Chapter 047. Keep going
Deborah stood in front of the bedroom door today as well, her face full of extreme tension.
Knock knock-
“……”
Of course, she knew that the owner of this room had left in a carriage quite some time ago, but still, just in case—
After waiting for a long while with no sound coming from inside, only then did she open the door and enter as if finally relieved.
How many days has it been like this……
Deborah quickly scanned the bedroom visible through the open door and completely shook off even the faint remaining tension.
The reason Deborah crossed this threshold with such resolute determination every time was precisely because this room was the Duke of Cheister’s bedroom.
In fact, the Duke of Cheuster’s bedroom was not an area she was in charge of.
However, due to Ludmilla’s gang recently dumping all tasks on her, this absurd situation had arisen.
-There, you can’t do that.
-Why?
-……
-Where does this come from! Don’t fool around and do as you’re told!
When she heard that she was to take charge of the Duke of Cheister’s bedroom, should she have resisted more strongly?
But Deborah immediately shook her head.
No, even so, the end result would have been the same.
With only harsh violence added on top.
As she pulled the tray closer to the bed, a laugh suddenly escaped her.
Several days had already passed since that night, but nothing had happened at all.
She didn’t particularly think anything would change.
She just couldn’t help but laugh at how this situation was so quiet, as if nothing had happened at all.
Because her prediction hadn’t missed by even an inch.
‘It’s okay, I’m not bothered at all……. To me, that was nothing at all.’
Deborah repeated once more in her mind the mantra she recited every time she entered this room.
About thirty minutes had passed.
Thanks to diligently moving her body, the work was progressing faster than expected.
“Now, emptying the trash bin and replacing the lamp oil and…… Ah, and wiping the side table.”
As she checked off the remaining tasks with her eyes, Deborah wiped the sweat flowing down her forehead.
After struggling alone to change the large bed sheets, she would sweat like rain for a few minutes like this.
After the heat subsided for a while, chills would come, but well, even this had become familiar now.
With the thought of finishing quickly and moving to the next room, just as Deborah was about to move her steps,
Click-
At the sound of the door opening, Deborah’s movement froze instantly.
With the thought of ‘No way……,’ she couldn’t even turn around and just stood there.
“Huh?”
A familiar voice she had heard somewhere before.
Different from the voice of the person she least wanted to run into, so Deborah’s head naturally turned that way.
“We meet here again.”
The person entering with a hehe, cheerful smile was fortunately Robin.
The reason for saying ‘here again’ was because, after her duties changed to chambermaid, they often ran into each other within the estate.
Unlike the person he served, Robin was always cheerful whenever they met, so a smile formed on Deborah’s lips as well.
“You were cleaning.”
“Ah, yes.”
As Robin approached closer, his eyes suddenly began to widen slowly.
“Why are you sweating so much?”
Seeing the sweat on her forehead, Robin asked in surprise.
Deborah smiled awkwardly and wiped the dripping sweat.
“It gets a bit hot after changing the sheets……”
“The duke’s bed is a bit…… ridiculously large, isn’t it. But wait, you do all that alone every time?”
“……”
At the question asked with furrowed brows, Deborah clamped her mouth shut.
Normally, other guest rooms could be handled sufficiently alone, but she had heard that changing the sheets in the Duke of Cheister’s bedroom was done by two people as a team.
Because of its enormous size, it was difficult and time-consuming to do alone.
But she couldn’t say she was doing it alone because no one helped in this situation, so her words got stuck for a moment.
So, what she thought of was changing the subject.
“But, what brings Robin here……”
Fortunately, without any suspicion, Robin answered Deborah’s question.
“Ah, the duke told me to fetch something.”
“……Didn’t he go out?”
She had clearly seen the carriage leave……
She wondered if he had already returned, but no matter how she thought about it, it was too early to return from an outing.
That’s why she was handling urgent tasks first and cleaning the duke’s bedroom right away.
“Ah, the matter he was going to see got a bit derailed, so he just came right back home.”
“Ah……”
Deborah let out a short groan and soon nodded her head.
Even so, he wouldn’t come straight to the bedroom at this time, but Deborah thought she should finish up quickly and leave anyway.
“Um…… Deborah, by any chance this weekend—”
Click-
Along with the hesitant words, the sound of the door opening simultaneously rang out.
Perhaps because her tension had eased a bit earlier, this time her gaze drifted absentmindedly.
But upon confirming the face of the person entering, it immediately stiffened rigidly.
Raymond, who was opening the door and entering, also hesitated for a moment, but it was such a fleeting instant that no one would notice.
Soon returning to his usual impassive face, he strode inside.
“You, instead of fetching what I told you to, what are you doing chit-chatting here.”
At the chilling words, Robin scratched his head vigorously and bowed his head saying sorry.
“Fine, now get out.”
“Ah, yes……” .
He seemed slightly worried that the sparks might fly to Deborah too, but in any case, Robin quickly exited the bedroom as ordered.
Now, only two people remained in the bedroom.
Deborah stood frozen in that spot from just before, her face tense.
The resolution that if they happened to run into each other, she would act as if nothing had happened—where had that gone— her mind went blank like it was empty, nothing coming to mind.
In that moment, the duke passed right by the foolishly standing Deborah.
“……”
A feeling as if she had become invisible.
This awkward and flustered feeling was entirely hers alone.
Seeing the man who was completely unaffected, a burning shame made her face heat up.
Deborah bit her lip hard once and approached his back as he walked to the side table.
“The cleaning…… I’ll come back later to do it.”
If it was just a brief stop, he wouldn’t have sent Robin away in the first place.
That meant he would stay here for a while, but she couldn’t clean with the duke present.
Of course, the desire to flee was more pressing, but this was said following work procedures.
Words meaning she wouldn’t disturb and would come back later to clean.
He must know that too.
So, as she bowed her head in greeting to him who was still facing away and was about to turn her body,
Faster than that, the duke’s body turned around.
“No, keep going.”
“……Pardon?”
“I said keep going, with the cleaning.”
“……”
At the blue eyes staring straight at her, a hollow laugh nearly escaped.
Ah, I had another presumptuous delusion.
To think that he would find this moment uncomfortable too……
When he’s so unaffected like that.
It’s natural that someone like me is as insignificant to him as a pebble rolling on the roadside, and yet I foolishly……
Deborah, meeting those cold eyes falling on her face straight on, answered.
“Yes.”
* * *
It was a scene that anyone would see as utterly ordinary, with nothing special.
The master sitting at the side table looking over documents, and the maid quietly cleaning without disturbing him.
It was just one extremely commonplace scene where everyone was faithful to their duties.
In the midst of that scene sat Raymond, who had been looking at the letter in his hand since earlier.
The problem was that while his gaze was directed at the letter, his attention had been focused elsewhere for quite some time.
Right on the woman silently cleaning near him.
He had realized his feelings for the woman, but that didn’t mean anything would particularly change.
In the Ruvake Kingdom, marriage between nobles and commoners was legally prohibited.
It was possible with the royal family’s approval, but since there was no historical precedent, it was right to see it as nearly impossible.
So, what exactly could he do?
Just because he knew his own heart, what exactly could he do with that woman?
Get the royal family’s approval and marry a commoner?
Or, marry another woman as originally planned and keep that woman as a mistress?
By exactly replicating what his father, whom he had so despised, had done?
That was why.
Though his heart wanted to keep her before his eyes a thousand times over, in the state where he couldn’t decide on anything, he didn’t want to repeat the same thing as last time.
If something like that happened again, just how far could he endure this time?
So, he shouldn’t keep her in his sight.
If he couldn’t push her away or have her, at least for the time being, he shouldn’t keep her in his sight.
But even so, the moment he saw her face, his heart boiled over.
Hearing that song-like voice after several days, he couldn’t help but admit that it sent chills down his spine, that he had missed her to the point of madness.
So, what should I do with you?
What should I do again?
Raymond’s blue eyes were already directed toward Deborah.
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By Anna 💓
