Chapter 165. Is There a Villa of the Cheister Family Near Here?
A day at the farm began at a much earlier time than in the city.
Because it was possible to complete all of that day’s routines during the hours the sun was up only if one moved from dawn.
Deborah’s day also naturally moved according to the clock of the farm.
As she opened her eyes first of all, after arranging the bed she slept in and doing her grooming, she left the cottage and headed toward the house of Mr. Bailey, the farm owner.
Usually, servants working at a farm are bound to eat in a separate space isolated from the owner’s family, but the owner couple, who considered that Deborah was a pregnant woman, advised her to eat together at their mansion.
Perhaps there was an entreaty from Lea, she was merely guessing.
“Welcome.”
As she stepped inside while smelling the scent of freshly baked barley bread, Maria welcomed her warmly.
“Good morning, Maria. But…….”
Maria, who was placing dishes on the dining table, discovered Deborah looking around and immediately opened her mouth.
“He grabbed a quick bite and went out. Because they said a cow is likely to give birth to a calf in the morning.”
“Ah, yes.”
Thinking that somehow he wasn’t visible, Deborah nodded her head.
Her husband, Mr. Bailey, who had a jovial personality, was a type of person Deborah was also seeing for the first time.
His appearance of laughing heartily, “haha,” with a good nature was one thing, but that loud voice of his, enough to be heard even hundreds of yards away with exaggeration added, was to the extent that she was startled even now.
Even so, to the extent that it was understandable why Lea’s mother had worried so much, they were a truly too good couple.
“The barley bread happened to be baked so deliciously today. Hurry, sit down and eat.”
At the gesture telling her to hurry and sit, Deborah went to the seat she always sat in and took her place.
Seeing the bountiful dining table today as well, Deborah uttered a short exclamation.
Of course, it was more simple than the types of food she had eaten at Jade’s mansion, but even so, compared to the meals of the commoner class, it was an excessively luxurious level.
“Every day, receiving and eating like this…… what should I do.”
Though she had said she would just go to the place where the servants eat and eat, Maria opposed it flatly, saying it would be uncomfortable with a body carrying a child.
Even so, eating such a meal that was more than her lot regularly like this every meal could not make her heart at ease.
Hearing that short sound that came out from her apologetic feelings, Maria laughed out loud, “hahaha,” saying she was talking about all sorts of things.
“We merely placed one more fork where we eat, that’s all.”
“…….”
“I don’t know how glad I have been since Deborah came. As you probably see, because my husband’s eating speed is too fast, if we eat together, whether it goes into the nose or into the mouth at all.”
At Maria’s complaint of letting out a long sigh, suddenly the appearance of Mr. Bailey yesterday floated up buoyantly.
As if someone were chasing him, that astonishing appearance of finishing his meal hurriedly in just a few minutes.
Though she shouldn’t do that, without her realizing it, pfft, laughter came out.
Looking at such a Deborah, Maria also smiled along brightly.
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“I’ll be in your care today too.”
As she smiled brightly while looking at its malicious-looking face, baaa— the fellow made a noisy sound.
“Yes, I know. That you feel unpleasant. But I hope you will definitely know that my massaging your there is also not that pleasant.”
Toward Deborah who was saying pathetic remarks, the goat twisted its lips as if ridiculing.
Twice a day, it was an affair Deborah experienced every single day lately.
Not that she had complaints because of that.
Even this, thanks to the consideration of Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, she was doing a task that was at least easy.
Because other women working at the farm did not refuse and did milk-squeezing work, field work, and laundry or other difficult tasks, making a dying sound to this extent was truly shameless.
Deborah rolled up her sleeves and assumed a full-fledged posture.
While being careful not to be kicked by its hind leg like last time, just when she was about to wipe down the goat’s teat first with a linen cloth.
“Deborah.”
At the sound heard behind her back, force ended up entering her hand as she flinched in surprise without realizing it.
Baaaa—!
The fellow, who was fierce-tempered anyway, cried out while being thoroughly frantic.
“Ah, s— sorry—.”
Maria, who approached behind the back of the flustered Deborah, saw that pathetic appearance and laughed out loud.
She who had laughed that way for a long while, while finally wiping away the tears hanging at the tail of her eyes, said.
“A guest has come to find you.”
“……A guest?”
Wondering who it was since there was no guest likely to come to find her, a face that surfaced immediately.
Maria narrowed her eyes and whispered suggestively.
“He was extremely handsome, you know?”
Is that…… so?
Ah, come to think of it, that face would look that way to others.
Having such a trivial thought, Deborah hurried her steps toward the house where the guest was said to be waiting.
“Jade!”
While thinking that it would naturally be him if it were a guest to come to find her, she had wondered just in case.
But as expected.
The moment she saw that face sitting on the sofa, gladness welled up intensely without her realizing it.
Jade, who turned his head at the sound calling him, discovered Deborah entering and stood up from his place while smiling broadly.
“Without even a word, how did you come?”
“What do you mean how. Naturally I came by riding a carriage.”
At the silly joke, without her realizing it, pfft, a laugh leaked out.
“……You look better than I had thought.”
Within that remark conveyed quietly, the worry he must have had was buried intact.
Deborah shrugged her shoulders once and smiled even more brightly.
“I am doing well. To the extent that I seriously worry whether it’s fine for me to work like this and receive a reward.”
It was not a remark made trying to reassure him.
Because truly since coming here, the things Mr. and Mrs. Bailey had done for her were grateful beyond words.
“Now, have some tea here.”
Whether she had brought tea before anyone knew, Maria approached to the side of the two people.
In the midst of exchanging greetings saying thank you, Maria’s expression full of curiosity entered her eyes.
Only then did Deborah realize that she had made a mistake.
That out of too startled a mind, she had forgotten the matter of introducing the two people.
“Ah, Jade. This is Maria Bailey. She is the wife of Mr. Bailey, the owner here.”
As the two people slightly bowed their heads and greeted, Deborah’s gaze this time shifted to the opposite side.
“Maria, this is my fri—”
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Jade Wilkins.”
Even before the introductory remark coming out of Deborah’s mouth was fully finished, Jade cut off those words and delivered the greeting himself.
Though she was slightly in a state of being flustered, Maria soon greeted naturally and tactfully left the living room.
Though it wasn’t to be called rude particularly, even so, it was an action not like him at all.
Whether he also felt the gaze that touched intently in wonderment, Jade before long opened his mouth.
“Deborah, by any chance near here…….”
“……Jade?”
At the action of stopping back instead of speaking, Deborah quietly called Jade’s name.
As if responding to that sound, Jade began to slowly carry on the words he had stopped again.
“By any chance, do you know…… that there is a villa owned by the Cheister family near here?”
Thump—!
At those four letters ‘Cheister’ that dropped from his mouth, a great ripple arose in her heart that had been peaceful until just a while ago.
Watching her face that turned white as a sheet in no time, Jade let out a low sigh as if he knew it would be so.
“I was also in a state where it was too sudden, so I just hadn’t even thought of it.”
“…….”
“To be sure, although it would be more difficult to find land that is not a possession of Cheister within Ruvake.”
“How…… much is it close from here?”
“It’s not that close— but then again it’s not that distant either…….”
The expression of Jade, who was speaking of the fact as it was, faltered for a moment the moment he faced the gold eyes that were shaking anxiously.
Thinking, ‘Like a fool…….’ how on earth could he have forgotten that important fact no matter how frantic he had been, self-reproach arose.
But just like the remark he made a while ago, for Deborah to find a place where the influence of the Cheister family does not reach while living in the land of Ruvake was close to impossible from the very beginning.
Even the capital Denver, where she was right before moving here right away, did that massive Elfengreen not exist.
Jade slowly brought the thoughts he had organized in his own way while coming here to his mouth.
“There is no need to worry in advance like that. Since the fact that there are many castles and mansions owned by the Cheister family means that the possibility of that man finding this place lowers by that much.”
It was so.
Although nobles move around the mansions and castles they own every season, even with that, it was only two or three times a year at most.
How much would the matter of Duke Cheister, whose owned mansions and castles relatively reached dozens, finding this place right within this year amount to.
He could not make a person who was already anxious terrified with useless assumptions.
Jade, while looking at the eyes of Deborah that were moving busily as if fallen into thought, brought out the most important remark.
“Therefore, I have a remark to entreat.”
“A remark…… to entreat?”
At the remark asking back what that was, Jade quietly nodded his head.
“To the people here, for me, that is to say…….”
“…….”
“It would be good to introduce…… that I am the father of Deborah’s child.”
A remark brought out cautiously, while scanning her expressions.
What on earth that meant, Deborah did not seem to understand right away.
Then, whether she understood only after a long while, those eyes opened vastly.
“What on earth does that mean? To introduce the child’s father…… as Jade.”
“Do you remember the remark I made previously?”
“What…….”
“By any chance, in the event of— coming to encounter Duke Cheister.”
“…….”
“The remark saying that if that man finds out the fact that Deborah is raising the child alone, he might snatch the child away just like that.”
Thump—! Thump—!
At the remark that she might have the child snatched away, Deborah’s heart began to beat like crazy.
“That’s why I am making this remark, not that we should actually do so……. Just let the people here misunderstand, is what I mean. Merely that we cannot live together right away because there are circumstances, but even so, the child’s father frequents this place often.”
Only then were Jade’s words all understood.
The reason why he cut off her words a while ago as she was trying to introduce him as a friend as well.
“How is it? If you truly dislike it, it can’t be helped but……. In my thought, this seems to be the best method at least.”
To the remark asking back if it was fine, the answer Deborah had to make was only one type.
In a situation of an emergency that might not be known, the method with the highest probability of not having the child snatched away.
“It’s good. ……Just as Jade said, I will do so.”
At the words of Deborah who nodded her head, Jade let out a long sigh of relief.
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