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Upon Ainar’s receipt of documents regarding the hunting competition from his aide, Lyna had just arrived at the Bolsheik mansion and was making her way to her study.
Lyna had resolved to leave the Bolsheik family, but she realized that disappearing suddenly would only bring additional complications.
Thus, she planned to gradually prepare for her departure until Jane was ready to take over.
“……There are invitations to meet Milady before the hunting competition…….”
As Lyna disregarded her father’s steward’s words, she abruptly halted.
Lyna noticed a familiar look on one of the servants who had just bowed to her.
She stopped and scrutinized the servant, trying to figure out why she seemed familiar.
Despite her ordinary appearance, something about the servant triggered Lyna’s memory.
Tilting her head, she gazed at the servant for a moment before inquiring,
“What’s your name?”
The servant, caught off guard by Lyna’s attention, replied coolly,
“Emma, miss.”
Lyna repeated, “Emma?” and then added, “I don’t think that’s the name I remember.”
Emma was puzzled by Lyna’s cryptic words, but remained composed.
After observing her for a while, Lyna suddenly commanded,
“Follow me.”
Emma, taken aback by the unexpected request, responded promptly, “Yes.” and followed Lyna without hesitation.
With her head bowed, Lyna walked towards the study, with Emma following closely behind.
‘Emma, Emma. The name isn’t right. It’s something other than Emma…’
“Milady.”
“Sebastian?”
“The master requests your presence for a moment.”
“Understood… Go to my study and organize the documents that need attention today and discard all invitations.”
At Lyna’s authoritative command, both Emma and the steward bowed their heads, and Lyna promptly made her way to the Duke’s study.
Soon after, Lyna stood before the Duke of Bolsheik and her father.
His blue eyes were so deep that they appeared bottomless, just like hers.
“You called for me?”
“Lyna.”
Though her heart ached at the sound of her name, Lyna pushed the pain aside.
‘Father. I once yearned for your recognition and love, to be your proud daughter. But that is now a distant memory. I will leave this family, but I will miss you at times.’
The two of them simply looked at each other for a while, neither looking away, both steadfast until the end.
“Why did you break off the engagement?”
Finally, to the heavy question from the father, Lyna lightly answered.
“Because I don’t love him anymore.”
It was an engagement that Lyna pushed hard from the beginning.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t he ask the same question when I got engaged?’
-What’s the point of an engagement?’
-I love His Highness, the Third Price, and want to be with him!
‘And father no longer asked anything and pushed forward the engagement with the prince.’
For Lyna, who had regressed, the memory of the old event suddenly came back too vividly, even though it was a long time ago.
At that, Lyna’s heart became cold all at once.
The shadow of the past she wanted to escape was knocking on her feet.
“Okay.”
At the low, short answer, Lyna tightly closed her eyes.
This time again, her father, the Duke of Bolsheik, asked nothing more.
Despite being the Duke of Bolsheik, it would not be easy for him to end the engagement with the royal family just based on his daughter’s words.
Even if it was with the third prince, the emperor would not let it go.
When the engagement was formed between the imperial family and Bolsheik, it was done quickly and smoothly, so there were not many objections.
However, the situation was different for the breakup of the engagement.
The royal palace would put pressure on the family.
Still, her father didn’t ask any questions and simply allowed Lyna to do as she pleased.
If her father claimed he did not love her, it would be a lie.
As someone who is straightforward in everything and unlikely to feel pain even if injured, the only person he loves must be Lyna.
Thus, it was all the more sad.
For his loving and caring, she wanted to be a source of pride as his daughter, but she couldn’t achieve that.
No matter how hard she tried or how much effort she put in, she never succeeded in anything.
Lyna addressed her silent father, speaking up for herself.
“I’ve already told you, I’m leaving the Duke’s household.”
Her words carried the weight of more than just a simple departure.
She didn’t offer an explanation for why she wanted to leave, nor did she mention her plans for the future or the specifics of her exit.
Her father, the Duke of Bolshevik, remained quiet as well.
He gazed at her with a steady, controlled expression.
Lyna couldn’t help but feel a twinge of irony as she faced her father’s lack of response.
‘What did you expect? Father to get angry? Him scolding me? Or just nodding his head comfortably?’
Before the Duke could speak, Lyna continued.
“I… don’t want to be here.”
Her smile was forced as she spoke.
‘Yes, I can’t cry, I should only smile.’
“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll take my leave.”
With that, Lyna departed, leaving the Duke to gaze after her for a long time, just as he had looked at her previously.
Lyna, who had just met with her father, now faced Emma with tired eyes.
Emma stood respectfully, head bowed and hands clasped, seeming a bit unsteady.
“You said your name is Emma,”
Lyna said, leaning back in her chair and studying the exhausted woman.
Although she appeared to be just an ordinary housekeeper in the mansion, there was something familiar about her face, as if she had met her before.
Lyna chuckled and shook her head.
It must have been before her regression, she thought.
Of course, the memory was not a positive one.
“Do you have any siblings?” Lyna asked.
“No, I don’t,” Emma replied.
Lyna could tell that Emma was not related to anyone she had seen before, even though twins are considered siblings.
Emma was just a forgotten memory tucked away in the corners of Lyna’s mind.
However, there was nothing particularly memorable about her, so Lyna made a swift decision.
She knew that lingering on the matter was pointless, especially after the high cost she had paid in the form of death.
“Emma,”
Lyna called her name with a sense of urgency.
Emma, whose name carried an ominous ring, lowered her head.
“Yes,” she replied.
“I’ll need to see you more often from now on,” Lyna said.
Emma emerged from Lyna’s study, trying to hide her unsteadiness as she made her way forward.
She needed time to process what had just happened.
“Emma!” her colleagues called out to her in surprise.
The servant holding the teapot said to everyone what happened inside the study when Lyna asked Emma to be her close aide.
Her colleagues surrounded her with words of admiration, regret, longing, and worry, as if she had suddenly become the lady’s closest confidante.
“What’s going on?”
“What happened to bring you so close to the lady?”
Emma was at a loss for words to answer her colleagues’ eager questions.
“I don’t know,” she replied with a nervous smile.
Just as one of her colleagues was about to ask another question, a higher-ranked servant clapped his hands, signaling for everyone to return to work.
“Emma, you don’t have to go back to your duties. Go to your room until the butler summons you.”
As she made her way to her room, Emma ran into another colleague.
“Emma, what happened? I heard the news!”
Emma, unable to look the envious and curious colleague in the eye, simply shook her head.
“I don’t know. I’ve just been told to do something, so I’m going.”
With that, she quickly entered her room and closed the door before her colleague could say anything else.
“Haaa….”
After barely being alone, she sat down, leaning her back against the door.
Her head, which had been confused by the coolness rising from the floor, felt a little settled.
Of course, being settled didn’t solve anything.
Emma tried to be careful not to bite her well-manicured nails.
She reached into her pocket and retrieved a small, tightly bound pouch.
She gently untied the knot and apologized to the pouch.
“I’m sorry, Emma,” she said, apologizing in a whisper as she called her name.
Although anyone who looked at her would have suspected her mental state, she was the only one in the room.
Emma, who was apologizing to the old pouch, soon took the pouch back into her pocket and carefully put it away.
After looking at the wall for a while, Emma sighed and muttered,
“I have to run away again.”