The Aftermath of First Love - Chapter 3

“Adrian, do you know where Posy is? I haven’t seen her today,” Lord Nelson asked as soon as the lunch break began. The atmosphere in the student council room became tense, but Lord Nelson didn’t seem to care.

“Posy had to return home due to her mother’s health condition,” Adrian replied, as had been previously arranged with both families.

“I see. So, when her mother’s condition improves, she’ll return?”

“No, it seems that she will now be taking over her mother’s duties at the estate. I’ve heard she won’t be returning to the academy.”

The mood in the student council room lightened, except for Lord Nelson, who looked pale.

“She managed to escape well, didn’t she…?”

A murmur escaped from Cherilliana upon hearing the news of Posy’s expulsion.

In her single dorm room at the academy, Cherilliana sat quietly. Even if Posy were gone, Darnell was not the same person he had been before meeting her. Posy’s absence would only assert her presence, perhaps even more strongly than when she was here.

The lost first love, still cherished, would remain beautifully in Darnell’s heart, while Cherilliana’s shallow first love had shattered.

“Cheril, did you say something to Posy?”

“I would never speak to someone I don’t know.”

Cherilliana, holding the delicate handle of her teacup, was sitting with her fiancé at a regular tea party in the beautiful garden of the Nelson estate.

“I haven’t done anything, but perhaps someone has acted with consideration on their behalf,” Cherilliana said, sipping her fragrant tea.

“What do you mean by that?” Darnell bit back, sharply asking.

“No baronial family would be foolish enough to attract the attention of both the Duke’s and Marquis’ houses—such a family doesn’t exist in the kingdom.”

“Did you threaten her family?”

“There was no need to do such a thing. If anyone threatened her, it would have been none other than you, Darnell.”

“What have I done?”

Cherilliana, who had been admiring the flowers in the garden, turned her gaze to Darnell for a moment and sighed.

“Do you not understand what would happen to a low-ranking noble house that interferes with a high-ranking noble engagement?”

“….”

“Because you got too close, that student can no longer live as a noble. But her family and estate remain safe—she must have had someone smart by her side.”

“…That wasn’t my intention,” Darnell’s voice was filled with regret.

As time passed, the tea cooled untouched while the two of them silently stared out at the garden.

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Weeks after Posy’s departure, Adrian stood on the second floor of the classroom building, gazing down at the courtyard, just as he had done before. In the spot where they had once stood together, there was no one now, and despite the bright sunlight, it looked lonely.

He looked up and saw her in the window across the way. She was staring directly at him with those violet eyes.

Adrian still felt no warmth in those eyes.

Cherilliana, too, was gazing out from the second floor of the classroom building. Darnell wasn’t there, but in her eyes, she could see the two of them laughing together as they had once done.

When she looked up, she saw Adrian looking down at the courtyard from across the way. Cherilliana felt a sense of reassurance upon seeing him.

“I’m not the only one left behind, after all,” Cherilliana whispered vacantly, staring only at Adrian.

Her heart had been trapped, unable to move forward since the day she had watched Darnell and Posy in the courtyard, but time marched on relentlessly.

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Today, Cherilliana would graduate.

After graduation, her marriage to Darnell would soon follow. Darnell had graduated the previous year and was now working as a civil servant under the royal palace’s administrative department, but still at a low level. Even as a duke’s son, he wouldn’t be assigned any significant responsibilities right away.

At the final celebration party for the graduation, Cherilliana would be escorted by Darnell.

Most of the graduates were nobility, and nearly all of them would serve in the royal palace. The planning and management of the party was part of the curriculum. Cherilliana, as a student council member, had helped organize the party until last year.

This year, she was in the position of being observed as a participant rather than an organizer. However, for most noble students, behavior at such events was taken for granted.

Adrian stood in a corner of the party floor, watching Lady Mardock with Lord Nelson. He couldn’t help but think how he was always just watching. Since the beginning of his school days, and even after Posy left the school, Adrian had only been able to observe Cherilliana from afar. Even now, he simply watched the unattainable woman.

This beautiful woman would soon be a duchess. She would live a life without hardships, as a perfectly respectable duchess.

Adrian thought, “I’ll just watch her from afar in public, and no one will know,” and he felt both sadness and pity for his own pathetic future. If that was the case, then he decided, “I’ll position myself so I can always watch her.”

He was determined to attain a suitable position to be in high society, so he could be in the same space as people like her. How shallow and laughable his reason for rising through the ranks was.