Chapter 038. Sleepwalking
“Deborah!”
As Deborah entered the attic, Hanna rushed to her side to support her.
The commotion that had erupted on the second floor must have already spread throughout the mansion, as Hannah didn’t ask a single question while guiding her to the bed.
She already knew.
She knew what kind of ordeal Deborah, who entered in such a state, had just experienced in that place.
Hanna, who carefully sat Deborah on the bed, bit her lip tightly, unable to even look directly at her face.
She had tried to tidy up on the way, but the gruesome state was too much to conceal completely.
Deborah gently took hold of Hanna’s hand as she stood with her gaze averted.
“Hey, it might look bad, but… it’s not that serious.”
“……”
“Really. It’ll be gone in a few days-”
“Damn bastard…”
“……”
As she tried to reassure her with a shaking hand, a single transparent tear fell onto it.
“How could… that damn bastard…”
“……”
Once the floodgates opened, the tears didn’t stop, streaming down endlessly.
With her other hand, Hannah roughly wiped away the tears, but the same words kept spilling from her mouth.
“Damn bastard, damn jerk.”
Hearing the words Deborah herself couldn’t bring herself to say come out of Hanna’s mouth, the emotions she had desperately suppressed began to pour out like a burst dam.
I don’t want this… on a day when my heart feels tattered and torn like a rag… crying is the last thing I want to do…
She had endured that moment and held it together, but in the end, the tears burst forth belatedly.
Deborah lowered her head and cried silently.
What if someone heard? What if this anguished wail leaked out beyond the door?
She stifled her breath, letting the hot tears spill out.
Her trembling shoulders shook pitifully for a long while.
* * *
-…I’m sorry.
In the early hours past midnight, moonlight seeped through the window, casting faint shadows on Raymond’s face.
It was already the dozenth time this evening that the same scene replayed.
The image of the woman that kept surfacing in his mind clung to him more stubbornly the more he tried to shake it off.
Raymond roughly grabbed the glass of liquor on the side table.
Yes, he acknowledged that his actions in that moment were cowardly, born of despicable behavior.
But why-
He was in a position where he could naturally act that way, and even if time rewound, he would do the same thing again.
She was someone he had already decided to cast aside.
The anger and murderous intent he felt upon discovering the ruined woman in that moment should have been thrown into the trash and forgotten without a backward glance.
So why did he keep feeling so filthy?
Why was he torturing himself by constantly replaying that moment?
What was he supposed to do about it?
Raymond couldn’t understand himself at all.
An orphan, a lowly maid, sneaking around late at night for secret trysts—a vulgar woman.
Not a single thing about her matched him, no, even associating her with him was unthinkable, she was that deplorable.
Why, of all people, her?
Even though he knew it was pointless to ask the question for the dozenth time, Raymond couldn’t help but ask again.
“Ha…”
Letting out a long sigh, Raymond roughly ran a hand over his face.
Since returning to Elfengrin, everything had been a mess.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he slept properly or spent a day without being consumed by thoughts.
If he couldn’t bring himself to cast her out, perhaps he should just leave Elfengrin himself.
He knew it was a crazy idea, but as he seriously considered it, Raymond picked up the glass again.
Looking at the now-empty liquor bottle, Raymond hesitated for a moment.
Should he go to bed, or head downstairs to grab another bottle from the display cabinet?
It was well past midnight, and dawn would break soon.
He knew it would be best to call it a night and get up, but no matter how much he drank, his mind remained frustratingly clear.
Realizing that lying down would be futile, Raymond chose to get another bottle.
With long strides, he crossed the bedroom tinged with blue light.
He considered going to the wine cellar in the basement but, finding it too bothersome, opted to grab a bottle from the first-floor cabinet and head back upstairs.
Perhaps because it was the early morning when everyone was asleep, the mansion was eerily quiet, with not even the slightest sound to be heard.
Maybe by the time he finished this bottle, he’d be able to sleep.
With that thought, he climbed the second-floor stairs.
Creak-
The unpleasant sound of the old wooden floor halted his steps toward the bedroom.
“……”
The unexpected noise cut through the chilly morning air.
Raymond’s gaze naturally shifted toward the source of the sound.
It didn’t take long for his eyes, wandering over the dim hallway, to stop at one spot.
The moment Raymond saw the figure moving across the hall, his brow furrowed sharply.
Recalling that this exact moment had happened not long ago, Raymond let out a hollow laugh.
Even in that state, she was out again.
A swollen cheek, a split lip. The audacity of this woman, in that condition, sneaking out for another nighttime escapade—it was astounding and infuriating all at once.
Raymond turned and strode toward the opposite side.
Step, step. As his large strides closed the distance, the gap between him and the woman narrowed.
There was no need to hold back anymore.
With the intent to throw her out of the mansion immediately, Raymond grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.
Her body, swaying as if caught in a breeze, limply fell backward.
“……”
“……”
A strange silence lingered for a moment, and Raymond stared down at the woman looking downward.
She couldn’t even lift her head properly.
At first, he thought she must know some shame, caught red-handed sneaking out at night, probably startled and flustered.
Just as he was about to tell her to leave the mansion by morning, her head, which had been lowered, slowly began to rise.
Raymond watched, almost entranced, as her movement flowed smoothly, like swimming through water.
“……”
“……”
Finally, their eyes met in the darkness.
Raymond stared, breathless, at those mysterious golden eyes shimmering like waves.
This woman, who always flinched and averted her gaze as if she’d seen a ghost whenever they met, was now looking directly at him without flinching.
It was then that Raymond realized something was off about her.
Her eyes were on him, but her focus was somehow blurry.
In his confusion about what was happening, her arm, which hadn’t moved until now, slowly began to rise.
Her hand moved frustratingly slowly, finally reaching its destination—Raymond’s right cheek.
As her fingers brushed his cheek, almost but not quite touching, Raymond stood frozen, holding his breath as if rooted to the spot.
The suffocating tension broke with the woman’s smile.
Her eyes crinkled as she beamed brightly at him.
In that moment, his mind went blank, his heart pounded, and Raymond dropped the wine bottle he was holding.
Clang-
The piercing sound shattered the frozen air, echoing in all directions.
At the same moment, the woman’s body slumped forward limply.
Without time to think, his body reacted first, catching her as she fell.
Her eyes were already closed, as if she had fainted.
In the sudden situation, Raymond hurriedly lowered his head to check her breathing.
Soft, steady breaths.
Absurdly, she hadn’t fainted—she was asleep.
“Ha, what the hell…”
A hollow laugh burst out at the absurd situation.
Even so, Raymond stared down at the face peacefully asleep in his arms for a long while.
He knew this well.
Not now, but he had seen something like this before.
It was strikingly similar to what his younger sister Cecilia had briefly experienced in her childhood.
Sleepwalking.
Only then did the puzzling pieces of her behavior start to fit together.
Raymond looked once more at the gently closed brown eyelashes before carefully lifting her body.
She was far lighter than he had expected.
The sweet scent of her skin, which he’d caught faint whiffs of before, now filled his senses more intensely.
Suppressing the sudden surge of something within him, Raymond strode through the darkness.
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By Anna 💓
