Chapter 166. Prelude to a Roaring Wind
That night, Deborah could not fall asleep until late into the dawn.
—I will come again before long. So do not worry too much and stay well just as you are now.
At the end of the remark saying that he would come as frequently as possible if only to avoid the suspicion of the people, Jade added words of concern once more.
Perhaps it was due to the anxious look that did not leave her face from beginning to end.
She knew.
That just like Jade’s words, the possibility of that man, Duke Cheister, coming near here within this season right away was very faint.
She knew, clearly she knew all with her head, but…… why on earth did her heart continue to just be anxious like this.
It wasn’t that her heart wanting to see him even one more time had changed.
No, rather, as time gradually accumulated, the longing toward him grew greater and greater.
Even though she fortified her determination thousands of times like that, saying let us forget now, let us cleanly forget all, everything collapsed in a single instant at a single longing that visited without notice.
But—.
Ever since the thought that she might have the child snatched away by him whom she would meet again entered her mind, she began to fear the reunion with him.
My child.
By the amount of time adding up day by day, that affection was also my precious child that grew by a span.
The squirming hands, the dainty lips, even the cozy baby scent that would waft from that small embrace.
That time of drawing the appearance of the child one by one, whom she would come to meet a few months later, was a happy moment she had not known previously.
But to have such a child snatched away.
Merely by imagining such a scene, it felt as if all the blood were draining from her entire body.
—By any chance…… the child’s father?
—……Yes.
—Oh my, as expected it’s true, right? Somehow my intuition felt exactly that way.
Therefore, there was no need to carry such guilt toward the lie she told to Maria.
That was something absolutely necessary.
A lie that must definitely be made in order to protect the child.
‘Right, therefore…… there is no need to be anxious like this. It’s fine…… all will be fine.’
The dark dawn.
Staring intently somewhere in the cottage where the twilight was settled densely, Deborah repeated and repeated words that were just like a vow.
Saying such a thing will absolutely never happen.
Saying that no matter what matter arises, she will definitely protect the child.
☆☆☆
“Deborah.”
At the sound calling her, Deborah’s gaze slowly shifted toward that upper side.
“Are you fine? Your complexion is not good at all…….”
The moment she faced the gaze of Maria who was alertly inspecting her face, Deborah realized that she had been losing her soul again.
“Ah…… I am fine. Just because I tossed and turned a bit in my sleep yesterday…….”
Even though it wasn’t a thing that would be concealed by doing so, out of embarrassment, Deborah pressed her face repeatedly and continuously with the back of her hand.
That the owner couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bailey, were giving her an excessively great amount of consideration was a fact that everyone if they were farm people knew all about.
Whether that was simply Lea’s entreaty or not.
At any rate, from Deborah’s position, it was clear that it was a truly too grateful matter, beyond all counting.
Therefore, she thought let us do her best.
Of course, there would be times when she ran into limits with a body carrying a child, but even so, let us work diligently by doing her best as far as possible.
But, how long had it been since she made such a vow, to be looking away during work like this again…….
Truly even if she had ten mouths, there were no words to say.
“……Shall we move it and pour it into the vat now?”
Since they had cleanly strained the milk squeezed in the dawn with a cloth, the next sequence was the task of moving and pouring the milk into a large wooden vat.
The task of curdling milk to make cheese had reached a state where she could do it even by herself now, with a bit of exaggeration added.
Of course, there would be no such matter, but at any rate.
“Will it truly be fine? If it’s a bit hard, go and close your eyes for a moment. Since from here on, Gemma and I can do it together.”
At Maria’s words that added tenderly, Deborah without her realizing it scanned the expressions of the woman sitting on the opposite side, Gemma.
She was a woman working at the farm, who was about two years below Deborah, and she was a person who usually did not think of her favorably.
Perhaps in the identical situation, she looked displeased that Deborah alone received special privilege.
Seeing her narrowing her eyes while pouting her lips right now as well.
“……No, it’s not to that extent. Thank you for worrying, Maria.”
Deborah quickly shook her head and delivered her words of gratitude to Maria.
Even so, her worried look still showed no sign of fading, but well, when the person herself says she is fine, what can one do.
Maria eventually nodded her head, saying she understood.
At the end of that, adding the entreaty that if by any chance her body is not well, not to endure it and to talk at any time, that is.
☆☆☆
Whoosh—
“The rain keeps coming…….”
Watching the rainwater pouring outside the window, Deborah muttered quietly.
The farm’s day, which used to turn breathlessly every day, was in an atmosphere of taking a break due to the heavy rain that started from the dawn hours.
—Fortunately, since we did almost all of the urgent work yesterday, well, I intend to just rest for the day today.
In the middle of eating breakfast, Maria informed her of the notification that they were resting today like that.
Her husband, Mr. Bailey, answered indifferently, telling her to do so.
While still clearing away his meal hurriedly.
Because of that, Deborah also came to have a timely rest.
In a situation where she had to earn money, she knew that a day was a waste, but since her lower abdomen had been heavy since morning, she thought it was a relief.
And whether because of that terrible memory of a rainy day, no matter how much she tried to brace her mind, her mood did not improve easily.
Since her mind was that way, the condition of her body was also bound not to be good.
With a feeling as if her body were continuously drooping and sinking like cotton soaked in water, thinking this wouldn’t do, she was pacing inside the cottage.
If the rain streaks weakened a bit, she wanted to take a walk even just in front of this, but seeing the rainwater falling refreshingly continuously, a sigh came out naturally.
It was precisely at that time when she was just walking toward the table next to the bed with the thought of making a swaddling clothes that the child would wear today.
Knock, knock.
At the sound knocking on the wooden door, Deborah’s steps stood at a halt on that spot.
“Deborah.”
Maria’s voice.
Deborah quickly walked toward the doorway.
“Ah, I wondered whether you were by any chance in the middle of sleeping.”
Watching Maria who was forming a bright smile saying it was a relief, Deborah slightly stepped aside.
“Come in.”
“My, look at my mind.”
After brushing off the rainwater got on her clothes with thuds, Maria stepped inside the opened door.
“How is your body, is it somewhat fine?”
“Ah, it’s fine. It became a level better than morning.”
This morning, Maria, who was intently inspecting the appearance of her sitting at the table one by one, seemed to have noticed right away that Deborah’s condition was not good after all.
Though she exerted such effort trying not to let it show, whether because they were of similar months, her sharp eyes could not be avoided.
In her words saying she would rest for the day today, a certain part was perhaps because of her, Deborah was merely guessing.
“What a relief, I worried even without that.”
After hearing the words of her who smiled brightly, such a thought occurred for a brief moment.
The thought, ‘To say that remark, in this rainy road…… did she come all the way here?’
Well, it wasn’t to say that her coming was strange.
Since like the remark saying she worried, she could also make steps because she was curious.
But somehow the atmosphere was that way.
Rather than that she simply came to see if she was fine, what should I say…… right, a feeling as if she came because she had something to say?
Watching her long eyelashes that blinked in wonderment, Maria made an “oh no” sound again.
“Deborah, by any chance is your time fine in the evening?”
“……The evening, you say?”
Only then did the appearance of Maria, which was quite different from usual, finally enter her vision.
A face slightly flushed for some reason, and a tone slightly excited.
Of course, even at normal times, she was a person overflowing with vitality a step slightly higher than other people, but it was a feeling a bit different from that.
Hearing the remark she asked back cautiously, Maria nodded her head.
“Yes, this evening.”
Though it must be a remark asked out of politeness, naturally it was a question that didn’t matter whether it was asked or not.
For Deborah, who had not been long since coming to this place and additionally had no person she knew, what would it be that she had business for, moreover in the late evening.
“As for that, it’s fine, but…….”
Wondering because of what she was doing so, Maria, who successfully understood the words cut off behind that, immediately carried on the next words.
“We intend to eat this evening’s meal at another place instead of our house, so I wondered if it would be fine.”
In fact, this also was a remark that had no need to be asked.
From the position of a servant who was provided meals like her, choosing a dining place was a sound unheard of and unseen.
“In fact, we received an invitation to dinner today, you see.”
In spite of that, Maria continuously let her hear the next words kindly.
“Originally, every time only our couple received the invitation, but for some reason this year, did they not say it is fine to bring along about one more person? So when I spoke of Deborah, my husband also said it was good.”
Deborah, who finished hearing Maria’s words to the end, only then understood the context before and after.
That is to say, the Bailey couple received an invitation to dinner from an acquaintance they knew, and perhaps she was asking now how about going together to that place.
“…….”
Stopping short of thinking up to that point, Deborah cautiously opened her mouth.
“By any chance…… would it not be a discourtesy. Since I am a person whom they do not even know.”
Though who the acquaintance that invited the Bailey couple was could not be known, it was natural that a dining place where she, who didn’t even have a single face-to-face meeting, was included would be uncomfortable.
Even so, because she couldn’t flatly refuse the words of Maria who proposed it at best while thinking of her, it was a remark expressed circuitously out of embarrassment.
But unfortunately, Maria seemed to have taken such a mind of Deborah differently.
Saying that she minded all sorts of things, Maria suddenly began to laugh, “hahaha.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s not that the invited guests are only our couple, and additionally they are not people who would mind such a trivial thing. So let’s go together. If we go there, many foods that we normally cannot even view come out, you see.”
For a very brief while, although she received a somewhat strange feeling from her words, she was unable to know until what that even was.
Rather than that, the mind of the Bailey couple who took care of her like this was just grateful, and all her nerves focused on the fact that something arose that could make her forget the weather that made her mood sink.
Therefore, at that final remark asking whether she would not go together, eventually she ended up nodding her head.
“Yes, I will do so.”
Without being able to even dare guess what kind of future would unfold before her who was smiling brightly.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
