MDBYF ~ 03

Chapter : 03

As the darkness receded, bright morning sunlight gradually filled the marquis’s residence.

Josef was already gone.

When Clara asked where he was, a servant answered as though he had been expecting the question.

“His Lordship received an urgent summons from headquarters and left the estate at dawn today.”

Naturally, the Guide who had been in Josef’s arms had disappeared as well.

Once again, Clara was left alone in the mansion—as though everything that had happened the previous night had been nothing more than a dream.

Until yesterday, the silence of the marquis’s residence had been bearable.

Today, however, it was almost unbearable.

Why?

Clara could not shake the feeling that she had been abandoned alone in this vast mansion.

Would her life continue like this even after she married him?

A fiancé who always looked at her with cold eyes.

A Guide who periodically came to his side.

And Clara herself, forced to do nothing but watch.

Just thinking about it is suffocating.

Even so, she could not simply call off the wedding now.

Her marriage to Josef was, in essence, a transaction between two families. Josef had gained something from Clara’s family, but neither could she ignore the fact that her own family had clearly benefited from the marriage as well.

What would happen if she ruined a marriage bound up in such complicated interests simply because of herself?

And that was not all.

The affection she held for Josef showed no sign of fading even now.

No matter how she looked at it, breaking off the engagement was hardly an option available to Clara.

But I need some room to breathe, too.

After giving it considerable thought, Clara decided to continue a hobby she had loved since childhood.

Countless books she had read as a young girl gradually came to mind.

Whenever she became completely absorbed in a book, no matter how great her worries or concerns were, they always seemed to lose their power.

Surely it would be the same now.

Reading was the only escape that could pull her away from reality.

She had brought several books with her from Orbitz, but Clara needed something new to read.

If I don’t do at least that, I don’t think I’ll be able to endure this.

Having finally made up her mind, Clara pulled the bell cord and summoned the maids.

The maids hurried in, bustling about to attend to the young lady who would one day become the mistress of the marquis’s household.

“Is there something you require, my lady?”

“I’m planning to go out. Please prepare me.”

As soon as the order was given, the maids selected an outfit suitable for going out and helped Clara with some light grooming.

Clara soon finished preparing and was about to leave the house with the maids when the head butler approached her.

“My lady, are you planning to go out?”

“That is my intention. Is there a problem?”

“I would appreciate it if you would inform us of your destination in advance. Please also tell us approximately when you intend to return to the estate.”

Clara merely blinked at the rather unusual request.

The head butler added:

“Those are the marquis’s instructions.”

“…I’m planning to visit the large bookstore in Mallory Street. I should be back within an hour at the latest.”

“I will assign you an escort.”

“I was planning to go alone.”

“In case of an unforeseen accident, it would be proper for you to take at least one person with you, my lady.”

“Then assign someone suitable.”

She had hoped to enjoy the feeling of freedom by going out for the first time in quite a while.

Perhaps that had been too much to ask.

In the end, Clara boarded the sedan with a bodyguard accompanying her.

The trip from the marquis’s residence to the city did not take long.

Since it was such a short distance, she could have walked there and back while enjoying a pleasant stroll.

When Clara had been the youngest daughter of the Orbitz family, such things had been possible.

But not anymore.

She was going to become the Marchioness of Kirchner.

Clara understood what gaining status truly meant.

But this wasn’t the life I wanted.

Everything had begun with the small affection she had developed for Josef.

She had first encountered him several years ago at a royal palace ball held to celebrate a military victory.

Clara’s only experience with balls had been the small parties occasionally held at the Orbitz residence. Even now, she remembered the moment she had entered the grand ballroom, her heart swelling with excitement.

“Long ago, girls used to make their debut at places like this.”

Her older sister, Millicent, whispered as she walked beside Clara.

“It was a custom where they formally entered high society while, at the same time, essentially presenting themselves on the marriage market.”

“The marriage market?”

“Imagine you had been born eighty years earlier.”

Millicent covered her mouth and giggled.

“At the age of fifteen, you would have had to endure everyone’s attention and judgment.”

“Fifteen? That young?”

“I don’t know what people in those days were thinking either, but apparently that’s how it was.”

A servant carrying a silver tray passed by them.

Millicent picked up two glasses of champagne from the tray with both hands. Naturally, she handed one of them to Clara.

“Tell me more about debutantes.”

“I only heard about it from Grandmother when I was younger, so I don’t know the details. But one thing is certain—back then, marrying for love was almost impossible.”

After taking a sip, Millicent suddenly asked:

“You’d want to marry for love too, wouldn’t you, Clara?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before.”

“Who knows? You might find a fine gentleman here who catches your fancy.”

As Clara followed her sister and tried to take in the atmosphere of the ballroom, she soon noticed that people’s attention was focused particularly on one spot.

It was especially the women who kept glancing in a certain direction.

What could possibly be over there that they keep looking that way?

Curiosity stirred within Clara, and she turned her head in the same direction.

There was a man in uniform, surrounded by several other men as they conversed.

His black hair was neatly combed back, and he was so strikingly handsome that he stood out even from a distance.

“That’s Colonel Josef Kirchner.”

Millicent whispered, noticing that he had captured Clara’s attention.

“That man?”

“Yes. You’ve probably heard his name many times, but this is your first time seeing him in person, isn’t it?”

Clara knew what kind of man Josef Kirchner was as well.

Throughout the previous war, his name had been heard every day without fail, on both the radio and in the newspapers.

A hero who had led the nation to victory through meticulous tactics.

He was not a soldier who fought directly on the battlefield, but he had planned most of the operations for those who did.

Even Clara, who knew little about war, understood that Colonel Kirchner’s contributions had been far too significant to ignore.

So that’s the colonel I’ve heard so much about.

As she stood there absently recalling articles she had read about him, Clara’s gaze suddenly met his.

The moment she found herself staring directly into those gray eyes, which had turned casually in her direction, Clara instinctively lowered her head.

How much time passed?

When she finally raised her gaze again, Josef had already disappeared somewhere.

“Ah, Millicent. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

“Raynald.”

Meanwhile, Millicent was exchanging a warm embrace with a friend who served in the military.

Raynald smiled as he asked after Millicent, but his attention soon shifted toward Clara.

“Is this your younger sister?”

“Let me introduce you. This is my younger sister, Clara Thüringen. Clara, this is Lieutenant Raynald Buchanan. And of course, he and I are nothing more than friends.”

“There was a time when I was desperate to form a closer relationship with you.”

“That was a long time ago, Raynald.”

Raynald burst into cheerful laughter, then politely extended his hand toward Clara.

“Would you honor me with a dance, Miss Clara?”

Clara did not refuse his invitation.

She walked with Raynald to the center of the ballroom, where they began to dance a waltz together.

Moving through the familiar steps and letting the hem of her dress swirl around her was certainly enjoyable.

Perhaps the sight of a young lady dancing with Raynald had caught their attention, because when Clara returned after finishing her dance with him, several men dressed in military uniforms gathered around her.

“My lady, I don’t believe I’ve seen you at a ball like this before.”

“If it would not be too presumptuous, would you grant me the honor of asking your name?”

The moment Clara found herself surrounded by their attention, she froze.

She had always been nothing more than a quiet, well-behaved young lady.

She had never before received the attention of so many men.

“I-I…”