CHAPTER~29
A Deep Lilac Scent
“I have delivered the message to Lord Derrick, my lady.”
Nadia nodded at the maid’s report.
“You may go.”
As she stepped back into the banquet hall, her lips lifted in a smile she could no longer hide.
Nadia headed toward the place where her group had been gathered.
Just then, she noticed the young lady of the Somerset family stepping out from that direction.
“Where are you going, Eleanor?”
“Ah, just stepping out for a breath.”
Eleanor had been about to walk past when Nadia turned back as if something had suddenly come to mind.
“Then I think you shouldn’t go toward the balcony.”
“Hm? Why?”
“Ah, well……”
Nadia trailed off awkwardly, but the satisfied smile on her lips flickered and disappeared.
Eleanor, growing curious at Nadia’s dramatic pause, urged her with her eyes.
Nadia finally spoke as if unwilling but forced to answer.
“Lord Derrick and Yvonne are there. Don’t you think they look so good together?”
“Oh my. Really?”
Eleanor widened her eyes slightly, startled by the implication woven into Nadia’s words.
It sounded random at first, but it was more than enough to satisfy her curiosity.
And to stir up more rumors.
“……Ah.”
The next morning, Yvonne let out a sigh the moment she woke up.
The memories of the previous night remained far too vivid.
Trying to escape from Derrick, she tried to drunkenly jump off the balcony — only to be caught in the act by Cedric.
And she even rolled across the lawn with him afterward.
Although she had walked back into the banquet hall fine after taking a walk with Cedric, it seemed she had still been tipsy at the time.
Judging from the aftereffects hitting her now.
‘I must have been completely out of my mind…….’
Yvonne buried her face in the pillow, screaming silently.
She couldn’t stop remembering Cedric laughing at her ridiculous antics.
The only comfort was that she wouldn’t have to face him for a while.
That alone helped her calm down a bit.
After a long struggle to collect herself, Yvonne drank a glass of cold water and forcefully pushed aside the memories of last night.
Then she pulled the bell cord.
“You’re awake, my lady?”
Cindy entered soon after with a basin of water.
Since Yvonne had walked into the mansion last night perfectly fine on her own two feet, Cindy didn’t seem to know she had been drunk.
Small mercies.
After washing her face, Yvonne sat at the dressing table and reached instinctively for the newspaper.
But oddly, only the medicine Catherine always sent was there — no newspaper.
Yvonne swallowed the unwelcome medicine automatically and asked.
She thought of Cedric, with whom she had spent the time she was absent from the banquet yesterday.
But mentioning him now would be foolish.
Yvonne pressed her lips together tightly.
“Who would believe you when there isn’t even a witness? Especially when there’s testimony claiming they saw you with Derrick Glaston.”
“…….”
“What matters isn’t the truth, but what people choose to believe.”
How was she supposed to fight against people who believe what they want, not what’s real?
And suddenly, it struck her.
She would never become the perfect noblewoman no matter how hard she tried.
“Whatever you were in the past, you are now Yvonne Leroy.”
“…….”
“Do whatever you want behind everyone’s back, seduce Derrick Glaston for all I care, but never let such trashy articles appear again.”
Yvonne Leroy.
The name she had never wanted weighed down on her once more.
Yvonne swallowed to calm the nausea rising inside her.
But Logan continued speaking.
“And using this incident as an excuse, there’s talk of holding the wedding at Glaston before summer ends.”
“……What?”
“You, of all people, should be happy about that.”
Yvonne’s eyes shook violently.
Logan said more, but none of it registered in her ears.
She stared out the window.
The lilac petals blooming at the edge of spring fluttered in the wind.
Their deep fragrance made it hard to breathe.
After that, preparations for the wedding progressed quickly between both families.
For example, while Yvonne was practicing tea-time etiquette during her bridal lessons, the dressmaker would suddenly be announced to have arrived at the atelier.
Just like now.
“My lady, Madame Lawrence has arrived.”
The maid approached quietly with the news.
Yvonne looked questioningly at Catherine, who immediately beamed in delight.
“I called her. I wanted to give a precious young lady, soon to be part of our family, an unforgettable gift.”
“A gift?”
“A wedding dress that suits you perfectly, of course. I asked her to bring sample designs today.”
Wedding dress.
The word alone made her chest tighten.
“If I had a daughter, I would have loved to do this for her. But perhaps God has denied me that blessing.”
“…….”
“So I asked the Duke if I could treat you as my own daughter and have a wedding dress made for you. He happily agreed. You don’t mind, do you?”
Kindness disguised as pressure was nearly impossible to refuse.
Yvonne lifted her teacup with a vague smile.
She had only one possible answer.
“Thank you for your consideration, madam.”
Catherine finished her tea and suggested they return inside the mansion.
Yvonne lifted the teacup before her again.
The tea had already cooled, but she deliberately stalled.
Ignoring the petal that had fallen into the cup.
Meanwhile, Cedric had returned early to the Glaston mansion after finishing his afternoon schedule ahead of time.
There was still plenty of time before the evening banquet.
As always, the butler greeted him at the door.
“Madam is in the garden with a guest.”
The butler’s intention was obvious — a warning that a guest was present, and that Cedric should not interfere.
But Cedric already knew.
Entering his room, a thick lilac scent enveloped him.
He frowned slightly and noticed the open window.
The maid must have forgotten to close it after cleaning.
Cedric set his jacket on the sofa and approached the window.
Just as he reached to close it, a certain scene caught his eye.
Among the fully bloomed flowers sat a small woman, quiet and composed.
She smiled softly as she drank her tea, like the heroine of a spring landscape painting.
It was a stark contrast to the brazen woman who had thrown herself off a balcony to escape her fiancé.
Her body, much lighter than she insisted, the faint smell of wine, and her slightly flushed cheeks — all the memories of that ridiculous spring night crossed Cedric’s mind, and he chuckled under his breath.
Just then, a maid stepped into the garden and interrupted the peaceful scene.
Catherine said something in response, and the painted smile on Yvonne’s face instantly twisted.
After emptying her teacup, she followed Catherine back into the mansion.
Staring at the now-deserted garden for a moment, Cedric finally closed the window and moved into the dressing room.
His negotiations with Yvonne had removed one reason for attending banquets, but even if she left, the wedding could no longer be delayed.
So, he would have to attend the banquets diligently for the time being.
After changing into his tailcoat, Cedric adjusted his cravat.
For some reason, the perfectly tied cravat felt unusually constricting today.
