Mealtimes had once been spent with just Kael and Ivelina.
Not anymore.
“How generous of you to include me in such a gathering. I’m truly grateful for your kindness.”
“Not at all, dear Countess. It may be modest, but please enjoy.”
The household had grown considerably. The Hardeion family proper now sat alongside Jane — and in her honor, a welcome dinner had been arranged for the evening.
I sat quietly at Kael’s side and ate.
Kael ate equally quietly beside me.
At least he had the sense not to manhandle me in front of our elders.
‘So he’s not entirely without restraint.’
Honestly, given how he usually behaved, I had been mildly concerned. This was a relief.
“What a perfectly matched pair, don’t you think?”
Father-in-law started the engine.
“I couldn’t agree more. I’ve asked them several times how they met, and my daughter still won’t tell me.”
Mother — who had entered her own marriage through arrangement — watched us with soft, fond eyes.
A few days ago, I had gone to her with my nightmare story.
She had said:
‘Let’s wait and see, dear. Dreams come out the wrong way more often than you’d think.’
‘I understood the wait-and-see. But do you have to look so pleased about it?’
“I asked my own son about it and he simply ignored me. The absolute cheek. Those two are utterly smitten.”
‘Mother-in-law. We really aren’t.’
* * *
Two days later.
Mother was thriving.
“Ohoho, dear Countess — we really do get along marvellously, don’t we?”
“We do! What do we need husbands for anyway? A good friend in one’s later years is worth so much more!”
“We’ll be family in the end — that means friends for life, doesn’t it? Ohohoho!”
‘Ha ha ho ho’, clap clap.
In recent days, Katherine and Mother, whenever they met, fell into hours of unstoppable conversation.
They had seemed like they would be entirely different types of people — but there was, apparently, far more common ground between them than anyone had anticipated.
‘Come to think of it, Mother seems changed. Nothing like herself when she was with Father.’
“And you, dear Countess — are you comfortable here?”
“Wonderfully so. I feel truly alive these days. All thanks to the Duke, of course. Dowager Duchess — how did you raise a son like that? I do envy you.”
“You’re one to talk, raising a daughter like Ivelina. I envy ‘you’, if anything. When I was carrying Kayrin, I prayed every single night — please, just let it be a daughter this time.”
“You didn’t!”
‘Ahaha, hahaha.’
The two women dissolved into laughter over something that required no particular explanation.
“I could honestly live here forever!”
“Oh, could you? What do you think, dear Countess — what if you divorced and simply moved in?”
* * *
Something strange had been happening to me lately.
When Kael and I had been spending all our time alone together, I had wanted nothing more than to escape. But now that the household had expanded and there was almost no time to be alone with him, I found myself oddly restless.
It was not a rational sort of restlessness. Just that particular feeling of missing something without knowing quite what.
‘Why, though?’
I couldn’t tell whether it was some strange form of contrary nature, or the classic effect of two people being kept apart and therefore drawing closer.
So I had come to Kael’s study to visit.
He had set aside whatever he’d been working on and was now sitting on the sofa with me, passing the time.
One thing I had noticed since Mother arrived: this man no longer launched himself at me at random intervals throughout the day.
‘So he does have some sense of propriety.’
I had been genuinely worried, given his usual conduct. It was reassuring to know there were limits.
“Ivelina.”
“Yes?”
“You look very deep in thought.”
I set aside the concern I had actually been mulling over and brought up a different one instead.
“Kael — what do I do?”
“About what?”
“Mother. I think she intends to stay here indefinitely.”
“That’s not particularly a problem, is it?”
“You want me to just let my parents divorce?”
I was annoyed by Father and felt stung that Mother had so rarely taken my side.
But they were still my family.
‘Is it really all right to let things stay as they are?’
“Still — they’re the people who raised me. The thought of them separating like this just feels…”
“Feels?”
“Strange. And it’s not because of the divorce itself.”
“Then what?”
“Mother looks genuinely happy lately.”
“……”
“But it doesn’t look like the mother I knew. That’s what feels strange.”
“…The Jane I know.”
“My mother was — how to put it — quiet. Not much to say, not much laughter. She didn’t show her feelings very often.”
‘What kind of person was my mother, really?’
She had been the model of what Father considered a proper wife — composed, dutiful, unobtrusive.
But the mother I had been observing these past few days was nothing like that.
No wonder I was uncertain which version was real.
“It might not be the worst idea to simply watch for now.”
“Even if that means letting the divorce happen?”
“Ivelina. If you were required to marry someone like your father — could you do it?”
“What? Absolutely not!”
Father was impossibly rigid and relentlessly frustrating. Never in a thousand years. Not even as a gift.
He had never once tried to understand others’ perspectives — always comparing me unfavorably to Jacqueline, always taking the comfortable side—
‘Oh.’
I looked at Kael with the expression of someone who has just understood something.
“I have my answer.”
* * *
The next morning.
Morning tea had become a household ritual, shared by everyone — including me and my other uninvited housemate, Mother.
They were midway through a cheerful, rambling conversation when a servant appeared.
“Your Grace, you have a visitor.”
“Show them in.”
“A visitor? Who could be coming?”
Katherine looked mildly puzzled. From the looks around the table, no one seemed to be expecting anyone.
The visitor entered the receiving room.
It was Father.
‘Father? What is he doing here?’
“What are you doing here?”
“First — my apologies for the intrusion, Your Grace.”
“Not at all. Please — feel free to speak privately.”
It was an invitation to take the conversation elsewhere. Not one person moved.
Not Katherine. Not Carson. Not Kayrin. Not me. Not Kael.
“Did you not hear me? I asked what you’re doing here.”
“If you have nothing to say, you’re welcome to leave. Coming to someone else’s home and making a scene — what is this?”
“My love.”
Father’s voice was quiet, and unexpectedly raw.
“What?”
Mother’s was sharp.
“I was wrong.”
“About what?”
“About everything that made you angry. My behavior. My words. And…”
“And?”
“I felt certain — if I let you leave without saying this, I would regret it for the rest of my life.”
“What is it, then?”
“My love is for you alone. No other woman left a mark on my memory or my heart.”
“A-ahem.”
Mother cleared her throat. At last — a sign of embarrassment.
“But that day, you were the one who—”
“Ha.”
Father had been doing well. Then veered.
Mother exhaled — half sigh, half exasperation.
“No. It was all my fault. You did nothing wrong. I was simply inadequate—”
“So. You’re saying you don’t want the divorce.”
“Hmm?”
“Is that what you’re saying? Say what you mean.”
“Y-yes. That’s right. I don’t want to lose you. I want to go on living alongside you — sharing a life together.”
‘This is mortifying.’
Why were they having this conversation here, of all places, in the Duke’s estate? With everyone watching?
But I seemed to be the only one who found the situation uncomfortable.
Everyone except Kael was exchanging significant looks, the corners of their mouths twitching.
‘Oh!’
Under cover of the distraction, Kael took my hand. Then, using one finger, he wrote something against my palm.
‘Lucky.’
Simple and direct — very like Kael.
I flushed for no good reason and gave his palm a few light smacks.
Father-in-law cleared his throat.
“Ahem! So — did things resolve themselves to everyone’s satisfaction?”
“Yes. Quite well, thanks to you.”
“Haha — glad to hear it. The two of you are a wonderful sight.”
Father scratched the back of his neck, looking thoroughly embarrassed. His ears had gone scarlet.
“Now then — while both our families are here, why don’t we go ahead and hold the formal meeting right now? No point in dragging it out, is there?”
‘Pardon?’
“Oh, darling — what a wonderful idea. Is that agreeable to you, dear Countess?”
“Perfectly so. Better to strike while the iron is hot, isn’t it?”
“Shall we?”
“Let’s.”
* * *
