Chapter 158. I Like You, Deborah
“Ah!”
At the sharp pain felt from her fingertip, a single groan escaped Deborah’s mouth.
A red drop of blood formed in an instant.
Deborah quickly set down the cloth she was holding to one side.
‘Just how many times has this been already…….’
Sucking on her throbbing finger, a sigh escaped her without her realizing it.
It was because she was genuinely and seriously worried about when on earth she would be able to finish all the preparations at this pace.
The moment she decided to give birth to the child, what Deborah had to prepare was not merely a house to live in and money.
The newborn gown and swaddling blanket needed as soon as the child was born, and even diapers that had to be changed every two or three hours.
Things that would normally be prepared with the help of family or neighbors in an ordinary household, Deborah had to prepare entirely on her own.
Since she had conceived a child out of wedlock, she was in no position to openly ask around anywhere.
Fortunately, in the midst of misfortune, someone had appeared to extend a helping hand to Deborah.
Her name was ‘Marsha’.
Marsha, who worked at the mansion, was quite petite in stature, but she was a woman who had given birth to as many as six children.
She taught Deborah so many detailed things, from what needed to be prepared until the child was born, what to be careful of before and after childbirth, and even what to do after the delivery.
Then one day, she suddenly and carefully extended a bundle of linen cloth in front of Deborah.
With a bashful smile, she told her to first make a newborn gown and swaddling blanket with that for lack of anything better.
She added that remembering how lost she herself had felt when giving birth to her first child, she couldn’t just pass by, and since she had just picked up what was lying around the house, there was absolutely no need to feel burdened.
How should she describe the emotion of that moment.
Truly…… the relationships of debt she had to repay just kept piling up.
Confirming that her finger was now clean, as the bleeding had stopped before she knew it, Deborah picked up the cloth she had set down.
She was usually quite good at most other things, but strangely, no matter how many times she repeated it, her sewing skills just wouldn’t improve at all.
It was just when she was staring blankly for a long while at the uneven, crooked stitches.
“…….”
At a metallic sound echoing through the quiet surroundings, Deborah’s gaze suddenly shifted toward the clock hanging on the right wall.
Eyes slowly moving along the clock hands.
The reason those eyes shook violently was because she realized that the time had slipped past far more than she had thought.
‘When on earth did it become like this…….’
It was simply absurd that she hadn’t realized the time had become like this because she was so focused on her sewing.
‘……What should I do.’
This morning, Deborah was startled to see rainwater seeping into the ceiling inside the bookstore.
Presumably, the shower that poured down at dawn had leaked through a gap somewhere in the ceiling.
A fortunate thing, if any, was that the day before, she had temporarily emptied the bookshelf underneath to change the arrangement of the books.
At any rate, she had been waiting for his return until now to tell him that fact, but because the hour was so late, she hesitated.
Of course, it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of the option of telling him tomorrow morning.
However, she simply dismissed the thought upon recalling that he often disappeared early in the morning.
‘If I had known it would be like this, I should have just mentioned it to Mr. Collins earlier…….’
Even though she knew it was already too late, regret washed over her.
Thinking that if she had left word with Kyle Collins, the butler, it would have reached Jade’s ears whether this evening or tomorrow morning.
It was just when she was agonizing over it for a long while.
‘……What is that?’
At a strange sound that suddenly reached her ears, Deborah slowly got down from the bed and walked over to the window.
Since the bedroom where Deborah was staying was located almost at the eastern end relative to the main entrance, the incoming entrance was quite clearly visible.
However, the problem was that it was hard to see clearly because the hour was too late.
While staring intently at a faintly visible silhouette for a long while, at some point, Deborah’s eyes slowly began to widen.
A slightly furrowed brow.
A moment later, turning her body, Deborah opened the bedroom door and walked out just like that.
☆☆☆
“What on earth…… happened?”
Panting, exhaling rough breaths, Roderick eagerly accepted the water glass handed over by the butler and gulped it down without even taking a breath.
Even after that, as he caught his breath for a long while, he opened his mouth only a short moment after Deborah had posed the question.
“Ah, so, as for what happened, you see, Che—”
“Roderick.”
The words that were pouring out in a rush were chopped cleanly away by the chilly voice heard from beyond his back.
A peculiar silence flowed into the bedroom in an instant.
“Th— Then, I shall be on my way now.”
Scanning the atmosphere that had settled heavily, Roderick abruptly stood up from his seat after a moment.
Then, hastily finishing his greeting by saying he would see him tomorrow, butler Kyle followed behind Roderick as he left.
“……Go on and sleep.”
To the ears of Deborah, who was standing blankly, not knowing what to do, a low voice drifted in.
A voice that was a level softer than that chilly energy from just a moment ago.
Stretched out while covering his face with one arm, Deborah stared intently at Jade for a long while.
Then before long, a chuckle slipped from her.
It was because she realized the reason she was acting like this was due to this situation of being left completely alone with him in the bedroom late at night.
Was he not Jade.
The grateful person who had raised her up over and over again through each of those terrible crises.
When such a man had walked in with his appearance in such a shambles, what on earth was there to hesitate about.
Deborah broke her hesitant steps and slowly walked toward the bed where he lay.
“Jade.”
“…….”
“Just for a moment, can you sit up?”
Despite approaching close and calling out, the opponent still remained unresponsive.
A long silence flowed after that.
Deborah conflicted for a moment.
Although she had spoken to him because she couldn’t just ignore him and leave when he was in this state, she thought that leaving him alone might actually be the better choice.
Because she herself had been that way not long ago.
It was just when Deborah, having agonized for a long while, was finally about to turn her body.
With a rustle, the bed sheet moved and Jade sat up from his place.
“…….”
The moment she saw that face right in front of her nose, Deborah inhaled a breath without realizing it.
My goodness— it seemed that such a groan had slipped out of her of its own accord.
“Wh— What on earth…… how…….”
Having uttered those words, her tongue became tied once more.
One eye so swollen that it was practically closed, lips heavily torn with blood tangled and clotted all over, and a slightly crooked bridge of his nose.
It was an appearance so ruined that she couldn’t recall his previous face at all.
How a person’s face could reach this state in just half a day.
She couldn’t help but wonder about what had transpired in the meantime.
“Jade, what on earth happened?”
She was worried that he might have gotten caught up in some terrible incident.
Completely forgetting that this was his bedroom before she knew it, Deborah climbed onto the bed and began to inspect his face even more thoroughly.
“Your eye, your eye, no…… here, it’s wrong…… my goodness…….”
As her eyes scanned that disastrous appearance one by one, Deborah’s lips before long began to tremble violently with horror.
“Jade, treatment…… I think you need to receive treatment, let me call Mr. Collins for a do—”
She felt that he shouldn’t be left like this.
This was not a wound that would simply heal on its own if left alone.
The very moment she was about to get up from her seat, thinking that to call a doctor for treatment, she must first find butler Kyle.
With a force that gripped and pulled her arm, her body was swept forward in an instant.
An event that occurred in such a split second that she couldn’t even fully gauge what was happening.
A strong force tightly hugging her body, and an unfamiliar body odor wafting to the tip of her nose.
Only then did Deborah realize that she was held in Jade’s embrace.
Her mind was entirely thrown into chaos as to what on earth was going on.
Whether he was doing this because he was hurting somewhere, or whether something had gone wrong somewhere.
It was difficult to form proper thoughts to the point that such absurd ideas crossed her mind.
Behind the bewilderment, the first emotion that surfaced was unpleasantness.
Even while knowing it was foolish, her body— no, her heart rejected a person other than him.
“W— Wait, Ja—”
The frozen Deborah extended her arms and tried to escape from that embrace, but the arms wrapped around her body came to hug her even more viciously.
“Don’t do th— let go of this, Jade!”
At a sudden sensation of her stomach churning, Deborah cried out more forcefully than before and struggled.
That the opponent in front of her eyes was that Jade was of no help now.
Right now, at this moment.
The emotions toward the opponent were resistance, unpleasantness, and disgust— it was solely that.
With only the thought that she had to break free, Deborah continuously exerted all her strength and writhed.
Even so, the very moment Deborah was about to bite the shoulder of the opponent who wouldn’t budge—
“I like you.”
Flinch, at that low voice that drifted into her ears, Deborah’s movements stopped just as they were.
Golden eyes moving in confusion.
What on earth…… had she just heard right now.
To the ears of Deborah, who was staring blankly somewhere with a dazed face, that voice was clearly heard once more.
“……I like you, Deborah.”
A voice that flowed out like a sigh.
At that breathless confession, Deborah’s heart sank heavily.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
