“Laura?”

Ian, panting with excitement, rushed to the bed. He grabbed Laura’s shoulders and brought his face close to hers.

“Are you awake? Do you know who I am, Laura?”

Laura’s eyes were unfocused. Her rapid breathing and the heat radiating from her body remained unchanged.

Tears welled up in his eyes again.

“Laura, I’m begging you. Tell me you can see me. Tell me who I am. Please.”

He pleaded, his voice trembling. Uncontrollable sobs escaped between his lips.

Laura blinked slowly and moved her lips. Soon, a cracked voice emerged from between them.

“…Father?”

Ian doubted his ears.

“What did you say?”

She gasped and said again.

“…Father…”

He bowed his head. Laura was delirious from her illness. Mistaking him for Master Sheldon? He and Master Sheldon didn’t share the slightest resemblance, from hair color to facial features.

To stem the flow of tears, he released Laura’s shoulders.

But the moment Ian let go, Laura grabbed his arm tightly. It was a strength unbelievable for a patient.

Startled, he looked at Laura again. Her eyes had gained clarity.

“Father, don’t go.”

Her voice was clear.

“Stay by my side. Don’t ever leave again.”

Ian was overwhelmed by Laura’s command. He knew it was the delirium of illness, but he had no strength to resist her words.

Naturally, he began to play the role Laura had assigned him.

“I won’t go.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m not going anywhere. Father’s staying right here.”

The grip of Laura’s hand weakened. At the same time, a smile slowly spread across her face. An innocent smile. It was almost childlike.

Ian was deeply shocked.

He had occasionally tried to imagine Laura as a young girl in his mind. But he always failed. The Laura he knew had eyes full of intelligence and sharpness, a voice imbued with refined dignity, and steps that were calm and measured with consistent strides. She was more regal than royalty itself—Laura Pendleton.

Had there ever been a time when Laura laughed with carefree giggles? A time when she stomped her feet and cried because an adult wouldn’t let her eat sweets?

Though he knew no child was born with all knowledge, he couldn’t believe Laura had ever had a childhood.

Yet, here was that Laura now. The Laura of her childhood, smiling purely like a baby angel.

“Why didn’t you come for me? Why did you leave me at Uncle’s?”

Laura mumbled, her voice filled with resentment.

“I’m sorry. Father was far away. I was teaching a boy to paint in a place called White Field in Yorkshire.”

“You could’ve written letters.”

“I did. I sent over a hundred. The postman must have made a mistake.”

Laura blinked, as if startled.

“So, you didn’t mean to abandon me?”

Ian soothed Laura with a natural tenderness, as if Louis Sheldon himself had come back to life.

“How could I abandon you, Laura? You’re my most precious jewel. Father was saving money to come get you. I wanted to take you to White Field to live together. To stay by your side forever, until I grew old and died.”

Laura’s eyes widened. She chewed her lips in surprise, then trembled and threw her arms around Ian.

“I knew it. I knew Father wouldn’t abandon me! Father loves Laura. Father…!”

Laura burst into tears. Ian held her tightly, patting her sweat-soaked back.

“That’s right. Father loves Laura. I love you more than anything in the world. My precious daughter. A daughter I wouldn’t trade for the whole world…”

At Ian’s gentle whispers, Laura wailed loudly.

“I waited for you… Every time Uncle hit me… Every time he called me a lying beggar… Father, why did you only come now? Why…!”

Ian felt his throat tighten. He knew she had been treated harshly by her uncle, but he hadn’t known she’d been abused since childhood.

He cried out fervently.

“I’m sorry, Laura. Father will make Uncle Gerald pay. I’ll make him hurt so much he’ll cry his eyes out, just like you did.”

“Really? You’ll make him pay for everything I suffered?”

“Of course!”

Laura’s sobs softened. Sniffling, she asked.

“Will you call Uncle Gerald a rat who steals food?”

“Yes.”

“Will you yell at him to get out of the parlor because he’s disgusting?”

“Of course.”

“Will you throw an ashtray at him to split his head open, lock him in a dark nursery with only water to drink?”

He was speechless. To do such things to a child? A girl not even ten years old?

His head burned as if Laura’s fever had infected him. Though that man had already ended his own life, Ian wanted to turn back time and take revenge again. Far more persistently and cruelly.

But it didn’t end there. Laura now poured out all the wounds she had hidden deep in her heart. The various insults she’d endured from her uncle, the false accusations, the beatings from servants on his orders, the insults about her parents that surfaced every time he argued with her grandmother.

The most extreme forms of violence one human could inflict on another.

Ian raged, then was horrified, and soon became profoundly sad. Even if it had happened to a nameless child in a far-off land, it would have made him tremble with anger. But it had happened to Laura, whom he loved enough to give his life for. Over the course of her childhood years.

He did his best to comfort her. He promised repeatedly to repay Uncle Gerald for everything Laura had suffered. No, to punish him even more severely.

“Father will make Uncle a beggar. I’ll take his house, his land, and scatter his family.”

Laura, who had been clinging to Ian, pulled back slightly. Her face was swollen from crying and still red from fever, but to Ian, she looked unbearably lovely and heartbreaking.

“Really?”

“Of course. There’s nothing Father can’t do.”

Laura lowered her eyes, thinking for a moment, then said softly.

“…Don’t take his house. Leave his family alone, too.”

“You want to spare him? Laura, do you want to forgive Uncle?”

Laura shook her head.

“If he loses his house, where will Grandmother Abigail live? She always fought with him, but she loves Uncle.”

Ian’s face looked like he might cry. He kissed the top of Laura’s head.

“Kind Laura. Even though she failed to protect you properly.”

Laura leaned her head against Ian’s broad, solid shoulder. After pouring out her grievances to her beloved father, Laura’s face became remarkably peaceful.

“Father, you’ll always protect me from now on, right?”

“Yes. I’ll protect you.”

“So I’ll never be sad again? So no one will ever blame me?”

“Of course.”

“Then promise.”

Laura held up her pinky finger. Ian hooked his own without hesitation. Laura tightly entwined their fingers with strength.

He found her so adorable that he smiled.

But suddenly, the smile faded from his lips.

A promise to keep her from ever being sad, to ensure no one would blame her.

‘Can I keep that promise even if we marry?’

He was Ian Dalton, the sole heir of the landed gentry, whose union with Laura the world would oppose.

He hesitated, then asked.

“Laura… are you very afraid of the world’s judgment?”

Laura nodded.

“Yes.”

“Uncle said my parents had an immoral union. Like a beastly mating. So I’m no better than an animal’s child. I was born with a stigma. That stigma makes people point fingers at me. I don’t want to be hurt anymore. Father, hide me from the world.”

“…If that happens, would you be happy, Laura? If no one ever blamed you?”

“Yes.”

His lips trembled. His throat moved, and his breathing grew rough. Drops of water fell, one by one, onto Laura’s head.

Laura looked up. Ian’s face was drenched in tears.

“Father, why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?”

He shook his head.

“No. It’s just… it’s been so long since I saw you… I’m so happy… so glad…”

Laura reached up to wipe away his tears.

“Don’t cry. Please don’t.”

He forced a smile.

“I won’t cry. You told me not to, so I won’t.”

He rubbed his face roughly with his sleeve.

“Laura, it’s nighttime. What do good children do at night?”

“Play puzzles and tag with Father.”

“You little mischief-maker.”

Ian gently pinched Laura’s cheek. She giggled and obediently lay in bed.

“I’ll sing you a lullaby. ‘Greensleeves.’”

“I love that song. Other lullabies are too scary.”

“Now, close your eyes.”

Laura obediently closed her eyes. He placed a hand on her stomach and patted her gently.

To cast me off discourteously

And I have loved you so long

Delighting in your company

Greensleeves was my delight

Greensleeves was my heart of gold

Greensleeves was my heart’s joy

And who but my lady Greensleeves]

Before the first verse was even finished, Laura was breathing evenly, fast asleep. He touched her forehead. It was still hot, but the fever had lessened slightly.

He gazed down at her quietly. Her face slept without a care, as if guarded by angels in a paradise designed by God.

Ian squeezed his eyes shut.

He thought he knew enough about Laura. The stories about her parents, her first love, her relationship with her uncle. But they were all superficial details.

He had failed to see the wounds hidden within her.

He hadn’t tried to understand why she so fiercely rejected their union, why she had no choice but to flee despite loving him. He hadn’t noticed Laura’s heart, desperate to avoid further pain.

His heart, blinded by love, was consumed only with capturing Laura’s heart and keeping her by his side.

‘I was selfish. Arrogant, thinking only of myself.’

For the first time in his life, he reflected on himself. He, who had been criticized by countless people, even his family, yet never once questioned his own character.

He carefully smoothed Laura’s tangled hair.

“I’ll keep you from being hurt. I’ll make sure the world can’t point fingers at you…”

Ian smiled sadly.

“I’ll give up on making you Mrs. Dalton.”

His smiling lips trembled. His heart crumbled again. He pressed his eyes tightly with both hands.

“So be happy. My beloved lady Greensleeves.”