Beneath the Ivy

Aureliane has spent her entire life being forgotten.

Left on the steps of an orphanage as an infant, she grew up among children who carried fragments of histories she could never claim as her own. No photographs marked the beginning of her life. No family waited for her beyond the gates. As the years passed, she learned to stop searching for answers and to build a life from the pieces she had been given.

At twenty-two, that life is far from extraordinary. Her days are measured by long hours, unpaid dreams, and the quiet loneliness of belonging nowhere at all.

Then, when she least expects it, an opportunity arrives.

A position caring for a secluded country estate while its owners travel abroad.

For three months, the house will be hers to look after.

Nestled among rolling hills and ancient forests, the estate seems untouched by time. Ivy climbs weathered stone walls, gardens bloom beneath golden autumn skies, and silence settles over the grounds like a gentle spell. To Aureliane, it feels less like a job and more like the beginning of something she has never truly known-a place to rest, to breathe, and perhaps, for the first time, to belong.

But every house carries its own history.

Some stories linger in old photographs and fading letters. Others remain hidden beneath layers of dust, locked doors, and years of silence.

And sometimes, the things we do not see have been waiting for us all along.