Chapter 167. Finally Reunited
The place they moved to by riding a carriage was a mansion located at a distance not that far away.
No, if one had to judge precisely, should I say it was a distance close enough that one could even walk there.
“My, it is wonderful, isn’t it?”
At the whisper that dug into her ear, Deborah’s gaze directed toward Maria who was sitting on the right.
It was exactly when a few minutes had passed since they entered the parlor under the guidance of a maid.
“As for me, every time I come here, I always admire it too.”
“…….”
At the appearance of Deborah who was blankly losing her soul, she seemed to have made such a misunderstanding, perhaps.
That she was overwhelmed by the luxurious everywhere of the mansion she had viewed all throughout coming up to here.
Of course, that was also a correct sound to a certain extent.
Because at that immense spectacle that brightly illuminated the pitch-black night sky with the candlesticks continuing long from the entrance where the carriage entered, Deborah herself also could not close her mouth for a long while.
But apart from that, that Deborah’s chest was fluttering like this right now was due to a slightly different reason.
When she first accepted Maria’s proposal, she simply thought that the Bailey couple received an invitation to go to the house of an acquaintance they knew, just that simply.
The couple who were the landowners of the farm.
Naturally, she thought the people they associated with would also be of a level similar to that, and even just by hearing the remark saying that foods they normally could not even view would rise on that dining table, she could guess roughly that they were people possessing a certain extent of wealth.
But…… even with that, this was a bit strange.
The immense scale of the garden, to the extent that the carriage had wound around in order to come to the mansion, and the footmen dressed fully in uniforms who were out in front of that.
Above all, the appearance of the mansion visible behind that made Deborah’s heart even more anxious.
An excessively luxurious appearance that did not look ordinary even at a glance.
That, no matter how one looked at it, was not something a person of an ordinary class could own.
A wealthy middle class, no, even a lower noble who belonged to a class further upper than that could hardly possess a mansion of this much level.
The class likely to own this kind of mansion was mostly determined.
Those very few people for whom standing above someone else since birth was natural, just like breathing…….
When she thought up to that point, her anxious heart began to surge even more heavily.
‘By any chance…….’
In an instant, force was tightly entered into her hands placed above her knees.
Saying that there was no way it could be so, saying that such an absurd matter could not happen this easily.
Even though she thought that way, her mind was not easily calmed.
“Excuse me…… Maria, by any chance the master of this man—”
It was exactly when Deborah, who could not endure the anxiety growing more and more, finally opened her mouth.
At the action of the Bailey couple who suddenly stood up from their seats, Deborah’s gaze moved toward that opposite side without her realizing it.
That is to say, toward the side of the door where someone entered.
Slowly, her eyes that were flowing over the faces of the people visible between the opened door stood at a halt on a certain spot.
“…….”
For a very brief while, it felt as if everything enveloping her body annihilated in a single instant.
The appearance of the parlor that was that luxurious, the Bailey couple standing side by side at her side, the sound of words heard, and the sound of breath exhaled as well.
In the midst of everything having disappeared, only one.
That single face, which she could recall even with her eyes closed, was engraved as if stuck in her vision.
Thump, thump— without knowing any of whether her violently beating heart was because of fear, or whether it was because of the joy that came at the end of a desperate longing, Deborah stopped her breath and was thus unable to take her gaze off that face.
The ones flustered by such an action of Deborah were the Bailey couple.
“Deborah, Deborah.”
It was exactly when the voice of Maria, who was anxiously whispering to hurry and rise from her seat, touched her ear.
Simultaneously, those bluelight eyes, which she had missed breathlessly, flew rapidly toward Deborah’s face.
☆☆☆
“Is there a need to purposely make this kind of place?”
In the midst of heading toward the parlor, from the mouth of Cecilia, whose face was displeased all throughout, that remark finally ended up bursting out.
Olivia, who was walking side by side from the side seat, glanced at the two people walking ahead with a bewildered expression.
“Stop it.”
The firm remark that dropped low was none other than what came out of Eleanor’s mouth.
“If you are going to keep making that kind of face, return to your room even right now. Do not uselessly ruin the atmosphere.”
Unlike her usual self, it was an exceedingly unyielding tone.
Not giving a simple caution, but a remark just like a warning.
Fortunately, whether that remark worked, her face full of complaints was still the same, but her momentum at least subsided by a notch.
For her showing that strong an attitude at a place where even Olivia was present, there was a fully good reason for all of it.
Her gaze slowly directed toward the right, toward the profile of Raymond who was supporting her arm.
“…….”
Although it could not be viewed that he had completely returned to the past yet, even so, an appearance of barely catching hold of his heart recently.
It was because she did not want to disturb the mind of such a son.
Cecilia, who had no way of knowing that, poured out complaints regarding today’s banquet all day long.
The cause of the complaint was simple.
She disliked inviting the neighboring farm owner couple and dining together every time they came to Chambrin.
Saying that sitting at one table with them whose status was low was an action that degraded the dignity of a noble.
While thinking that it must be because she was immature, every time Eleanor saw such an appearance of that daughter of hers, there were times when she wondered whether she was truly a child that came out of her own belly.
Into her vision where she was shaking her head from side to side, before she knew it, the parlor began to be visible.
The face of Eleanor, who confirmed the servants standing in front of that, returned to the appearance of the Grand Dowager no different from any other time.
☆☆☆
All throughout walking the hallway leading to the parlor, Raymond’s gaze was entirely directed toward the front.
A face where being tedious and bored was distinct.
Although the remark rebuking the grumbling of Cecilia, who was full of complaints, was heard, in fact, he himself was also in a state of mind no different from such a Cecilia.
—Even so, it is what we have always done until now…… wouldn’t it be good to do it? Having a dinner once is not particularly difficult either.
If it were not for his mother who persuaded him so, there would be no matter of going to the parlor burdensomely like this now.
Even without that, his mind was uncomfortable just then.
In order to untie his stifled mind, he moved over to here even while advancing the schedule, but unexpectedly, the young lady of the Constant marquessate burst in.
Saying that she happened to come on a journey near Rosewick at this period of all times.
Whether how contact was reached, a letter came through Cecilia, and since she said she wished to visit, there was no particularly good reason to oppose.
The woman who would become his wife if soon came.
Since she said such an opponent was coming, there could not be a pretext to block her, could there.
But even so, he could not play hypocrisy pretending it was good, pretending he was glad either.
Since the plan to hunt as soon as he arrived was warped thanks to that, it was because not revealing his unpleasant emotions was the maximum courtesy he could show.
Therefore, there was no reason for him to care even up to her face that became sullen due to that.
Click.
As he walked without thought, before he knew it, he reached the parlor.
Welcoming the invited guests in the parlor and moving together to the dining room where the banquet was prepared was the most basic courtesy and custom a host must observe.
That was completely irrelevant to what class the opponent was.
Just as if it were completely irrelevant to what his current mood was like.
Delivering an appropriate greeting to the couple who would be waiting inside the opened door, and after appropriately enjoying the banquet, breaking up the place again at an appropriate time.
Appropriately, appropriately.
While having such thoughts, Raymond finally stepped his foot inside.
Every single moment was tedious and bored, and there was nothing different about what entered his vision either.
Colorless, odorless, flavorless.
The things that completely covered Raymond’s world since some time ago.
If there was something that became better, it was just about the degree that the rage, which used to arise at every moment like a madman, became a bit better now.
It was a very shabby achievement gained only after admitting that his struggle to return to how he originally was was ultimately a futile death-throe in a useless bluff.
The wallpaper embroidered with gold thread on a subtle cream-colored background, once—
And again toward the luxurious chandelier hanging beneath the high ceiling window, once—
Slowly, quietly as if water were flowing, his flowing gaze finally stood at a halt on a certain side.
At first, he thought they were those faces he had seen every time he found Chambrin.
Although he couldn’t remember in detail, the couple whom he dimly remembered that their relationship was quite good.
That appearance of them alertly scanning the expressions of this side while rolling their eyes slightly and slightly was nothing special.
Because nine out of ten people who stood in front of him all had such faces.
It was exactly when he approached in front of them to deliver a greeting corresponding to that to them who were bowing their waists.
What caught his eyes first was the changed face of the woman, who was one of the couple.
Exactly when the shape of her being restless with a bewildered expression felt terribly strange, the woman’s gaze suddenly flowed toward that back side.
Naturally, Raymond’s gaze also directed toward there.
It wasn’t particularly because he was curious about what was at the end of that gaze.
Just, truly without any thought, it merely flowed inadvertently.
It also felt as if some whispering sound were heard from the woman’s mouth.
In a flash, the thought that it seemed to be someone’s name surfaced in his head, but— before long, it vanished into thin air in an instant without a trace.
As the face of someone, who had been hidden by the woman’s skirt at that back side, entered into his vision.
The moment that face, which turned white as a sheet, drove into his heart, Raymond’s blue eyes flared up with a stark madness in an instant.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
