Chapter 33
It was dinner time.
Elisha was going downstairs to the dining room with a very serious look on her face.
‘Richard, it seemed like you were trying to ignore me earlier.”
She understood how he felt.
It was embarrassing to spend the night with someone whom you thought of as a friend and family for 8 years, so he was probably ashamed at how impulsive they had both been.
Furthermore, he was someone who went as far as rejecting all the women Albert sent because he didn’t want a child.
‘He probably wants to pretend that nothing happened.’
Elisha, too, wanted to pretend that nothing happened. She only thought of it as a passionate one-night fling.
But even so, they had known each other for 8 years- of course, they lived apart and only communicated through letters for a good portion of that time- and when she saw how hard he was trying to avoid her, she made up her mind.
‘Let’s just say that it was an accident. It’s something that can happen between a married couple anyway.’
Even if they were a soon-to-be-divorced couple.
Elisha was desperate to get rid of this awkwardness between her and Richard.
They didn’t have a lot of time left together, so if they were to end their relationship like this, she felt that it wouldn’t feel good for either of the parties.
However, by the time she had actually reached the dining room, her heart was beating rapidly.
It was because whenever she thought of facing him, she kept remembering what happened on that night. She needed time to settle her heart.
Elisha called Grayson, who was about to open the door to the dining room, in a hurry.
“G- Grayson, wait.”
“Yes?”
However, by that time, it was already too late and the doors to the dining room had already opened.
But as if her nervousness had been all for nothing, Richard was not in the dining room.
‘Is he not here yet?’
Elisha sat at the table first and waited for Richard.
A moment later, the servants gave her her food and tableware and went away. At his spot, there was no tableware.
“Grayson, is His Excellency not coming to eat?”
“Oh, it seems that I forgot to tell you.”
Grayson put on an apologetic face and continued with his explanation.
“In the infected land, there are many creatures that have an evil aura. It’s said that occasionally, a weak person can get infected with this evil aura. So for the time being, he said that it would be best if he dined separately from you.”
Elisha didn’t doubt Grayson’s words. But for some reason, the timing seemed off, and her suspicions towards Richard did not go away.
“Alright.”
It was only then that Elisha started to eat.
In his office, Richard had already finished his meal and was working on some of his territorial duties before he officially left for the day.
At that moment, a knock resounded at the door.
“Richard. Are you here?”
It was Elisha’s voice.
At first, his heart started to beat instinctively when he heard her clear voice, but when he remembered that he was unable to go to her, his heart sank down again.
Richard put down the document that he had been reviewing and answered her.
“Is something the matter?”
“I just wanted to talk to you about something. Are you busy?”
“It’s okay. You can speak.”
If he had his way, he would be talking to her face to face, but when he thought about the possibility of her getting infected with the black aura, he immediately backed down.
Instead, he stood close to the door. Even if it only made a minimal difference, he wanted to get closer to her voice.
Elisha glanced at the door that didn’t open, and after a small pause, she started to speak.
“Um, it’s about what happened on that night…… .”
Richard, who had been walking towards the door, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
This was the topic that he had so desperately wanted to talk to her about before he had to go to the infected land, but he didn’t expect Elisha to bring up the topic first.
At the topic of ‘that night,’ the tip of Richard’s ears bloomed a brilliant red.
But at Elisha’s next words, his heart crashed to the ground.
“It seemed like you were rather bothered by that incident.”
“… … .”
“What happened on that night…… just think of it as an accident. We’re a married couple anyway, so it’s not like it’ll pose a problem or anything…… .”
At Elisha’s words, Richard’s eyes became icy.
Accident? Married couple?
Was she really saying that what happened that night was only an accident that could happen because they were a married couple?
Was that night something that she could blow off so easily? Elisha.
“So just pretend that it never happened and don’t take it to heart-”
Before Elisha could finish speaking, Richard threw open the office door.
Elisha, who had been talking from outside the door, stared up at him in shock.
When she looked into Richard’s eyes, they were colder than anything she had seen before.
“I don’t have any plans to do that.”
It was only then that Richard realized that he had firmly cut off Elisha’s sentence and stopped talking.
Then, he started to close the door and spoke.
“…… Just go back, Elisha. It’s dangerous for me to go near you, so don’t come here for now.”
From beyond the door, Elisha stood speechless. Because she didn’t answer, he didn’t know whether she understood his words.
She replied to his words a beat late.
“Then…… Sleep well, Richard.”
Her footsteps grew fainter until he wasn’t able to hear them anymore.
It was only then that Richard let out a breath that he had been holding in, and he swept his hair up in frustration.
The moment he had met those surprised, bright eyes, the cold feelings he had previously harbored towards the indifferent Elisha vanished in a blink of an eye. As if it had never been there to begin with.
In front of her, he was like snow that was left out in the sun, and he found this laughable.
“You pathetic man……”
Even now, all he could think about was Elisha, who he just met after a few days.
She was so cruel to him.
3 days later, the members of the Rubelin Dukedom set off, as ordered by Richard.
Richard got onto a different carriage from Elisha.
When Elisha saw what Richard was doing, she suddenly remembered what he had told her a few days earlier.
‘I don’t have any plans to do that.’
As soon as she had heard those words, she had thought, ‘Maybe……?’, but that thought was only there for a moment.
When she saw Richard’s cold face and felt cold gusts of air radiating off of him, it seemed like he felt pity for himself rather than what she had thought.
‘Anyway, even though he’s the head of the villain’s family, he’s a strangely moral person.’
She did like that part of him, but she felt sorry that he had to spend so much time and energy over nothing.
‘Because…… we’re going to divorce soon anyway.’
The reason why Elisha was going on this trip was because of Richard’s orders, but it was more importantly because of the divorce preparations.
Elisha planned to bring up the divorce when they arrived, and she set off while thinking that she would get a cottage with Ansel.
She was feeling a little sad about the divorce, so she was glad that she would be able to leave Rubelin for the warmer south.
But as time passed, the journey became more and more painful.
‘I’m so nauseous……’
At first, she spent the time reading a book or playing cards with Anne.
But after 15 days had passed and it was around the time for Acaroa, she began to become more nauseous and fatigued.
On top of that, she caught a cold, so even when she was covered with a fur blanket, she shook with cold.
Anne looked worriedly at the sick Elisha.
“My lady, should I tell them to go on after resting for a bit?”
“No, don’t do that. It’ll be fine if I sleep.”
Elisha stopped Anne who was about to tell Richard. She didn’t want to delay the journey just because of her.
But disregarding Elisha’s words, as soon as she fell asleep, Anne went to tell Richard.
As soon as he heard Anne’s words, Richard stopped the carriage and rushed over to Elisha’s carriage.
‘It’s been almost a month, so the black aura should have dissipated by now.’
Richard checked Elisha’s condition with worried eyes.
Perhaps it was because she was nauseous from motion sickness, but her complexion was quite pale. When he touched her forehead, she also had a faint fever.
He wanted a doctor to check over Elisha at that very moment, but the closest village was 4 hours away. It would be more strenuous for the sick Elisha to go back.
Richard wrinkled his forehead and called for Agail.
“We’ll be staying here today, so start the preparations.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
The people from the Rubelin Dukedom set up a tent on the road and prepared a campsite.
Richard held the sleeping Elisha in his arms and laid her down in a bed inside the tent.
Awakened by the sounds, Elisha weakly opened her eyes.
“…… Richard?”
“You should have told me. That you wanted to rest a bit before we continue.”
“I’m constantly nauseous, so I can’t just keep saying that I want to rest. I’m fine.”
Elisha insisted that she was fine, but Richard didn’t look very happy.
Richard was about to say something when they heard Anne’s voice from outside the tent.
“My lady, I brought you your meal.”
“Come in.”
Anne approached Elisha with a tray with a piece of bread and potage.
Elisha tried to get up to eat, but as soon as she got up, her face grew pale.
This was a potage that she enjoyed just prior to setting off for this journey. But for the past few days, she found that she had no appetite, and today the food seemed repulsive.
Richard, who saw the pale Elisha, looked at her with questioning eyes.
“Elisha?”
“I’m fin…… Blergh!”
She had tried her best to laugh it off, but in the end, she was unable to fight off the nausea, and she bolted out of the tent.