Chapter 134. You’ve Worked Hard to Endure and Withstand
“Are you really going like this?”
As he slowly exhaled the cigar smoke he had inhaled deep into his lungs, the murky smoke quickly spread acridly over the table.
Raymond looked at Edward with an indifferent gaze once again, as Edward was repeating the same content for the several-th time, with only a slightly different question.
“Yes.”
“…….”
At any other time, cold words would have already come out long ago.
However, even Raymond seemed unable to show such an attitude in a place where he was asking for favor for his family left behind in Denverer.
Watching his opponent remain unmoved despite repeated persuasions, Edward finally let out a long sigh.
“I, honestly—I still don’t understand this behavior of yours.”
At the words that bluntly spat out the feelings he felt, Raymond let out a light, snickering laugh.
He had no intention of being understood.
It was an emotion that even he himself had repeated foolishly dozens of times before admitting it, so it was nearly impossible for another person to understand such a thing in the first place.
“You could just…… keep her as a mistress. Do you really have to make things this complicated?”
Those words, too, would be the words he had said more than ten times already, if the previous counts were added.
Raymond replaced the answer with the same words he had said every time.
“I have no intention of doing that.”
It was something he had already decided.
That he would never marry another woman and keep Deborah as a mistress.
“……It won’t be as easy as you think.”
Raymond also knew well what Edward was worried about.
It was in the same context as the concern expressed by Crown Prince Philip.
That the royal family would never recognize a Duchess who was a commoner and an orphan.
It was a word of worry that persuading the Ruvake royal family, which was united by deep-rooted bloodline-ism, would never be easy.
He had never once thought of it as easy.
It would be a difficult and sluggish fight, but he still intended to obtain the royal family’s approval somehow.
But even if he failed to obtain the royal family’s approval in the end, his decision would remain unchanged.
Because placing someone other than that woman by his side was something he no longer even needed to think about.
“I suppose so.”
Raymond responded to Edward’s worry-filled words by nodding calmly.
At the sight of him being so composed as if he were talking about someone else, Edward’s brow suddenly furrowed sharply.
Raymond lightly patted the shoulder of his close friend.
“So I’m asking you to please take care of them until then.”
“…….”
“Right now, neither my mother nor Cecilia will be able to accept this situation—just until their emotions subside a little more.”
‘Will such a time ever come, I wonder…….’
Recalling Cecilia on that day when she cried and made a fuss, such skepticism inevitably arose, but Edward soon swallowed those words back down his throat.
It was because he realized that he could no longer turn Raymond’s heart.
He could not cheer for his friend who was determined to go down that arduous path, but he could not bring himself to stand on the side of those who opposed him until the end and criticize him.
Edward let out a long sigh and nodded.
“Don’t worry, I was planning to do that even without your request.”
At those lamenting words, a low laugh immediately burst from Raymond’s mouth.
* * *
Exactly how long had it been since Ludmilla left the bedroom?
Deborah was still sitting in the chair with a hollow gaze, chewing over the words Ludmilla had said.
-Well? Wouldn’t you know that better than I would? What it is that I know.
-If I were to give you one hint, it would be that you’ll find out soon even if you don’t pester me like that? Just what, and how much, I know about you.
“…….”
Even after thinking about it dozens of times, the conclusion she reached in the end was one.
The fact that Ludmilla might know that truth.
She even went so far as to volunteer for the meal duty just to come find her and say those things.
Whenever she recalled the expression at that time, that face strangely excited with joy while saying those words, her heart jumped anxiously.
In the midst of that, the question that arose was the same as last time.
If Ludmilla really knows about the incident back then, why has she kept her mouth shut until now, for what reason on earth…….
-I’d like to do that too, but unfortunately now is not the time.
What on earth did those words mean, that she couldn’t speak because it wasn’t the time?
Perhaps because she had a headache from ruminating on those riddle-like words that wouldn’t be solved, she suddenly felt nauseous and her head throbbed.
Click.
The moment she lowered her head at the surging nausea, the sound of a door opening was suddenly heard.
Deborah’s startled gaze moved quickly toward the direction of the sound.
“What are you doing without even turning on the lights?”
“…….”
At the sight of her sitting alone in the pitch-black room, the man entering slightly furrowed his brow.
Only after seeing that face did Deborah realize that the day had already set.
As Deborah hurriedly stood up, the man who strode closer held her as if supporting her arm.
“What’s the matter.”
The pale face seen through the dusk, the man’s expression hardened formidably at the sight that was unusual at a glance.
A face full of worry, wondering if something had happened while he was away.
Unable to face that direct gaze scanning every part of her face, Deborah’s head quickly dropped downward.
But due to the hand that immediately grabbed and lifted her chin, Deborah inevitably had to face that gaze again.
“What is it.”
A face even more stiff than before.
The ominous imagination growing inside it was being clearly projected onto the man’s blue eyes.
While struggling to suppress the emotions that surged up, Deborah slowly shook her head.
“It’s nothing, just……”
“Just?”
“Just…… when I think about actually leaving……”
“…….”
The man showed no reaction to the words she clumsily made up.
Wondering if there was something suspicious in her behavior, Deborah even slightly pulled up the corners of her lips.
Whether that effort worked, the man, who let out a faint sigh, quietly pulled Deborah into an embrace.
“It’s not like we can never come back, so what.”
“…….”
“If you’re really sad, you can invite them there once in a while.”
“…….”
He, who knew nothing about the incident with Hanna, seemed to think that she was doing this because she was sad to part with the roommate she used to share a room with.
Hanna, whom she had never seen even once since leaving Elphengreen and even after returning.
“As soon as tomorrow morning’s work is finished, we’ll depart around noon.”
Tomorrow at noon.
Once this night passes, it was that day she had waited for so long.
Just as he said, that dream-like moment where she could be entirely by his side without worrying about anyone’s gaze was waiting right in front of her, close enough to touch if she just reached out her hand…….
Why did the terrible nightmare of that time have to grab her ankle again at such a moment?
If there is a god, if a god truly exists, she wanted to ask how it could be like this.
Was it because of the heightened emotions that strong force went into her hand embracing the man without her realizing?
The man’s voice echoing in her ear sounded much more gentle than before.
“Everything will be okay once we go there. Because there won’t be a single thing there that made you uncomfortable like here.”
“…….”
“You’ve worked hard to endure and withstand the suffocation all this time.”
“…….”
At the touch of his hand saying “good job” while quietly patting her back as they embraced, something hot suddenly tightened her throat.
……She didn’t want to lose it.
Whether it was because of the anxiety that she might lose it, as each day passed, that heart only grew stronger.
That no matter what happened, she never wanted to let go of this embrace.
But what on earth should she do?
A situation where nothing is certain, whether Ludmilla really knows about that incident, and if she does know, what she plans to do in the future.
Just what she was supposed to do in this situation, her mind was simply all in a jumble.
If even Teacher Helena were by her side at a time like this, she would have sought some advice, but she just felt faint and at a loss as if she had become a buoy floating alone in a vast, open sea.
“Now then, shall we wash up and go to bed early today? Since it will be hectic if we have to wake up early tomorrow.”
The man, who gently stroked Deborah’s hair, then took off his jacket and strode toward the bed.
Watching the man pulling the bell pull hanging at the head of the bed, Deborah ended up not being able to say anything.
Like that, the night was flowing away silently.
Like the scene on a calm sea just before a storm strikes—
A chilling silence was descending heavily over Elphengreen.
☆▪︎▪︎☆
