Chapter 182. I’ll Set You Free Even if You Say No
In the early morning, at the exact same time as usual, the sound of a knock rang out.
Naturally, the visitor was Mrs. Charlotte.
Only the location had changed from Chambrin to Elfengreen, but her state of being confined was still exactly the same.
For several days, Mrs. Charlotte was the only person she met, and even then, only formal conversations were exchanged every time.
Whether she slept well through the night, what would be good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and so on and so forth…….
Suddenly, there were many moments when she missed Maria.
“Ah, excuse me!”
This time as well, Deborah hurriedly called out to stop Charlotte, who was about to leave after completing her duty.
A gaze that fell straight upon her as if to pierce through.
Deborah, who hesitated for a moment, slowly began to speak.
“……I would like to…… go out for a bit.”
It had already been over ten days. Living confined like this.
Just as he did in Chambrin, he was still ignoring her here in Elfengreen.
The last time she saw his face was also on the day she moved here a few days ago.
It was an action that clearly showed that Deborah was not in his mind at all, except for the child in her womb.
A day or two was one thing, but it was hard to endure this situation of being confined like livestock any longer.
Just a few hours, no, even a few dozen minutes would be fine.
She wanted to get some fresh air even for a moment in a place that wasn’t here, where no one cared about her.
However, after hearing Deborah’s words, a look of dilemma appeared over Mrs. Charlotte’s face.
The words that came out of her mouth after pondering for a long time were to wait for a moment since she would ask the Duke.
A situation where it felt as if everything—eating, sleeping, and moving—was entirely placed under his control.
She felt a sudden surge of emotion for a moment, but even so, she could not turn that arrow of anger toward her.
To put it bluntly, it was all too natural for her, who belonged to the Cheister family, to move according to his orders.
Deborah, who tightly pressed down her angry feelings, only nodded her head, saying she understood.
Whatever it was, it was fine.
If only she could escape this place even for a moment at this time when her chest felt suffocated as if it would burst-.
However, the words that came out of the mouth of Charlotte, who returned after exactly about 20 minutes, were something that completely shattered Deborah’s expectations.
***
“……What?”
At the tone that changed in an instant, the hand of Robin, who was handing over the jacket, flinched.
A fiercely crumpled brow.
A thick tension leaked out over the face of Charlotte, who met that gaze head-on.
“Again.”
At that cold command to repeat the words from a moment ago, Charlotte swallowed hard once and opened her mouth.
“She said that if you do not permit her to go out…… she will not eat…… she asked to deliver those words.”
Ha-! As soon as Charlotte’s words ended, a sharp, hollow laugh burst out from Raymond’s mouth.
A few dozen minutes ago, Charlotte had walked into the study and brought up absurd words.
That Deborah had asked if she could go out.
With what trust should I trust you.
You, who are full of lies from head to toe whenever you open your mouth.
How on earth can I trust you, who carried my child and shamelessly lied that it was another man’s child.
Raymond, of course, flatly said no.
He had held back from adding a warning to stay quiet without talking nonsense, but how dare she…… deliver this kind of words?
Even without this, his head was throbbing with problems pouring in all at once as if they had been waiting the moment he returned to Elfengreen.
Among them, the most troublesome matter was handling the breakup of the engagement with the Constant Marquess’s young lady.
Just as an engagement between families in noble society was made through complicated procedures, a breakup of an engagement was also not something that could be easily ended among the parties involved.
Rather, it would be even more complicated as political issues were added to it.
Furthermore, the opponent was none other than a Marquess family; the Marquess of Constant was a very tricky opponent for Raymond to deal with.
An old man whose inside was black and whose cunningness was extraordinary.
Therefore, he was even more angry.
At a time when it would not be enough to stay as quiet as a dead mouse, at the audacious words and deeds shown by the woman who was the origin of all these matters.
Forgetting that he was about to head out, Raymond strode across the study.
Slam-!
Behind the door that closed with a roaring sound, Robin and Charlotte only exchanged worried glances with each other.
***
With a tremendous sound, the room door swung wide open.
Though she might well have been shocked by the sound that echoed through the entire room, Deborah stood up from her seat with a calm face as if she had even expected it.
The moment Raymond, who quickly crossed the middle of the room, finally stood right in front of the bed, a cold voice dropped down from his mouth.
“I just heard a very amusing piece of news right now.”
An appearance of tightly suppressing his anger.
Deborah, who stared blankly at the face uttering words mockingly, bowed her head before him after a moment.
“I’m sorry.”
At the apology that came out at an unexpected timing, one of Raymond’s eyebrows twitched momentarily.
But that was only for a moment.
His face soon distorted even more fiercely.
“As for things to be sorry about, you shouldn’t have created them in the first place.”
Since it would turn out like this, why did you behave in that manner.
In the tone Raymond spat out as if chewing it, such a mood was clearly revealed.
The strange thing was the appearance of Deborah, who maintained an unchanging expression from beginning to end despite such reproaches.
At the moment that expression strangely scratched his nerves, Deborah’s closed mouth opened again.
“But I thought that if I didn’t do it even like this, I wouldn’t be able to see you.”
Therefore, that I did this kind of action is purely because of you—it was a word that sounded that way.
Do people say that their mouth becomes blocked when they experience something too absurd?
At the words spoken while raising her head shamelessly, a momentary chuckle burst out.
Then, a thought like that suddenly occurred.
Right, a thought to see just how far you can go.
Raymond said, curling up the corner of his lips into a smirk.
“So.”
At the words urging for the next, Deborah continued her words with a composed face.
“I heard that you blocked my outing.”
At the words asking if that was true, Raymond tilted his head.
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Yes, why you are blocking my outing—honestly, I don’t understand it well.”
“Do I have to make you understand?”
“…….”
It was a word containing the meaning that you just only need to quietly follow the command I give.
Over Deborah’s face, which had been maintaining calmness, cracks finally began to appear.
“I am…… not Your Grace’s maid.”
“There is no way I would leave a maid like you intact.”
As if it was absurd, a short laugh leaked through his teeth momentarily.
“If you don’t understand, just engrave it in your mind. You can’t take a single step out of here until you give birth to the child.”
“In the end…… it means it is…… because of the child.”
“Then, did you think there was something else besides that?”
“…….”
“If it weren’t for the child in your womb, what do I care whether a creature like you wanders the streets or roams under a bridge.”
“…….”
“So wait. When the time comes, I’ll set you free even if you say no then, so don’t provoke my nerves with useless acts during the remaining time.”
Do you understand? The man who poured out cruelly stared intently at Deborah’s face for a long time, then soon turned his back and stepped out of the room.
Deborah stood blankly like that for a long time, staring vacantly at the closed door.
For a long time.
Deborah, who eventually came to her senses, chewed over the words he had poured out and left.
‘So wait. When the time comes, I’ll set you free even if you say no then’
What he said was the same sound as saying that he would kick her out of here once she gave birth to the child.
No, honestly it didn’t matter.
That he would kick her out of here.
The problem was that word that he would leave the child here and kick her out alone.
Just by recalling that moment, the blood of her entire body cooled down coldly in an instant.
Deborah tightly held her trembling hands together and thought.
Now was not the time to be sitting idly like this.
Before the child came out, she had to set up some sort of countermeasure before then.
If he really made up his mind to take the child away from her, she would really be kicked out with nothing just like that without being able to try anything.
Deborah tightly embraced her swollen belly with both arms.
‘No…… it’s my child. My child.’
Her gaze, which had been wandering frantically, suddenly came to a dead stop at a certain place.
Deborah abruptly got up from her seat and began to rummage like crazy through the rattan basket she brought from Chambrin.
After rummaging for a long time, she discovered a piece of paper laid at the very bottom.
The person who would help her.
Although she knew that stretching out a hand at every moment like this shamelessly was a very shameless thing to do.
Even so, now was not the time to be calculating such things.
She could not possibly live after having her child taken away.
Without even the child…… she had no confidence to live with a sane mind.
Therefore, she had to do something now.
No, it was a thing that must be done for the sake of the child without fail.
Deborah rummaged inside the basket again, took out ink and a pen, and walked toward the circular table placed on one side of the room.
‘To Jade.’
Deborah, who dipped the pen in ink, quickly began to write down that first sentence.
