CH 21.1

“Emily, do you hate him?”

Although she omitted the name, Emily understood her words perfectly.

“No. I loved him.”

Ha . . . Emily was talking about the love that only existed in books. Her heart sank. Emily fell in love with a man younger than her, conceived a child, and was kicked out. Robert couldn’t have loved Emily, and even if he did, it wouldn’t have stopped their mother.

It’s not that different from me, but . . .

Emily, who was kicked out because she had a child, and her, who said that she would leave when she had a child, were the same. And by now she might find out something else she hadn’t thought of.

Seeing Anne’s face as she sighed, Emily said with a bitter smile, knowing what Anne was thinking.

“He just didn’t know what true love was.”

She was not so sure. Robert was more of a womanizer than anything else. Not only with the mind, but with the body. It was because of Robert’s behavior that Anne became the wife of the Grand Duke, who she had never met before. Still, she didn’t tell Emily, who was so fondly wrapped up in memories.

“It must have been a lot of trouble.”

“But I’m still alive. I came to the North and tried to work as a maid again, but the North would not accept anyone without connections. Luckily for me, I used my skills in making sweets for the Miss, so I was lucky enough to work there.”

Anne nodded her head slightly, but Emily’s hand stood still.

“Miss, actually, I have heard a story.”

“What?”

“The store’s owner-grandfather is gone now, but I’ve heard that he previously worked briefly as a dessert chef at this castle.”

“I see.”

“And he said before he died. About the Lord.”

“His Grace . . . ?”

Come to think of it, she remembered Emily’s face, who was hurriedly dragging her, was quite serious.

She thought Emily was thrilled to see an acquaintance in the barren north, but when she came to think of it, Emily, who had lived here for nearly ten years, didn’t need that anymore. Still, was there any real reason why she followed Anne saying that she would be by Anne’s side?

Swallowing her saliva, Emily muffled her voice and whispered in Anne’s ear.

“Lord Cromund never grows old.”

“Haa . . .”

The ears that had listened were relieved. She wasn’t someone who spoke in vain, but her heart throbbed as Emily had been through a lot of hardship.

Emily’s countenance grew more serious when she realized that Anne wasn’t listening at all.

“Really, Miss. The people who use this castle are all from the same family, and at that time, the store’s grandfather worked for a while because they needed someone urgently.”

“An outsider worked for a while?”

“Yes. At that time, he only worked in the castle for about a week and then came out. He said he was eighteen then.”

“Yes. Therefore?”

“And he said he forgot to work in the castle again while running a shop in the village again. But after that, fifty years later, another request came in to work at the castle for only about a week. So he went back, well. The Lord’s face was the same. Fifty years had passed, yet it didn’t change.”

“Do you really believe in such nonsense?”

The old man who worked as a dessert chef for a short time must have been nothing but a busybody that poked his nose everywhere.

Anne took a brush from Emily and combed her hair. Emily was so engrossed in her story that she didn’t even know she had let go of the brush. She was nearing thirty, how could she believe such a story? Emily lowered her voice even more in case anyone heard her voice.

“No. At that time, he was called by the castle because they needed a patissier for a hastily helf banquet, but the same offer came fifty years later.”

Emily, who took a deep breath, spoke her words one after another.

“Originally, the grandfather’s son was supposed to receive the call, but there was an accident and the grandfather had no choice but to come in his son’s stead. And that day, she was very surprised to see His Grace.”

Never grows old . . . Recalling the Grand Duke’s face, Anne grinned.

There were rumors that he was an old man over seventy years old in the capital, but rumors of him being immortal seem to be circulating in the estate itself. It was all rumors because they couldn’t see his handsome face properly.

She listened when she asked Madame Wald about the Grand Duke. Rumors that the Grand Duke is an old man spread across the capital were mere rumors made up by those who liked to talk, and were rumors that had been created because they had not met the Imperial Family or the central nobles.

The Grand Duke was the hidden son of his predecessor, and upon his coming-of-age ceremony, it was said that he assumed the position of head of the family and did not go out to socialize, so that fact did not spread. She explained step by step that the Grand Duke, who was ignorant of such trivial things, let them talk at will.