While Bianca was fully focused on building sandcastles, her stomach growled.

“Are you hungry, Bianca?”

In response to her sister’s question, she nodded her head again.

Katarina stretched her neck to look around, and she saw the servants and maidservants, led by the ladies’ maid Alyona, busily setting up the tents and moving the dining table nearby.

They were preparing for the upcoming outdoor dinner.

It was an event arranged by the romantic-minded Duke Count for his wife.

Like a poem with beloved lines, they planned to have a cozy family dinner at the beach with the sunset.

It seemed like the food was still being prepared inside the accommodation building.

There was still some time left until dinner.

“If I ask the chef, they will make some snacks for us. Should we go over there and eat?”

Upon Katarina’s suggestion, Bianca silently nodded her head and tapped her extended leg.

“Is your leg hurting?”

She nodded.

“Then should I go get it quickly? Do you want to wait here?”

Her younger sister nodded again.

Since Alyona and the servants were nearby, Katarina felt relieved and stood up from her spot.

“Move back a bit. When the tide comes in later, it will reach here, and it’s not safe. Just a little more–”

At that moment, Alyona, who was setting up the tent, turned her head to check on the Smirnov sisters.

“Hey, over there!”

Alyona, who was turning around, turned back towards them.

Well-dressed young lords were looking up at her in surprise.

“What’s going on?”

“We brought a dog from our house and tied it up over there, but it seems like it broke free from its leash and ran away!”

“What?”

“What should we do? That ferocious-looking dog keeps biting everyone. Our servants went to search for it, but they still haven’t found it.”

“What if it suddenly jumps out and bites us? It’s scary.”

Alyona and the butler were taken aback by Ivan and his friends’ acting and fell for it.

It would have been a big problem if the Smirnov sisters were bitten on their way back to the accommodation after dinner.

The Smirnov household staff rushed to the location indicated by Ivan to find the escaped dog.

When Alyona turned back a moment later, she saw a platinum blonde head sitting calmly in the same spot.

She didn’t realize that Katarina was on the other side, hidden by a rock.

Thinking that she was nearby and they would return soon, Alyona walked with the butler and the servants.

The group of Ivan, who confirmed that all the troublemakers had disappeared, approached Bianca, who was sitting alone.

“You think this is funny, huh, talking about girls and ignoring people!”

As a way of venting his embarrassment, Ivan stomped and destroyed the sandcastle.

When the one they built with her sister collapsed, Bianca burst into tears.

No, to be precise, she was silently shedding tears without making a sound.

“Yeah, it would have been better if you played with us from the beginning.”

“……”

“Hey, can’t you speak?”

Upon Ivan’s words, his friends approached with laughter and began tugging at Bianca’s neatly braided hair.

Bianca tried to avoid them while crying and ended up climbing onto a rock.

Ivan followed her there.

“Call your sister. Shout for her.”

“……”

“Earlier, you hid behind your sister and ignored us without saying a word. It’s nothing.”

While Ivan vented his anger at Bianca, he secretly hoped that Katarina would come running.

If it was her sister, she’d be scared shitless, wouldn’t she?

He wanted to attract her attention like this.

It was a twisted obsession rather than affection.

At that moment, a boy with chestnut-colored hair came running and knocked down the devils disguised as boys one by one.

“Who are you!”

“…..”

“I’m asking who you are! How dare you think you can mess with me?”

The boy just stared at them without saying a word.

“Don’t you know how to speak either? What a bunch of cowards.”

The boy who appeared as Bianca’s savior looked around nine years old.

He was a head taller than Ivan’s group, but his pale face lacked vitality, and he had a lean physique.

It was when Ivan and his friends quickly assessed the situation and rushed towards the boy.

Bianca, who was trying to block their path, was pushed back by the strong force of the boys.

Splash!

She stumbled and fell into the water.

The depth was so great that even an adult would be submerged up to their chest.

Ivan and his friends, who saw the girl disappearing into the sea, were taken aback and stepped back in fear.

Without hesitation, the boy with chestnut-colored hair jumped into the water.

Only then did the group realize the gravity of the situation and looked down at the sea, their faces filled with shock.

“W-What should we do, Ivan?”

“She won’t be able to come out like that, right?”

In reality, Ivan had intended to tease Bianca for a while until Katarina arrived.

He knew very well how much effort his father had put into gaining the favor of Duke Smirnov by gathering information about their schedule.

He hadn’t meant to do this, but he’d taken longer than he should have because he found it amusing to tease her and watch her suffer without rebelling.

“Let’s quickly call for the servants!”

“But then it’ll be our fault for leaving her behind! She fell in alone!”

Ivan, who was getting angry, fled before the adults arrived.

His friends followed him, quickly leaving the scene.

Being scolded by their parents was more frightening than anything else at their age.

Shortly after the children left, the boy resurfaced above the water.

He carried Bianca, who had lost consciousness, and swam back to the shore.

As soon as he laid her down on the sandy beach, Bianca coughed and vomited water.

The boy held her arms and shook her to wake her up.

But no sound came out.

It felt as if something was tightly blocking her throat, like a stone lodged in her windpipe, and he felt sorry for himself.

“You don’t know how to speak either? How pathetic.”

Ivan’s words were right.

Seeing Bianca, who couldn’t speak like him, he felt a sense of empathy and rescued her.

His name was Luka Oblonsky.

Since witnessing a shocking scene recently, he had been suffering from depression and aphasia at the same time.

“Oblonsky’s son being mute? That can’t be possible!”

“It could be a temporary condition due to the shock. He’ll recover soon.”

“Never let Vikenti Oblonsky’s son go outside to avoid any circumstances! Never!”

The Duke of Oblonsky’s anger forced Luka to stay inside his quarters, even at the resort.

The nine-year-old boy, who was always confined to his house, took advantage of the distraction caused by capturing a fierce dog and made his way to the beach as if he were possessed by something.

The swaying waves seemed to be calling out to him.

If he went into the sea and hid, would the weight of guilt and remorse crushing him disappear?

While pondering such thoughts, he noticed a girl being tormented.

Bianca, who had regained some consciousness, grabbed the boy’s hand.

Luka looked down at the girl holding his hand and shouted inwardly.

‘I will….. I will save you…..!’

He couldn’t do it back then.

But this time, he would definitely do it.

He wanted to save this girl he had never seen before.

No matter how hard he tried, his voice wouldn’t come out, so Luka ran towards the lodging to seek help from the adults.

As he sprinted across the sandy beach, suddenly his vision became blurry.

His physical strength had significantly declined from staying indoors all the time, and the dizziness was a result of prolonged exposure to the sunlight.

He felt as if mirages were blooming here and there, as if he were in the middle of a desolate desert.

In the midst of the landscape gradually collapsing like an illusion, Luka collapsed onto the golden sand.

“Bianca!”

At that moment, Katya, who had spotted her younger sister from a distance, ran towards her in surprise.

“Please help!”

People on the beach flocked to her as she shouted while holding her unconscious sister.

When all attention was focused on the sisters, the Duke Oblonsky’s servants, who had been searching for the missing young master, belatedly discovered Luka lying on the other side.

In a flash, they surrounded their master and swiftly disappeared.

***

Ivan bit his lip as he reminisced about that time.

He later found out that Bianca had been suffering from mutism around that time.

She couldn’t speak outside of their home, and as a result, Katya didn’t mingle well with other children because she had to take care of her sister whenever she went out.

‘If only she had said so right away.’

Ivan felt resentment towards Katya as the guilt washed over him.

Thanks to the efforts of their parents and older sister, Bianca eventually regained her ability to speak. However, for a while, she was afraid of water and didn’t want to recall what happened back then.

It was only after some time had passed that she began searching for the savior and her first love in earnest.

Regardless, Ivan felt relieved that Bianca had kept silent about the incident. It was a fortunate turn of events for him.

He was afraid of being scolded by his father, but he was even more afraid of earning Katya’s resentment.

Ivan felt unjust.

If only Katya had shown him half of the smile she showed to Nikolai from the beginning, things wouldn’t have come to such a desperate state.

He wanted to have Katya.

To end this tormenting unrequited love, he had to possess her as soon as possible.

She should be in his arms, not Nikolai’s.

With his anger subsided and determination regained, Ivan left his seat to prepare for the work ahead.

“You decided on this distance, and there’s no changing it.”

Nikolai whispered as he gazed at his bride in his arms.

“Oh, really. You’re so impulsive.”

“I want to be like this every day.”

Feeling embarrassed by the tender voice in her ear, Katya instinctively pushed away this dangerously irresistible man.

As a result, the pocket watch that she had carelessly stuffed into her pocket protruded and fell down.

The watch, sliding swiftly on the bridge, plunged into the lake with a splash.

“No!”

“Why?”

“The pocket watch…”

Nikolai, who stopped her from taking out the watch, without any hesitation, jumped into the lake.