A Butterfly Through the Mist - Chapter 148

As Seraphine Davenport’s wailing mixed with malice echoed through the air, Tilia, who stood holding Ilex’s hand, glanced at him.

When she had barely managed to get out of bed and head toward the Davenport estate, the condition Ilex set was this.

He wouldn’t follow her into the drawing room, but she would allow him to stand right outside the door.

“She’s crazy. You never know what she might try to do to you.”

With those words, Ilex gave a simple explanation as to why he had insisted on such a condition. Since she only had something to ask when he wasn’t present, and she didn’t particularly mind him waiting outside the door, Tilia had accepted the condition lightly.

Looking back now, she should’ve refused.

Tilia’s expression darkened. She had never imagined Seraphine Davenport would be that vicious. She’d thought that woman would at least be better than her brother, better than her father.

“Let me see your face.”

But even after hearing words that would have wounded the person they were directed at, Ilex, despite not being the one directly involved, remained unfazed.

He cared only about Tilia’s cheek, struck by Seraphine. When he had heard the sound of the blow and opened the door, he’d been stopped by Tilia’s look, and now, as if trying to make up for not going inside, he examined her face thoroughly.

“…It’s going to leave a mark.”

His jaw muscle bulged as if he felt more pain than if he had been slapped himself.

“Wait here.”

“Why? Where are you going?”

“It won’t take long. If you stay right here, I’ll be back….”

“It’s fine. I hit her twice as hard.”

Realizing instantly what he was planning to do, Tilia grabbed him.

“You saw it too. I even covered her mouth with a cushion.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

But Ilex looked genuinely unable to understand what she meant.

“It doesn’t matter how much you hit her. What matters is that you were hit.”

At his thinking, centered entirely around himself, Tilia momentarily lost her words.

“…Still, don’t go.”

After standing still while holding onto him, Tilia finally spoke the words that would keep him there.

“Stay with me.”

If everything had to be done according to his perspective, then her request should also be aligned with what he wanted.

“I don’t want to be alone.”

“……”

Her prediction was accurate. The moment Tilia said that, Ilex’s demeanor softened immediately.

He nodded. Relieved at how obediently he agreed, Tilia gently pulled him outside.

“Let’s stay in the backyard for a moment. I feel a little dizzy right now. I think I need some cold air.”

***

The lights in the backyard, likely turned on in a hurry due to the sudden request of the estate’s owner, glowed brightly like moons settled on the ground.

However, the ground illuminated by the globes wasn’t as beautiful as a star-filled night sky, but rather somewhat bleak. No matter how much effort a gardener put in, an early-winter garden could never imitate the scent of spring.

Feeling the cold wind that carried the coming season, Tilia glanced at Ilex sitting beside her.

Having taken off his jacket for her and sitting in only his shirt, he seemed to think of nothing except her well-being.

Thank goodness. Tilia let out a small sigh of relief, having quietly worried he might be hurt by what he’d heard.

That sigh soon shifted into another, different kind of sigh as she wondered what kind of life one must have lived to be unaffected by such words from a mother.

Caught in many thoughts, Tilia looked up at the bare tree that seemed unusually bare.

From a landscaping perspective, it had clearly been a tree that bloomed with flowers, yet now it held nothing on its empty branches but the cold wind.

But it’s only a season. Once the snow melts in the blink of an eye, spring will come again and flowers will bloom.

At a thought standing in complete contrast to the one she’d had this past spring, Tilia let out a quiet, helpless laugh.

Just a few months ago, she had looked at flowers in full bloom and thought of winter. And now, looking at bare branches, she was hoping for spring.

Muttering to herself that a person who changes so easily is useless, she turned her head slightly to look at Ilex.

At some point, as always, Ilex had been looking at her.

Facing the blue-gray eyes that reflected only her like a mirror, Tilia fell into a sudden recollection.

Eyes like mist. Eyes she once believed showed nothing, like the depths of a rain-soaked forest.

Three years have passed now. She now knew what lay beyond those eyes. And she knew exactly what she didn’t yet understand.

“Ah, did you know that boy received regular reports on your movements while you were in Ontaroa?”

Seraphine’s irritable voice, heard just moments ago, echoed in her ears.

“And did you see what kind of end his previous fiancée, Cecilia Clayton, met?”

She had pretended to know everything, but that was definitely something not found in the documents she had read.

But can I really say I didn’t know? Can I really say I hadn’t sensed it?

No.

Boldly acknowledging it, Tilia turned her head again. Then, as if letting herself fall, she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Ilex.”

The hand that naturally wrapped around her shoulder was warm. The slightly urgent touch of a man who still wondered about her feelings was welcome.

“Don’t kill Lady Davenport.”

And so Tilia spoke, in a gentle voice, the true reason she had deliberately brought him out to the garden.

“Keep her alive until the end.”

At some point, Seraphine Davenport’s screams, which had echoed down the staircase, had stopped.

He might not have killed her outright, but he must have done something. And once Tilia left, the butler’s real task would surely begin.

“Instead, send her somewhere very far away, to a place where the culture and climate are completely different from here.”

Knowing that, Tilia had bought Seraphine a little more time simply by not leaving this estate.

But the reason was far removed from what ordinary people would call kind or merciful.

“And make her live there with a very low status, for as long as possible.”

Tilia chose that path for the sake of a stronger revenge. She thought of that method to give Seraphine more suffering.

“Make sure she can’t kill herself either.”

A wheel, she’d said. A part, she’d said. After spouting such cruel words, how dare she try to escape through death? That couldn’t be allowed.

“…Are you listening?”

“I am.”

Ilex was just as obedient as he had been at the landing a few moments ago.

“I’ll do it that way.”

At his compliant answer, Tilia’s mood gradually brightened. Feeling the way he lowered his shoulder so she could lean more comfortably, Tilia slowly closed her eyes.

Ilex Davenport, the man who loves me. Ilex Davenport, who holds mist inside him because he loves me so much.

That alone is enough. She didn’t want to pry into whatever he was hiding in the dim, unseen corner of his heart.

Hadn’t she been paying attention only to his worst sides all this time? Distorting even his kindness and good intentions?

So this much, she could overlook. She could believe whatever she wanted to believe.

Like swallowing a peach without checking whether a worm hid inside it, savoring only the sweet flesh, Tilia spoke leisurely, “I don’t really like grand things.”

At those words, spoken lightly, Ilex’s shoulder, which had relaxed considerably, stiffened noticeably.

“…What?”

“I just like ordinary things. I don’t like anything too flashy or crowded with too many people.”

When no answer came, she cracked open one eye to look at him and saw a man wearing an expression as if trying to figure out when his plan had been discovered.

How could she not know? Tilia barely contained the laughter that almost slipped out at that flustered look and closed her eyes again.

If he truly wanted to keep it a secret, he shouldn’t have asked Judy for her opinion. That girl was terrible at hiding that kind of secret.

Now that she knew, it was almost strange she hadn’t noticed earlier.

The sight of various orchestra instruments being moved step by step into the greenhouse. The butler busy buying out-of-season flowers. The way he kept taking her hand whenever he got the chance, rubbing her ring finger with a pensive look.

Tilia finally lost the last of her patience when she recalled how, last night, he’d not only touched her fingers but even bitten them.

“Ouch.”

The soft laugh slipped out almost at the same time. The act that had made her laugh a moment ago was happening again to her ring finger.

A faint bite mark appeared instantly on her finger, and Tilia slightly furrowed her brows as she lifted her eyelids.

Under the lights floating like pale moons above the bare earth, their eyes met in the beam of light that cut through the darkness.

“Tilia.”

Calling her name, Ilex kept nibbling at her finger playfully, his blue-gray eyes dazzling her as always.

Do I know the emotion the mist beyond those beautiful eyes is hiding, or do I not?

“Let’s go home.”

Ah, it seemed she did know.

“Hurry.”

He carried the same sticky intensity as whatever she had been suffering from until this morning.

“Ah…!”

She didn’t even have time to say that since he had broken all fifteen rules yesterday, today they should sleep separately. Without waiting for her answer, he stood up and lifted her into his arms. Then, forgetting all dignity befitting a duke, he began running toward the carriage.

“Are you crazy?”

The man didn’t seem to feel Tilia tugging at the back of his clothes. She grabbed at his hair in agitation, hid her face from the startled servants watching with wide eyes, then grabbed his clothes again, alternating between the two, until she eventually burst out laughing.

Her laughter, half pure amusement and half disbelief, was swallowed up inside the black carriage.

Thunk. The door closed. The coachman, about to climb up immediately, was stopped by the rushing servants. It was a courtesy for the two who had lingered there for a long time, one they didn’t even realize was being offered.