📖 Chapter 41
“A Woman in the Marriage Market”
“I hope you continue living as innocently as you do now.”
Lily came to understand the meaning of those words a few days later.
[Timothy Rutland and Miss Rubini of the Berenice family are engaged.
Timothy Rutland, son of Joy Rutland, director of Kumret Bank, is a promising young man working as a reporter for the Londinium Tribune after graduating from the First University.]
It was a freshly printed morning newspaper.
That day, Lily unfolded the paper as usual, but when she reached the society page, she couldn’t turn to the next page.
It wasn’t hard to find that familiar name.
She remembered Timothy’s tearful words when he had come to see her a few days ago—but at the same time, Christopher’s words strangely comforted her.
Still, a hollow ache spread through her chest.
From the beginning, Timothy’s confession had something fragile and sorrowful about it, like a boy. Timothy could not give Lily what she wanted.
As the engagement between the Berenice and Rutland families filled the society pages, the maids whispered about Lily behind her back.
The subject of those rumors appeared before her sooner than expected.
Timothy stood before her, pale and desperate.
“I’ll refuse it, Lily. No noble lady, no matter how great her family, can compare to you.”
Despite his desperate plea, Lily rejected him calmly.
Even when others spoke of a happy little cottage tied to an estate, she had never once allowed herself to imagine such a life.
“I didn’t want this! I don’t even know how this marriage suddenly came about. It’s something between families. So, Lily—let’s run away together!”
“You know that’s not possible, Timothy. You knew that from the beginning.”
Timothy tried to kiss her tear-streaked cheek, but Lily instinctively lowered her head and avoided him.
He tried again, but she turned away once more. His lips brushed against her cold cheek and fell away.
“I want to know why you’re rejecting me, Lily.”
Lily said nothing, only blinking.
Timothy let out a strained breath and pressed his head against the greenhouse tree.
“Why… you don’t want me…”
As he tried to speak again, Lily cut him off.
“I’ve never disliked you. I feel comfortable when I’m with you. I like you.”
Still, she avoided his gaze.
“But being familiar… and truly liking someone are different.”
She didn’t want to see the hurt on his face.
And through Timothy’s confession and attempts to kiss her, Lily realized something—
Her first kiss had not been just a sudden accident.
Timothy’s desperate pursuit kept missing its mark.
“Is it because of him?”
Timothy’s swallow echoed in her ears.
At that moment, their conversation was interrupted.
The greenhouse door burst open. Heavy footsteps rang out deliberately, almost violently.
“Go, Timothy. If the manager finds out you’re here, I won’t be safe.”
Relieved at the interruption, Lily turned and ran toward the north door.
And there, she ran into the shameless cause of everything—
The man who had made her reject Timothy.
The man who made her uncomfortable every time she faced him.
“Did I interrupt something?”
A good man.
“Please leave.”
“Were you crying?”
That question broke her.
Lily’s face trembled as she could no longer hold back her tears.
Christopher hesitated for a moment, then quietly opened his arms.
“It’s alright. You’ll forget it soon.”
He was not a man capable of gentle comfort.
His shoulder grew damp with her tears.
Lily had never once imagined herself living as Mrs. Rutland.
But she didn’t know how to explain that to Timothy.
She wiped her tears over and over until she looked a mess.
Taking the handkerchief Christopher offered, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“You knew I was here and made noise on purpose—just to be cruel.”
Christopher tilted his chin slightly, looking down as if pretending ignorance.
“Where should I start? From the moment I interrupted Timothy Rutland trying to kiss you?”
At his words, Lily unconsciously touched her lips.
“Or…”
After a brief pause, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
Lily pushed against his chest, but he didn’t budge.
Eventually, she gave up and turned away, leaving the greenhouse.
* * *
Christopher rode his horse around the Belmore pasturelands.
Even in the middle of winter, green grass stretched endlessly over rolling hills.
It was a meaningful place—the first land his grandfather, Archibald Belmore, had bought after making his fortune in finance.
When Christopher was young, his grandfather would seat him on a horse and ride around the estate.
One day, when he married and had children, he would likely do the same.
The tenant farmers recognized Lord Belmore and removed their hats in respect.
“The horse is so gentle and beautiful.”
The horse he had bought earlier for Cecil Hobart walked obediently beside his own.
Cecil slowed down, satisfied.
The day she had found the bracelet in Lily’s drawer felt almost unreal now.
As if to ease Cecil’s unease, Belmore had gifted her a Lavrerat stallion and invited her to stroll through his estate.
“Did you hear? The young lady of the Berenice family is finally getting married. I heard it’s in May.”
“I see.”
Christopher nodded, gripping the reins.
He understood her implication—she didn’t like that another lady of similar standing would be marrying at the same time as her.
“Mr. Joy Rutland seems quite pleased.”
Whenever Christopher visited Kumret Bank, Joy Rutland greeted him with excessive gratitude.
“Though they’re a branch of the Herend family, the Berenice family is still quite respectable.”
Cecil chattered happily.
“Lord, shall I tell you something interesting?”
Without waiting for a response, she continued.
“They say the Rutland son caused a scene, saying he would refuse the match when he met the Berenice family.”
Christopher tightened his grip on the reins.
“That’s rather rude behavior.”
“Right? And the truly amusing part is—”
She paused for dramatic effect.
“They say the Rutland son was following a hotel maid around. Do you know who she is?”
“I wonder.”
Christopher stared ahead, expression unreadable.
“It’s the girl who cleans my room. They were so close that rumors spread among the maids that they would even marry.”
Even hearing this, Christopher’s face remained calm.
“If he had just toyed with the poor girl, it would have been less pitiful. But she cried the entire time. She truly liked Timothy Rutland.”
“To cry over something like that…”
For a moment, Cecil felt he was showing too much interest—but only now, when the topic shifted to the maid.
Still, she dismissed it.
Men’s brief curiosities could be tolerated.
What mattered was her position.
A handsome noble husband with immense wealth—that alone was enough to be envied.
But love—
That was unacceptable.
“I think I’ll show that poor girl some mercy.”
Cecil urged her horse forward.
“After we marry, I want to bring her in.”
Christopher said nothing.
“I want to take her as my maid and find her a suitable husband.”
“Aren’t you a bit young to be arranging matches?”
Though not outright refusal, it was effectively rejection.
It sounded as though he was criticizing her—calling it improper and beneath a lady of her standing.
Cecil’s expression stiffened.
“Does he… actually like that girl?”
She searched his face but found nothing.
Deciding to drop the topic, she changed the subject.
“Before debuting in society, there’s a game where we dress up a maid for fun. Will you come watch?”
“People still do that?”
“Some dislike it, but isn’t it quite educational?”
Christopher let out a faint, rare smile.
Cecil wanted to believe it was directed at her.
She didn’t want to share this man with anyone.
“How is that educational?”
“No matter how you dress up a maid, she can’t become a real lady—especially in posture, manners, and dignity.”
Christopher imagined her—
Wearing a white muslin dress with a long train, walking like a noble lady.
But no noblewoman he knew was as beautiful as that girl.
“It will be entertaining for the ladies.”
“You should come and vote.”
“That would be difficult.”
Christopher said firmly as he distanced himself.
He had already once ruined Elizabeth Gardner’s chance at an ordinary life.
Even if it wasn’t intentional, he had thrown her into Cecil Hobart’s path—a woman who thrived on jealousy and spite.
He had no intention of letting Cecil and Elizabeth cross paths again.
He had already separated Timothy Rutland from her.
Now—
It was time to separate Cecil Hobart from her as well.
