Chapter 30

“Thrown away… whatever do you mean?”

The revelation brought by Miriam Quilter was words Diana had never anticipated.

Anyone could see that Miriam was blessed with a profound talent for painting.

And yet, she threw them away?

Before Diana, whose eyes widened in astonishment, Miriam lowered her head, deliberately avoiding her father’s gaze.

“My father is displeased that I spend all my time drawing. He seemed to think that entering the academy and mingling with a large circle of people would naturally make me more sociable or help me find a suitor, but even at the academy, I did nothing but paint…”

“Considering the results you produced, I think it is quite remarkable.”

Apparently, Baron Quilter saw the matter quite differently.

The smile Miriam wore was somewhat desolate.

“My father does not see it that way. He wanted me to be a refined young lady, attending tea parties, catching the eye of some young gentleman, and marrying into a respectable family… that is simply the kind of person he wishes me to be.”

Up ahead, Baron Quilter was currently guiding Alan into the mansion.

Trailing a short distance behind them, Miriam and Diana walked together.

“Since I cannot become the ‘young lady’ my father desires, I must be a disappointment to him.”

Miriam’s fingertips tightly clenched the hem of her skirt.

“And yet… if I were to stop painting, I feel I would truly cease to be myself.”

Naturally, their footsteps slowed to a crawl.

A considerable distance now separated them from the baron and Alan walking ahead.

“I actually envy you…”

“You envy me?”

At Miriam’s words, Diana blinked in surprise.

To Diana, Miriam was a woman overflowing with true talent.

Leaving aside whether someone like that could be envious of others, the notion that Miriam could envy her filled Diana with pure astonishment.

“Not only are you accomplished in both literature and the martial arts, but you are also actively involved in managing your territory as the next duchess. You are carving out a path as an independent woman…”

Miriam’s gaze drifted off into the distance.

Even after Baron Quilter and Alan stepped inside the mansion, she stopped in the front courtyard rather than following after them.

“Ah, but it is terribly rude of me to speak to someone newlywed in such a manner! Please accept my congratulations on your marriage.”

“Thank you very much.”

Diana offered a warm smile to Miriam, who flusteredly offered her well-wishes.

(I see… She is just like me back when I was still attending the academy…)

A memory crossed Diana’s mind—the days before she had fallen in love with Alan.

With no one to lean on, she had prioritized establishing her own independence far above any romantic endeavors.

Be gentle, act like a proper lady, women should simply obey men quietly──she had fought desperately against those expectations every step of the way.

Her past self and Miriam overlapping right before her eyes were impossible to ignore.

“Have you ever tried having a proper conversation with the baron?”

“No… ever since I graduated from the academy, I have barely spoken a word to my father.”

After the two men had gone inside, she stood staring at the closed doors instead of following them.

Miriam’s attitude seemed to speak volumes about the vast chasm between father and daughter.

(I had intended to ask Lady Miriam to produce navigational sea charts for us…)

With such lingering bitterness remaining between parent and child, would it truly be right to ask her to pick up her brush and paint once more?

Without reaching a conclusion, Diana likewise gazed up at the heavy doors of the baron’s estate.

Although the party had originally planned to secure lodgings in the port town, Baron Quilter insisted, and Diana and the others ended up staying at the Quilter estate for several days.

“There is not much to speak of here, but we take great pride in our cooking.”

Just as Baron Quilter proclaimed, dishes brimming with fresh seafood were of a sort that could be found neither in the Gazard domain nor in the royal capital.

“Amazing, the texture is so plump and firm…”

Diana’s eyes widened as she bit into the whitefish served for dinner.

Beside her, Alan had already polished off the contents of his plate.

“Hahahaha, it gives me immense confidence to hear the daughter of the Duke of Gazard, accustomed as she is to the finest foods, say such a thing.”

“Oh, it is truly exquisite. It makes me want to ask your chef for the recipe… though simply knowing the recipe would likely not recreate this flavor.”

“Ah, indeed. This taste is only possible thanks to the bounty of the sea.”

Seeing the delighted expression on Baron Quilter’s face, one could easily tell how deeply he cherished his domain.

In contrast, Miriam’s expression at the same table remained dreary.

With her head bowed, she silently worked her knife and fork.

The expressions of father and daughter were starkly contrasting.

Having finished her meal, Miriam departed the dining hall early, without waiting for post-dinner tea.

“…My apologies. She is rather lacking in social warmth, you see…”

“Please, pay it no mind.”

Alan smiled warmly at the visibly uncomfortable baron.

Diana sat by herself, gazing intently at the seat Miriam had just vacated.

(Lacking in social warmth… Is that truly the case? I recall interacting with her quite normally back at the academy…)

While Alan and the baron chatted amicably, Diana’s thoughts drifted deep into an ocean of contemplation.

“Now then… my wife seems quite troubled over that young lady.”

“…Can you tell?”

The guest room they had been assigned.

Given their newlywed status, they had been provided with a rather spacious shared room.

Though it felt slightly embarrassing, for privacy and conversation, this arrangement was far more convenient.

Accepting the situation, Diana brought up the matter to Alan.

“Before we graduated from the academy, she wasn’t someone who kept to herself so intensely. Though, perhaps it is because of the baron’s presence…”

“She is at a difficult age, I suppose.”

At Alan’s remark, Diana couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

It was spoken like an elder, yet Miriam and Diana were the exact same age.

Which meant…

“Am I also at a difficult age, I wonder?”

“…That would depend on the person, I suppose.”

Teased by Diana, Alan gave a quiet, self-conscious cough.

After offering a soft smile at his reaction, Diana’s expression hardened once more.

“If I recall correctly… her mother passed away while she was still attending the academy.”

“Hm.”

Her memories from her academy days belonged to the timeline before her regression.

She carefully traced her recollections while organizing the sequence of events.

“It was during the examination period, so she was unable to return to the domain right away… and it was several days after hearing the news that the young lady finally departed the royal capital.”

Her mother had once acted as a buffer between them, but with her passing, the father-daughter relationship had frayed… viewed in that light, nothing about it was unnatural.

Yet, a single phrase uttered by the young lady continued to snag in Diana’s mind.

“She mentioned that her paintings were thrown away… To go to such lengths, did the baron truly wish for her to stop painting altogether?”

At Diana’s words, Alan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“To me, that baron… looked as though he simply doted on his daughter to distraction, unable to do a single thing about it.”

“You think so?”

Having known the young lady beforehand and being her exact age, it was difficult for Diana to gauge Baron Quilter’s paternal perspective.

Inevitably, her sympathies leaned toward Miriam.

(Does Lord Alan see something I’ve missed…?)

When she looked up to gaze at him intently, his blue-gray eyes crinkled in a soft smile.

“The way the baron looked at his daughter… it reminded me entirely of the way Wesley watches over you.”

“Eh…?”

Struck by the observation from Alan, who knew her father Wesley so well, Diana blinked in astonishment several times.