Chapter 36
***
Theodore stared down at Dana, speechless.
It was different from the day of the torrential downpour. The woman sobbing desperately, like a child, threw him a white-knuckled shock.
Oh, no, there's a man. A real man, no Edwin Hastings, a real man.
A real man, nothing like Edwin Hastings.
Who the hell is he? What kind of a man is he?
A harsh chill ran through his hardening chest. At the same time, a very strange memory came flooding back.
“In some cases, they've allowed themselves to be ravished by older men, like the gardener or the butler, and become unwillingly pregnant.”
“It's not uncommon among maids in rural areas like Belvida and Shore. How lonely must they be?”
The ripples in his chest were snowballing, turning into a huge whirlpool.
She protected someone, even if it meant being accused of being a thief.
Someone so precious.
Perhaps it wasn't just a man that needed to be protected.
If that's why she was so desperate to marry...
"You... No way...."
The man's stifled voice cut sharply into Dana's ear.
Dana scrubbed her face with her palms and slowly lifted her head.
In her blurry vision, Theodore was chillingly cold, with only fiery green eyes in the center of him, sharpened to the point of cutting flesh.
Dana quickly lost her nerve and cowered, as she always did whenever she made a timid attempt at defiance.
If not, run...
Run...
Dana's shaking body stood on edge. She was really thinking about running away.
She'd run like a madwoman to the Naptha gate, and then she'd run across the Corinthian forest to Belvida...
The shadow overhead grew closer and closer. Her heart was racing like mad. Her legs were straining.
But the man who had seemed to be about to strangle her at any moment brushed past her.
Dana's head snapped upward.
Without making eye contact, Theodore yanked open the door and stormed out.
With a thud, the door slammed shut, and a chill wind rushed over her.
****
The man on the floor was headed for Celeste's room.
The servant who tended the hall lamp was horrified to see him, grim as a hell's lion.
Reaching the door, Theodore knocked impatiently. The door opened instantly.
Celeste, rubbing her eyes while holding a candlestick, inhaled sharply as she realized it was Theodore who had unexpectedly appeared.
"Fetch Tilly. We're going to Castle Kreutz."
Her eyes widened as her long, untied hair flew out of her face.
"Right now...?"
Celeste stammered, and when she saw the Master's face, she had to clamp her mouth shut again, her breath catching in her throat at the harsh coldness of his gaze.
"I'll be back in a week. Find out by then. Dana Bordon..."
He gulped, stopping himself from speaking. The uncomfortable words stuck tight in his throat.
"Master?"
A pair of chillingly cold eyes poured over Celeste's face. Then came the ear-splitting words.
***
Tilly had also received an unexpected call in the middle of the night. Unlike Celeste, who was stunned into silence, he was so happy he wanted to jump up and down.
The Master told him that he was going to Kreutz's castle right away, and ordered him to prepare for the hunt.
Kreutz was an old castle, a day's carriage ride from the Shore.
The road was uneven, and it was the most inhospitable part of the Macmilan estate, but the Master loved it.
Unlike the Shore, which belonged to the Duke and Duchess of Macmilan, it was all his. He'd filled the old castle with art and antiques, and he'd gone there every chance he got to spend time alone.
Of course, it wasn't the boring artwork that made Tilly's heart skip a beat now. It's the hundreds of birds that lived there, the grouse.
Even during the current hunting ban, grouse hunting was the only thing allowed.
Moreover, it was home to the "shawl grouse," the pinnacle of bird hunting.
Tilly's blood boiled at the prospect of exploring the dense fir forest and firing the rifle with excitement.
"Bordeaux, wake up, Bordeaux!"
Tilly frantically woke the coachman.
***
Theodore and his two loaded carriages were indeed out the front gates of Shore before dawn.
This had required Wimfred and the others to rise at the crack of dawn to prepare for the hasty trip, but they were in good spirits.
A day without their master was like a vacation for them.
Amidst all the joy and excitement, the only one with a dark look on her face was Celeste.
She would be in charge of Dana's schedule for the rest of the week, starting with her writing sessions in the study.
Dana had been an excellent student and someone she had never felt uncomfortable spending time with.
But now she felt as if she were sitting on a thorny seat.
It couldn't be, she thought, the master must be mistaken, but her eyes kept drifting to Dana's stomach.
The maid's outfit wasn't as revealing as an evening gown, but it wasn't the most modest either. Dana's body did not belong to a pregnant woman by any stretch of the imagination.
And she wasn't the kind of girl who would know she was pregnant and deliberately hide it and be trained as a handmaiden, that much was certain.
But what if she was in the early stage?
What if she'd stopped menstruating suddenly and was wondering if she was pregnant?
Celeste had seen more than a few unsuspecting maids become pregnant unexpectedly.
How should she tell them?
Celeste wanted to tear her hair out in front of Dana, who looked unusually shaken.
"Here."
She turned around to see Dana holding out a piece of paper, her eyes narrowed.
"I need you to grade this."
"Oh, yeah...."
Celeste stared at Dana's face blankly.
At first, she'd thought she was just a child, but upon closer inspection, she was a full-grown woman, with mature curves, and since she was the same age as Lady Liana, it wouldn't be a bad thing if she got married right away.
Her eyes kept drifting back to Dana's stomach.
Trying not to stare, Celeste took the paper from Dana's hand.
It was a casual question, asking if she was seeing any men as they walked through the garden.
Suddenly, she thought of Master Edwin.
The way he looked at Dana that day, the way he treated her, his demeanor, was more than just a normal servant. If nothing else, that much was clear.
She wondered if Master Theodore noticed all of that and wanted to make trouble for her. In the process, he realized that she might be pregnant, and since he couldn't ask Dana directly, he asked her to find out.
Celeste's heart sank as she thought about it.
If all this speculation was true, nothing serious usually happened.
"Let's go."
Celeste immediately closed the book. She was just getting to her feet when someone knocked on the door.
"Celeste, we have a visitor from Belvida at the moment...."
The door opened and Wimfred appeared. Right behind him was a man.
Who could it be?
Celeste thought, and at the same time, Dana jumped to her feet.
"Noah...?"
The man's jet-black hair brushed past Wimfred as if in anticipation. A happy grin stretched across his nicely tanned face.
"...Noah...!"
Dana shouted the man's name again in disbelief.
Willow, the fluffy dog in Noah's arms, peeked her head out toward Dana.
****
*Thought: Theo thinks Dana is pregnant lol.
***
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Write a comment
Virginie (Friday, 18 October 2024 17:23)
Yeah :) Maybe Céleste could help Dana, if she can confide to her. Hopefully, and Edwin has à great thouht to send Willow to Dana �