Chapter 118. Please Stay Healthy and Well
By the time she packed her bags and left the attic, the sun was already setting.
Since her luggage consisted of only a few sets of clothes, it wasn’t a task that should have taken long, but she ended up late after lingering just in case.
Even though she knew well that Hanna, who worked in the laundry room away from the main building, would never come up to the attic during such a busy time, she was foolishly…….
In the end, only when it reached a point where she could delay no longer did Deborah open the attic door and step out.
While descending to the first floor, the gazes she encountered poured down upon Deborah’s face.
Most were gazes filled with curiosity, but among them, gazes of criticism were occasionally mixed in.
Perhaps one becomes gradually numbed by experiencing such things repeatedly…… Deborah endured all the pouring gazes steadfastly and finally reached the first floor.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Charlotte was waiting at the end of the stairs leading to the first floor.
She had intended to give a final greeting anyway, so her heart surged with emotion upon seeing that the woman had come out to see her off first.
Even though she had been strangely calm earlier when receiving those cold looks directed at her.
“Take this.”
“What…… is this?”
Deep wonder appeared on Deborah’s face at the small brown pouch the woman held out.
“It is your final wages, with a little more added in.”
Ah……, Deborah groaned lowly and stared intently at the pouch.
“……I cannot accept this.”
To be honest, since she could not be considered to have worked properly for the past few days, she did not feel at ease receiving wages.
Mrs. Charlotte, however, firmly grasped the hand that Deborah pushed forward again.
“Don’t talk nonsense and put it away.”
“…….”
“In any case, both you and I are people who have no choice but to follow the Madam’s instructions. That is why we are parting like this—but strangely, for some reason, I don’t feel regretful at all.”
“…….”
“Perhaps it’s because I feel like I will see you again in the not-too-distant future…….”
At her words as she patted Deborah’s shoulder reassuringly, Deborah’s nose suddenly tingled.
Perhaps it was just a common greeting given to someone saying goodbye.
Since it was honestly questionable whether she, who always viewed Deborah’s relationship with him with a worried eye, would truly want to see her—the seed of discord—ever again.
However, those words, which might have been mere talk, became a great comfort to Deborah.
A time that was long if long, and short if short.
She felt that her time spent here was not entirely lonely, thinking that at least one person—even if only one—was telling her of a day they would meet again.
“So until then, please stay healthy and well.”
At her final farewell, Deborah eventually nodded her head while shedding hot tears.
“Honestly, it’s driving me crazy.”
The words popped out, unable to be suppressed any longer.
Raymond’s gaze, which had been repeatedly tapping the sofa’s armrest, only then moved toward the front.
Watching the blue eyes that reached him blankly, Crown Prince Philip’s eyebrows furrowed sharply.
“Exactly what is it?”
“…….”
“You’ve been like that ever since we left. Anxious, like a man who has something going on.”
When he pointed with his eyes at the hand resting on the armrest, a short clicking sound of a tongue finally came from Raymond.
“……I am sorry.”
“No, I’m not saying that to hear those words—”
Pausing for a moment, Philip’s pupils moved slowly as if thinking of something.
He thought he knew a man named Raymond von Cheister to some extent, but he had recently realized that was not the case.
He thought that even if all the noblemen in Ruvake were like that, he at least would not be—so he was very puzzled that Raymond had given his heart to a member of the laboring class, a maid working in his own mansion at that.
Especially since there was no other man with such a strong sense of noble class consciousness as him.
Honestly, if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, it would have been hard to believe.
The sight of him carrying out a trivial maid in front of everyone as if she were a treasure.
But what was even stranger was his appearance after following him on the path back to the palace.
Where did the flawless appearance—so tight that not even a needle could enter—go? Every time he saw him, Raymond had a dazed, absent-minded face.
That was why he spoke up, unable to watch any longer.
Asking what on earth was happening for him to act in a way he never had in his life.
The Crown Prince, thinking deeply, opened his mouth again.
“Is it, perhaps, because of that woman?”
“…….”
He had made a guess just in case, but seeing the firmly shut mouth, it seemed it was truly the case.
Well, it was natural to be worried since he had left the woman there after that commotion.
Since they had been very close since they were young, Philip knew the other Cheisters well, not just Raymond.
Eleanor von Cheister was a very benevolent and dignified noblewoman, but her daughter was a bit different.
Cecilia, the epitome of a haughty and arrogant noble lady, had a nervous and hasty personality, though it was unclear whom she resembled.
It was said she had changed after growing up, but the Cecilia of her childhood was nothing short of a tyrant.
If there was something that didn’t go her way, or something she didn’t like, she would throw a fit of violence as much as she could.
It was a fact he only learned later, but every time the young Cecilia came, the royal palace was said to have gone into an untimely state of emergency.
The person who knew such a Cecilia better than anyone was her brother, Raymond.
So that must be why he was like that, wondering if she might be getting bullied.
He guessed it wouldn’t be words spoken with a passing emotion, but he hadn’t thought he would be this deeply infatuated.
He thought a man like the one he knew would handle things well on his own, but it seemed this matter was going to turn out to be more of a headache than expected.
And rightly so, as he was the young master of the most historic Cheister family, possessing power in Ruvake that was second only to the royal family.
Raymond von Cheister.
Such a man taking a wife from the meager laboring class?
The royal family, with its deep-rooted bloodline elitism, as well as the upper class, united by noble consciousness, would be the first to rise up.
“Goodness, this is truly no ordinary matter.”
Crown Prince Philip shook his head while letting out a long sigh.
Raymond, sitting across from the Crown Prince, only wore a face that made it impossible to know exactly what he was thinking.
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“Are you staying alone?”
Deborah’s body flinched at the man’s blunt words.
She had circled around this area several times before finally entering, but to think the proprietor sitting at the entrance would be a man with such a grim face.
When Deborah hesitated without answering, the man’s grim face crumpled even more menacingly.
“What, didn’t you come here to stay?”
Thud, at the sound of him hitting the wooden table, Deborah’s shoulders jerked once more.
“Can I stay…… for just one day?”
A voice that was almost crawling away.
The proprietor, clicking his tongue with a ‘tsk’, scanned Deborah from top to bottom.
Shabby clothes, and a worn-out luggage bag in her hand
The man, having quickly checked Deborah’s appearance, reached out his hand in front of her.
“2 shillings, in advance.”
“…….”
2 shillings…….
Since it was a relatively shabby exterior compared to other inns, she had picked and entered thinking it would be roughly 1 shilling…….
It was a point where she suspected whether he was overcharging her because she was a young woman.
As if noticing that, the man hit the table again menacingly, thud thud.
“Hey, are you going to pay or not! I’m already dying of anger because of the bastards who sleep for a night and then bolt out the back door these days!”
It wasn’t as if it were her who had done such a thing, but seeing the man’s glaring eyes, Deborah soon took the pouch out of her bag.
Just a moment ago he was getting so angry, but the proprietor quickly changed his expression and peeked over here.
Deborah turned her body slightly and took out two small silver coins from the pouch.
“……Here it is.”
When she cautiously held out her hand, the man snatched the coins from Deborah’s hand as if an eagle were snatching a chick.
“Now, now. Come this way. I’ll specially give you a good room today.”
Deborah, who had been staring blankly for a while at the man’s sudden change as he smiled broadly, soon began to walk behind him.
“Then, rest comfortably.”
Click—
As soon as the door closed, Deborah first locked the latch on the doorknob.
Only after checking several times by shaking it here and there to see if it was properly locked did she finally start to look around the interior slowly, as if relieved.
“…….”
Well, since she had gone out of her way to pick a shabby place, she hadn’t believed the words saying he would give her a specially good room.
But still, to think it would be to this extent…….
Would it be about 10 square meters?
Setting aside the cramped space where barely one person could lie down and sleep, the dust and mold accumulated on the floor and walls were giving off an unpleasant smell.
Furthermore, the damp and dirty state of the bedroom—wondering if it had even been washed—was a terrible state that naturally made one’s mouth hang open.
“Haa…….”
She had come to the nearest inn because it was too late, but it was a night where it seemed sleep would not come at all.
A deep darkness began to settle over Deborah’s face.
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