After dinner, the entire family moved to the drawing room. It was a time for family bonding. Mr. Fairfax set up the chessboard, Mrs. Fairfax sat by the fireplace doing embroidery, and Olivia began playing the piano.

Mr. Fairfax asked Laura if she knew how to play chess.

“Yes, Mr. Fairfax.”

“Then, Miss, let’s have a game.”

Mr. Fairfax, excited, rubbed his hands together and offered her the chair across the chess table. Laura found herself, quite unexpectedly, sitting opposite her new employer, whom she had met only today, to play chess. Daniel and George sat on either side of the board to watch their father and the new governess’s chess match.

Laura, while moving her chess pieces, felt terribly awkward being so casually included in such a setting. Normally, even if close to the family, a governess would withdraw during such intimate moments.

Yet, no one in the Fairfax household seemed to find her presence awkward. Not even Olivia, who clearly harbored some displeasure toward her. Everyone acted as if it were perfectly natural to include her in their family time, as if she were one of them.

Mr. Fairfax urged Laura to focus on the chess game. Laura quickly gathered herself and concentrated on the black-and-white board before her.

Mr. Fairfax was keenly curious about the chess skills of Laura, the newcomer to the household. For him, hunting with men and playing chess with ladies were his ways of assessing people. His evaluation was simply a matter of distinguishing between “people he would greatly like” and “people he would like less,” nothing more complex than that.

Laura subtly realized this was a kind of interview and sharpened her focus. Fortunately, chess was a familiar pastime for her, as she had played it every evening with her grandmother. She steadily advanced her pieces.

Mr. Fairfax was a man who took any competitive matter seriously. However, he lacked caution and was somewhat short on wit. This fatal flaw didn’t matter much in activities like hunting, but in a game like chess, which required strategy and tactics, it put him at a significant disadvantage.

Unfortunately for Mr. Fairfax, Laura had a quick mind and a calm demeanor that rarely got rattled. She quickly discerned his impatient temperament and inability to think more than two moves ahead, moving her pieces with composure.

“Checkmate.”

Not long after the game began, Laura conquered Mr. Fairfax’s king. Stunned by the swift defeat, Mr. Fairfax looked at her in disbelief. Then, he rearranged the board and proposed another game.

Over the course of five games, Mr. Fairfax lost all but the last two to the new governess. Even those final two victories were ones Laura had subtly allowed to preserve his pride.

Five games, two wins. It was a humiliating score, but Mr. Fairfax was delighted. Until now, his only chess opponents had been his young sons, and beating them was easier than twisting a child’s arm. An experienced chess player like Laura was exactly what his evenings needed. He promptly classified her as “a person he would greatly like.”

Laura, too, found the chess games quite enjoyable, as it had been a while since she last played. However, using her mind so intensely while fatigued gave her a headache. She yielded her seat to Daniel and watched the father and son play chess from the sidelines.

Daniel, desperate to beat his father, racked his brain as he moved his pieces, but, having inherited his father’s hasty nature, he was repeatedly thwarted. Mr. Fairfax secured a dull victory and flicked the loser’s forehead.

Perhaps tired of playing the piano, Olivia came over to watch the chess game. With her arrival, the area around the chessboard became quite crowded. Olivia, not wanting to touch the spectators, stood a step back, craning her neck to observe the match.

As Laura’s headache persisted, she offered her seat to Olivia, who was uncomfortably spectating. She then sat on the piano stool Olivia had just vacated, opened the lid, and tapped a few keys.

The Fairfax family’s piano was exquisite and well-tuned. Laura naturally moved her fingers, playing her favorite melody—Chopin’s Waltz No. 18. It was a piece she had practiced hundreds of times and performed dozens of times in front of others, one she could play with her eyes closed. And so she did. She closed her eyes and played the piano as if she were a blind performer in the darkness.

With her vision blocked, her hearing and the touch of her fingers became her only stimuli. Gradually, her fatigue and headache faded. The piano, which she had learned harshly under the threat of a teacher’s switch in her school days and practiced tirelessly in her twenties to satisfy cultured guests, had now become a source of rest. She reveled in the melody she created, as if she were the only person in the room.

Finishing the piece, Laura opened her eyes, feeling much lighter. But as she stopped playing, she felt a gaze on her cheek. She turned to the side where the gaze came from. Olivia was staring at her, entranced. Their eyes met in the air. Olivia flinched. Laura gave her a slight smile. Olivia quickly turned her gaze back to the chessboard.

Laura looked toward the chessboard. Now Mr. Fairfax and George sat across from each other. Mr. Fairfax, irritated by George’s haphazard moves, pinched and shook his cheek.

“Why do you keep advancing the king? Have you no sense?”

“Huh? Why not? Isn’t the leader supposed to take the front line in a fight?”

Mr. Fairfax clicked his tongue at his son’s foolish remark.

“With that brain, you’ll make a fine sailor.”

After swatting George away, Mr. Fairfax shouted toward Laura, who was seated at the piano.

“Miss, don’t just play the piano boringly—come play another game with me.”

Laura returned to the chessboard.

While Laura played chess, Olivia approached the piano. She began playing the waltz Laura had just performed. However, she kept hitting the wrong keys, disrupting the flow. Laura glanced briefly toward the piano.

Olivia, mimicking Laura, was playing with her eyes closed. She hit a wrong note, slightly opened her eyes to find the right key, closed them again, hit another wrong note, and repeated the process. After struggling with the piano for a while, Olivia grew frustrated, gave up, and slammed the piano lid shut.

Laura found Olivia’s antics endearing and smiled. To avoid embarrassing Olivia by letting her notice the smile, Laura quickly turned her attention back to the chessboard.

In this game, Mr. Fairfax narrowly achieved checkmate. Laura’s distraction with Olivia had played a significant role. Thrilled, Mr. Fairfax proposed another game, but Mrs. Fairfax intervened, saying the governess must be tired and should be excused. Laura, grateful for Mrs. Fairfax’s mediation, retired to her room.

She entered her room. In the dark, she lit a candle, changed her clothes, and sat on the sofa, reflecting on the day. Everything had been the opposite of her expectations. It was almost dramatically perfect.

Though she had only been at Dunville Park for a day, her interactions with the household members made her believe, even at her most pessimistic, that the worst thing that could happen was the children not listening during lessons.

That night, she knelt and offered a heartfelt prayer of gratitude. For meeting such good people. For the wonderful environment. For her worries proving unfounded. She was sincerely thankful for all this fortune.

But after her prayer, as she lay in bed, the most vivid presence in her mind was Ian Dalton. Even if everything was God’s providence, the person God had sent for her was Dalton. Without him, she wouldn’t be here.

As she lay in bed, she suddenly realized she was in Yorkshire, Dalton’s hometown, staying at the home of his closest relatives. His estate was nearby. Whitefield Hall, surrounded by white birch trees, was just an hour away. The thought made her heart race absurdly.

That the place she had only seen in his gifted drawings was so close. The beautiful Whitefield he had drawn with such care. And, of course, Dalton was there now.

At that thought, her heart pounded even harder. She shook her head quickly and closed her eyes. She told herself this excitement was due to the night’s emotional sway—the darkness, the moonlight, the warm sheets, the drowsiness stirring her heart.

To escape the night’s influence, she tried to clear her mind and fall asleep. Fortunately, her exhaustion allowed her to drift into dreamland easily.

She could never have imagined that, at Whitefield Hall, an hour away from Dunville Park, a gentleman was standing by the study window, smoking a cigar and thinking of her, likely asleep in a guest room.

As she had imagined, life at Dunville Park was smooth.

The day after arriving at Dunville Park, Laura, with Mrs. Fairfax’s permission, toured the manor with the butler.

It was a sturdy, stately mansion. According to the butler, it was at least four hundred years old. He proudly boasted that it was meticulously maintained, flawless in every detail. As Laura explored further, she realized his words were no exaggeration. The window frames, railings, and every corner were spotless, free of damage or dirt.

The house held the history of a family. Laura saw portraits of Fairfax ancestors hanging throughout the manor, admired weapons used by previous generations in wars, and viewed treasures brought back from Grand Tours. The Fairfax forebears seemed to have a passion for hunting, as stuffed animals were easily spotted throughout the house.

But the most striking feature of Dunville Park was the outdoor scenery. The vast green park, surrounded by woods and a lake, was ideally situated for picturesque views. With the butler’s permission, Laura spent the morning strolling the grounds, savoring the crisp English summer.