“I regret the misfortune you must have felt. It seems it would have been better if we had never met.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth. We once shared beautiful feelings, but as a result, we lived uneasily for twelve years. Not only that, but we also caused irreparable harm to Mrs. Ashton. If I hadn’t been there, you might have loved her.”

He looked at Laura Pendleton with a despairing expression. Laura’s voice was sympathetic, but there was no trace of lingering affection for him.

“Laura, was our love just ‘a moment’ to you?”

“It’s been twelve years already. Can that love still be ‘now’? That would be unnatural.”

“Then, in your eyes, I must seem unnatural.”

New tears welled up in his eyes.

“There hasn’t been a single day I didn’t think of you. Even when I was with my wife, I wished it was you by my side. I feel sorry for her, but my heart has never once left you.”

“Have you never considered that to be a sin?”

“I told you, I feel sorry for my wife. But a man can’t forget his first love. Especially a man who loved a woman like you. Laura Pendleton, do you know how beautiful you were at seventeen? How gentle, pure, and kind. Losing you was the greatest mistake of my life.”

“But you chose your family over me. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that decision was wrong. I’m just saying you can’t take back a choice already made. You want to go back twelve years and choose again, after enjoying all the benefits of that choice. That’s a selfish heart. And above all…”

Laura continued, her tone so calm it felt almost cold.

“My heart no longer holds you. Twelve years ago, alone in Hyde Park at dawn, my love melted away in the sunlight.”

His face turned ashen.

Laura could feel he was deeply wounded. But this was the undeniable truth. John Ashton looked the same as he did twelve years ago, but Laura felt nothing for him beyond a sliver of pity.

“Is that true?”

Laura nodded.

He lowered his head, covering his face with both hands.

“No way. I believed you must feel the same as I do… that even if our bodies were far apart, our hearts were drawn to each other. That’s why I thought you never married, that you were waiting for me…”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t marry; I couldn’t. My reputation was utterly ruined because of our relationship.”

“Is that why you hate me? Did that hatred grow so much that you stopped loving me?”

“The biggest reason I stopped loving you is time, John.”

Laura let out a soft sigh.

“Staying longer will only hurt you more. I hope you can overcome this pain quickly. It would be good for Cecilia too. She needs a kind stepmother.”

Laura rose from her seat. But at that moment, John Ashton suddenly looked up.

“Don’t lie. There’s another man in your heart, isn’t there?”

Laura looked at him in surprise.

“Ian Dalton. You love him, don’t you? That’s why you’re rejecting me.”

Her cheeks flushed red.

“I’d prefer if you left his name out of this.”

“How could I? This is clearly a love triangle.”

He glared at Laura, his eyes filled with evident pain.

“Ian Dalton. The great landowner of Yorkshire. Heir to a noble family dating back to the Tudor dynasty. I know everything about him. I investigated thoroughly when he proposed as my legal representative. Quite a man. Enough to steal your heart. Compared to a blacksmith’s son mocked for rising through his in-laws, he’s a prince on a white horse.”

“Calm down. People outside might hear.”

“Laura, be honest. Do you love him?”

“That’s not something I need to confess to you.”

Her voice trembled.

His brows furrowed. His beautiful violet eyes seemed to burn red with jealousy.

“I knew it the first day I visited you. When I warned you about his danger, you defended him. That was it, wasn’t it? Your love for me faded because of Ian Dalton. Are you dreaming of a happy ending with him?”

“That’s not true.”

Laura’s emotions began to rise. She could no longer stay calm with Ian Dalton as the topic.

“The you in my memory was a discerning person, but it seems time has changed you too. Do you think marrying him will make you happy? Have you considered the inherent gap between you two? What do you gain by dreaming of a marriage that will make you both miserable?”

Laura’s lips turned pale.

“I don’t want your advice.”

At her icy tone, he let out a bitter laugh.

“You’d better wake up from your fantasy. Countless high-society figures hire me to draft prenuptial agreements. To them, marriage is just business. Even if Ian Dalton is smitten with you, he’ll panic if you accept his proposal. A woman of your class is better suited as a mistress than a wife.”

In that moment, Laura’s mind went black with rage and humiliation.

How dare he say something so insulting. How.

If Mr. Dalton were the kind of man Ashton described, he wouldn’t even have befriended a woman like her. That’s how far above her he stood.

But he had laid everything before her. He knelt, begged for her love, and wet her hem with his tears.

Ian’s love was a love that transcended convention. A love so pure it felt selfless.

For John Ashton to insult Mr. Dalton’s heart, Laura felt an unbearable contempt.

“How could you say something so vile?”

“I’m speaking reality, Laura. Wake up and choose a man suited to your station.”

“I know my station better than anyone. A poor, scorned spinster with disgraced parents. But his love for me is true. The greatest tragedy of my life is that I’m not worthy of returning his love. Compared to that, failing to be with you feels like losing a cherished hat.”

John Ashton’s face went white with shock. Laura continued to shout.

“Don’t ever come looking for me again. Even if I can’t be with Mr. Dalton, I will never accept your heart!”

She stormed out of the room.

As she entered the parlor, she saw Mrs. Chelsey and Cecilia sitting on the sofa. Mrs. Chelsey was sewing, and Cecilia was reading A Study in Scarlet beside her.

“Aunt Laura!”

Cecilia jumped up, her pale face flushed with color, her eyes sparkling like stars.

“Come quick! I’ll tell you who the culprit is in this case.”

Laura approached Cecilia with a rigid expression.

“I’m sorry, Cecilia. I can’t come play anymore.”

“…Why?”

“Because I’m leaving Bath.”

“You’re leaving Bath?”

The child’s face crumpled as if she might cry.

“Why? You said you’d stay until spring!”

“Things have changed. I have to go now. Take care.”

The child grabbed Laura’s skirt.

“Auntie, then… then stay just one more hour. I practiced the piano so hard to play for you…”

“Yes, Miss Pendleton, stay a little longer. How can you leave so suddenly…”

Mrs. Chelsey chimed in, but Laura shook her head.

“Take care, Cecilia. I’ll always pray for your health.”

Laura yanked her skirt from the child’s grasp and rushed to the door.

“Auntie! Aunt Laura!”

Cecilia’s tearful voice echoed behind her, but Laura didn’t hear it.

She fled the hotel in a daze. As she stepped out of the Panyz Hotel’s entrance, she realized she’d left her coat in the room. And her purse was in the coat pocket.

Instead of returning, Laura began walking toward the Lorelia Hotel. The breeze, which had felt pleasant earlier, now stung like a whip.

But Ashton’s words hurt her more than the wind.

He had insulted Mr. Dalton’s sincerity and character.

‘I should have slapped his face before leaving.’

Laura seethed inside. If he had only insulted her, she could have stayed cold. But insulting Mr. Dalton was something she couldn’t endure.

As she stormed through the shopping district, Laura caught sight of herself in a shop window. In the cold weather, her face was red with anger, her lips bitten.

She looked like a stranger.

All her life, the face Laura saw in the mirror was calm and composed, expressionless. She had never seen such an agitated, distorted face.

Her burning heart cooled in an instant.

The wind tugged at her thin silk dress. Laura shivered but, as if gazing into a mirror of reason, she examined her heart.

Her anger wasn’t just from humiliation. It was resentment toward someone who had dashed her hopes.

Lately, she had often thought of her conversations with Ms. Rotis.

Humans are born to love. Even foolish love is love. Two hearts uniting as one is a miracle.

Mulling over those words, Laura thought that, despite her humble state, she might give him happiness. Her belief that love alone wasn’t enough persisted, but their marriage wouldn’t lead to poverty. So perhaps it wasn’t such a reckless choice.

Above all, Mr. Dalton loved her with his life.

Just accepting his love could satisfy him. If she loved him endlessly, his life might be fulfilled.

Laura was confident she could love Mr. Dalton more than anyone. The overflowing love in her heart was ready to devote itself to him.

But John Ashton’s words had just doused her hopes with cold water.

Laura felt like an invisible fist had struck her chest. Her hopeful heart cooled in an instant.

His logic echoed the realistic views she had lived by. But now, realism became a rod that broke her courage.

“It feels like my past self is warning me through John’s mouth. Telling me to wake from my dream and face reality.”

Laura shook her head.

“But I’m not the same anymore. I can’t ignore my heart for practicality. I can’t live like before, sealing my emotions and pretending I have none. I love him. Oh, there is no way I can turn back these feelings!”