Chapter 3

“Oh, L, Liam, I, I, I need to tell you something…….”

“What’s wrong with your voice? Oh, no. Let’s talk face-to-face. I’ll go over there.”

The man who had climbed over the tall, rugged rose hedge had hands that were completely bruised and scratched. He made a face that seemed more pained than Belviana’s tear-streaked face, even though there was not a single wound on her body.

She remembered how much he had promised her a future in shoemaking. How often he’d abandoned it for her, and how much he’d cherished his hands for his shoe-making.

Belviana took Liam’s bloodied hand in hers. Maybe, just maybe, it was his whole world.

“Liam. My wedding date has been set, and maybe this is the last time we’ll ever see each other, at least for a while. For a week or two, maybe twenty days, I won’t even be able to leave the house. But on the eve of the wedding, there’s a time when the bride is allowed to say her prayers alone in the church, but of course, the front door will be guarded by my nanny, but that’s the only chance we have. ……Liam, we’re going to run away together. We’re going to get a train ticket, and we’re going to go far away, to Grantham or Millton, somewhere where no one can find us.”

“Wait a minute, Belviana, you’re getting married?”

“Yes, Liam. Promise me you’ll run away with me. I don’t want to marry anyone but you!”

Belviana burst into tears. Liam was bewildered, but he soon agreed. The young lovers clumsily kissed each other’s foreheads and the backs of their hands and planned their future in a state of anxious elation. Liam promised to get a train ticket to Millton in three days.

“I’ll write to you when I’ve got the ticket, and Belle, you needn’t worry about anything. On the evening of the third day, check in that abandoned mailbox we used to use, the one at the end of this garden, the one that looks straight out from your window.”

“Yes, Liam. I’ll wait for you. Oh, I’m so anxious, but I’m so happy.”

Belviana’s green eyes sparkled with a strange liveliness. She went back to her bedroom, half excited, half afraid.

The next morning, the finest items ordered for the wedding began to arrive. Gold-cast candlesticks and velvet curtains, white dresses, nightgowns, bags, shoes, and even lacy underwear. Belviana worked diligently at taking measurements, choosing favors and gifts, and writing wedding invitations. She was as happy as if she’d been waiting her whole life for this wedding, and as new brides are wont to be, she was occasionally nervous. She seemed to be getting over Liam quickly. At least, it seemed that way to those who were bothered by it.

Then came the evening of the third day. When Belviana hurriedly opened her mailbox, there was nothing in it.

* * *

Belviana bit her nails nervously. Anxiety struck at the wrong time, especially on days like today, when all her plans seemed to have gone awry. At times like this, Belviana obsessively thought about her future with Liam.

All she had to do was catch the early morning train to get to Millton, and from there she’d find the fastest ship out. She would change transportation several times to avoid being traced, and finally settle in a quiet, off-the-beaten-path village. She intended to open a small and pretty shoe shop with the things she had taken with her. She was prepared to give up everything. As long as Liam was by her side, she could live like a commoner for the rest of her life. A simple life where she cooked and cleaned and read to him or sang to him while he mended his shoes. But why was he so late?

Belviana lifted her forehead from the window, which was heated to her body temperature. No matter how much she looked out, the letter would not suddenly appear. Maybe Liam hadn’t gotten a train ticket to Millton yet. Millton was a very small town, and trains ran only once a month. But being the conscientious man that he was, he would have left a note to let her know that his plans had changed. What if something had happened that prevented him from doing so? Maybe he was seriously injured…….

As she thought about it, Belviana pulled out a blue robe and slipped it on. She might as well go to the garden and wait for him. Liam would just be a little late.

Before opening the door to her bedroom, Belviana glanced at the maid dozing in the next room; she seemed to be in a very deep sleep. It looked like she wouldn’t wake up until at least dawn. Belviana picked up the lantern and carefully slipped out of the room.

The hallway was very quiet. Several of the servants, who normally stayed up all night, were awake, but they’d spent the morning preparing for her wedding, and they were exhausted, which was a good thing for her.

Belviana cautiously picked up the lantern. The shortcut to the garden was very familiar to her. It was a little scary to go through the eastern corridor, lined with unused guest rooms, but from there it was just a short walk down the stairs. But before she could take more than a few steps, someone grabbed her wrist.

“Belviana.”

Belviana almost screamed at the top of her lungs. But the man’s large hand was quicker, gently pressing her lips together. She stiffened in surprise and looked at him, and then, just barely, realized that he looked familiar. Aiden, it was him. The man who had always stood a step behind her father, avoiding even eye contact with her.

He had been my father’s most trusted personal servant and secretary, and her childhood playmate. Though she was too young to understand the difference in their status. He slowly let go of her.

“It’s late at night, Belle. Where are you going?”

“Aiden. What a rude surprise.”

Belviana sent him a wry smile at his shortened tone as if she were ten years old.

“You’ve been acting like I’m a complete stranger to me all these years, and now you’re calling me that, what’s the change of heart?”

Her words were tinged with faint longing and bitterness. For a moment, she felt like she had skipped years and was standing in an old rose garden. Twelve years old, that little girl and boy.

Belle and Aiden, those short names had been enough, those young and innocent days when they’d spent all day in the garden together, exploring deserted rooms and hidden corridors. But at some point, Aiden had gradually withdrawn from her. In recent years, he’d acted as if he didn’t even remember the slightest tie to her.

Belviana looked up at Aiden with disbelief. After so many years of feeling betrayed and not even looking at him properly, Aiden’s appearance was disconcertingly different from her memory. His features, half-revealed in the firelight, were still impossibly handsome, but his eyes were cooler and harder, his skin paler than he remembered. His black hair was disheveled on his well-groomed forehead, and his half-lidded eyes were gold in the darkness. All the softness from his childhood was gone, replaced by a look as sharp and precarious as a well-honed blade.

Most noticeable of all was the change in his physique: unlike her, who had grown only a couple of inches since those days, he was now fully a man. Belviana consciously took a step back from his shadow.

“If you have nothing else to say, may I go? As much as I enjoy talking to you, I have somewhere I need to be right now.”

“Somewhere you need to go. At this time of night. In that outfit.”

His eyes swept over her lazily. Belviana realized with a start that she wore only a robe over her thin chemise. She opened the front flap with a somewhat uneasy touch.

“Y, yes. It’s urgent.”

“If you’re looking for a letter, you don’t need to go all the way to the garden.”

Belviana didn’t understand his words for a moment.

“How can you…… that, you……. No way, you have my letter?”

Aiden pulled a white envelope from his arms. Belviana lunged at him. But she couldn’t even touch the letter because of the obvious height difference. Belviana shouted.

“Give it back! Now! Why are you opening someone else’s letter?”

“It’s where you and I used to exchange letters, Belle.”

She opened her mouth a little in disbelief, then shot back.

“What are you talking about? You were the one who stopped in the first place. You never answered them, never picked them up, no matter how many I dropped off. You call me “Miss” in front of everyone, but you ignore me behind others’ backs…….. Forget it, that’s enough. Too much time has passed for us to talk about our lost bond now. Just give me the letter back. Please. It’s very important to me…….”

She pleaded, but it was clear that her words had touched something in Aiden. Aiden laughed fiercely.

“Important?”

Belviana took another step backward at his harsh tone. Aiden tugged on her wrist. They didn’t have to walk very far to find an empty room; he knew every inch of the house’s layout. Aiden pushed her into a darkened room. The room hadn’t been used in a long time, but it was still well maintained, and aside from the chill in the air, it was no different than any other room.

Belviana stood oblivious until Aiden pushed her against the wall. Her back touched the wall without pain as if he had controlled the force. He growled. His voice deepened well past the point of transition and sounded a little dry.

“When you were laughing and gossiping with those unseemly aristocrats, even when you were holding the hands of those rutting bastards at the ball, yeah, that was tolerable, pretty miserable, but you’re a girl who’s going to die without status and money.”