~Chapter 104~
“Your Grace, it’s Herbert. You have a visitor.”
The voice outside the door was the butler’s—announcing an unexpected guest.
Cedric, hair still messy from stress, ran a hand roughly through it and strode to the door. His glare was so intense it startled the butler.
“Is it… Miss Harriet Listerwell?”
“Yes, sir. How did you—?”
Harriet had come.
Cedric’s heart jolted. A strange, unplaceable feeling surged through him—one he might’ve labeled as rage. What else could make him feel like he was about to lose his mind?
“Escort her to the rear garden. By the fountain.”
“…As you wish.”
The butler looked mildly surprised—Cedric never received guests in the garden—but he said nothing more and bowed before leaving.
Cedric didn’t want to meet her in a confined room. He wasn’t sure he could control himself. In such tight quarters, he might actually suffocate her.
He wanted to shake her—demand to know if she had even the faintest idea what kind of danger she’d nearly thrown him into. If she understood the consequences of her recklessness.
Just days ago, he’d felt grateful to her—for saving him from a certain political trap. But now…
‘If she says one more thing to piss me off, I might kill her. Better give her space to run if she wants it.’
Cedric took a deep breath and threw on his jacket.
Even as he stepped out of the room, he still hadn’t decided what kind of expression to wear when he saw her.
***
Harriet stood in front of the grandest fountain she had ever seen, her mouth agape.
It wasn’t the cute sort of decorative piece that most mansions had tucked into a corner. This one was enormous—deep enough to swim in, with powerful jets of water spraying from the central column like a waterfall.
“Wow… it’s beautiful…”
Had she come a few weeks earlier, it might’ve looked cold and uninviting. But the garden was lush and green, glowing with the vibrant hues of spring. The whole space felt fresh, alive.
The rush of water was so loud she didn’t hear Cedric approach behind her.
He stood silently for a moment, watching her reach up to catch the misty spray, childlike in her wonder. She looked impossibly innocent—like a dream, like a mirage.
“If I’d known you liked fountains so much, I would’ve shown you this place sooner.”
His deep voice made her jump and turn around.
Her soft brown hair swirled around her waist, and her wide, intelligent eyes shimmered in the moonlight. For some ridiculous reason, Cedric felt… glad to see her. Almost relieved.
He hated that feeling.
“I’m sorry for coming unannounced…”
“You seem to enjoy catching me off guard, Miss Listerwell. So what brings you here today?”
His interruption was sharp. Harriet looked momentarily flustered but said nothing in protest. His effort to keep his temper contained was evident in his stiff posture and clenched jaw.
She hesitated, then gave him a small smile.
“I brought something… for you.”
From the pocket of her dress, she pulled out a small box and offered it with a quiet pride.
“A gift.”
Cedric took it and slowly opened the lid—part of him hoping, absurdly, that the brooch wouldn’t be inside.
Maybe Edgar had been wrong. Maybe she hadn’t gone to that cursed party. Maybe she hadn’t been with that man, Tez.
But fate was never that kind.
Inside the box sat the very brooch he both longed for and despised.
He stared at it, unmoving.
“You don’t look surprised. Almost like you… expected me to bring it.”
Cedric gave a bitter smile.
“What are you trying to gain from this?”
“…What?”
He clenched the brooch so tightly it seemed he might crush it. His voice was biting.
“I already told you—I would invest in your next business. So what more do you want?”
“I—I didn’t come here for—!”
“You knowingly consumed a drug that could destroy your mind just to get your hands on this! Why?! What could possibly be worth that risk?!”
Harriet’s eyes widened in shock.
He knew.
She’d thought he wouldn’t find out. That she could give him this gift and be done with it.
Her lips trembled, and her eyes filled with tears she tried desperately to hold back.
Cedric hated the sight of her like that. Hated the guilt clawing at him.
He shoved the brooch in front of her face.
“Did you think this would earn you some grand reward? You helped me once before, so now maybe I’d introduce you to the emperor? Was that it?”
“No! That’s not—!”
“It better not be. Because the only thing that matters to me isn’t this damned brooch—it’s what it represents. My father. My memories of him.”
His voice rose—and with a furious motion, he threw the brooch into the fountain.
Harriet gasped, eyes wide in horror.
“What are you doing?!”
Before he could reply, she gathered her skirts in both hands and rushed into the fountain.
“Harriet!”
He shouted after her, alarmed.
But she didn’t stop. She didn’t even glance back.
Maybe she couldn’t hear him over the roar of the water.
Or maybe she was too busy diving into the cold depths of water, searching desperately for the brooch.
Cedric stood frozen. His mind couldn’t process what he was seeing.
“Are you insane?! Get out of there, Harriet!”
She didn’t respond. She just kept diving—again and again—driven by something far stronger than pride or stubbornness.
Each time, her body emerged from water gasping, soaked, and breathless. Then she’d dive again, eyes scanning the water like her life depended on it.
Was this a dream?
From the moment Edgar had burst into his office, maybe none of this was real.
But then—!
“Pfft! Cough cough!”
She emerged once more, coughing up water, stumbling.
Cedric jolted toward the fountain, ready to jump in himself.
But she beat him to it.
Dripping, shivering, and barely steady, Harriet climbed out of the fountain with the brooch in her hand.
Her skirts clung to her legs, water streaming down them. Her hair was clung to her pale face. But her eyes burned like fire.
She stumbled up to him, grabbed his hand, and forced it open.
Then she shoved the soaked brooch into his palm.
“This was worth enough to send me to a convent! If it meant that little to you, what does that say about me?! That I’m even less valuable than this piece of junk?!”
Her voice trembled with righteous fury, her lips blue from the cold.
“I told you before—I live for my pride now!”
She swept her wet hair back from her face, teeth clenched.
“So don’t humiliate me any further. Who knows? Maybe this rat will bite the cat next time.”
She looked more like a fierce kitten than a drowned rat. Fiery, determined, and—damn it—adorable.
Cedric cursed himself for thinking that.
He reached out and caught her wrist as she turned to leave.
“You’re angry? Do you have any idea how reckless you were last night?”
“I know! I kept telling myself I was insane!”
Then she exhaled, shoulders shaking.
“But if I were you… I wouldn’t want my father’s keepsake ending up like that. And I thought—I thought maybe I could get it back.”
Tears welled at the corners of her eyes.
“If I’d known you already knew… if I’d known you’d treat me like some idiot—!”
She choked on the words, turned sharply, and walked away.
Her soaked dress made her walk awkward, clumsy.
But Cedric just stood there, watching her retreat, a helpless, disbelieving laugh escaping his throat.
