Episode 64
“There are things you should and shouldn’t say in front of a child.”
After her sharp retort, she took Damian’s hand and left. Only after the mother and son had gone did Lauren, who had been watching the commotion with a stiff expression, turn red and blue and lash out at Cedric.
“Are you out of your mind? To my guest? Go after her and apologize properly. Right now!”
“What’s wrong with a hen?”
It was the face of someone who failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. Flabbergasted, Lauren faltered.
“They’re prolific layers, and delicious.”
“…….”
“They’re my favorite bird.”
“You…….”
While Lauren stood there gaping, Cedric placed his hand on his reddened cheek. It was numb and stinging. They weren’t the eyes of someone forcing a smile—his gaze was genuinely furious and glaring, chillingly so.
“Isn’t she cute?”
It was impossible to tell whether he meant the hen was cute, or the woman who had slapped his cheek was cute. Lauren hunched her shoulders at the purple eyes that obsessively watched the spot where Rowena had left. It was a sight she had never seen in her life. Many women had approached him before, yet he had been a man who wouldn’t spare even a glance no matter how beautiful the woman. This was practically like…….
Feeling a sudden chill, Lauren warned him firmly.
“Not Diana.”
“Sister.”
“Other women are fine, but not Diana. If you’re going to defy me, leave my mansion this instant. Even if you don’t apologize…….”
“Surely, you aren’t projecting her onto dead Angela, are you?”
Cedric cut her off and asked abruptly. Lauren’s face turned deathly pale, her lips trembling.
“We agreed not to bring that up from the first day. Did you forget?”
“It’s too peculiar a fate to simply let pass. A face so alike they could be twins, and the Earl of Devonshire on top of that.”
“Cedric!”
“Damian probably—”
“Stop it! What if someone hears!”
Unable to bear another word, Lauren covered her younger brother’s mouth. Angela was her sore spot. She had been her most cherished niece, but when the family fell into ruin she became an orphan, and lost her life in an accident.
“If Diana…… no, if Rowena learns the truth, what do you think will happen? I imagine it would be chilling.”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“How could I? Sister.”
Cedric smiled, his eyes curving, and pulled down the hand covering his mouth.
“I’m simply asking you to help me.”
“……If this is a joke.”
“I’ve never once been joking. About anything.”
It started with curiosity. Setting aside the appearance so like his dead niece, who would have thought the woman renowned as the protagonist of a tragedy would be sitting pretty in a foreign countryside? And that too, in the house of the aunt of her former fiancé’s dead fiancée, betrothed since birth.
Come to think of it, it was truly a staggering place. Even if they scoured every mountain and beneath the sea, they would never find her. That was why he thought it was entertaining.
The more he thought about it, the more interesting a woman she was. Naturally, his gaze kept returning to her, and as he watched, he gradually fell for her.
“……Only for the time being.”
Faced with eyes that had no intention of backing down even an inch, Lauren finally raised the white flag.
“If Rowena sincerely pushes you away, give her up cleanly.”
“Of course.”
Cedric smiled and shrugged.
* * *
Afterward, Rowena went out of her way to avoid Cedric. Partly because she felt guilty for striking the younger brother of her benefactor, but also because she had no desire to apologize to a man who had behaved so rudely in front of her son.
Fortunately, Lauren did not blame her, and since Cedric was staying for research purposes, he gradually began to absent himself from meals.
In the mansion that had regained its peace, Rowena devoted herself to writing day and night. Never in her life had she been so absorbed in something; she didn’t put down her pen until late at night. As she neared the ending, she postponed spending time with Damian as well, locking herself entirely in her room to focus on her manuscript.
Having put off meals and outings again and again, Rowena finally put a period on the long journey.
“Finally…….”
When she wrote the word The End, dawn was already breaking. Since farming was in its off-season, no one in the mansion was awake at this early hour. Savoring the silence to her heart’s content, Rowena opened the window, looked out at the vast snowfield stretching before her, and stretched long and languidly.
It was the first time. The first time she had focused so completely on one thing and seen it through to the end. The first time she had made something whole and complete, through to the very last. She had done her best, and she felt she could accept the result, no matter how it turned out.
“That’s right.”
Her sentimentality lasted only a moment. With a sudden thought, she pushed back her chair and opened the door.
“There’s still today.”
Lauren had always brought meals to Rowena’s door, since she skipped every meal. The menu changed each time, but breakfast was always fresh eggs and freshly milked milk. Starting the day in good spirits, and waking up at regular hours—she owed it all to that.
Lauren had arranged it, yet there was always one person who rose while others slept, went to the barn to fetch eggs, and milked the cows. On the basket of fresh dairy products, there was always a card with a short, thoughtful message.
“It is an unusually cold morning. Dress warmly, and mind you don’t catch a cold.”
“The hen hatched four chicks today. I hope the energy of new life helps your writing go well today.”
“Flowers will bloom soon. I brought seedlings, so start your day with the scent of spring.”
The ever-changing messages always warmed Rowena’s heart. Today, she wanted to find out who it was and thank them properly.
Grabbing her coat and stepping outside, Rowena quickly headed toward the barn. She heard the chickens clamoring as if someone had just entered. It was the moment she opened the barn door with a delighted face at the sound of a presence.
“Hello—”
“…….”
Her bright, cheerful greeting trailed off into the ground. Rowena doubted her eyes. The person bending into the nest inside the barn and pulling out eggs was none other than Cedric. Beside him, Damian stood holding a basket.
“Why…… are you……?”
“Mom!”
Damian tossed the basket onto the straw before Rowena, who had frozen like a statue, and ran to her.
“What brings you outside? Did you finish writing?”
“Ah. Yes…… Damian.”
Rowena awkwardly hugged her son and nodded.
“Wow! I’m so excited! So you won’t be in your room anymore? You’ll be with me?”
“Of course. But…….”
Her gaze, which had been looking warmly at her son, gradually turned wary and shifted toward Cedric.
“Why are you here? With him?”
Before the man smiling with an inscrutable face, her mind felt paralyzed. Damian abruptly cut in between the two of them, a strange current flowing in the air.
“Cedric suggested it!”
“What?”
“Mom, to cheer you up, the two of us have been milking cows and fetching eggs from the nest every morning!”
“……Really?”
“Yeah! We were just about to go get eggs and milk.”
As if to back up those words, Cedric held out the eggs in his hands. Then he asked Rowena, who was blinking blankly.
“What are you doing?”
“Excuse me?”
“The basket.”
“Ah.”
Belatedly picking up the fallen basket, Rowena received the eggs. Having not exchanged a single word since slapping his cheek, it was awkward and uncomfortable. Unable to meet his eyes, she offered her thanks haltingly.
“Um…… thank you.”
“For what?”
“The eggs and milk. I really never imagined.”
“And isn’t there something else?”
“Something else?”
Rowena tilted her head in confusion, and Cedric added.
“The card.”
She had naturally assumed a maid working in the mansion had written them—the thoughtful content and the gentle penmanship. Her mouth hung open at the truth she had learned, and she belatedly raised her head.
The man was dressed comfortably like a farmer. It was a rough outfit unbecoming of a gentleman from a noble house, yet strangely, it suited him as if tailored. His platinum-blond hair was dyed red in the dawn light. Just as she thought the color was beautiful, he picked up the bucket he had placed in the corner.
“Let’s go.”
“Uh, where?”
“To milk the cow.”
“Ah. You don’t need to do that anymore. Thank you so much for the cards, eggs, and milk.”
Rowena bowed repeatedly to Cedric as he opened the barn door and brushed past her. But the answer that came back was unexpected.
“I didn’t know you were so selfish.”
“……Excuse me?”
“Did you think I was eating it alone? Other people have to eat too.”
“…….”
At Rowena standing blankly at the unexpected question, Cedric drove the nail in.
“Have you ever milked a cow?”
“Are you saying we should do it together now……”
“Well, your hands are so delicate, so it might be too much. If you’re scared, watch from the side.”
Cutting off Rowena’s words, Cedric strode out of the barn.
“Mom……?”
Her gratitude was short-lived. Damian looked up at Rowena, who clenched her fist tightly, and called out to her again.
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Really.”
They were words that ignited her pride. Taking Damian’s hand, Rowena came out of the barn and followed Cedric. Standing beside him as he took his place and was about to begin, Rowena ordered.
“Move aside.”
“What did you say?”
“I have more experience milking cows than you, so move aside.”
During the time she had lived in the valley, she had raised several chickens and goats. She hadn’t kept cows, but she had helped with work in her neighbor’s barn and milked cows directly in exchange for milk.
“Want to bet?”
Swiftly pushing Cedric aside, Rowena placed the bucket under the cow and began milking. Watching her from nearby, Cedric burst into a small laugh.
“Fine. Let’s do it. The winner gets their wish granted.”
Excited by the bet that had started out of nowhere, Damian bounced up and down.
“A bet? That sounds fun! I want to do it too! Me too!”