Night of Eden 94

 Chapter 94

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He was silent for quite a long time. Her head filled with anxious thoughts and her chest heaved. If he kept pausing, she was going to scream,

"I was traveling."

The simple words instantly calmed down the boiling emotions.

"I was staying in the hotel across the street, and happened to overhear your story.”

Yes, it could have happened. It wasn't an improbable, impossible thing that could never happen.

In fact, the Lewis train station was a tourist attraction.

The steel-framed, glass-enclosed station was considered an architectural marvel, incorporating the latest construction techniques. The Astra Hotel, his "hotel across the street," was also always short of rooms due to the influx of tourists from all over the world.

Perhaps all of this was foreordained from the moment Dana put up the sign with the unique name "Salt Tea" in such a famous place.

But that wasn't adding up.

This was too good to be a coincidence. Besides, the newspaper he left as a clue. He himself had made it clear that he had come with a purpose.

"The president of the merchants' association keeps talking about you. He says there's someone who knows how to blend tea."

Tony Scott.

So Theodore was the 'great man' he was talking about.

But why?

"He said Mrs. Miller, and at first I thought it was someone else. Same name."

Mrs. Miller.

Dana didn't immediately recognize her title, and she flinched when he realized his gaze was fixed on the ring on her fourth finger. Slowly, her face began to heat up.

She waited for her racing pulse to subside, then slowly raised her eyes to his. She studied his complexion and expression very carefully, but to her surprise, she could read no emotion in Theodore's face.

His grave eyes were as if he were looking at a faded memory.

"And then I realized to myself, you left with the man you were to marry."

Her breath caught in her throat and her head dropped back to the floor.

During their first year in Angus, Noah had confided in her that he'd told Belvida that they'd left together. Dana had felt very strange at the time.

But now that she was wearing a wedding ring, it was clear that she left with the man she was going to marry.

How did he feel?

Dana wondered for the first time. She wanted to explain. She tried to explain that she didn't mean to leave, that Noah wasn't the one she'd promised to marry, but strangely, the words wouldn't come out of her mouth.

She felt what was the point of making excuses at this point. It was too late.

"I came here just to check, and you really were here yesterday."

...Yesterday?

"It was a bit of a shock."

His honest answer pushed the anxiety rising in Dana's chest away once more.

She knew the man in front of her well; he was not one to hide negative emotions, at least not in front of Dana herself.

If he looked calm, he must mean it.

Besides, it had been three years. What reason would he have to lie?

After the initial shock wore off, she noticed that he was showing signs of age. His face had changed a bit. A little leaner, maybe.

Still, the uneasiness didn't completely go away, so Dana fiddled with her ring and waited for his next words.

"I was going to say hello, but you seemed so busy and preoccupied, and as is the case with all tourism, I was pressed for time and schedule."

With that lighthearted comment, Dana was able to push the anxiety that had been building up to her stomach down to her ankles. Of course, it wasn't enough; she wished she could shake it off, once and for all.

"The newspaper... why did you leave it behind?"

Theodore blinked again. It was the same slow, cool thing as before, except this time his eyes took on an odd glow as his eyelids moved.

“Guess why I did that.”

The air currents around her tightened again, and the anxiety that had been stripped away instantly rose to her throat.

"Why do you think I did it?"

At the faintest hint of sarcasm, Dana quickly lost her nerve and reverted to Dana the Maid.

"I... have no... idea... why... you would... I have no idea...."

He stared at her narrowed brow and quivering lips for a moment, then smiled. This time it was a soft smile, warm again.

"I just wanted to let you know how I'm doing, you must have wondered once in your life... Ah, no?"

The last question caught her off guard, as if she'd just dipped her toes into a hot bath.

"Maybe it was just me."

His demeanor was off and on, and Dana found it hard to compose herself.

"You left me. I didn’t.”

His violently fluttering eyes darted downward, away from her. More shocking words followed, like a series of punches.

"I always wondered how you were living."

Her pulse quickened rapidly.

"Well, what's the point now, it's all in the past, isn't it?"

His eyes darted back to the ring, smiling. Dana felt like her heart was being pierced.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to blame you, to criticize you."

At the sudden softening of his tone, Dana lifted her disoriented eyes. Outside the window, the rain continued to pound down. In her mind, the words he'd spoken just moments before poured down like rain.

"You left me. I didn’t.”

"I always wondered how you were doing.”

A strange realization struck her, one she had never considered before.

Perhaps it was because they had spent the night together so abruptly. The revelation had been so shocking that Dana hadn't really explored Theodore's feelings. All she could think about was running away, and nothing he said made sense.

They'd known each other for less than a year. Theodore had spent most of that time despising and belittling her, and Dana had been busy running away, trying to avoid him any way she could.

It was Cupid's little joke.

She couldn't put her finger on the moment when those vicious feelings turned into a strange excitement, but something had started to change within a short period of time, less than a month.

Dana had never imagined that he would be sincere, that he would feel betrayed. She thought it was only impulses and twisted desires that were controlling him.

He would be shocked at first, but she knew he would get over it in a few days and forget it easily. Dana had no doubt that she would, too.

However, the aftermath was much more traumatic than she had anticipated.

She cried herself to sleep on the boat as it was leaving, and thought it would be the end, but it was the beginning.

The first year was particularly difficult: she was always depressed, and an unexplainable shade hung over her mind.

She could almost feel Dorothy and Noah sensing that something was wrong with her and keeping an eye on her.

The shadows in her mind began to disappear little by little from the moment the salt tea became famous among the townspeople.

Perhaps that was why she was more easily swayed by the idea of opening a tea shop.

In any case, she got over it. Theodore, at first glance, seems to have done the same. But he didn't seem to have moved on as cleanly as she had.

Theodore left the residue of his emotions behind, perhaps because, as he says, Dana dared to "leave first.”

Dana had lied to him that night, and in the end, she had abandoned him. The fact that she had abandoned him for a ‘lowly guy’ must have haunted him.

Why hadn't she thought of that?

His odd behavior in leaving the newspaper behind seemed to make sense.

Suddenly, she felt nervous.

"Uh... Master."

She opened her mouth to explain when the doorbell rang again.

"Mrs. Miller, how is your day going so far......."

A man opened the door and walked in, Mr. Bilbo from the Bilbo's restaurant across the street.

His wrinkled eyes narrowed in surprise as he recognized Theodore. Dana opened her mouth quickly.

"Uh... Mr. Bilbo, he's the young master of the Duke's family, where I worked as a maid many years ago."

It wasn't an exact description, but it didn't matter.

"He somehow heard of me on his travels and came to say hello, and it was from him that I learned to write... and from his maid...I learned how to make tea...."

The words "ducal family" were enough to make the eyes of an ordinary man like Bilbo widen. Fortunately, he nodded, "Alas, is that so?" without prying.

The Federation had been without titles for over half a century. There was no longer the need to bow down and use titles as they did on the mainland, but there was still a certain amount of respect and envy for the nobility, so Bilbo quickly removed his hat and bowed.

"Good day, my name is Fernandide Bilbo."

There was no need to introduce Bilbo to Theodore.

"Excuse me, Master, I'm going to speak with him for a moment."

Without waiting for an answer, Dana walked over to Bilbo, who glanced at Theodore and then smiled at Dana.

"Noah would be mad as hell if his wife was starving."

He set the plate he'd been holding at his side on the table.

"It's a freshly made meat pie. He said you liked it so much before, he ordered it specially for you before he left. No matter how busy you are, don't skip meals."

As he said this, he lifted the lid slightly and the savory smell of grease wafted out. Dana didn't smell anything.

“I don't know if that guy arrived safely. He looked like he was going to die right before he left. Well, it's only natural that he would feel empty both physically and mentally, being separated from his wife again.”

Bilbo frowned unnecessarily. Dana blushed awkwardly.

"Uh... Thank you, Mr. Bilbo. I'll eat well, and you're welcome to join the kitchen staff for tea soon."

"Very well, then, I'll be off."

Lifting his hat, Bilbo stole another glance at Theodore, then turned away.

Dana escorted him to the door. On her way out, she realized that Tilly had cleared away all the broken china.

When she turned back to Theodore, he was standing tall.

He had risen to his feet and was picking up his jacket.

"...Are you leaving?"

Theodore turned his head wordlessly to look down at her, a chill emanating from him that made Dana's heart sink.

"Yes..."

The words were unfinished. Instead of releasing the emotions, they seemed to build up.

The thought that they shouldn't part like this made her anxious.

"Uh... Master...."

She was going to tell him to have a cup of tea before leaving.

"I told you not to call me that."

His cold voice cut in like a knife.

Into her stunned and hardened heart, another voice, the one that had been branded long ago, penetrated.

"You will not call me Master from now on.”

"You are no longer a maid. This is the land of the free and equal."

Dana's mouth fell open soundlessly.

"Then... if you could tell me... what should I call you..."

The sound of a jacket being pulled on, cutting the air.

"Well, I don't know, you decide. You've come all the way to this faraway land of the free to escape me."

....What?

He was fully dressed.

Dana wished he would just disappear out of sight. Part of her was desperately screaming that she shouldn't let him go like this, that she had to hold onto him somehow.

"Uh, Master, no...."

She stammered, deciding to leave out the name.

"Uh...."

She took a deep breath and let it out with a sharp intake.

"I'm sorry."

Theodore spun around and stopped. The chill that radiated from him made Dana flinch again.

"Sorry?"

The question sent a shiver down her spine, but she didn't have time to argue. Dana blurted out frantically.

"That... that day... that I just left without telling you... I... I regret it, now that I think about it... I guess I wasn't thinking straight.... It was natural for Master to feel betrayed, but... I didn't think of it that far...."

"Betrayed."

The single word traveled around the empty teahouse and into Dana's eardrums.

"...Betrayed."

He echoed coldly once more, staring at Dana who had became a frozen statue.

Dana clasped her trembling hands together and slowly tried to recall what she had done wrong, what mistakes she had made. But she couldn't think clearly, her mind was in turmoil.

"Well, then, Dana, good luck with your future."

A pair of bleary eyes snapped up at him.

"You said you were sorry."

Dana fidgeted. She thought she'd hardened her heart, but she was mistaken.

"I hope you can properly show me how sorry you are. I'll be looking forward to it."

Theodore turned and walked away. His cold steps moved away quickly.

With a clang, the door echoed as sharply as it had when he'd first walked through it.

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