The match resulted in a loss for Isabella. She looked at Vincent in disbelief, as she pointed her trembling finger to her last standing king at the corner on the board, "What...? I-I thought...?"

"How about a draw?" Vincent chuckled, "You must have been practising a lot, sweetheart. I almost lost."

"That doesn't help at all, sir. A loss is still a loss." Isabella sighed.

That evening, the count invited Vincent to stay back for a couple of days before leaving. He gladly accepted. At dinner, Vincent casually talked about how hot these days were, "...It is quite weird that Bella is still wearing those clothes, isn't it? Don't you feel hot, Bella?"

Bella petrified at his question, as the count's face turned pale. A moment of silence passed, and Isabella finally cleared her throat, "I must admit that...my health is currently a bit unstable. I feel like I can easily get sick with just some wind."

"I see...Oh how I wish I could always protect you, Bella," Vincent averted his gaze from Isabella and turned to the count, his expression became serious, "so in order to do that, I'd like to ask your permission as Bella's father, for me to marry her and take care of her for the rest of my life."

The dinner hall fell into silence. Vincent seemed like he had expected this situation, so he calmly finished his meal, while waiting for someone to break the silence. No one said a thing, until Isabella dropped her fork, stood up from her chair and quickly left the table.

"Bella! How rude was that?! Come back!!" The count raised his voice with rage at her behaviour.

"Well, it seems like Lady Isabella was a bit against the idea, sir. So, what do you say?" Vincent poured some wine for the count and continued the conversation. Hesitation could be seen in the count's eyes. He didn't have the heart to do it, nor did he want to lose the chance to reinforce the relationship between the two families. "You should go talk to her, Vincent. She's still my precious daughter anyway..."

...

As soon as Isabella left the dining room, her footsteps gradually turned into running. She kept running, feeling her nose burning and became stuffy. She didn't know where she's going, or if Vincent was chasing after her, but she kept running, as far as she could from the dining room. Suddenly, she stumbled and fell heavily on the floor. Isabella felt her head getting dizzy as she looked at the blood stain on the floor from her knee. The fall pulled her back to reality, and she silently stood up, staggering through the corridors.

Then, unconsciously, Isabella stopped her steps in front of the greenhouse. Looking at the silver bars that were glistening under the moonlight, she carefully approached the table to avoid waking the bird up. Tears kept streaming down her cheeks, but she was unable to stop them.