’d step on his feet.’
I swallowed the words I couldn’t say aloud.
By the time I looked up, the carriage had reached the village entrance.
Just like back then, I took Arthur’s hand and stepped down.
Since I had informed the village representative in advance, several people were waiting.
“My lady count, it is an honor to meet you. I am Louis, the village representative.”
He looked younger than I expected.
Today, I had dressed formally, with my hair tied to one side, to appear as dignified as possible.
As a young female count, I had worried the villagers might look down on me.
So I dressed with Sophia—the most impressive woman I knew—in mind.
Following Louis, we began touring the village.
The Drayton estate was mostly made up of farming villages.
At the center was a fairly large market—one near where Arthur and I had once lived.
“May I ask what brings you here, my lady?”
“Are you planning to raise taxes?”
A man and woman behind Louis looked at me with suspicion as they spoke.
I had expected such a question.
Smiling calmly, I replied,
“Have the harvests been difficult lately?”
“Don’t even mention it. It’s the worst famine we’ve ever seen. We’re barely surviving.”
I looked around.
Just as they said, the fields that should have been full of life looked barren.
“I see… then perhaps we should reduce the taxes.”
“Ah… my lady… please have mercy—… what?”
They froze, clearly not expecting that answer.
“As you know, the count’s household has grown smaller. During the mourning period, we cannot host parties, and the mansion can be maintained with minimal expenses. The Beaumont villa cannot be used until it’s rebuilt… so we are not in such a desperate situation that we must force taxes from you.”
I added playfully,
“But I’d appreciate your help later when it comes time to rebuild the Beaumont villa.”
