Maylily - Chapter 80

There’s something here. I need to find out what Hugh is hiding.

Led by a vague intuition, Vivian entered the forest with a maid in tow. Clear birdsong and the faint sound of waves drifted calmly through the blue air. At the edge of this forest stood a hill that connected straight to the sea, so whenever she visited Prowden, she often came out this way for a walk.

Trying to suppress the inexplicable irritation rising inside her, Vivian followed the familiar path. As she passed the lakeside where sunlight poured down like massive pillars and drew near the annex, a maid sweeping in front of the porch caught her eye.

That place is usually empty….

Although she came to Prowden almost every year, she had never seen guests stay in this forest annex. There had never been a need for it in the first place. The Count of Everscourt’s estate was large enough to accommodate dozens of guests with ease.

“Wait here.”

Leaving the maid she’d brought behind, Vivian approached the annex. Sensing someone’s presence, the maid of House Everscourt looked up, recognized her, and hurriedly bowed.

Vivian recognized her as well. Alice Curren. She had taken note of the girl because she was the younger sister of David Curren, Hugh’s secretary.

“It seems you’ve let a guest stay in the annex.”

“Yes, miss.”

“A guest of Lord Everscourt’s?”

“…Yes, miss.”

“Must be a special guest. To be staying separately in the annex instead of the main house.”

“….”

As Vivian smiled briefly at the tight-lipped Alice, faint piano music drifted out from inside the annex. In that instant, Vivian didn’t miss the flicker of dismay that crossed Alice’s face.

The compass of her intuition turned toward the piano sound. What she was looking for was inside.

“Guide me to the guest.”

At this hour, visiting another guest without being introduced by the host was a grave breach of etiquette. However, as Vivian watched Alice step forward obediently despite her troubled expression, she grasped that the annex guest was someone who did not require strict courtesy.

As they passed through the entrance and walked down the corridor, the piano grew louder. Soon, singing layered over it as well. Her heart began to pound heavily in her ears, making it hard to hear properly.

Stopping Alice in front of the sitting room and sending her away quietly, Vivian entered alone.

A woman sat before a piano by the window where clear sunlight poured in, her hair neatly braided. Seeing a woman occupying the grand piano she herself played every time she stayed in Prowden made Vivian’s head suddenly burn.

At the sound of Vivian’s deep breath, the woman stopped singing and turned around. She was a beauty whose clear, sky-colored eyes created an aura that was both pure and mysterious.

So this is what Hugh was hiding.

For a moment, her vision went white, but Vivian opened her mouth with her posture perfectly composed.

“I don’t recognize you. What’s your name?”

Even after intruding into another woman’s space, her bearing was confident, as if she were the owner. In contrast, the woman flushed as if caught playing the piano without permission and hurriedly stood up.

“I’m….”

She only imitated a noble’s appearance on the surface. The woman’s expression and movements, unable to properly compose even her own emotions, were clumsy and unsophisticated.

Rolling her eyes lightly as she searched for the right words, the woman finally said, “My name is Maylily Aile. I’m the Count of Everscourt’s sponsored singer.”

***

I saw the Count of Everscourt in Lurollei yesterday. He was in a tearoom with some woman, and she looked like the opera singer who appeared in the papers. Seeing that he even brought that woman all the way here, it seems it really wasn’t just a simple patron relationship.

In the letter Vivian received last week from Anne, who was spending her holiday in Lurollei, there was an account of Hugh being seen with a woman.

Even though she knew nothing about Vivian’s engagement, Anne devoted a large portion of the letter to that story. That was how much Hugh Skaard’s sponsored singer had become the hottest topic in social circles lately.

When Maylily Aile’s existence became known to the public, people gossiped that she was Hugh’s mistress, or that she would become one. In front of them, Vivian only smiled quietly. Inside, she denied it again and again, telling herself there was no way that could be true.

Hugh had maintained a spotless reputation and impeccable manners without a single scandal until the age of twenty-four. Because articles about him were profitable, reporters constantly tried to tie him to random women and fabricate scandals, but every attempt ended in failure.

Cold, composed, and noble Hugh Skaard. A man like that having a mistress. It was absurd.

No matter what Anne and the people around her said in the letter, Vivian clung almost foolishly to the image of Hugh Skaard she had seen since childhood. That was why the sense of betrayal she felt when she encountered Maylily Aile in the forest of Prowden was all the greater.

Hugh had brought a woman into his territory. And everyone in Prowden had hidden that fact from her and put on an act.

Vivian could no longer deny what that fact meant.

To think she had already been intoxicated with emotion, acting as if she were already the Countess of Everscourt without knowing anything at all. How ridiculous a person could become really happened in an instant.

After receiving Maylily’s greeting, Vivian left the annex just like that. She did not reveal that she was Hugh’s fiancée. There was no reason to waste the news she had carefully saved to receive congratulations and attention from all of society on a trivial woman.

She went straight to find the Marchioness of Cheshire and, suppressing her indignation, poured out the whole story.

“How could Hugh do this? As if keeping a mistress weren’t enough, he even brought that woman into the territory and kept her here with me! Even if the engagement hasn’t been announced yet, this is far too great a humiliation.”

The Marchioness pressed her throbbing temple with her hand and let out a sigh.

I had expected it to some extent when that article came out, but still….

Even so, the reason she had remained silent about this issue until now was because she had no intention of breaking off the marriage alliance with House Everscourt.

It was unfortunate for Vivian, but speaking coldly, the fact that Hugh Skaard had a mistress did not even count as a flaw. Unlike ordinary cases where honor and reputation would be damaged, it only served to further reinforce his power and charm. That was the weight carried by the name Everscourt.

“First, calm down, Vivian. It’s not even certain yet that that woman is Hugh’s mistress.”

“What reason would an opera singer, busy preparing for the next season, have to be here? There are even people who saw the two of them on a date in Lurollei, so there’s no room for doubt.”

At the newly added information, the Marchioness was left speechless. Vivian grabbed her hand tightly and pleaded.

“Mother, please tell Lady Deborah. Tell her to get that woman out of my sight.”

“If Deborah could stop it, she’d have done it long ago. You know that, too. You know what kind of man Hugh Skaard is.”

Everyone knew that Hugh Skaard was a man who always made what he intended happen.

“If you bring up the issue rashly and it isn’t accepted, it could become difficult to go through with this marriage alliance. We also have pride and appearances we must protect.”

In the end, the Marchioness embraced her daughter, whose eyes had finally revealed how hurt she was.

“It’ll be hard to accept right now, but whoever Hugh’s mistress is, in the end, the person who stands proudly at his side in front of everyone will always be you, won’t it? So if you don’t want to annul this engagement, let’s pretend we don’t know for the time being, Vivian.”

Vivian couldn’t resent the Marchioness for giving advice so realistic it felt cold. She was a mother who had silently stayed by her husband’s side for decades, even as he changed mistresses time and again.

She respected her sacrifice and patience. Even so, she didn’t want to emulate that kind of life. Why did she have to learn resignation before her married life even began?

A sudden sense of injustice welled up. And Vivian needed somewhere to vent that injustice. The summer was far too sweltering and long to swallow those burning emotions alone.

***

The opening ceremony for the Lurollei branch of the Skaard Hotel was held in a high-floor hall overlooking the beach at a glance. Hundreds of distinguished guests and reporters attended the event commemorating the launch of a hotel that would open a new horizon for the resort industry, making it a grand success.

After the executives’ congratulatory speeches ended, dazzling celebratory fireworks burst over the beach outside the window, signaling the start of the full-fledged party. It was a brilliant sight, like Hugh Skaard’s achievement at the age of twenty-four.

True to the fame of “Skaard,” everything was perfect at the event that day, but there was one thing that went against everyone’s expectations.