Chapter 170. I Guess I Shouldn’t Have Come
“Ugh—.”
Raymond finally woke up with a throbbing pain as if his head were about to split.
The first thing he did was gulp down water to quench his thirst.
Even so, his gesture of pressing his temples against the headache that still wouldn’t subside looked extremely irritable.
“What time is it.”
Robin, who was taking back the empty glass, quickly answered the question.
Upon learning that it was past noon, a cold curse immediately slipped from his mouth, and Robin could only guess the reason behind it.
Last night, Robin, who had followed the Duke into the drawing room, could not believe his own eyes.
No, not just him, but everyone present in that room probably thought the same thing: how on earth could such an absurd coincidence happen?
Could it be that some strange power unknown to him was continuously and endlessly binding the two together? It was an incomprehensible matter that made such a thought cross his mind for an instant.
“You may leave now.”
As if cutting off his straying thoughts, a firm dismissal fell upon him.
Startled, Robin quickly bowed his waist and hurriedly left the bedroom.
A short while after the sound of the door closing, Raymond roughly wiped his face with one hand.
It was a situation where he could not even remember how much he had drunk.
Drinking to this extent was the first time since right before he left Elfengreen.
Even though he had vowed never to become so unraveled again.
Both then and now, the moment he thought of that counterpart who was the root cause of all this, Raymond’s face instantly turned fierce.
Ha, the more he thought about it, the more absurd it was.
How could they encounter each other again here, in this manner?
He thought it might be intentional.
Just like she did in Elfengreen, she must have found out where he was and was now feigning ignorance, pretending she knew nothing.
Since she was a woman who lied every time she opened her mouth—no, a woman whose entire surroundings were a lie—this must be one of them as well.
It was only natural to suspect her like that.
But—
—She is a woman who started staying at our farm a short while ago, but the truth is…… she followed us without knowing she was coming here. If I had known she would be so startled, I would have told her in advance…… I was short-sighted.
According to those words uttered by the woman who was the farm owner’s wife while repeatedly bowing her head, she had definitely followed them without knowing this was the Cheister estate.
And if he thought about it just a little more rationally, it was something he could realize right away.
Even if it were intentional, out of his numerous estates, how could she possibly know which place he would move his residence to and set up camp there?
It was completely nonsensical from the start.
—Staying at the farm…… Then, is that woman staying here all by herself? What about her family?
—Ah, it’s true she came alone, but her husband arrived right after. He said they were staying apart for a while due to some circumstances…… and left after asking us to take good care of her since he would visit often.
“…….”
No falsehood could be found on the face of the woman who answered his mother’s question.
Indeed, there was no reason for them to report such things falsely.
Was it just a year or two that the couple had been sowing seeds and living on this land?
That was exactly why.
There was no way anyone, let alone her, would dare to do such a thing against the Cheister family.
—……I am sorry. I feel unwell…… so please, forgive my rudeness for leaving first.
The words uttered by the woman who had firmly held her ground despite the pouring criticism, unable to endure it any longer in the end, flashed through his mind at that moment.
Those words she spoke while trembling with a thoroughly haggard face, still without casting a single glance in his direction.
His desire to grab that neck and snap it right then and there was definitely still the same, but the ambivalent emotion that stealthily wormed its way in afterward enraged Raymond.
That was why he had driven her into a corner with even harsher words.
Because he wanted to show her that a wench like her meant absolutely nothing to him anymore.
He knew very well himself that it was a childish and petty behavior.
Because if he had truly gouged her out of his heart completely, he wouldn’t have acted that way.
The reason why he couldn’t just ignore her and pass by like a pebble rolling around on the ground—
It was an action that clearly demonstrated he had still not escaped from that woman’s shadow.
As if dissatisfied with that fact, a harsh curse soon echoed quietly inside the bedroom.
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“Anymore?”
At Cecilia’s inquiry looking for Raymond, Robin offered an affirmative answer.
“Just how much did he drink for him to be……”
Cecilia’s expression, which had been frowning with her fine brows, neatly changed as if it had never happened upon seeing Olivia sitting across from her.
“It’s a rare occurrence. Even I have only seen it about two or three times so far.”
It was a remark she intentionally added in case Olivia might misunderstand that he was always like that.
Telling her not to worry because there was no such thing.
Upon hearing those words, Olivia’s golden eyes flickered up toward her once and then moved back to face forward.
“That woman…… looks like the maid…… I saw in Denver.”
At the first sentence carefully brought up as if hesitating whether to say it or not, Cecilia’s face instantly convulsed.
She had suspected it, and as expected, Olivia remembered.
Indeed, it wasn’t just a brief passing glance, and there was no way she would forget the face of the maid whom she had personally called over to style her hair.
However, since Olivia had a completely nonchalant face yesterday in the dining room as if pretending to know nothing, Cecilia had hoped that fortunately she didn’t remember, but……
Tsk. Cecilia clicked her tongue softly and quickly opened her mouth with a smiling face.
“That right, the maid from that time we saw in Elfengreen. I was quite startled myself. It has been a long time since she quit her job and left, yet to see her again here.”
Cecilia spoke while tilting her teacup with a deliberately nonchalant face.
“But since women like that wander around many different places, things like this do happen from time to time.”
So Cecilia wanted to say that it was nothing of great significance.
Fortunately, Olivia did not say anything more at those words.
But her relief was short-lived.
Olivia, who had been quiet for a while, brought up a completely unexpected remark this time as well.
“I guess…… I shouldn’t have come.”
Looking at Olivia’s sullen, frosty face as she exhaled a long sigh, Cecilia’s eyebrows twitched.
Cecilia quickly set down the teacup she was holding onto the table.
“What do you mean by that? Saying you shouldn’t have come.”
She couldn’t help but worry if there was something Olivia felt hurt about.
Even without this, her brother’s half-hearted attitude toward his fiancée had kept her on edge, so her heart dropped at the comment.
On top of that, there was even Deborah, who suddenly reappeared yesterday.
She thought things were finally falling into place, so she couldn’t just stand by and watch something go awry again.
Looking at Cecilia’s startled face as she asked, Olivia exhaled a deep sigh once more.
“It seems like…… the Duke doesn’t really welcome my arrival. Rather, his face looked as if he found it troublesome and annoying……”
“T-There is no way.”
She should have flatly denied it right there, saying that couldn’t be true, but of all moments, a useless piece of conscience poked its head out.
“E-Edward once said that men are usually like that when they are ahead of marriage.”
“If you mean…… Edward, are you talking about Edward Harrington?”
Seeing the counterpart respond immediately to the words thrown out with a momentary wit, Cecilia’s expression changed like a cat’s.
“Yes, he is my brother’s oldest friend.”
Olivia, who was quietly listening to the words of the smiling Cecilia, nodded her head.
Olivia, who was quietly listening to the words of the smiling Cecilia, nodded her head.
“Edward said that when ahead of marriage, it’s not just women who feel that way, but men also experience such emotions.”
“If it’s such emotions……”
“Anxious and fearful—and why wouldn’t they be? They have been alone all this time, and now they are going to spend the rest of their lives with someone, so naturally, various emotions would arise. Don’t you think so?”
Words uttered as if planting them one by one into her mind.
As if deep in thought, Olivia’s long eyelashes slowly fluttered open.
Cecilia continuously pushed forward with her next words.
“My brother must be like that too. If he disliked Olivia coming, he would have made another excuse. Doesn’t the fact that he readily gave permission when you said you would come mean that he likes it too?”
“……Would that be so?”
“Of course, and Olivia knows very well that my brother doesn’t have a tender personality. Of course, I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but what can we do when his innate nature is like that?”
At the comforting words asking her to understand, Olivia soon nodded her head quietly.
Although she wore a full smile toward her, Cecilia’s own inner feelings were in a terrible mess just the same.
Last night, after the banquet ended, Cecilia immediately rushed to her mother Eleanor von Cheiste’s bedroom.
To her words as she flew into a rage, asking if they shouldn’t kick that wench out right away, the answer Eleanor gave after a long while was that they couldn’t do so.
The Bailey couple were not tenant farmers living by renting the Cheister family’s land; they were landowners who strictly owned their own land.
For what possible reason could they kick a person personally hired by such a landowner off that land?
That was something that couldn’t be done, no matter how powerful the Cheister family was.
And there was one more reason.
The reason was that they shouldn’t needlessly stir up trouble.
He was barely settling his mind.
In the midst of this, if they blew things out of proportion by needlessly trying to drive that girl away, the matter could accidentally flow in a completely unexpected direction.
After listening to her words while weighing this and that, it sounded plausible, but Cecilia still disliked it.
This situation where that filthy wench kept lingering around her brother.
But what could she do?
For now, she had no choice but to follow what her mother wanted to do.
Cecilia strenuously suppressed her boiling insides and offered a bright smile toward Olivia.
Cecilia strenuously suppressed her boiling insides and offered a bright smile toward Olivia.
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