Ch#30
Back then, I had to call the doctor myself, no one visited me the entire time I lay there, and even after I recovered, I never heard a single word asking if I was okay.
But now, living as a maid, the master of this house called a doctor for me, stayed by my side watching over me, and told me to rest more deeply. He even said that if there was something I wanted to cry about, I should cry it out fully and eat heartily.
That if I kept living like this, good days would come—just hang in there a little longer...
Edel clutched the handkerchief Laslo had given her tightly.
*Yes, let's live diligently. Good days will surely come.*
Thinking that way made today seem like a really good day too. Because she had been treated more humanely than when she lived as the duchess.
That's why she smiled.
"Edel sister. Are you okay?"
*Spoils of war
*Duchess
Worried about her smiling broadly to herself, Daisy asked. And Edel smiled brightly, feeling better than she ever had.
"Yes. I'm very okay."
Truly written by Lemon Frog
After Edel, with her pale face, came to express her gratitude and left, Laslo sat at his desk deep in thought until late at night.
*Someone on the brink of death gets up and comes to say thank you first thing? What could she possibly be grateful for?*
Though Marsha was the one who had put Edel in that state, the root cause had been provided by him. He had thrown a fragile woman, raised solely as a noble, into maid work.
She couldn't possibly have forgotten that, so Laslo couldn't understand why she had come to express thanks.
*Do people raised as nobles stake their lives on etiquette or something?*
Even as he thought so cynically, recalling her clear eyes and composed demeanor made his chest feel stuffy somehow.
- 2 -
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The reason he had panicked was that he had no handkerchief in his trouser pocket or vest inner pocket.
*That Ailan guy really has impressive skills. He even made that woman smile.*
*Damn it, who would've thought I'd ever need a handkerchief!*
Always cool and sad-looking, when the woman burst into laughter, Laslo felt something burst inside him with a *pop*. He had no idea what it was.
In any case, while Ailan had made Edel smile, he had ruined her mood splendidly with nonsense like 'His Imperial Majesty's gift.'
There had been no malice, but he had inadvertently struck her most painful spot.
That had been fine, but he hadn't expected her to cry even more upon receiving the handkerchief.
Yet Edel had responded with the same grace and composure as always, lowering herself and considering his position.
Fortunately, there had been a handkerchief in the first desk drawer he opened. It looked shabby with creases from being folded, but rummaging elsewhere would have looked even worse, so he handed it over.
How pitiful she had looked, her slender shoulders trembling finely.
How could she do that?*
He had nearly hugged her.
He didn't believe in nobles' dignity or refinement at all. What was so great about making and following their own ridiculous rules among themselves?
It had truly been a close call.
However, Edel was different. She seemed to embody genuine, ingrained dignity without pretense.
When he was fifteen, he had once found and held a fawn caught in the rain in the mountains—never had he imagined feeling the same toward a grown woman.
Thus, standing before her made Laslo suddenly feel the scent of wind clinging to his body as fishy.
He had wanted to hold her tightly until she stopped crying and calmed down. Just like he had held that trembling fawn until the rain stopped.
*Even if it's hypocrisy, that's impressive. If it's not hypocrisy... it might make life even harder.*
*I'd be labeled a lecher if I did that to a woman.*
Recent investigation results related to the Lancaster Duke's treason lent more weight to the latter.
He knew well that nobles despised his appearance.
According to the testimony of the duke's steward captured while fleeing, Edel Lancaster had been nothing but an empty shell of a duchess. The duke's family, including his mistress, had all treated her as an outsider, and especially the duke's youngest daughters, around her age, had openly ignored her.
Crookedly cut hair and patchy beard, sun-tanned and wind-dried skin, massive build, scars on his exposed hands and forearms—not to mention his whole body...
As a child, he had been called somewhat handsome, but busy earning money left no time to care for his looks. That was how he had ended up like this.
Thus, he was always consciously mindful not to approach women or children carelessly.
"Yet she never showed any weakness. She was kind to the servants and faithfully carried out her duties. After she became the duchess, I even felt my life had become easier."
*And then shoving her out of the room right away—what was I thinking? Babbling strange words as 'comfort.'*
The steward had testified quite favorably about Edel, unlike his criticisms of the duke's children.
Through him, they confirmed she knew nothing of the duke's treason, not even the secret passages in the ducal castle.
It was fortunate, yet unfortunate.
His 'comforting' words were laughable too.
Of course a sick person should eat well and sleep deeply—what else? Telling her to go to her room, cry her fill, eat her fill, and sleep deeply, and calling that obvious advice an 'order.'
*It only made my heart more uneasy.*
That unease had peaked when Edel cried earlier.
Embarrassed by the resurfacing memory, Laslo buried his face in his hands.
The moment she shed tears upon hearing 'ordinarily,' sympathy welled up in him unwittingly.
Just looking at her life—from greedy count's daughter, to high society's flower, to old duke's second wife, to spoils of war, to now a maid—it was far from ordinary.
*At least she pulled herself together before meeting the Celestine Marchioness Dowager.*
He didn't know the extent of her desired 'ordinary,' but it was clear she had dreamed of a modest life.
Thus, he could understand why she cried.
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