Besides, her legs weren’t in a condition to schedule outside appointments. The wound hadn’t even scabbed over properly yet. Her legs were burning, and it was all she could do to go back and forth to the dining room.
And yet, to get in and out of a carriage to meet someone who might not even be there.
It was an irrational act that she wouldn’t do unless her head was injured. It was something that she, who pursued only reason like her hateful father, would never do.
But Ariella knew all this and still ran out of the room.
Hoping to find the reason for this impulse that was burning her body.
The path to Nobert’s townhouse felt unusually long today.
Had the carriage always been this slow? Or was traffic particularly bad at this hour?
For some reason, the scenery outside the window seemed to pass by so slowly that she felt suffocated.
‘I’m crazy. I’m really crazy.’
She must be out of her mind.
To run out of the mansion without a single guard or maid. If she ran into thugs like last time in this state, she would never make it back alive.
Why was she doing something so irrational? Ariella couldn’t understand herself at all.
Closing her eyes and clasping her hands tightly, she could hear the pounding of her heart. Her chest beat rapidly, whether from anxiety due to possible threats or from an unknown anticipation.
“…Please go as fast as possible.”
“Yes, I understand!”
Without knowing the identity of the emotion that crossed her heart, Ariella urged the coachman. She felt that she might find a clue to it when she arrived at the townhouse.
Soon, the carriage arrived in front of the white gate. Immediately, Ariella opened the carriage door and jumped to the ground.
As her soles collided with the hard ground, a stinging pain echoed from her injured leg, but Ariella didn’t care.
Just at breakfast, her leg had throbbed so much that it was hard to bear, but strangely, it didn’t hurt much even when she ran like this now.
Quickly crossing the small garden, she soon knocked on the door.
Knock knock!
To come without notice and knock on the door like this. If other nobles had seen it, it was an act that would make them shake their heads, saying she was disgracing the aristocracy.
“Is anyone there?”
Ariella raised her voice. Nevertheless, there was no response.
No sign of anyone could be felt beyond the door. Nobert, as well as his servants, seemed to be away from their posts.
Knock knock knock!
Ariella knocked on the door again. Again, there was no answer.
‘Yeah, I knew it would be like this.’
She had expected that Nobert wouldn’t be here. He wasn’t that free of a person, and since she hadn’t made an appointment in advance, it was only natural.
Ariella chuckled self-deprecatingly. She felt anew how foolish she had been.
She thought that if she came here, she might be able to meet Nobert even by chance. Even though she knew the probability was very low, for some reason, she felt like she could break through that small probability.
To expect chance. It was a foolish thing to do.
She hadn’t harbored such vain hopes in her heart since she was a child. Seeing her act so unlike herself, it seemed that the fact that Lizzy was Kaia’s sister was very shocking.
Or, Nobert’s unrealistic words and actions had made her strange.
‘Let’s go back.’
Ariella smiled weakly and slowly turned around.
It was at that moment, as she was about to cross the garden again.
Thump, thump, thump, bang!
A rough footstep-like sound was heard from beyond the door, and then the door burst open with a loud noise.
Surprised, Ariella turned around, and for a moment, the summer sunlight flashed before her eyes, obscuring her vision. She instinctively frowned, then narrowed her eyes again and stared at the top of the stairs.
“…Duchess Bedford?”
The man standing in the warm sunlight and looking down at her was clearly the one she had been desperately searching for.
Whoosh, a sudden gust of wind made his jet-black hair flutter beautifully. His thick eyebrows curved, and beneath them, his red eyes subtly trembled.
Perhaps because he was receiving the bright light, the color was like that of a flower that had bloomed brilliantly.
Nobert had a dazed expression, as if he couldn’t believe Ariella’s existence, as if he were dreaming.
Ariella was just as embarrassed by his appearance, so the two men and women stood still and stared at each other as if time had stopped. As if to confirm whether the other person in front of them was really real.
