Chapter 33

***

For two weeks, Irene went to the Grand Duchy every day, but the Great Kristen didn’t open up to her at all.

Maybe it was the wrong way. Should she have appealed from the beginning that she loved him? She had regretted belatedly. She was getting tired of it. Noel didn’t say anything, but she knew it. The fact that the great Christan won’t open his heart.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Irene. I respect your opinion, but this seems to be bad for you too. Do you know how exhausted you are?”

Noel said with a complicated expression to Irene, who got off the carriage, at the back door of the countess’s house. The relationship was established for each other’s purposes from the beginning, but he didn’t like seeing Irene getting tired from opening the heart of his grandfather which could be impossible. He was upset by the helpless feeling of just having to watch.

“…Maybe…”

At Noel’s words, Irene went silent for a moment, then nodded with a sad face. She said gloomily.

“Only once, just one more time tomorrow. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll look for another way.”

“….Then it’s the last time.”

At Irene’s words, Noel said with a resolute face. As if there was no further opportunity, Irene nodded her head and turned her footsteps with a depressed look.

Noel, who looked at Irene’s drooping shoulder with a complex face, soon left the count’s mansion.

Entering the lobby, where still no one welcomed, Irene climbed the stairs with weary steps.

‘I thought it would work.’

She thought that if she showed that she was waiting, he would look back someday. However, he never looked back at Irene in more than two weeks. He sat back and was consistent with an attitude that he would not see her.

‘I’m tired.’

She told Noel that it was okay, but she was a human too, so it was very exhausting to see a person’s back all day long. As if she was looking at her parents’ backs.

Irene, who opened the door with a sigh, stiffened.

“Where did you go? Also, I didn’t feel any better by drawing like this!”

In her room, her father stood with an angry face, and on her floor, the painting she had hidden was torn to pieces and laid under her feet. Irene’s eyes widened.

“how….”

“Do you think I didn’t know that you were meeting with the Grand Duke Noel Kristen outside? I told you not to draw anything like this, but you ignored my words!”

Her father yelled, but it did not come to Irene’s ears. Only the picture that was torn to pieces and scattered around caught her eyes.

“And if you ever meet the Grand Duke again or paint, I’ll kick you out of the house!”

Bang, her father, who left the proclamation, slammed the door, and left the room. Left alone, Irene looked at the fragments of her painting, then collapsed.

Drip. Tears shed. Even though it wasn’t, she felt like her heart was torn apart like this picture because she was ignored by the great Kristen. She felt so insignificant and unremarkable.

Irene fell on the floor and poured tears over her painting.

***

“..…. Irene, are you okay?”

The day after she had told Noel in advance, Noel’s face as he saw Irene was very stiff. How much did she cry to have black circles under her eyes and both eyes were bloodshot.

“…It’s fine.”

Irene, who answered with a smile, leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes as if she was drained. Noel could no longer speak. In fact, he wanted to turn the direction of the horse which was heading for the Duchy, but that was clearly something Irene didn’t want.

Today is the last. Even if Kristen interfered with it today, she was thinking of pushing ahead. Even if the wind blew over the Grand Duke’s residence.

Getting out of the carriage, Irene walked the path she was now familiar with.

“Miss Chase…? Are you okay?”

Tom, who met her at the door, also looked at her complexion with a surprised face. Irene had no energy to answer, she shook her head and turned to contact with Noel through her eyes.

‘I’ll be back.’

After conveying with her eyes, Irene went into the room of the great Kristen. Still, she could see the scenery of an old and peaceful room and the image of an old man looking at the wall with his back still turned.

Perhaps, Irene didn’t know, but from the moment he felt Irene’s presence, he was focusing on the sound of her steps.