He literally thought that all of those were just a personal taste of hers. Knox’s face scrunched up when he found that she had a rather obscure quirk.

Only then did he begin to realize about those hats that were too big for her figure, on top of its grandeur.

“Butler.”

“Yes.”

“…Do you perhaps remember her face?”

Knox’s face was painted with bitterness. The color of her hair was never the color that he had known about. In the end, there was absolutely nothing of her that his eyes could truly draw.

“Forgive me, but I have never looked at her face in much detail.”

That was only natural since it had always been always covered by a hat. Right on her meticulously concealed face, only her pair of red lips had caught his eyes.

Nevertheless, just as if he was still clinging onto the butler, Knox kept on asking for the impossible.

“It’s fine even if it’s only the trivial bits.”

“Erm……”

A troubled look had passed through the eyes of the butler who was already in deep thought. There was something that he remembered, but he was hesitant whether it was actually fine for him to say it. However, as his Master kept on urging, he had no other choice but to speak up.

“Actually, there is one thing I’ve noticed.”

“What is that?”

“The last time I saw her, she had a very sad expression.”

Knox’s body immediately stiffened up at that instant.

“……was she crying?”

“No, she wasn’t actually crying. It was just…… her appearance appeared to have withered.”

Knox said nothing for a while after the butler’s honest answer. That last time was when he had roughly yearned after her. Perhaps she couldn’t have kept her body steady due to the fact that she was utterly appalled when he had blocked her lips while continuously ridiculing her with all those contemptuous remarks.

As a pang of guilt had returned, Knox then held onto his head.

“Therefore, I began to wonder if she was actually sick. Wouldn’t we be able to find her if we were to search among those who have just recently received any treatment then, sir?”

“… Then, please note that down as well.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Right after the butler stepped out to commission the work, a heavy sense of loneliness drifted in. Knox then took a look around before holding onto his head.

At first, he was angry. He was absolutely upset towards her, who had joined hands with the Young Countess and deceived him like that.

Why didn’t she tell him? Why did she even deceive him? Did he only mean just that much to her? And other sorts of issues that formulated into questions, which he couldn’t untangle, had piled up in his head and eventually fueled his wrath.

However, as time went on and his anger slowly subsided, he began to notice from the other perspective.

Why did she have no choice but to deceive him? Why would she talk about something that he couldn’t understand every so often? Why did a couple of unspeakable words always linger only on her lips?

As he kept on looking back, he realized that she had actually told him by her actions.

‘Knox, I……’

He began to feel pity towards her, who could’ve been repeating the act of swallowing the truth while only holding it in her mouth. He felt sorry for her, who must have covered it all up by smiling when he had stared intently at her out of mere curiosity.

I should’ve been much more persistent in wanting to hear her next words no matter what. Also, I should’ve whined right in her smiling face, just so that she would talk all about it.

He started wondering if he did that, wouldn’t she decide not to run away then. If he had heard of the truth, would everything still remain alright even after his eyes improve.

Knox took a deep breath as he closed his eyes before opening them once again. He rose with a determined expression, as if he had already thought of something.

He just couldn’t stay still any longer. Just in case—he then rode on his horse and left the Grand Duchy. He continued to wander around where his feet took him to find some of her trails.

If there were any remaining traces of her, even if it was just a little bit, he scoured through every nook and cranny over there. However, up till the darkness had greeted him, he still couldn’t find a single remnant of Vivian anywhere.

On the next day.

As soon as the day arose, he made a visit to the County once again. Without even having to meet the bewildered Count, he just hoped to see Alexia one more time.

Right after meeting Alexia, Knox pleaded to her in allowing him to meet the one who had been close to Vivian. And as if it was of no importance, she called for another maid.