ILSK Chapter 8

Is the person who sent the letter you? Are you my mother? Why did you send me to an orphanage? You’ve been living so comfortably all this time, so why did you abandon me? If you didn’t abandon me, did you die early? But you have an older brother too! If you didn’t abandon me, did a relative abandon me? Why did I have to go to an orphanage without knowing anything? Why did you let me grow up alone in loneliness for so many years? And why are you contacting me now? Why, why, why……!

“Does Miss Sherwood have a fiance?”

Instead of feelings of joy and happiness. confusion, resentment, anger, and surprise were mixed together in Shannon, who was trying hard to suppress them. Cecilia, however, leisurely asked pointless questions. Seeing Cecilia, who didn’t even know what state she was in and was asking useless questions, Shannon could only let out a hollow laugh.

The fact that Cecilia had abandoned her, and that she had sent a letter, were merely speculations. But Shannon was angry. Whatever had happened, the ‘family’ who sent the letter had clearly known she was in the orphanage for nearly 30 years, yet they had suddenly contacted her. That resentment and sorrow turned into anger directed solely at Cecilia, who stood before her.

“No.”

It was a cold and detached response. Before Cecilia could even be taken aback by the suddenly icy atmosphere, Shannon looked directly into Cecilia’s eyes and asked a question.

“Kent, could you introduce me to Mr. Ambrose?”

“Yes? Noah?”

Cecilia was taken aback by the sudden and unexpected request. It was because of Shannon’s gaze upon her. Although her tone was clearly polite, the look in her eyes somehow made it sound like a command.

That gaze looked both mournful, as if holding back tears, and like a furious scream. But soon, as if it had never happened, Shannon quickly composed herself and hid her emotions.

“Didn’t you say that Mr. Ambrose is a lawyer?”

Unlike the startled Cecilia, Shannon calmly reviewed the information she had just provided.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“As soon as I arrived in Oclo the day before yesterday, someone snatched my bag and pushed me under the Iena Bridge. If the police catch the culprit, they will be charged with robbery and attempted murder. For that, I need a lawyer’s help.”

Even a natural lie came out smoothly. In this confusing and infuriating situation, Shannon remained calmer than expected. Instinctively, the thought of meeting Noah Ambrose came to mind, and she even came up with a suitable excuse to meet him.

“Oh my, how could that happen! I’ll talk to Noah about it.”

Shannon sneered at Cecilia, who looked at her with pity, thinking, “I thought she only lost her job, but it turns out she was also robbed, poor girl.” On the other hand, upon hearing Shannon’s unfortunate story, Cecilia was outraged as if it had happened to her. With the hope that this incident would be resolved, she decided to willingly help the poor Shannon.

“Thank you.”

While already receiving more help than she deserved, to brazenly ask for more assistance. Cecilia thought it was inevitable that she would be turned down, but surprisingly, things went smoothly. No, it didn’t even end there. After hesitating for a moment, Cecilia cautiously asked Shannon.

“Then, will you stay at the Kent Mansion for a few more days before leaving?”

At the completely unexpected question, Shannon looked at Cecilia with a bewildered expression. Is that even important right now?

“I’m worried it might be rude to stay too long…”

“Excuse me? I’m just happy to be able to help Miss Sherwood!”

Cecilia grasped Shannon’s hand tightly, looking at her with earnest eyes as if she were the one asking for a help. Her hand was thin and long, as if to prove she had never done a hard day’s work in her life. Moreover, her skin was very soft, with a faintly pleasant scent, and above all, warm. But that fact only made Shannon’s insides churn even more.

“……Then I will stay gratefully.”

Since I’ve already become shameless, I might as well be perfectly shameless, thought Shannon, and eventually nodded. Looking at Cecilia, who was genuinely happy with her answer, Shannon thought, There are really so many people in the world who are beyond common sense.

‘Did you grow up so pampered that your head is like a flower garden?’

However, despite her seemingly composed and even more calm and collected appearance than usual, Shannon was not in a state to care about whether Cecilia’s head is like a flower garden or a barren wasteland.

***

“Have you arrived, miss?”

“She’s my guest, Ella. She’s staying for a few days, so prepare the guest room.”

The housekeeper Ella slightly widened her eyes and then smiled broadly as she watched Shannon being led in by Cecilia. It wasn’t so much the fact that there had been no prior notice of a guest’s arrival, but rather that she was a bit surprised by the youngest lady’s unexpected behaviour, which had never happened before.

In fact, Cecilia was not just a naive young lady who had grown up sheltered from the world, as Shannon had dismissed her. She was not unaware of the fact that one should not carelessly bring strangers into their home, nor was she someone who acted outside the bounds of common sense, despite being warm and kind. However, Cecilia could not ignore the pitiful maid who had been chased out of the teahouse. She did not even know why she was behaving so irrationally and unreasonably.

But one thing was certain: the moment she imagined passing her by without acknowledging her and parting ways without any promise of the future, her heart sank. She had a strange intuition that if I let her go like this, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

“Ah, let’s have a quick tea in the reception room!”

“Yes, miss.”

Despite the unfamiliar appearance of Shannon, Ella calmly followed Cecilia’s orders. Cecilia, with a bright smile, took Shannon and went straight up to the parlour on the second floor. The three maids who had come out to greet her bowed politely as they watched their backs.

Shannon followed Cecilia around the mansion, exploring its various corners. The Kent mansion was traditional and luxurious, befitting the esteemed reputation of the historic Kent family. The large glass windows in the hallway were impeccably maintained, and the framed pictures and small decorations on the walls held significant historical value. Shannon’s silver eyes widened as she discovered a landscape painting by a famous artist, one that could easily be found in an art gallery. However, before she could examine the painting, she was led into the drawing room by Cecilia.

“Please wait here for a moment until the guest room is ready!”

“Thank you.”

Cecilia smiled as she seated Shannon on the canapé chair in the centre of the parlour. Shannon looked around the parlour, clearly decorated with a theme of “splendour” this time. Cecilia decided to introduce her people to alleviate Shannon’s boredom, as she would have to wait idly until the guest room was ready.

“Anne, could you bring me the frame with Noah’s picture from my room?”

“Yes, miss!”

The small girl, clearly the daughter of a maid or servant, immediately bowed her head and answered the lady’s command before running off somewhere. She had been following Cecilia around since Shannon set foot in the Kent mansion. Cecilia, having sent Anne away, picked up a small frame decorated on the wall near the piano and approached Shannon.

“I told you I like beautiful women, right? To be precise, I really like beauties with silver eyes.”

Unknowingly, like a professional habit, Shannon was looking for historically valuable items in the parlour when she inadvertently accepted the frame that Cecilia offered. Cecilia kindly sat next to Shannon and began to explain about the person in the frame.

I accepted the frame without thinking. Cecilia kindly sat next to Shannon and began to explain about the person in the frame.

“That’s my mother. She was a very beautiful woman with elegant features.”

“She’s really beautiful.”

Shannon looked at the young woman in the photo, who could possibly be her maternal grandmother, without any emotion. Although it was a black-and-white photo, it wasn’t hard to imagine the woman’s silver-gray eyes. After all, the eyes she saw every day in the mirror were exactly those silver-gray eyes.

I was always curious. I always asked the person reflected in the mirror. But no matter how many times I asked and asked, I could never find the answer. No one ever told me. These silver-gray eyes, this brunette hair, this nose and lips, who did I inherit them from?

However, after actually knowing the answer, Shannon was calm to the point of being indifferent. She was even surprised at how she felt no emotion at all.

“The only one who inherited our mother’s silver eyes was my eldest brother. So whenever I missed our mother, I would look at my brother.”

Seeing Cecilia with a bitter smile, it seemed that the Duchess of Kent was already deceased. However, Shannon was still unaffected by that fact. Before Shannon could even respond, the sound of small footsteps was heard, and Anne approached, politely offering a frame to Cecilia with both hands.

“Excuse me, miss!”

“Thank you, Anne.”

“Don’t mention it, if you need me to run any more errands, just call me!”

Anne bowed respectfully to Cecilia, and Cecilia, finding Anne’s gesture endearing, patted her head. Holding the frame containing her fiance’s photo, Cecilia, with a bittersweet smile as if recalling her late mother, called out to Shannon with an eager expression.

“When you see my fiance’s photo, you’ll instantly understand why I was drawn to Shannon!”