Winter Song •「冬の歌」• CPN

• Abandoned •

The butler says. Tanaka is his name. He's served the count since he was a young child.

"My Lord was a quiet child. He was always striving to please his father. The late count was a hardened man. Different from all the others when he came here. A gaijin in a world of brown eyes."

I'm halfway done my tea.

"He was always stern in the lord's learning. Though Alexis was very intelligent. He wanted more for his mother's touch. A woman named Vina that the late count met on a trip down south. She was so mysterious that the count couldn't help but want for himself. He found out later that she was already married. She hid away with Alexis, though she came back and left Alexis with the count when he was 10, never returning. We heard of her death a few years later"

"When the late count passed away when Alexis was not yet fourteen, Alexis became a different man. Cold and silent. Leaving for months on end."

My vision blurred as I realized that tears had built up in my eyes.

"Milady. Please don't cry. I believe that if you open yourself to him. He will do the same to you."

I wanted to correct him. That I didn't think of him in that way. But the words died on my lips.