Chapter 177. I request a dissolution of our engagement
“What did you just say?”
“Pardon? That is…… a, a man must work hard so that he can take responsibility for the born child as well—”
At the ferocious aura, the words spilled out of his mouth without him even realizing.
However, the haltingly emerging words were ruthlessly cut off halfway in the end.
“Before that.”
“……?”
Before that? What on earth did he mean by before that…… Mark began to slowly retrace the words he had spoken once again.
“At a young age…… that a man must work hard at everything…… by any chance, are you talking about that?”
“A young age?”
“…….”
At the ferociously distorting brow, sweat began to bead and seep upon Mark’s forehead.
No, what about being at a young age?
He would have to know what on earth the problem was to be careful, but since he could not grasp any clue as to what was causing this, it was driving him crazy.
“From what I know, I am certain…… I know him to be an elderly man.”
“Yes? An elderly man, what on earth…… A-Ah, no. I saw him with my own eyes. I wonder if he is about five or six years older than Deborah…… he is definitely a young man.”
Isn’t that right, Maria? Saying so, Mark turned back to look at his wife, but Maria merely kept her mouth firmly shut with a thoroughly frozen face.
And for a while, a suffocating silence settled over the table.
At that moment when no one could bring themselves to speak and merely scanned the mood at the head of the table—
“Ra-Ray!”
“Brother!”
An urgent shout followed closely behind the back of the Duke, who bolted from his seat in an instant.
An unusual atmosphere, as if something was about to happen.
The form of the Duke, who strode across the dining room, soon vanished completely from everyone’s sight.
Something that happened in the blink of an eye, taking less than a single minute.
The Bailey couple, who rose from their seats, merely looked at each other with dumbfounded faces, wondering what on earth this situation was.
☆☆☆
It was a matter of the middle of the night when that sound was heard.
The moment she tossed and turned the entire time, then got up from her spot and picked up the newborn’s gown in her hand.
Crash—!
At the roar that suddenly echoed, Deborah’s body flinched.
Deborah’s gaze, tightly clutching her pounding heart, slowly moved toward the direction from which the sound was heard.
And—
Seeing that face standing in front of the open door, she froze exactly as she was.
How are you here…… That small sound that spilled out without her realizing was promptly swallowed back into her throat at the action of him rapidly approaching and gripping her arm.
Ugh—! With a short groan, Deborah stared intently at the opponent in front of her without realizing.
It was because she could not understand at all this man who suddenly appeared and behaved so violently.
“Why on earth—”
“That child in your belly.”
Why on earth are you doing this—the words she was about to dispute with were immediately cut cleanly away by the low voice that followed.
An instantly deathly pale face, heavily trembling pupils.
At that appearance of her being unable to hide her anxiety, Raymond’s gaze turned even more sinisterly turbulent.
“Whose child is it?”
Thump—! Thump—!
The rapidly beating sound of her heart echoed loudly in her ears like a clap of thunder.
She tried her best to act composed, but in truth, she felt as if she did not even know what kind of face she was making in front of him.
Why on earth did the man, who was supposed to be inviting the Bailey couple to have dinner together, suddenly seek her out and throw such a question—no matter how much she thought about it, absolutely nothing came to mind.
“Speak.”
“…….”
“Whose child that is.”
Word by word, words spat out as if chewing through them.
Toward the unresponsive Deborah, Raymond repeated the question from a moment ago once more.
As if this was the last chance he could give.
In that suffocating atmosphere, Deborah finally began to open her mouth haltingly.
“It is my husband’s…… I told you it is my husband’s chil—”
“Your husband’s child?!”
However, those words spoken by Deborah drove Raymond’s rage even further to the extreme.
“Where on earth is your husband?”
“……He went far away because of w-work—”
“Liar! Liar!!”
The tightly, tightly endured rage finally burst out of his mouth as if exploding.
“Nothing but lies whenever you open your mouth!”
“Ugh, wa-—this arm, please……”
Deborah’s body began to flutter frantically here and there at the hands of the man who failed to control his intense emotions.
Deborah tried twisting her body repeatedly to escape from those hands, but it was a useless effort.
“Did that old man transform into a young man in the meantime?! Huh? Is that so?!”
“That…… is……”
“Above all, if you had followed that bastard of your husband along that road, there is no way next month would be the due date!”
“…….”
How on earth he came to know was not important right now.
The important thing was the fact that he had come to know everything about whose child the baby in her belly was.
Although he had already come after guessing everything, the boiling blood slowly cooled down chillily at the reaction that needed no further confirmation.
At that moment when Raymond’s expression, which had been as ferocious as an evil spirit, transformed back into that original cold light.
“W-Wait—”
At the action of him suddenly turning his body while keeping his grip on her arm, Deborah urgently grabbed onto his arm.
She thought he might just ignore her, but fortunately, his gaze returned to Deborah’s face.
Taking advantage of that gap, Deborah quickly opened her mouth.
“W-Where are we going right now……”
At the question asking where they were going, a frigid gaze flew down upon Deborah’s face.
“Did you dare think you could secretly give birth to a Cheister bloodline in a shabby place like this?”
“……This child is my child.”
A chuckle burst out at Deborah’s behavior of speaking foolishly until the very end, given that everything had been completely exposed.
“Do not talk nonsense.”
“…….”
“You merely borrowed your womb; that child is undeniably of the Cheister family bloodline.”
Therefore, words that were like a command, telling her not to misunderstand.
With those words as the end, he turned his head away as if he would no longer listen to any more words.
The two people who soon stepped outside the door walked toward the thick darkness.
All the while being gripped by that hand and dragged somewhere, Deborah thought.
What she should do, what she should do to protect the child.
However, without finding any sharp answer, the pitch-black darkness finally swallowed the figures of the two people.
☆☆☆
The atmosphere of the drawing room was extremely quiet.
A silence that settled heavily enough that not even a breathing sound could be heard.
After Raymond bolted from his seat, the dining room was enveloped in silence for a while.
The Bailey couple, who faced an unprecedented situation, scanned the mood and eventually disappeared quietly after saying they would take their leave now.
Even after that, the remaining three people lost their minds for a long time before moving to the drawing room.
Eleanor, sitting on the sofa, could not easily shake off her anxious thoughts.
Deborah.
The woman of lowly status who left an unwashable wound upon her son.
Seeing that opponent again here in Chambrin was one thing, but the reason Eleanor could not shake off her discomfort the entire time was precisely because of the new life sprouting inside that belly.
Looking at the swollen belly, it was certain that chronologically, it did not match.
Furthermore, there was no reason for Mark Bailey to purposely state a falsehood, and looking at it this way or that way, it was a life that could absolutely never be Raymond’s child.
It was definitely so, yet…….
Every time she saw the belly gradually swelling more and more as time passed, an unknown anxiety began to squirm inside her heart.
Without even knowing what the reason was, at that moment when only such helpless time continued to flow by.
Raymond suddenly brought up the words that he would move to another place.
Although a plan faster than expected was entirely baffling, Eleanor answered that she understood without a second thought.
At a moment when each day was anxious, it could not be a more fortunate thing.
No, rather, she felt sorry to the point of not having trusted her son.
Of course it would be so, he is a son who suffered such a terrible thing when he was married, there is no way he would accept such an opponent again.
Only now has he returned to the appearance of the son I knew, she was putting her mind at ease like that, yet…….
She could not understand at all what on earth this sudden thunderbolt was.
Ever since the story of that child Deborah flowed out from Mark Bailey’s mouth, she had somehow felt an unconvincing feeling.
Watching that back view as he insisted on bolting from his seat, she could feel something crumbling down with a crash inside her chest.
‘……What on earth are you thinking, Ray.’
At that moment when she tightly clenched her fist without realizing due to an unknown ominousness.
“Excuse me…… Madam Dowager Duchess.”
At the cautiously heard voice, Eleanor woke up from her thoughts.
At the end of her raised head, the butler of Chambrin was visible.
An expression that looked awkward for some reason.
In an instant, her heart dropped.
“What is the matter……”
When she asked as if pressing him, unable to hide her nervousness, only then did the butler open his mouth.
“The Duke…… has arrived.”
At those words, the three people who were waiting in the drawing room sprang up from their seats simultaneously.
“Where is he right now?”
At the question asked furiously, the butler’s gaze shook anxiously again.
“T-That is……”
At such a time when every second was urgent, her brow furrowed fiercely at the frustrating behavior of the butler.
“Am I not asking where he is!”
At that moment when the butler’s body flinched at the thundering scolding that sliced through the air of the drawing room—
“There is no need to look for me.”
At the low voice heard over the butler’s shoulder, Eleanor’s gaze rapidly turned there.
“Ray, where have you—”
Eleanor’s expression, as she was about to ask where he was coming back from, froze with a twitch the moment she saw that face following behind her son.
“Y-You—how dare you come here……”
At the sight of Eleanor turning red and blue with rage, Deborah bit her lip tightly and dropped her head.
Raymond, who glanced down at such a Deborah, soon strode and moved his steps toward somewhere.
The place he stopped was in front of Olivia, who was staring intently this way with large eyes.
Clear, shining golden eyes.
Looking at that face where an immature air still remained, Raymond politely bowed his head in front of her.
At that moment when everyone was surprised by that sudden behavior.
From the mouth of Raymond, who raised his head back up, words that were entirely unthought of popped out.
“I have committed an unwashable sin against you—so I will certainly compensate for this responsibility in some way in the future.”
“An unwashable sin, what on earth does that……”
Words seeking an apology.
Olivia also guessed what those unconvincing words, spoken after walking in while holding the hand of another woman who was pregnant, meant.
However, she merely asked again because she could not easily accept it.
Looking at that pitiful appearance of her trembling wretchedly, Raymond insisted on spitting out words that were like a sentence before her.
“I request a dissolution of our engagement.”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
