Chapter 95
Isaac decided to start by helping Lady Pennon to her bedroom. He easily lifted Lady Pennon, who was smaller and thinner than Caroline, and climbed the stairs.
“……It seems the gathering was quite enjoyable. It’s the first time I’ve seen Grandmother smile……”
Worried that asking outright would be too forward, Isaac broached the subject as carefully as he could, but Lady Pennon was already half-asleep. Gaining nothing from the attempt, he saw the drowsy Lady Pennon to her bedroom before having to go back downstairs.
Somehow, he had a bad feeling. The fastest solution was to find Sasha. Isaac had come down to the first floor, but headed back up to the second, where their bedroom was. However, just before he could knock on the door, the head maid, who had been watching him with a blank face, approached him.
“Young master. My lady has just gone into the bathroom.”
At her words, Isaac stopped knocking. The head maid calmly continued.
“And your bedroom is the master bedroom over there starting today. I have already moved your belongings in advance. If you would enter the room and wait for my lady——”
“No.”
Isaac cut her off with a quick reply and escaped the spot.
It was late. It was nearly ten o’clock, so it was only right that Isaac, too, went into the bedroom to prepare for sleep. Yet the very thought made him unable to go near the second floor; he was wandering about instead. Having no other choice, Isaac headed back to the parlor he had just left.
Then, hearing a woman’s voice sharply leaking out from one of the rooms, he stopped in his tracks.
“She humiliated us! Goodness! The Count should have heard it right there in that seat. With an innocent expression and a ‘That is not the case, but,’ at the end of every sentence, she humiliated us by making us out to be pitiful wretches. Oh, of course. I suppose to a woman who grew up like a hothouse flower in the capital and always mingled with the wealthy, we must have looked shabby.”
“Violet, watch your tongue.”
Violet Hudson. Isaac easily recalled the widow, a relative on the side of Elizabeth, the Count’s first wife, just like the Works family. She had made such a commotion crying at Edmund’s funeral that, like it or not, she had been firmly imprinted in his memory.
“She is truly shameless. My Lord Count, please listen to me. I held a teaching position at a boarding school for thirty years. I know those haughty types of girls very well. They may seem kind at a glance, but they always look down on others inside. And she has no tact. My goodness. Is it because she really doesn’t know why my sister is dressed like this? It’s because of Edmund! It hasn’t even been a year since Edmund died! Of course, it’s almost been a year, but it hasn’t been a year yet.”
“Violet, enough.”
“And on top of that, she went on about how the wedding was like a funeral and how upset she was, whining and carrying on. Honestly, she said she’d hold another ceremony in the capital, so what was so important about the first ceremony that she had to act so shamelessly……”
“Violet.”
The voice trying to stop her was stubborn and more familiar. It was Mrs. Works, whom he ran into every time he was about to forget her.
Having realized who the protagonist of this story—echoing through the corridor as if for everyone to hear—was, Isaac could no longer simply pass by.
“My sister-in-law’s words may be somewhat excessive, but I too am a little concerned. To bring her into the family looking only at her household and dowry……”
“I did not receive a separate dowry. And you watch your words as well.”
At the Count’s rebuke, Mr. Works let out a blatant snort.
“Is it because she’s the daughter of a powerful, wealthy family? She puts on too many airs. She went on about how the wedding was too low-class, this and that, and even lectured me about my business. She said she’d rather start an imitation diamond business herself than invest in the pearl business.”
Mr. Works could not continue his words. With a heavy thud, the door opened without warning, and everyone inside turned to look. The hulking Isaac, as large as the door itself, filled the doorway and glared at them with dark, threatening eyes. Mr. Works swallowed the rest of what he was about to say.
No matter when he saw him, that frame was something he could never get used to.
“It seems everyone is enjoying themselves talking about my wife.”
Isaac spat out the words.
“You are speaking to the wrong people, all of you. Since it is talk about my wife, come and say it directly to me.”
Despite having just roared at the top of his lungs, Mrs. Hudson and Mr. Works merely stood side by side, rolling their eyes. Then Mr. Works mustered what courage he could and muttered,
“Marriage is a matter between families. So we should speak to the Count, the head of the household, first; this is……”
“Then all the more reason to come to me. I am the head of the household now.”
Isaac strode up to him as he spoke. Mr. Works gulped. Isaac was awkward to deal with in many ways. He had never imagined that the large lout who was always causing accidents would confront him so intimidatingly.
Mrs. Hudson also seemed especially frightened, as this was the first time she had seen Isaac like this. Only Mrs. Works remained calm. She alone looked at Isaac quietly with a composed face, as though observing him.
“What’s the big deal about hearing a few unpleasant words that you all crowd in at this late hour to tear into someone?”
Isaac said, looking around at them.
Mrs. Works spoke calmly.
“I’m sorry, Isaac. I accompanied my sister because she seemed especially startled.”
“So what I’m saying is, what is the big deal about hearing a few unpleasant words that she was so startled?”
Without even entertaining Mrs. Works’s words, Isaac viciously continued.
“I hit someone at her birthday party.”
He continued doggedly.
“Even though she tried to stop me, I ignored her and kept grabbing and beating the person.”
“……”
“So even if she whined and complained, what is that compared to this?”
Because he was speaking with such a serious face, no one could find a response.
As the atmosphere turned peculiar, the Count intervened. “Everyone, leave,” he said. Mrs. Works, as if she had been waiting only for those words, gathered her husband and Mrs. Hudson and left the room.
“I must receive a proper apology for this matter.”
After closing the door himself and turning around, the Count looked at Isaac, who spoke to him.
“This has crossed the line. With even Edmund dead, what reason do they have to be so deeply entangled with our family? Second cousins, maternal cousins—if you intend to bring up that damned blood relation.”
“Isaac.”
“I can endure it, but she cannot.”
The Count watched his son, who had grown much larger than himself, take a step toward him.
Isaac, who had shot up taller every year, fanning his half-brother’s jealousy regardless of his own will and threatening the other’s very will to survive, had before he knew it grown so far that he had truly come to threaten his own father.
“Don’t think of letting this pass carelessly as you did when I was young. This is an insult. I will make them apologize properly.”
“I have no intention of stopping you, Isaac. It is simply late, and everyone is drunk, so I sent them away for now.”
“……”
Only then did Isaac seem to calm down somewhat, releasing the tension he had been holding in his shoulders. He also unclenched his fist without realizing he had gripped it.
But his resentment toward the Count remained. It was an emotion that had been layered and stacked up over a long time, not merely from this incident. It was a condensed mass of all manner of grievances and sorrows that could not be replaced by the mere word resentment.
“Fine. I will handle it myself tomorrow, so do not interfere.”
“Very well.”
“I would appreciate it if you would simply keep your mouth shut and stay quiet. As you have always done.”
The Count, who had been answering Isaac’s testy words calmly, could not respond to what followed.
Regardless, Isaac burst out of the room.
＊＊＊
Having finished her bath and wearing a robe, Sasha was startled to see Isaac gloomily occupying one side of the bed as she entered the bedroom.
At first, she rubbed her eyes, wondering if she had seen wrong, but when Isaac glanced up at her, she finally smiled awkwardly with a look that said, So it was you.
“Your conversation went on for quite a while.”
Sasha spoke as she approached the bed. Isaac belatedly noticed the water dripping from her wet hair and the slightly precarious front of her robe, and quickly turned away. Then, staring at the wall for no reason, he spoke.
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Act out of character. Toward the people.”