“I’ll take the alimony in the form of your entire fortune.”
It was such a humiliating memory.
A ridiculous mistake born from my eagerness to do well.
How absurd must I have seemed in Baldwin’s eyes?
As if some kind of magic had been cast on that first encounter, every time I saw him afterward, I managed to embarrass myself all over again.
“You said it was love. You said I was the only one!”
It was the day I walked out of Mr. Jenus’s office holding the divorce papers—unsigned.
And it was the same day I turned my back on Sophia and Egbert, who had been tangled up in my bedroom.
I had thought there was nothing left in me that could break.
But when my heart finally collapsed, it plummeted all the way to the bottom.
With trembling hands, I clutched the envelope containing the divorce agreement and sobbed in the street.
It was the kind of day when sheets of rain poured from the sky.
A dreary day, where even the smallest sounds were drowned out by the storm.
As the papers inside the envelope grew damp, so did my heart—like a soaked wad of cotton, heavy and suffocating.
The weight of it all pressed down on me, made it hard to even breathe.
There was no one else on the street. I cried like a mess, without caring who might see.
The Graham estate had never felt like my home. There was nowhere I could cry freely, nowhere I could truly open up.
I’d hoped the rain, so relentless and harsh as it lashed against my body, might hide me.
I didn’t know how long I stood there, face pale and soaked through.
Then—whoosh. A shadow fell across me. A man’s high-quality coat was gently draped over my head.
Soft cashmere and a sharp, woody scent.
And through it all, a face—quiet, distant, and warm.
Yes. He had that same expression then, too.
That silent, strange yet familiar man beside me—that’s where I found comfort.
For once, it felt like someone was holding me when no one else had.
Until the storm died down, we simply stood there—like strangers sharing an umbrella.
He stayed by my side while I cried my heart out. And the moment the rain stopped, he left as if nothing had happened.
He left behind only the umbrella and the coat.
That forgotten memory bubbled back up, as if a drop of water had burst open inside me.
“Haa…”
How embarrassing.
Without meaning to, I let out a sigh, then froze. Slowly, I turned my head toward Baldwin.
Why was he always there in my most humiliating moments?
He had been the one who saved me from Egbert’s violence not long ago, too.
Just then, our eyes met.
There was a gentle curve in his gaze as it landed on me—and for some reason, my body flushed with heat.
I didn’t know why.
And I wondered—
What kind of gaze does Baldwin look at me with?
Egbert rubbed the dark circles under his eyes.
Since the day he had been thrown out in disgrace, he hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep.
That smug, slippery bastard Baldwin kept showing up in his dreams.
“That mute bastard.”
Egbert muttered the words under his breath.
As he did, the image of Anais mocking him from behind that broken man popped into his mind again—like a thorn digging deeper.
Pretending to be so refined, yet who knows when she started sleeping with him? The two of them seemed to get along far too well.
Egbert ground his teeth.
Just thinking about that day made his stomach churn, like his guts were twisting and his stomach acid was rising.
“Don’t you think he might’ve approached you deliberately from the start?”
Sophia’s syrupy voice drove another nail into Egbert’s already crumbling mind.
“Deliberately approached me?”
“Yes, my lord. Don’t you think he might’ve had his sights on Graham Bank from the beginning? That’s a very plausible suspicion.”
Sophia said it with a sulky expression.
“So it’s no wonder she stole Graham Bank the moment she had the chance—and now she’s hooking up with Duke Constantine too, isn’t she?”
Her hand slid delicately across Baldwin’s chest, eyes narrowed like a cat’s, filled with seductive charm.
“And that mute Duke? It’s all just to provoke you. She’s throwing a tantrum so you’ll pay attention to her. You can’t fall for such filthy tricks, my lord.”
Egbert took the glass Sophia handed him and drank slowly. His eyes sank deeper into thought.
There was a sliver of truth in what she said.
But no—Anais hadn’t approached them with an agenda.
If anything, it had been his grandfather who had approached her with a purpose.
From the beginning, the late Marquis Graham had judged Egbert as unfit. He’d taken a sudden interest in sponsoring troubled children, and he used to say this often to Egbert:
“Better to leave everything to a complete stranger with no blood ties than to hand it over to you. At least they won’t ruin Graham Bank!”
Only now did Egbert realize that what he once brushed off as the ramblings of a senile old man had been completely sincere.
He hadn’t been outsmarted by Anais—but by that cunning old snake of a man.
Of course, Anais had gone along with his schemes, and that was still a problem in itself.
Even so, seeing her pull such a blatant stunt to provoke him—it was kind of… adorable.
The fact that she deliberately got close to Baldwin, knowing he was Egbert’s rival?
“Maybe it really is for me. Maybe she still has feelings. Maybe this is her way of sending me a message.”
Egbert licked the salt off the back of his hand. It paired well with the strong, slightly sweet liquor.
In truth, Egbert and Anais had once gone together as well as this combination of premium liquor and fine salt.
Her love for him had always been just like this drink—strong, intoxicating, and fragrant.
How could love like that disappear so easily?
Strong liquor always leaves a heavy hangover.
Maybe, just maybe, he still lingered deeply in Anais’s heart.
And if that was the case—shouldn’t he be the one to open the path for her to return, even if it was “against her will”?
When he thought she was merely his grandfather’s “project,” she was repulsive. But now that he’d lost her, she suddenly seemed sweet.
Besides, Anais had quietly and capably run the bank all this time.
She was, in many ways, someone far too valuable to simply let go.
“I’ll just have to bring her back.”
Egbert let a faint smile spread across his face.
“You’re right, Sophia.”
Sophia blinked in surprise.
“Pull yourself together quickly, Egbert. We’ve got so much to do! We still need to prepare for the wedding…”
“Wedding?”
“Oh, Egbert. Are you really going to keep Chris as an illegitimate child forever? He’s your one and only heir.”
Egbert’s eyes sparkled.
“You’ve got a point.”
Sophia beamed and wrapped herself in Egbert’s arms.
“So Chris is finally going to be registered properly! I’m so happy, Egbert.”
Sophia smiled radiantly.
Both of them smiled—each lost in their own very different dreams.
The new secretary had a clean and refreshing appearance. What’s more, he dutifully left the graduation ceremony the moment it ended and reported straight to work.
But above all—
“Those forearms, though.”
I muttered without thinking, and Jenus nodded in agreement.
“Looks like the kind of man who could protect Madam no matter what.”
“I thought so too.”
Of course, there were many other factors I’d considered before hiring him. Heres, who was organizing his things in the office he’d been assigned, turned to us with a bright smile—completely unaware of our current conversation.
“I like his name too. Heres Lorelline. The Lorelline family is known for producing excellent scholars, and the name ‘Heres’ just sounds competent.”
“I’m glad you’re pleased. I hope only good things lie ahead for you, Madam.”
“Thanks for all your hard work. Please help Heres settle in just a little longer.”
Jenus gave a small nod.
“Ah, and while you were away, Madam, I received a message—there was a call from House Constantine.”
Baldwin Constantine.
There was that name again.
I immediately thought of the man I had seen two days ago at the graduation ceremony. Until recently, our paths had never crossed, and yet now, he kept appearing in my life—in one way or another.
“I see.”
“It seems House Constantine is looking to attract investment.”
Investment? That was odd. Constantine already had a solid financial base. And considering the prestige of their ventures, investors would normally line up without needing to be asked.
“Have Constantine and Graham Bank ever done business before?”
“Typically, the Constantine family has worked with Hedges Bank.”
“Has there been some sort of issue between Constantine and Hedges?”
“I don’t believe so.”
And yet, if they wanted to work with us, there had to be a reason.
Was Constantine, like the others who had come to me recently, also underestimating me and the Graham name?
Maybe they were just trying to test me—poke around and snatch away the core of what I had.
After getting burned so many times, suspicion had become a habit. I bristled instinctively, putting up my thorns first.
