Chapter 055. Fearlessly at This Dawn
“Dear lord…… What on earth happened to your face…….”
That evening, upon seeing Deborah’s face as she returned to the attic, Hanna gaped in shock, unable to contain her horror.
The incident from a few hours ago had probably already circulated around the mansion, but it seemed the news hadn’t reached the laundry room, which was quite far from the main building.
When asked what on earth the commotion was about, Deborah explained the whole story with an awkward expression.
After all, by tomorrow, there wouldn’t be anyone in the entire mansion who didn’t know about it, so she thought it was better for Hanna to hear it from her than from someone else.
After hearing the full explanation, Hanna jumped around in a rage with a furious face.
“Are you really out of your mind?”
“…….”
“How is that your fault? Oh, I’m speechless.”
“…….”
“That’s why Robin hates it. Why would she do that for no reason? With such a nasty temper, who would like her? Right?”
“Ah, well…….”
Hanna, who had been jumping around excitedly for a while, suddenly turned her head and stared intently at Deborah.
“So.”
“……Huh?”
“No, so what happened then.”
“What?”
“You said you were going to report to the Duke. Lady Charlotte.”
Why is this girl so spaced out? Upon Hanna’s reaction of sharply furrowing her brows, Deborah finally let out an ah, a dazed sound.
“Did you tell Lady Charlotte everything they did, without missing a single thing?”
Looking at Hanna’s face, who was asking with certainty that she must have, Deborah involuntarily swallowed hard.
And for good reason, because in fact, Deborah hadn’t seen Lady Charlotte since then.
After that… incident in the study, perhaps due to the tension releasing, she had dozed off.
Someone might ask how she could comfortably fall asleep right there at that moment-
But it was true.
It was something strange enough that even she honestly couldn’t understand, but anyway, that’s how it was at the time.
She didn’t remember exactly how long she had been ki… like that, but at some point, an insane drowsiness suddenly overwhelmed her.
Probably, it was partly because she hadn’t slept properly for the past few days, and right after a series of tremendous events, the tension seemed to release all at once.
-“I’ll wake you up, so get some sleep.”
She said it was nonsense and that she would leave now, but there was nothing she could do about the man who stubbornly insisted on staying seated.
She held out like that, but unable to overcome her heavily drooping eyelids, she dozed off, and when she woke up again, it was already evening.
Recalling him sitting on the sofa reading a book until then, one side of her chest strangely tingled.
“Why no answer? You didn’t… foolishly cover for them again, did you?!”
At the screeching scream, Deborah finally snapped out of her thoughts with a flutter.
* * *
-“Just sleep without thinking about anything today.”
Those were the words he said to Deborah as she left the study.
He said he would speak to Lady Charlotte separately, so she should go straight to her room and rest comfortably.
He must have noticed that she was worried about not finishing her work.
“…….”
For several hours already, Deborah hadn’t been able to fall asleep.
She lay in bed to sleep as he had instructed, but sleep wouldn’t come at all.
Perhaps thanks to sleeping soundly for a few hours in the study, or maybe because of what happened in the study during the day… she couldn’t sleep.
She needed to sleep if she wanted to get up early in the morning, but there was nothing she could do about the sleep that wouldn’t come.
She couldn’t remember how many sheep she had counted.
‘What will happen now…….’
In the moment her mind wandered, the taboo she had sealed away resurfaced once more.
Even if she tried not to think about what would change or happen in the future, she couldn’t stop it from popping up unexpectedly.
Noble, Duke, Cheister, and…… fiancée.
Every time the chain of associations came to mind, it felt like a heavy stone was placed on her chest, suffocating her.
Deborah knew it too.
In fact, even worrying like this might be ridiculous.
What he felt for her now could just be simple curiosity, or perhaps an emotion that would end up as mere desire.
So, there was no need to worry in advance like this.
Not to mention, he could decide to pretend today’s events never happened as early as tomorrow.
“…….”
Even having thought that far, why couldn’t her heart be so composed?
Like a fool.
Just imagining him turning cold again made her heart ache as if stabbed by an awl.
Hoo, after letting out a long sigh, Deborah finally got up from her spot.
Since she couldn’t fall asleep like this anyway, she thought she should at least get some fresh air.
Thinking it was fortunate that she had forgotten to move the drawer after raging in the evening, Deborah picked up the shawl by her bed and quietly stepped out the door.
* * *
Maybe she repeated it about five times.
Pacing back and forth in the 3rd floor attic hallway.
It felt a bit boring to keep going back and forth in the same hallway, but she hesitated to go down to the lower floors.
Lady Charlotte was already keeping an eye on her because of the sleepwalking, so she couldn’t risk being seen by others and causing problems.
‘Other people.’
That word she thought absentmindedly, and the face that immediately came to mind.
“…….”
Even she thought it was a seriously bad condition.
She was deliberately trying to shake it off even at this late night, but it kept popping up like this.
Then her gaze suddenly turned toward the end of the stairs leading to the 2nd floor.
It was past midnight.
For a while now, only the sound of her own footsteps could be heard, and the mansion was as silent as a dead mouse.
Knowing that she was the only one wandering the hallway unable to sleep at this dawn when everyone was asleep, yet her heart stirred.
‘I’m crazy…… What on earth am I thinking right now…….’
Deborah scolded herself for that and shook her head vigorously.
As if emptying her stirring heart, as if emptying her complicated mind.
How long had she walked on that long hallway like that.
The moment she turned her back again at the dead-end wall, Deborah’s gaze naturally flowed in a certain direction.
“…….”
After standing there for a while as if nailed in place, Deborah’s feet began to move toward that direction as if enchanted.
Shortly after, Deborah’s figure disappeared below the 2nd floor stairs.
‘Just, because I can’t sleep…… Walking back and forth only on the 3rd floor is boring, so that’s why…….’
Throughout descending to the 2nd floor, Deborah repeated excuses to herself.
‘At this hour…… There’s no way he’d be there. Yeah, that’s right…….’
Muttering endlessly words she didn’t even know to whom, and finally stepping onto the 2nd floor, she involuntarily swallowed dryly.
“…….”
With a tense face, Deborah took a deep breath and slowly lifted her gaze, which had been fixed on the floor, upward.
Fortunately, as expected, the hallway in her view was utter silence with no one there.
A sigh of relief escaped, and at the same time, a strange disappointment dug into one side of her chest.
It was so pathetic to desperately hide something so obvious that she let out a silly laugh, heh, heh.
Perhaps because the tension had released, or maybe because pacing the 3rd floor hallway was finally taking effect.
If she went back and lay down now, she felt like she might be able to sleep.
It was the moment she was about to turn her body with such a light heart.
“…….”
Something caught at the end of her turning gaze.
Startled, Deborah’s eyes naturally followed that something and moved there, and shortly after, a sound of her gasping escaped her lips.
“I thought you were wandering unconsciously again.”
“…….”
The one who broke the silence that had settled over the hallway at dawn was not Deborah, but the person standing right there.
Raymond von Cheister.
Until the moment he slowly approached, Deborah held her breath and didn’t move an inch.
“Fearlessly wandering around at this dawn.”
“…….”
The man’s voice, which came out with a slight scolding tone, was subtly huskier than usual.
She needed to say something in response, but words didn’t come out easily.
As if her throat was completely blocked.
Only after a while did Deborah open her mouth, and until then, Raymond just stood still and waited.
“I couldn’t…… sleep.”
She barely managed to force out that one sentence, but somehow there was no response.
Fortunately, the man’s silence wasn’t that long.
“Why.”
At the low resonating voice, Deborah’s words were blocked again.
She couldn’t say it was because of you…….
But instead of an answer, another question came back from the man’s lips.
“Because of me?”
Thump, thump, her stopped heart started beating again.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
By Anna 💓
