Chapter 88
88
88. The Still Strange Guest (2)
“Um… excuse me, is there something you need…?”
“……”
He didn’t respond to my words. He just kept looking at me with a burning gaze. Flustered, I gripped the broom handle tightly. What on earth is he doing?
As his gaze lingered, I couldn’t meet his eyes any longer and darted them around, when Ethan came inside. He strode closer and stopped in front of me. Then, he scanned me from head to toe before suddenly raising his hand and placing it on the crown of my head. After that, he brought his hand down to his chest as if measuring my height, repeated the action three times, and then started circling around me.
His stiff face and sharp eyes were somehow frightening. Tensing up, I cautiously watched him circle around me.
“Why, why are you doing this?”
“……”
He stopped in front of me again after circling me dizzyingly. Then, his stiff face, which had been staring at me for a long time, slowly began to relax. Soon, a smile formed.
“I was right after all.”
“Pardon?”
“I was half-expecting it. I never thought I’d see you again like this.”
Ethan smiled even brighter and suddenly spread his arms wide. His voice, filled with the same joy as his face, burst out urgently.
“It’s been a while, Paula.”
“……!”
H-How…
“How did you know?!”
I asked, startled. Ethan’s eyes widened as he welcomed me with open arms.
“Huh? I just recognized you. You haven’t changed much, and you’re still petite.”
He chuckled and touched the top of my head with his fingertips. His gesture, as if pointing out what was petite, and his mischievous face showed that his playfulness was still the same.
I blankly looked up at Ethan. I never thought he would recognize me. I was covering my face with bangs back then, and I thought he would have quickly forgotten about a maid who had worked for him for a short time.
“You cut your bangs.”
“Ah, yes. It just happened.”
I touched my shortened bangs. They had grown a bit and were swaying in front of my eyes.
“Weren’t you growing them out on purpose? To look unique.”
“I did grow them out on purpose, but not for that reason.”
Ethan laughed cheerfully at my firm rebuttal. His jokes were still the same.
“When did you come back? Vincent didn’t tell me.”
“Well… the master doesn’t know. It’s not that I came back.”
“It’s not that you came back? Then why are you here?”
“It’s a long story.”
It seemed like it would be a long and detailed story to explain everything. So, I just explained that I originally thought I was hired by another family, but somehow ended up here. Ethan looked like he didn’t understand what I was saying. It was a strange explanation now that I said it.
I was wondering where to start explaining, but eventually, I got annoyed and summed it up as ‘it just happened.’ Of course, Ethan still looked like he didn’t understand. However, instead of asking for another explanation, he took a step towards me. Still with his arms outstretched.
“First of all, I’m so glad to see you.”
“Pardon?”
His round, curved brown eyes clearly reflected me.
“I missed you, Nanny. No.”
“……”
“Paula.”
My real name, which I hadn’t heard in a long time.
Perhaps that’s why, the joy I had been trying so hard to hide surged from within.
“Me too. Ethan.”
We embraced each other, savoring the reunion.
“How have you been?”
“Thanks to Ethan’s help, I was able to hide and watch the situation. Then I went back to where I lived, but my father had passed away, so my sister and I wandered around looking for work and ended up here.”
“I didn’t know Paula had a sister. A younger brother?”
“A younger sister.”
“Is she here?”
“Yes. We were hired together.”
Ethan’s eyes sparkled, curious about who she was. I forced a smile and fidgeted with my hands. We don’t look alike much. There were many people who were curious about me after seeing Alicia’s face, but it was the first time someone was curious about my sister after seeing me. Feeling awkward, I couldn’t say anything, and Ethan didn’t ask any further.
“You must have gone through a lot.”
His large hand gently stroked my head. I felt strange at the gesture, as if he were treating me like a close younger sibling. His face, with a kind expression, was clearly different from his stiff face from just now. Not the Count who sacrificed his own flesh and blood, whom the maids feared, but the Ethan I knew.
He looked so comfortable now.
Who suffered more? I knew through the newspaper that his life had not been smooth after I left the mansion. The maids’ chattering also played a part.
I hadn’t lived an easy life either, but I couldn’t easily ask how he was doing because I felt like if I opened my mouth, we would end up talking about who was more miserable.
But the quick-witted Ethan noticed my inner thoughts.
“I’m fine.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your eyes are saying it.”
I think you cut your bangs well. Ethan reached out to my bangs, adding mischievously. I pushed his hand away with a sullen face. Don’t touch me. Even with my reaction, Ethan just smiled without even a hint of annoyance.
“How have you been?”
“As you heard. You even took my side earlier?”
“You heard?”
“A little. I was so touched I almost cried.”
“It wasn’t that much.”
It wasn’t. I firmly cut him off again.
“Ethan, you must have had a hard time too.”
“Not really?”
His answer was light. His smiling face was light too.
“You don’t have to force yourself to smile.”
“I have to smile. It’s all over, what’s the point of being depressed now?”
“Even if it’s over, I don’t think the pain will disappear. Or the sadness.”
“Do I look sad?”
“Yes.”
“Do I have the right to be? It’s all true.”
I shook my head. Don’t say that.
“I devoured all my flesh and blood and survived alone.”
“Ethan.”
“Paula. No matter how much I try to hide it with nice words, even if there are hidden circumstances, in the end, I directly dealt with my own flesh and blood. Devoured, that’s the perfect expression for me, right?”
“That’s not what Ethan wanted.”
“Do you really think so?”
He asked. His tone was still light, but the weight in his words was not light at all.
Instead of saying no, I stared at him intently. I knew he wasn’t asking me because he was really curious. I could see a festering wound in his smiling face.
“You know, Paula, what James did. It’s not something anyone can forgive. Even if it could be forgiven, I couldn’t forgive him.”
“……”
“Are you disappointed?”
“No.”
Again, my answer was firm. What was there to be disappointed about? It wasn’t my place to judge, and I had no intention of lecturing him. After all, I was an outsider, and I couldn’t share his pain.
I knew how precious his brothers were to him. It was arrogant of me to dare to fathom his feelings when he was driven to the brink to make the choice to reveal that existence within him.
But I knew he had a hard time. I had also lost my siblings before my eyes, so I could vaguely guess the pain.
“I’m not disappointed.”
“Really? I might be a different person than the Paula knew?”
“I never really knew you.”
“……”
“Well. I know you’re someone who smiles unpleasantly often and casually throws out cold words that scratch people’s insides.”
“Paula, that’s too much. Even I get hurt when I hear those words.”
Ethan put his hands on his chest and made a hurt expression. He wasn’t really hurt, he was just pretending. It seemed like his slyness had increased while I hadn’t seen him.
“Isn’t it?”
“In that case, you should say, ‘Ethan is still a kind person.’”
“I can’t lie.”
“Oh dear. The Paula I knew was a maid who was very good at lying. She would spit out lies like she was breathing, and I was secretly surprised.”
Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I gestured for him not to exaggerate, and he relaxed his expression and smiled.
“More than that, I heard you’re attending to Robert?”
“Do you know Robert?”
“Of course. He’s Violet’s son.”
“Violet’s son?!”
I was startled by the unexpected words. Ethan was also surprised by my shock and scratched his head, asking.
“You didn’t know?”
“Um… no…”
Oh my goodness. I never thought Violet would have a child. Now that I think about it… they do look alike. I thought there was something familiar about Robert whenever I saw him, but it was Violet.
Could he be Vincent’s son? But I immediately corrected my thoughts. I remembered hearing that Robert’s mother was very busy leading the family in place of his deceased father.
“How is Violet doing? No, when did she get married?”
“Not long after Paula left, she officially broke off her engagement with Vincent. Then she immediately married another nobleman. Marquis Marguerite was a bit hasty.”
“And Violet accepted?”
“She didn’t have the right to refuse.”
The broken engagement was also not what Violet wanted. Her last appearance, being dragged away crying, was still vivid. She must have spent every day in tears. I felt bad that she was forced into an unwanted marriage.
“But she lived well in her own way. Marquis Marguerite may be rigid, but he wouldn’t marry his daughter off to just anyone.”
“But, I heard she passed away.”
“You heard that too. It was a carriage accident. It was a tragic event. Now Violet has inherited her husband’s family and is managing it.”
Only then was my curiosity about the lady who was too busy to even find her son resolved. She was said to be so busy managing and leading everything in the family after her husband passed away that she didn’t even have time to come see her son. The Nanny had once worried that she was so busy that she didn’t even have time to sleep properly in bed, and was concerned that she might harm her health.
“But she’s doing well, so don’t worry.”
“Really?”
His smiling face seemed to say it was true, so I felt relieved. It might not be the life she wanted, but I hoped she was at least not unhappy.
“If Violet hears about Paula, she might make time to see you.”
“Please don’t.”
“Why? She’d be very happy.”
Honestly, it would be uncomfortable to meet again. My last encounter with her wasn’t good.
“If she’s doing well, that’s enough for me.”
“Did you two fight?”
“How could I dare to fight?”
“You fought.”
I don’t know what made him think that. I frowned and shook my head, but Ethan had already concluded that Violet and I had fought. No, will you please listen to me?
“Robert is a troublemaker because he resembles Violet, right?”
“He resembles Violet?”
“She was quite a tomboy.”
“I think I heard that too.”
“Robert is just like Violet. He’s just as stubborn.”
He easily gossiped because there was no one around. The walls have eyes and ears, you know? Hoping that those eyes and ears would convey this news to Violet, I didn’t stop him.
“It must not have been easy attending to him, but it seems like you’re doing well.”
“The master I used to serve wasn’t easy to deal with either.”
“Ahahaha. I see.”
Ethan nodded seriously.
