Chapter 176. What did you just say?
Deborah, who woke up at dawn, left the cabin earlier than usual.
While stopping by the chicken coop to transfer the freshly laid, warm eggs into a basket, she was heading toward Mr. Bailey’s house.
She hesitated for a moment at the sight of someone visible in front of the door.
‘……Who is it?’
It was a face she was seeing for the first time; as she approached cautiously, she could see Mr. Bailey over the stranger’s shoulder.
“Ah, Deborah.”
As if the conversation was completely finished, Mr. Bailey saw the approaching Deborah and greeted her.
The stranger, turning around, glanced over at Deborah, and then promptly brushed past her side.
“Have you already finished going around the chicken coop?”
Looking at the basket held in Deborah’s hand, Mr. Bailey asked with a surprised face.
“……Because my eyes opened early.”
Looking at Deborah smiling in awkwardness, Mr. Bailey furrowed his brows, saying, “Oh dear.”
Just then, a cold wind blew past the two of them.
“Come, let us go inside quickly. The weather is quite chilly now.”
Following Mr. Bailey, who gestured for her to come inside while shivering his shoulders, Deborah soon stepped inside.
“Next week?”
The eyes of Maria, who was ladling vegetable stew, instantly widened enormously.
Mr. Bailey, sitting on her right, nodded his head while taking a large bite of barley bread.
“Yes, someone who came from Chambrin a little while ago said so. They said they would be moving to another place next week. So they are inviting us to dinner tomorrow.”
“So suddenly like this?”
“Ah, that is what they said.”
Having heard all the additional words, Maria tilted her head.
“It is strange, I thought they always moved after the weather softened……”
“I also found that a bit strange, so I ask— oh, oh, Deborah!”
The mouth of Mr. Bailey, who was speaking while munching on what was inside his mouth, suddenly fell wide open.
Following him in wonderment to see what on earth he was looking at, Maria’s mouth likewise opened wide.
“Deborah, your hand, your hand!”
At the shout directed toward her, only then did Deborah’s gaze drop downward.
And then, immediately, her complexion turned deathly pale.
“Ah, I am sorry, I am sorry.”
At the sight of the beans that had fallen from the ladle held in her hand rolling miserably on the dining table, Deborah repeatedly apologized, not knowing what to do.
Maria waved her hand casually with an indifferent expression, telling her it was fine and to just leave it.
And the meal continued again.
Maria, having received a sudden invitation, had a face full of worry about what she should wear for the evening, and Mr. Bailey casually suggested to such a Maria that she could just wear that dress from a while ago.
Deborah, sitting opposite Maria, looked extremely calm on the outside, but in truth, her mind was in a complete mess.
An expected matter.
The fact that the Cheister family, who were only staying for a season, would leave this place before long was something she already completely knew.
Something that was nothing new to be surprised about now, like that.
However…… nevertheless, the moment she heard Mr. Bailey’s words, a raging storm began to rise in her heart.
Next week.
The fact that by next week, she would not be able to see that person even by chance heavily weighed down her entire heart.
Even though she knew she was being so foolish, that fact alone made her feel as if her heart was being torn into a thousand, ten thousand pieces.
But…… there was nothing she could do.
Other than sitting and eating with a perfectly fine face like this.
She only realized once again the reality that she could do absolutely nothing.
‘Everything…… will be okay.’
Deborah repeatedly muttered to herself in her heart, as if casting a spell.
That once this time passed, everything would be okay, and that if she gradually became chipped and worn away by time, a moment of becoming numb would surely come someday.
That just like always, if she endured only this painful moment, a day would come where she would live through it again like that.
Without having any inkling of what kind of event was waiting ahead of her.
☆☆☆
Underneath a large chandelier, dishes began to arrive one after another upon the long wooden table.
Maria sat with an extremely tense face, scanning around the table here and there.
Then suddenly, her gaze stopped at the face of someone sitting at the very head of the table.
That celestial face cast in a soft light.
Looking at the thrillingly beautiful Duke’s face, Maria thought.
The thought, ‘What on earth would be the feelings of a woman who has such a man as her husband?’
Of course, she loved her husband Mark Bailey more than anyone else in this world—but that and this were completely different, separate matters.
His sister, the young lady of the Duke of Cheister, was also of no less beauty, but in Maria’s eyes, the Duke’s beauty was still a cut above.
It might be because she was a woman, but even if she were a man, it probably would not have been particularly different.
The Duke of Cheister was a man with such a strange charm.
No wonder every time he passed in front of the farm, the immature young things would loiter around in front of him just to catch his eye.
Though, of course, the Duke did not even spare a glance in that direction.
Come to think of it, it was a truly strange thing.
No matter how grand his status was, was he not a young man in his prime?
Even if their status was low, there were certainly pretty faces among them that any man would glance at least once.
Yet the Duke merely wore an entirely uninterested expression, as if looking at pebbles rolling in a dirt field.
No wonder such ridiculous rumors circulated, questioning if the Duke preferred men.
Maria’s gaze moved from the Duke’s face to the person sitting on his right again.
That is, the Duke’s fiancée, Lady Constant of the marquessate, who received all women’s envy and jealousy in one body.
Although she could not be compared to the Duke’s young lady who stuck to him like a biological sibling, the Lady Constant, who possessed beautiful golden hair and delicate features, was also not particularly lacking in appearance.
Rather, she looked like a well-matched pair with the Duke, who gave off a cold impression.
Watching her send sparkling glances toward the Duke, her fiancé, Maria’s brow momentarily twitched and narrowed.
‘I have definitely…… seen her somewhere before…….’
Just as she had felt last time, for some unknown reason, it was a familiar face.
Even though it should be natural that she was seeing her for the first time, she somehow felt as if she had seen her somewhere before.
At the moment Maria tilted her head, wondering why she kept getting that feeling.
“It is truly a pity that you are already leaving.”
At that loud sound of hearty laughter, Maria’s thoughts instantly and quickly scattered.
“And here I thought you would stay for another month or two.”
To the words conveying regret, the Duke merely nodded his head lightly, asking if that was so.
“By the way, when did you say the due date was?”
At the appropriate timing, the Dowager Duchess, Eleanor, directed a question toward Maria.
“Ah, it is next month.”
At the words “next month,” Eleanor showed a surprised expression, asking if it had already become that time.
“Since it is your first childbirth, there must have been many things to worry about.”
It was a question asked because she knew it was a child conceived after a long time since marriage.
The person who answered those words was Mark Bailey.
“Well, since everything is something being done for the first time, it is clumsy and all.”
On his face as he spoke while scratching his head, the excitement and anticipation for the birth of his first child were fully evident.
Looking at such a Mark, Eleanor wore a pleased smile.
“Yes, that is how it originally is in the beginning. Everything is clumsy and awkward—that is how one gradually becomes a parent.”
At the warm advice, a smile also rose to the lips of Mark and Maria.
It seemed as though a harmoniously warm atmosphere was continuing after a long time like that.
If only it were not for the story Mark brought up at that exact moment—
“I always felt sorry because I felt like I could not pay attention to her at all due to the farm work, but it is truly fortunate that there is someone giving birth around the same time.”
Perhaps because he was thoroughly intoxicated by the anticipation for the child to be born soon, Mark did not notice at all that the surrounding atmosphere had instantly frozen over.
“Sometimes she seems to rely on Deborah even more than me, so there are times I feel a bit left out, and well, it is like that.”
Unlike Mark, who laughed with his mouth wide open, Maria was in a state of restless anxiety.
Mark, who did not even know what mistake he had made, merely looked at his wife thoughtlessly.
“That woman…… seems to be giving birth to a child soon as well.”
The one who broke the heavily settled silence was Olivia, who had been sitting quietly until now.
“Does she not have any family?”
“Ah…… I heard she does not have any family.”
Mark answered with a flustered face at the question from the marquessate’s young lady, with whom he had never once spoken before.
Perhaps because of that, he ended up saying something that was not even explicitly asked.
“But, her, her husband said he would come before long, so……”
Saying, “I thought I heard so—” Mark scratched his head and glanced back at his wife, but Maria’s face was completely frozen in shock.
At that moment when Mark blinked his eyes, wondering, ‘Why is she acting like that……?’
“At a time like this, having a husband by her side would be reassuring—he must be somewhere far away.”
Wondering if the questions were not over yet, Mark’s gaze moved back to Olivia’s face at the continuously following question.
“Ah, that, well, I think she said he was far away because of some work……”
Only then did Mark also seem to notice that something was strange.
Though he felt like this was not quite right, he still could not just not answer the question asked.
He wasn’t even that husband, yet he felt as if he were being scolded on his behalf.
So, as an excuse, he insisted on adding one more word.
“B-But at such a young age, a man must work hard at everything to take responsibility for the b-born child as well…… and well, that is how it goes.”
It was then.
The face of Raymond, who had been sitting without saying a single word until now, twitched noticeably.
Slowly putting down the glass he was holding onto the table, he finally opened his closed mouth.
“Just now.”
At the low, echoing bass, Mark’s body flinched momentarily.
Raymond’s expression, as he stared intently at such a Mark with a cold gaze, was a deeply peculiar face.
An expression as if he had heard something strange.
“What did you just say?”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
