Episode 136. I came to find my wife.
The moment he stepped closer to the study, he felt that something was strange.
No, to be precise, was it from the moment he discovered two people hovering in front of the door?
Robin was Robin, but the restless appearance of the old butler, who was always gentle and calm, felt strange for some reason.
As if that wasn’t Deborah’s feeling alone, Mrs. Charlotte’s steps, who was walking ahead, suddenly began to quicken.
“What are you doing here?”
At the suddenly heard voice, the two people who were startled looked back at the same time.
In the midst of that, what was even stranger was that the gazes of the two who turned around moved not toward Mrs. Charlotte, who asked the question, but in a completely different direction.
That is to say, it was the face of someone visible over that shoulder.
……?
At the suddenly focused gaze, not only Deborah but also Mrs. Charlotte had a momentary puzzled expression.
“Did something…… happen?”
It had been about 30 minutes since she left her spot according to instructions.
In the meantime, the only thing that happened should have been greeting the visiting guests, nothing special…….
He wondered for what reason the two were hovering in front of the study with such anxious faces, wondering what on earth had happened in those 30 minutes.
Also, for what reason they had faces as if they had seen a ghost upon seeing Deborah like that.
“Greg?”
When Charlotte, who had been with him for many years, called his name lowly, only then did Graig turn his gaze to face her face.
“That is…… a bit of a situation has arisen.”
An expression that looked endlessly awkward and troubled as to how on earth he should explain this.
At that suspicious appearance, Charlotte’s expression sank even more deeply.
“What is it exactly. Tell me what is going-”
The moment Charlotte just opened her mouth in the piercing anxiety, a sound suddenly came from inside the study.
It was Robin’s name.
Robin, who reacted faster than anyone to the sound calling him, hastily opened the study door and went inside.
After Robin disappeared, the atmosphere outside the door became like a thin sheet of ice.
Neither Charlotte, who was asking questions, nor Deborah, who was standing next to her, could say anything as if they were frozen.
That was how much that sound from a moment ago froze the heart.
A voice heard for the first time.
A voice that could not be thought to have come from the mouth of a man who always spoke quietly with an expressionless face, he realized only then at that voice calling Robin with great agitation.
Though he didn’t know what it was, something serious was happening beyond this door right now.
Click.
Just as the three of them were all holding their breath and waiting, the door suddenly opened again.
The person who came out through the gap was naturally Robin.
It was a very short time, enough to wonder if even a minute had passed since he went in, but in the meantime, Robin’s face had hardened much more stiffly than before.
Everyone’s gaze was focused on that face, wondering what on earth had happened during that short time, but Robin’s gaze was directed toward one place from the moment he opened the door and came out.
Robin, who moved slowly, stopped his steps in front of Deborah.
“……Go on in.”
“…….”
Certainly, the reason for coming here was that.
Because the man called, to leave together for a place other than here.
It was a moment she had been waiting for, enough to have followed hurriedly at the sound telling her to come to the study just a moment ago after waiting and waiting.
But…… for some reason, her body did not move readily.
Even though the moment she had wished for so much was right before her eyes, she had a strange feeling as if everything would crumble in an instant the moment she opened that door and entered.
While she hesitated like that, Robin, unable to wait, opened his mouth again.
“Hurry.”
At the voice that flowed out as if urging, only then did Deborah reluctantly take a step forward.
‘It’s okay, nothing is wrong, it’s just a pointless worry…….’
Repeating those words several times, Deborah finally pulled the doorknob.
Screech— as a chilling sound rang in her ears, the scenery inside the study rushed into her view through that gap.
* * *
-I came to find my wife.
When he first heard those words, he thought some crazy guy had come and was talking nonsense.
He said he came to find his wife, why would he come here to find his wife?
A height that was not very tall, messy hair falling out in patches, and yellow teeth visible every time he opened his mouth.
The man whose face was severely scarred with pockmarks was a man who could not be called likable even in good words.
Even at a glance, his age looked to be at least sixty, and the words that such a man had come here to find his wife honestly did not make sense.
In Elfengreen, excluding the housekeeper Charlotte, the majority of the female servants consisted of unmarried women in their teens to early 20s.
That was the case in any noble family, because most came in to find work from a young age and then quit in their early 20s when they got married.
Of course, there were 30-year-old female maids who held senior positions in Elfengreen, but they were all married women, and he knew that number was also very minimal.
But for an old man to come here to find his wife, how could it not be appalling?
He wanted to drag out the man who wasted his time with nonsense saying it was an important matter immediately, but the reason he couldn’t do so was because of the priest he brought along beside him.
He, who was wiping away sweat continuously with a very tense face, said he was the priest who officiated at the wedding of the man who came to find his wife.
A priest who serves God, and moreover, coming to a Duke’s house and saying such things, Raymond could not just dismiss it as crazy talk either.
So after contemplating for a moment, he asked for the name of the woman he claimed was his wife.
It was unpleasant that such a headache-inducing matter occurred on the day of departure of all days, but he had no intention of wasting any more time on useless matters and intended to ask the name of the woman he was looking for and have Charlotte look for her as soon as she arrived.
But—
-Deborah, it’s Deborah Coleman.
The moment his eyebrows furrowed at that murky voice boiling with phlegm, Raymond’s movement stopped exactly as it was at the name of someone that flowed from the man’s mouth.
For a moment, he thought he had misheard.
Because the name of someone that came from that mouth couldn’t be the name he knew.
Neither the appearance of the priest, who looked like a rat rolling his eyes continuously not knowing what might happen, nor the appearance of the man glaring as if looking at a thief who stole his property.
He thought it was all unrelated to him.
Whose name are you mentioning right now, speak properly again…… he should have, but for some reason, his mouth would not open for a moment.
Only after trying to shake off that unpleasant sensation crawling up from under his feet could Raymond finally open his mouth.
-……Deborah?
-Yes, Deborah Coleman. That woman is precisely the woman who married me.
Looking at the face of the man who confidently said she was his woman, Raymond only then realized the intention of wanting to see him saying it was an important word that must be said.
Then, a fierce rage swept through.
-How dare an old, worn-out merchant, unless he is out of his mind.
Over the words spat out as if chewing each one, the rage he could not fully manage was clearly stained.
He still couldn’t know how he came to know that name or even what his intention was— but it was to the extent that it was hard to endure the impulse to immediately wring the neck of the man who insulted his woman with such nonsense.
Raymond, who tightly gripped his hand with prominent thick veins, glared at the man named Godric with a cold gaze.
It was just as Raymond was about to stand up from his seat, thinking there was no need to listen further to the crazy talk of a deranged man.
-Whether it’s crazy talk or not, isn’t it something you’ll know soon enough if you call that woman and ask!
At the sound yelled out like a madman as he jumped up, thick blood vessels bulged on Raymond’s forehead.
At that ominous momentum, the priest, who had been sweating profusely and just rolling his eyes until then, grabbed the merchant’s arm.
-Th-this man. What is this behavior?
-Don’t be like that and you say something too, Father, didn’t that wench clearly sign the marriage vow and swear at the wedding that day! You should tell the Duke whether I’m talking nonsense right now or not!
Whether he had made up his mind, the man whose eyes had turned over was showing an attitude as if he had momentarily forgotten he was in front of a Duke.
At the thought that he might get caught up in it if he wasn’t careful, only then did the priest begin to open his mouth hesitantly.
-What this man said is true…… I officiated the wedding of the two that day and then…….
The priest, who hesitated for a moment, slowly took something out from inside his robe and cautiously held it out in front of him.
-This is precisely what proves the two became an official couple that day…… the marriage vow.
Thump—!
‘Deborah Coleman.’
At that vivid name written on the soft ivory parchment, his heart dropped with a heavy thud.
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