Night of Eden 74

 Chapter 74

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Sponsored chapter by Virginie. Thank you ❤️ (½)

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"You're telling me she’s not hurt?"

"Yes, sir.”

Rosi nodded eagerly.

"The hut keeper brought a doctor. Other than a slightly sprained ankle, she’s fine, and Master Theodore himself, Rothesandra, went to the Shore...he’ll be at the stadium in time for the afternoon, so you have nothing to worry about."

"I see."

Despite his answer, Edwin still looked stunned.

"You should get some rest too, Master, the match is coming up soon."

He nodded and ran the palm of his hand across his gaunt face. A sigh escaped through the fingers clamped over his mouth.

"By the way, Dana, she's quite talented, isn't she? How do you think she found Rothesandra, in that big forest?"

Stan smiled and shook his head.

"Tobias said she’s quite good with horses. She’s a clever kid, you saw that."

"Oh, don't say that. She’s so timid and unassertive, I think I've been too blind to see it. If she'd been more assertive, I'd have made her head maid in a heartbeat."

"How and when did she learn about horses, anyway?"

"Oh, that was probably thanks to Noah Miller, he taught her all sorts of things about horses. I'll have to tell him to teach the maids basic horse handling when he gets back...."

"Who?"

The sudden interruption made Rosi glance up. Master Edwin was leaning toward them, his eyes narrowed.

"...There's this kid, Noah Miller, who just became a trainer, and he's a friend of Dana's from back home, and apparently they've been getting along pretty well, and Dana's been learning from him about how to handle horses...."

"Yeah, I heard that."

Edwin interrupted. "Noah Miller," he repeated the name again, and again.

"Can you bring him in now?"

"What?"

"The trainer, Noah Miller."

"Uh... that's...."

Stan, who had been watching wordlessly, spoke up.

"Mr. Miller isn't here right now. He said he wanted to go home, and I gave him permission to stop by Balderport Harbor on the way and pick up a cargo, but he's been delayed and is waiting."

Edwin nodded slowly. Then, with an unreadable expression, he was lost in his own thoughts.

"Master?"

Edwin's blue eyes came back into focus.

"Uh, yeah. Anyway... Tell me as soon as Dana gets back."

"Yes, I will, and...."

Rosi looked back at Stan.

"There's a reward for this kind of thing, I guess?"

"Yes, I'm sure it's in the regulations. If the Master will allow me to...."

"Of course I'll give it to her."

Edwin smiled.

"Then I'll make it as a bonus on Dana's second half paycheck."

Stan and Rosi looked at each other and nodded. There was one person who didn't seem to be part of the warm air, and that was Liana.

After a moment of relief that Dana was safe, Liana was faced with a devastating realization.

She had lost her fiancé's mare, and in her quest to find it, she had made unreasonable demands of her handmaiden, which had put her in great danger.

The foolishness of Lady Hastings' behavior had now reached the ears of even the gatekeeper of Belvida.

Liana could hardly believe that no one else was concerned about it.

"Oh, and my lady."

A pair of dark eyes turned to the maid.

"Dana is going to take the rest of the day off, is that okay?"

Everyone was thinking Dana, Dana, Dana...

It was hard to hear any more, but Liana barely managed a smile before answering.

"Uh, yeah...sure."

Edwin, who had been standing by the window, leaned over and studied her complexion.

"Liana."

She hated hearing that sweet voice. The throbbing headache from earlier was getting worse.

"Later."

Liana pressed one hand to her temple and stretched out her other arm to block her brother's approach.

"Talk to you later."

Edwin skidded to a halt.

"Ugh, you've got a headache again, haven't you, My lady?"

Rosi interjected quickly. Her voice was clear, as if oblivious to the tense air between the siblings.

"I think you should go to your room and rest, and I'll take care of you."

"Will you?"

Liana leaned into the head maid's arm.

The shadows that held the helpless words together moved away from Edwin.

Edwin stood still, staring blankly into the void where his sister had left.

There was not the slightest sign of remorse or regret from Liana, and Edwin found it hard to understand her.

What had changed in her?

She's a different kind of person than Marcus. People of the Hastings family know right from wrong.

...Had he been too accommodating to her?

And yet, he wondered if he had been too hard on her.

"Yes, I'm disappointed, Liana.”

“I can't believe you've shown such a lack of judgment.”

"You should have come right back and asked for help. When you lost Rothesandra, you should have come right back here and told someone, anyone, instead of hiding it!”

He had never yelled at his sister like that. Their father had never been angry with her either, had he?

Perhaps if he had just calmed her down and talked to her calmly, she would have understood.

"Ha......."

Edwin sighed and shook his head.

****

"Are you in a lot of pain?"

Rosi asked worriedly as she arrived in the room with Liana.

"You should lie down for a while. I think you've developed a headache, and I bought some new painkillers earlier, so I'll bring you some of those."

"Okay, thanks."

Left alone, Liana flopped down on the bed.

This was strange.

Why did she feel like she was being taken advantage of?

They say the true con artists have the most innocent faces, and maybe Dana was one of them?

Liana groaned and pressed her hand to her forehead.

Grrr, something landed at her feet. It was Willow.

"...I can't even play with you, sorry."

She smiled weakly, reaching out to gently scratch the pup's ears. As she sat still, a thought flashed through her mind.

Oh, yes, there was a letter. Nicola Richter had asked her to deliver it to Dana.

Blinking and staring at the floor, Liana slowly pushed herself up and stood in front of the dresser.

Where did she put it?

Thud, she opened it from the top and stopped in the middle. A letter lay at the bottom of the flat ring box.

Liana pulled it out and stared at it for a long moment.

It must have been during her training as a handmaiden that her brother began to grow close to Dana. And Celeste must have been the one who watched her closest at the time.

And she sent Nicola to secretly deliver the letter?

What could it be about?

The question resurfaced.

Unlike before, Liana didn't hesitate and slashed the envelope with a knife. She slipped her hand into the opening and pulled out the letter.

[My dear Dana, how are you doing?]

The letter began with the usual greeting.

The letter was two pages long and not much else.

An apology and an excuse for leaving the Shore without telling her, and a suggestion that she should consider running a tea shop with her in the future.

Liana's eyes scanned the letter intently, and for a moment, a sigh escaped her lips.

Why am I doing this?

I'm snooping through her letter.

Liana squeezed her eyes shut and ran a hand through her hair.

She was about to toss the letter back into the drawer when a phrase caught her eye.

[P.S. I have a confession to make to you.]

Liana stretched her shaky hands and lifted the letter back up to her eye level.

[Actually, Master Theodore asked me to find out if you were pregnant before he went to Kreutz. That's why I thought you were pregnant with Master Edwin's child.

It's funny now how I could have made such a ridiculous assumption, but you had a bit of a... thing going on between the two masters, didn't you?

Of course I was going to protect you to the end, and if you were pregnant, I would have discussed it with you and tried to help, I mean it.

The reason I'm making this belated confession is to apologize to you, to be honest with you, and to show you how disillusioning it is to be a handmaiden...]

She couldn't read any further. Liana's fingers began to tremble, crumpling the letter into a ball.

Pregnant.

Between two masters......

Just two lines were enough. Liana's eyes glazed over. It was a raging fire that burned through her body.

****

It was a chilly morning. Along the quiet dirt road, a roofless servant's carriage drove diligently toward Belvida.

Tilly glanced down at the woman beside him.

Her hair neatly tied up and wrapped in a thick shawl, she was staring straight ahead, her hands clasped together. The anxiety was unbearable.

Please, nothing must happen.

There were countless noblemen who had made advances on their maids. Whether overtly or behind people’s backs, a pretty maid was the easiest and most plentiful prey for a rich man with nothing better to do.

And lust was usually the vehicle. Cheap lust for easy targets.

He thought his Master was the same way, so he lightly tried to help out, but something was going wrong, and it was going wrong fast.

He wonder what Mr. Nordstrom would say if he found out?

What if the Duke and Duchess of Macmilan found out?

Or what if Countess Hastings and Lady Liana found out before then?

Of course, some attendants were often in and out of gambling halls and brothels to keep their masters private. A nobleman having a little fun with his maid wasn’t a big deal.

The problem was that Master Theodore was getting off track.

Did he even realize it?

That he was completely distracted by the presence of that maid?

Tilly's mouth dropped open, unable to hold it in.

"We must hold our tongues for the time being. I repeat, you were not alone with Master Theodore last night."

The blue-gray pupils that had been staring straight ahead slowly turned to face Tilly.

The cold air flushed her nose and cheeks. The bright sunlight hit her face, brightening it.

Realizing he'd been staring at Dana a little blankly, Tilly blinked quickly to clear his eyes.

"You, you know very well... It's not good for a maid to be entangled with a nobleman, and if they catch you ...they’ll get rid of you, no questions asked. Do you understand?"

"...yes."

Watching Dana answer so obediently, Tilly tilted his head again.

Why does she look so calm and collected?

***

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