Night of Eden 58

 Chapter 58

****

Dana didn't realize that anything was wrong with her body until the hourglass reached the bottom.

But when she lifted the lid to inspect the tea, she realized her hands were shaking excessively.

"I never thought I'd see you brewing tea so gracefully as my handmaiden."

The lady smiled again. Dana felt something sharp run through her body.

"We played pretty well together last year in the woods, remember?"

She did. Dana remembered.

They searched for bird nests and followed ants. She jumped over puddles in the rain and soaked her skirt with muddy water.

A few months ago, she had worried that the lady hadn't changed, but now she didn't have to.

"By the way, do you think there are still bird nests there? That nest you showed me at the waterfall. That was the first time I ever saw a bird's egg."

Dana opened her mouth with difficulty, trying to suppress the hot things rising in her chest.

"Maybe... I'm sure there are, because they often lay eggs in the fall."

"Really?"

The lady looked back at Theodore, her eyes shining with anticipation.

"Do you know what I made with her that day?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turned back to Dana.

"You made a dragonfly, didn't you, out of silk stockings."

"No...a hat. Of pink fishnet."

"Oh, right!"

A cool laugh echoed down the hall.

"I can't tell you how much my mother scolded me for destroying that expensive hat."

Taking advantage of Liana's distraction, Dana cautiously checked on Theodore.

He wore an unrecognizable expression on his face. His eyes were cold and his mouth was tightly closed.

"Would you like to come with me to the Corinthian Forest? I feel like a child again, free from the pressures of decency and decorum."

When Theodore didn't answer, Dana's mouth went dry.

"My literature professor says it's good for your mental health to be a kid again, to run and play sometimes."

Could she not see it in his eyes?

The man's abject indifference?

Dana ducked her head, hiding any uneasiness that might have shown.

"By the way, did you know?"

Liana's voice dispersed like smoke in the air.

"Valtemann, the literature professor, it turns out he used to work for the imperial court, and the way he talks to me makes me wish he was a woman."

"...."

"Oh, of course, it's not like I was attracted to the same sex or anything, don't get me wrong."

Liana covered her mouth and laughed as she said that.

"Do you want to know something more fun?"

All sorts of stories flowed out of her mouth after that.

From another episode with her literature professor to how well the parrot, Kitch, mimics her speech.

The reason for Liana's transformation into an irrepressible chatterbox was her desperate need to somehow dilute the bizarre jealousy she harbored toward her handmaiden.

"My professor says he'd like to study the oral structure of the parrot, they're so alike."

Clink.

Dana accidentally dropped the spatula.

Liana was too busy talking to notice, but Theodore was different.

He had been following Dana’s every move since earlier.

His searching pupils darted from her trembling hands to her overly flushed cheeks to the beads of sweat that formed on her forehead.

Her chest was rising and falling too wildly, he realized, and he raised his hand to Stan abruptly.

"You called for me, Master."

"Get the doctor."

"...What?"

Stan's eyes widened. Liana stopped what she was doing and looked back at her fiancé.

"Are you... Are you sick, young master?"

Theodore didn't answer, his eyes fixed on Dana, not paying attention to anything else. Everyone's gazes turned toward them.

"...!"

As if a veil had been lifted from their eyes, they began to see things they hadn't seen before.

It wasn't just nerves that had made Dana's eyes look so cloudy earlier. Her flushed face wasn't from shyness, either.

"Dana......."

The head maid rushed over and placed her hand on Dana's forehead. Dana's eyes widened at the touch.

"...Oh, my God, you're boiling!"

Dana suddenly realized.

Alas, she was running a fever.

That was why she was shivering and breaking out in a cold sweat.

"I'm sorry, Master, and My Lady."

Rosi bowed her head, panting.

"To send a feverish child on a tea errand... It's my fault. I should have realized it first...."

"Forget it, get the doctor."

Theodore's eyes were cold and almost vicious as he cut off her words.

Watching the scene, Tilly's heart tightened in his chest.

No one would notice at the moment, but if they paid attention, they would realize how strange his master’s reaction was.

As the master's attendant, he couldn't just stand still.

"Uh, everyone out!"

He shouted to get everyone's attention.

"What do you think she's got some terrible plague? The Grand Duchess of Lombardi once tried to cancel an entire yacht regatta because she thought her servant had the mumps. We're having a party, so we'd better be careful. Get the doctor here first!"

Rosi’s face became thoughtful.

"Uh, yeah. Let's get out of here. I hear there's a measles epidemic in Dodge......."

Stan nodded, a serious look on his face.

"I'll get the doctor."

"Yeah, come on."

Rosi frantically patted Dana on the back. Then she turned toward Liana and bowed her head in apology.

"I apologize, young lady. I should have been more attentive."

"No, don't say that, in front of a sick child."

Liana scolded Rosi and Stan, then turned a compassionate glance toward Dana.

"Go get some rest. You shouldn't be sick."

Whether she said, "Yes," or nothing at all, Dana couldn't remember, because she couldn't think straight with the man's intense glare.

***

"It's just a ...... cold, take some medicine and rest for a few days and she’ll be better in no time."

At the doctor's words, Rosi rubbed her chest.

"If by any chance she develops a rash or her fever doesn't go down, call me right away."

"Yes, yes, I will."

"Of course, don't take it too lightly. A cold can be contagious, too, and it could turn into pneumonia, so I'd keep her out of the house for a while."

The doctor made a few more assurances, and Rosi nodded eagerly.

Dana felt herself rapidly becoming weak from the medication. She didn't even have the energy to say goodbye as the doctor gathered his bags and headed out the door.

After seeing the doctor off, Rosi approached the bed.

"Get some rest. If you feel the slightest pain, don't hold it in, okay?"

Dana nodded weakly.

With a click, the door closed and she was alone.

Her eyelids were already closing over most of her vision. Just before they closed completely, the man's face came into view.

“Get the doctor.”

His suppressed voice was strangely angry.

Was he afraid she had caught the plague? That she might pass it on to his fiancée, the young lady, as Tilly said?

She had heard it from the maidservant's lips, and she knew it well.

How gentlemanly and exacting the heir could be when it comes to his fiancée.

She had seen it when she'd first seen them at the fountain.

Theodore put an umbrella over the lady. So that one of his shoulders was soaked instead.

The fact that the man could be so devoted to someone else made Dana feel so very strange. She had to swallow several times to keep from feeling like she'd swallowed sand.

Now that the lady was here, perhaps he would stop paying so much unnecessary attention to herself.

Wasn’t that a relief?

The moment she thought that, a strange sensation unlike anything she had ever felt before crawled up her skin.

No.

Dana rolled onto her side and pulled the covers over her head.

Don't think about it. No need to ruminate.

The medicine coursed through her veins, beading hotly on her eyelids, and as the tremors subsided, the sleepiness washed over her like a tidal wave.

***

All the way back to the Shore, Tilly was weighed down by a tremendous weight. He didn't dare look in Theodore’s direction.

His mind flashed back to that day in the hut, when it had been pouring with rain. The Master in front of him now looked nothing like him then. He seemed to be unable to control himself with displeasure, irritation, and anger.

Tilly nervously opened his mouth to speak.

"...You know..."

His frosty pupils slid to Tilly's. Tilly wet his lips and spoke again.

"I'm going back to Belvida later.... I have some things to discuss with butler Stan about the party arrangements, and... And if the girl... I should check to see if she really has the plague?"

The Master said nothing, but Tilly could tell. His cold pupils flickered for a moment.

"Isn't this the girl that the madame even thought of taking back to the main house? With your permission, I'll look out for her until she's better."

Tilly looked at his quiet master.

Theodore nodded and turned his head to the window. His eyes reflected in the foggy window had softened.

***

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