Chapter 116. Raise Your Head
“Mother! Are you really just going to sit back and watch this happen?!”
At the sharp sound cutting across the drawing room, the hands of the maid who was just about to serve tea flinched and trembled.
The maid, having placed the teacups down, glanced back and forth with startled eyes at the two people sitting on opposite sides.
There was Cecilia, who had shouted in a fit of excitement moments ago,
And sitting across from her with her eyes closed was the Grand Lady, Eleanor von Cheiste.
What was strange was that, unlike Cecilia, who was huffing as if a great disaster had occurred, Eleanor remained silent with her mouth firmly shut the entire time.
Though, she had been pressing her temples repeatedly for a while now, as if she had a throbbing headache.
In fact, her mood had been uneasy for quite some time recently.
It was only natural.
Her proud son, Raymond von Cheister—her son, whom she never imagined would cause trouble over such a matter—had created such a scandal right in front of the Crown Prince and various nobles, so how could she be at peace?
In her heart, she also wanted to kick that girl out of this place immediately, but the reason she could not was because of Raymond’s request.
—Until I return, I would prefer it if you did not summon that woman separately.
Last night, the day before he accompanied the Crown Prince on his return to the palace, Raymond had personally visited her bedroom and left those words.
Eleanor knew well the meaning implied in those words that sounded like a request on the surface.
It was a warning not to create a difficult situation unnecessarily through pointless actions.
Even though he was the son she gave birth to, Eleanor felt distressed every time she faced such a cold side of him.
But what could she do?
That was her son, Raymond von Cheister, and he was the head of the house who held sway over everything in the Cheister family.
Just as she was suffering internally by herself, the thoughtless Cecilia had come rushing in like a fire, acting in such a manner.
She was demanding that the sly thing currently staying in her brother’s bedroom be dragged out immediately and forced to kneel before them.
“Cecilia, wait until your brother arrives—”
“I told you we can’t wait until Brother arrives!”
At the shout, which was sharper than before, the maid standing nearby looked at Eleanor with anxious eyes.
“That lowly thing is blatantly occupying the Duke of Cheister’s bedroom right now; does Mother truly not know what that means, and that is why you are acting like this?”
“…….”
Watching Cecilia go on a rampage, Eleanor’s expression sank even more darkly.
How could she not know?
If he had considered her merely a girl to attend to his bedroom, it would have sufficed to provide her with quarters nearby.
Even if he intended to keep her as a mistress, it would not have been much different.
He could have provided a small mansion a short distance away and frequented it.
In other words, under no circumstances should he have allowed that girl into Elfengreen, the family seat of the Cheister family, and into the head’s bedroom at that.
There is only one woman who shares the Duke’s bedroom.
Because there is no one else except the woman who will become his wife and the Duchess.
That was why Cecilia was acting out in such an agitated state.
“……If Mother really cannot do it, then I will.”
“Cecilia!”
Eleanor’s eyes widened at the sight of her clenching her fists and rising from her seat.
That was out of the question.
If they were determined to ignore Raymond’s request and drag that girl out, it was something that she, not Cecilia, had to do.
If it were her, Raymond would at least not be able to kick her out.
But Cecilia was different.
Had she not seen right before her eyes, just a short while ago, him rebuking his sister with a face turned cold?
If the returned Raymond found out it was Cecilia who disobeyed his words, there was no telling what measures he might take.
‘Wait, come to think of it…….’
Eleanor’s face turned pale as she realized that the moment Raymond’s atmosphere became so chilling that day was immediately after the story of that maid was brought up.
Just since when had it been like that, and just how deep were his feelings for that girl…… just thinking about it made her heart freeze cold.
Eleanor’s expression began to turn colder than ever before.
“……Sit down.”
“Mother!”
“I told you to sit!!”
Everyone in the drawing room flinched at the thundering roar.
The benevolent and kind Grand Lady, who had never once raised her voice loudly.
Everyone’s eyes were filled with wonder at the unfamiliar sight of her, seen for the first time.
The same was true for Cecilia.
Though she might not know it, Cecilia, her daughter, was likely the most surprised person among those present.
For a while after that, a heavy silence enveloped the drawing room.
While everyone was waiting for the words to come out of Eleanor’s mouth with anxious gazes—
Finally, she began to speak.
“Go and tell Charlotte to come here.”
“……Yes, My Lady.”
The maid who received the order hesitated, her eyes rolling as if to ask, ‘Is that all?’
And finally, from her mouth, which opened again, words much stricter than before flowed out.
“And that maid named Deborah—bring that child here as well.”
Deborah’s face, following behind the maid walking ahead, was stiff with tension.
—The Madam is calling for you.
A moment ago, what awaited Deborah when she opened the door to a knock was the maid right in front of her.
Her face was also familiar, but she was someone Deborah did not know well.
Since she had been living day by day with an anxious heart due to what happened a few days ago, her heart throbbed crazily at the appearance of another maid.
In the midst of that, one strange thing.
Even while she was so tense that it felt like all her nerves were being scorched, her mind was surprisingly calm.
As if she had expected something like this to happen.
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe the man’s words saying it would be okay.
Since he truly would have taken the most appropriate measures possible before leaving, just as he said.
However, the variable was the situation where the Grand Lady or the Young Lady Cheister could summon her whenever they made up their minds as long as they were in the same mansion.
She could not refrain from accompanying the Crown Prince back to the palace, nor could she kick those two out of the mansion, so she simply guessed that it would have been his own best method in that situation.
While thinking of this and that, she had reached her destination before she knew it, and the pace of the maid walking silently began to slow down.
The place she followed her into was the small drawing room.
The sight that immediately entered her view was exactly as Deborah had expected.
The Grand Lady sitting on a large sofa, and the Young Lady Cheister glaring fiercely this way.
The unexpected part was Mrs. Charlotte standing beside them with a worried face.
“My Lady, I have brought her.”
As the maid who received the instruction spoke, only then did the Grand Lady’s gaze fly toward Deborah.
The kind and benevolent face she felt whenever she saw her occasionally looked so fierce and cold that it felt like she was a different person.
If there was one person Deborah felt uniquely guilty toward by harboring him in her heart, it was the Eleanor von Cheister right before her eyes.
She was just sad and pained in this moment that her humble self, who would be nothing but a dirty stain on the future that would be her pride and joy, was here.
“Raise your head.”
A solemn voice soon fell over the top of Deborah’s head, as she remained motionless with her waist bowed.
Deborah slowly straightened her waist as instructed and looked at the woman before her.
“So you are the one…….”
Eleanor’s eyes, scanning Deborah’s face thoroughly, began to narrow thinly.
Quivering eyelashes, a jawline set with firm strength.
Looking at her rapidly changing expression, Deborah somehow felt she knew what the woman was thinking right now.
‘The lowly thing that dared to bewitch my son.’
“…….”
The emotion lingering in her eyes, full of contempt, became a dagger and pierced straight through Deborah’s heart.
“Mother, what are you doing? Why aren’t you kicking this filthy thing out immediately?!”
The one who broke the silence that had settled in the drawing room was, again, Cecilia.
It seemed she was dissatisfied with just leaving her be, when it wouldn’t even be enough to harshly lash and kick out that brazen thing who threw mud on the name of Cheister.
For a mere low-ranking maid seeking refuge in the Cheister family to dare bewitch her brother, the Duke, and flatly occupy his bedroom.
When she recalled the moment she was humiliated in front of His Highness the Crown Prince and other nobles, she felt like tearing at that pretty face in front of her right now, regardless of dignity.
To think that out of everyone, including the elegant and beautiful Young Lady Constant, the girl he chose was someone like that—
It was to the point where she wondered if something had gone wrong with her brother’s head.
At Cecilia’s momentum, which seemed ready to explode, Eleanor finally began to speak.
“How did that child come to enter Elfengreen?”
The direction of the question she asked was, unexpectedly, toward Charlotte, not Deborah.
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