“I’m really sorry about yesterday.”

That evening, unexpectedly, Yves Russell visited her.

Whether it was a gift for someone recovering or not, the bouquet of roses that he brought were out of place.

Radis took her medicine and slept a lot. And though she still had a high fever, she sat up and greeted him.

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault, Marquis. Rather, it was me who made a grave mistake…”

“Let’s start with this.”

As he beckoned to the side, servants came in with large things.

Perplexed, Radis just stared as they came towards her. Then one servant opened the lid of a box and held it to her.

There were various fabrics inside.

“What’s this?”

“These are gifts that Madam Mariel has sent as a token of apology.”

Yves Russell closed the lid himself, his face with an expression of frustration.

“I have no excuses for yesterday. I’m just very sorry. I’ve caused a strange misunderstanding because I haven’t explained why you’re here to the Madam before that. But I’ve since explained and I told her that I decided to be your guardian.”

Yves Russell drew closer to her.

Unlike his gloomy appearance, he smelled quite good.

It was an adult man’s scent, a mixture of sweet yet bitter scent that seemed to be like scorched sugar.

“I’m sorry to have made you suffer like that. It’s completely my mistake.”

It’s really strange.

Obviously, Radis was hurt by Mariel’s words, but the resentment harbored by her heart seemed to melt away after hearing Yves Russell’s apology.

Looking back, Radis was also at fault.

If she had waited for Yves Russell just as he requested, she wouldn’t have met Mariel. But she had become impatient and went to visit him anyway, and this caused Mariel to misunderstand.

“No, I’m the one who went to see you first…”

“I’ve already told Madam Mariel not to come to the mansion until she’s apologized to you properly. There will be no such incident again from now on.”

From now on, he said.

‘Am I still allowed to stay here?’

Radis looked up at Yves Russell.

He always covered half his face with his fringe and wore only black clothes as though he was an ominous crow. Because of this, Radis’s only impression of him was that he was brutal and volatile, but after a few exchanges with him, she started to think that this person was truly good.

He’s even gone to the extent of apologizing sincerely to Radis, who had no true position here in his marquisate.

Radis asked him.

“Why… are you going this far for me?”

Yves Russell answered her with a kind voice.

“You signed a contract with me, Miss Stepping Stone.”

“Stepping… What?”

“If Prince Olivier likes you, you’re not just some stranger.”

As the corners of Yves’ mouth went up, he started speaking bold words.

“I’m going to be a Duke. I’ll do anything just to achieve this, and as someone who needs to break down Prince Olivier’s iron wall, I won’t have to worry about anything if I can go over that iron wall. I have to do it. You may end up being a stepping stone for me, so isn’t it natural that I’d be nice to you?”

Hearing all this, Radis could only stare at him with her mouth agape.

She had just thought of him as a good person. Radis felt like she had been swindled. She felt anxious before this, but now Radis felt like a fool.

‘Marquis Russell isn’t someone foolish. He just wanted to make sure to invest in a gamble like this. So… He’s thinking of me just as I’m thinking of him as my ticket to a cherry farm.’

Radis almost burst into laughter.

‘Indeed, this was something like a gamble. Even if the cherry farm fails, it’s not the cherries’ fault.’

Radis was finally able to shake off the guilt that she harbored towards Marquis Russell.

With a smirk, she said.

“That’s right. Gambling chips are precious.”

“Now we can talk.”

Yves Russell grinned and reached out his hand.

Radis held that hand and shouted.

“I’ll be in your care, Marquis!”

·

·

·

08. Is this okay?

It’s been fifteen days since Radis entered the Marquisate.

“Am I really allowed to do this?”

She muttered this to herself several times a day.

In both her lives, she considered the best bed to be a hard wooden bed with a single blanket on it.

This was because there’s no such thing as a bed whenever she went on subjugations.

“It was terrible at the camps. I had to sleep in hammocks.”

A hammock made from woven vines was better than sleeping on the ground.

It should be better to sleep with one blanket on the ground, but it’s difficult to endure the cold and moisture seeping from the bare ground.

“But now it’s all in the past.”