Chapter 137
#<Episode 137>
"Laura?"
Ian, panting with excitement, rushed to the bed. He grabbed Laura's shoulders and brought his face close to the patient's.
"Are you awake? Do you know who I am, Laura?"
Laura's eyes were unfocused. Her rapid breathing and the heat radiating from her body remained unchanged.
Tears welled up in his eyes again.
"Laura, I beg you. Tell me you can see me. Tell me who I am. Please."
He pleaded, choked with emotion. Unstoppable sobs escaped his lips.
Laura slowly blinked and moved her lips. Soon, a cracked voice emerged from between them.
"...Dad?"
Ian doubted his ears.
"What?"
She said, panting.
"...Dad..."
He lowered his head. Laura was delirious with Fever. To mistake him for Sheldon Teacher. He and Sheldon Teacher didn't resemble each other at all, from hair color to facial features.
He released Laura's shoulders to manage his flowing tears.
However, as soon as Ian let go, Laura grabbed his arm tightly. It was a strength that was hard to believe came from a patient.
Surprised, he looked back at Laura. The focus in Laura's eyes had become clear.
"Dad, don't go."
It was a clear voice.
"Stay by my side. Don't ever leave again."
Ian was overwhelmed by Laura's command. He knew it was delirium from the Fever, but he had no strength to resist Laura's command.
Naturally, he began to play the role Laura had assigned him.
"I won't go."
"Really?"
"Yes. I won't go. Dad won't go anywhere."
Laura's grip weakened. At the same time, a smile slowly bloomed across her face. An innocent smile. A laugh like a child.
Ian was very surprised.
He had occasionally tried to picture Laura as a girl in his mind. But he had repeatedly failed. The Laura he knew was a woman whose eyes were full of intelligence and spirit, whose voice had a noble dignity, and whose steps were calm and dignified with a steady pace. Laura Pendleton was more royal than royalty.
Had there been a time when Laura laughed innocently? A time when she stamped her feet and cried because an adult wouldn't let her eat sweets?
Knowing that no child is born knowing everything, he couldn't believe that Laura also had a childhood.
But now, that Laura was here. A childhood Laura, smiling purely like a baby angel.
"Why didn't you come to find me? Why did you leave me with Uncle?"
Laura mumbled in a voice full of resentment.
"I'm sorry. Dad was far away. I was teaching painting to a boy in a place called Whitefield in Yorkshire."
"You could have written a letter."
"I did. I sent over a hundred. The postman must have made a mistake."
Laura blinked, as if surprised.
"So, you weren't trying to abandon me?"
Ian soothed Laura with a natural tenderness, as if Louis Sheldon had come back to life.
"How could I abandon Laura? She's my most precious jewel. Dad was trying to save money to bring you back. To take you to Whitefield and live together. To stay by your side forever without ever being apart, until we die of old age."
Laura's eyes widened. Laura, who had been moving her lips as if surprised, soon trembled and hugged Ian tightly.
"I knew it. Dad wouldn't abandon me! Dad loves Laura. Dad is...!"
Laura burst into tears. Ian hugged Laura's sweat-soaked back tightly and patted it.
"That's right. Dad loves Laura. The most in the world. My precious daughter. A daughter I wouldn't trade for the whole world..."
At Ian's soft whisper, Laura cried and shouted.
"I waited for Dad... Every time Uncle Gerald hit me... Every time he called me a lying beggar... Dad, why did you come now! Why...!"
Ian felt like his throat was blocked. He knew that she had been treated harshly by her uncle, but he didn't know that she had been abused since she was a child.
He exclaimed passionately.
"I'm sorry, Laura. Dad will punish Uncle Gerald. Just like you were, I'll make him hurt so much that tears will stream down his face."
"Really? Will you avenge me just like I was?"
"Of course!"
Laura's crying subsided. She sniffled and asked.
"Will you call Uncle Gerald a rat stealing food?"
"Yes."
"Will you shout at him to get out of the living room because I don't want to see his face?"
"Of course."
"Will you throw an ashtray and make my head split open, and make me drink only water and be trapped in a dark nursery?"
He was speechless. He did that to a child? To a girl who wasn't even 10 years old?
His head became hot, as if he had caught Laura's Fever. He was a man who had already ended his life, but he wanted to rewind time and take revenge one more time. Much more persistently and cruelly.
This wasn't the end. Laura revealed all the wounds she had hidden deep in her heart. Various insults she had heard from her uncle, unfair accusations, beatings by servants on her uncle's orders, and insults to her parents that he brought up every time he fought with her grandmother.
The most extreme violence that a human being can inflict on another.
Ian was furious, horrified, and then became very sad. He would be so angry that his body would tremble even if an unknown child living in another country had suffered, but Laura, whom he loved so much that he would give his life for, had suffered. For several years in her childhood.
He did his best to comfort Laura. He repeatedly promised to repay Uncle Gerald in the same way for what Laura had suffered. No, he would punish him even more severely.
"Dad will make Uncle a beggar. He'll lose his house and land and be scattered from his family."
Laura, who had been clinging to Ian all along, moved her body slightly. Her face was swollen from crying so much and still red from the Fever, but in Ian's eyes, she looked unbearably lovely and pitiful.
"Really?"
"Of course. There's nothing Dad can't do."
Laura lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then said quietly.
"...Don't take the house. Leave the family as they are."
"You're going to let him off? Laura, do you want to let Uncle off?"
Laura shook her head.
"If the house disappears, where will Abigail Grandmother live? Grandmother loves Uncle, even though they always fight."
Ian's face looked like he was about to cry. He kissed the top of Laura's head.
"Good Laura. She didn't protect you properly."
Laura leaned her head on Ian's broad, solid shoulder. After complaining to her beloved father, Laura's face became quite peaceful.
"Dad, will you always protect me from now on?"
"Yes. I'll protect you."
"So that I'll never be sad again? So that no one will blame me?"
"Of course."
"Then promise me."
Laura held out her little finger. Ian hooked his little finger without hesitation. Laura wrapped her fingers around his and squeezed them tightly.
Ian smiled because Laura was so cute.
But suddenly, the smile disappeared from his face.
A promise to make sure she would never be sad again, that no one would blame her.
'Is that a promise I can keep even if we get married?'
He was Ian Dalton. The sole heir to the landed gentry, whose union with Laura would be opposed by the whole world.
He hesitated and asked.
"Laura... are you very afraid of the world's criticism?"
Laura nodded.
"Uncle said that Mom and Dad had an immoral union. Like the mating of beasts. So I'm just a child of beasts. I was branded from birth. People point fingers at that brand. I don't want to be hurt anymore. Dad, hide me from the world."
"...If that happens, will Laura be happy? If no one blames Laura?"
"Yes."
His lips trembled. His Adam's apple twitched and his breathing became rough. Droplets fell on the top of Laura's head.
Laura looked up. Ian's face was covered in tears.
"Dad, why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?"
He shook his head.
"No. It's just... it's been so long since I've seen Laura... I'm so glad... I'm happy..."
Laura raised her hand and wiped away the moisture.
"Don't cry. Don't cry."
He forced a smile.
"I won't cry. I won't cry because Laura told me not to."
He rubbed his face roughly with his sleeve.
"Laura, it's night now. What should a good child do at night?"
"Play puzzles and tag with Dad."
"You little rascal."
Ian pinched Laura's cheek lightly. Laura smiled and obediently lay down in bed.
"I'll sing you a lullaby. 'Greensleeves'."
"I like that song. Other lullabies are too scary."
"Now, let's close our eyes."
Laura closed her eyes obediently. He put his hand on Laura's stomach and patted it slowly.
[Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously
And I have loved you so long
Delighting in your company
Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves was my heart of gold
And who but my Lady Greensleeves]
Before the first verse was even over, Laura was breathing evenly and fell asleep. He put his hand on Laura's forehead. It was still hot, but the Fever was weaker than before.
He quietly looked down at Laura. A face sleeping without worry, as if protected by angels in a paradise designed by God.
Ian closed his eyes tightly.
He thought he knew enough about Laura. The story of her parents, the existence of her first love, her relationship with her uncle. But these were all superficial information.
He didn't see Laura's hidden wounds inside.
He didn't try to understand why she refused to unite with him so much, why she had no choice but to run away even though she loved him. He didn't realize Laura's heart, which didn't want to be hurt anymore.
A heart blinded by love was only filled with the desire to capture Laura's heart and keep her by his side.
'I was selfish. Arrogant, and only knew myself.'
He reflected on himself for the first time in his life. He had never had a problem with his personality, even though he had been criticized by many people, even his family, throughout his life.
He carefully arranged Laura's disheveled hair.
"I'll make sure you don't get hurt. So that the world can't point fingers at you..."
Ian smiled sadly.
"I'll give up making you Mrs. Dalton."
His smiling lips trembled. His heart collapsed again. He pressed his eyes tightly with both hands.
"So you have to be happy. My lovely Lady Greensleeves."
