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Chapter 54
“…Let’s go first.”
Without knowing what she had done wrong, Elisha followed Richard, who turned around while holding her.
Christian stared blankly at Richard and Elisha who were moving away, and belatedly his confident facade crumbled away.
Elisha looked back at Christian, and she snorted with satisfaction.
“Hmph, I hope he runs out of energy for being a show-off.”
“Don’t say such things so casually…!”
At the end of Elisha’s words, Richard, whose ears turned red, shouted.
Elisha refuted it, pouting.
“That bastard ignored my husband in front of me.”
“…”
“And what… I’m not lying…”
Elisha, who suddenly recalled Richard’s appearance that night, belatedly blushed and blurred the end of her speech.
Richard stared blankly at Elisha like that. At that moment, her childhood appearance overlapped with her current one.
With this small body, she stood up for him in front of others and fought against them when she was young.
That’s right, he fell in love with her like that.
One of the many appearances of her that he fell in love with.
A precious memory that shined among the faded ones.
‘You’re still strong, you’re still so lovely.’
So much that his heart throbbed.
Richard chuckled at Elisha’s unchangingly beautiful appearance and gently stroked her head.
“Yes, you did well.”
What?
At the sudden change of Richard’s attitude, Elisha tilted her head, but then laughed along with him. In any case, it felt good to hear him praise her.
Two friendly shadows stretched long under their feet.
Perhaps because the hunting festival schedule was hard, Elisha fell asleep as soon as she got on the carriage when they were returning to the Duke’s residence.
Richard placed her head on his shoulder so that she could sleep comfortably.
Then he gently wrapped his arms around her back. He took off his robe and put it on Elisha.
Thanks to his hard arms between the wall of the carriage and Elisha’s back acting as a cushion, Elisha did not wake up even when the carriage passed over the gravel.
Only the sound of Elisha’s even breathing, who was sleeping in the quiet carriage, resounded.
Richard looked quietly at Elisha, who was sleeping peacefully in his arms.
When he saw her sleeping peacefully in his arms, he felt a strange emotion welling up.
Sleeping comfortably in his arms meant that she trusted and relied on him that much.
The face that was asleep defenselessly, the sounds of light breathing, even the breath that tickled the nape of his neck was lovely.
Richard caressed her slender fingers as she slept, and kissed her forehead lightly.
Even then, he was careful that the delicate Elisha might break or wake up.
The time when Elisha was asleep was a precious time like a gift to him.
But that sweet gift-like time was quickly over.
“My Lord, we have arrived.”
Richard stopped daydreaming while the servant almost woke her up, leaving his regret behind.
But Elisha was still asleep as if she hadn’t heard the driver’s voice.
Richard suddenly thought of a way to extend the ‘gift-like time’, and then gently lifted Elisha.
As he got off the wagon with Elisha in his arms, the servants all at once tried to bow their heads and greet them but Richard spoke as low as possible, covering their voices.
“Quiet.”
When the servants saw Elisha sleeping in Richard’s arms, they quietly shut their mouths.
Richard went up to the bedroom holding Elisha.
He laid her down on the bed carefully so as not to wake her up, and as he got up and unwrapped the cravat, he saw a letter on the table. The maid, who was about to retreat, noticed Richard’s gaze and said in a low voice.
“This is a letter from Count Arden that came a while ago.”
Richard frowned at the name ‘Count Arden.’
The plan to change into comfortable clothes and lay next to Elisha and watch her asleep was a forgotten desire after hearing that name.
When the maid had finished speaking, she bowed at Richard and left the bedroom.
He approached the table and picked up the letter.
Unsurprisingly, the recipient of the letter was Elisha.
Richard’s gaze at the sender’s name became fierce.
[Ansel Arden.]
The man who arranged a place for Elisha to live after she divorced him and even prepared a place for her to leave.
In Richard’s eyes, he couldn’t be seen as friendly.
“Ansel is just a friend.”
Elisha said that Ansel was just a friend, but that was only Elisha’s thoughts.
It was unknown whether Ansel also saw Elisha as a friend, or whether Elisha would end up having a crush on him after the divorce.
Now, there was a strong connection between Elisha and himself called ‘a child’, but Richard was still uneasy.
What if Ansel loved Elisha, even though she had another man’s child?
Just thinking about it made his blood go cold. His heart was twisted.
He wanted to be the only man she could fully trust and depend on.
Richard barely put up with the fact that his hands were so tight that he almost crumpled the letter.
Elisha will be very disappointed with him if she finds out that he had touched the letter that had come for her.
But the curiosity was unbearable.
‘What is it about?’
Richard glared at the letter as if it were Ansel, eager to burn it with the light of his eyes. His hand unraveling the cravat was rough.
‘Should I just read it and burn it?’
And while he was having a serious conflict between curiosity and retaining Elisha’s trust.
“Ummm, Richard…?”
Elisha woke up and found Richard.
Richard found a way to legally solve his curiosity. He went to Elisha with the letter he was holding.
“Elisha, a letter came.”
Elisha received the letter, rubbing her still sleepy eyes.
Her eyes widened when she saw the sender’s name.
“Ansel? Looks like you arrived at the island today.”
“Let me open the letter for you.”
As if he had been waiting, Richard brought a knife over and cut off the corner of the envelope.
Elisha took out the letter and unfolded it. Richard got up from the bed pretending not to be interested, but his eyes were on the stationery that Elisha was holding. The stationery had a short text written in neat handwriting.
[Elisha. I have a long story to tell you. Will you have time tomorrow afternoon?]
Elisha tilted her head as if puzzled.
It was, of course, regrettable that she returned to the island without a proper explanation to him, who was waiting in Sorneti.
However, it was strange to describe it as a ‘long story.’
Rather than demanding an apology from her, he literally had a story to tell.
‘What’s going on?’
Anyway, there was no reason to refuse to meet him, since she already had the intention of meeting him and apologizing in person.
Elisha got up from bed intending to reply to Ansel.
Behind Elisha’s back, who was writing a reply, Richard’s expression as he looked at the letter was stiff.
The next afternoon, Agail, as usual, was assisting him in Richard’s office.
“It has to do with the glowstone mine that was discovered recently. Count Hallos has offered to work with us in order to incorporate the craftsmanship business.”
However, Richard didn’t respond.
He was just tapping on the desk with his index finger, with a face that was uncomfortable to be the witness of.
Just by looking at it, it was obvious that he was thinking about something else.
Agail coughed a bit and called for Richard.
“Sir, did you hear me?”
“…the Count Hallos wants to incorporate glowstone into his craftsmanship.”
Even though he didn’t seem to hear it, he did. Agail sighed and shut his mouth. However, looking at Richard’s expression aside from work, he must have been thinking differently.
“What should I say to Count Hallos?”
Richard did not answer Agail’s question this time. He continued to tap the desk with his index finger.
Agail, who had been waiting for a while, urged Richard.
“My Lord.”
At that moment, Richard’s finger stopped tapping the desk. He immediately got up from his chair.
Agail, startled by Richard’s sudden movement, took a step back, but Richard passed by him.
“Let’s think about it more.”
He left those words behind. Richard went out of his office and strode to Elisha’s room. Elisha and Ansel’s meeting was getting closer.
“Elisha.”
After knocking and waiting for a while, the door opened.
In the room, Elisha, who had almost finished her makeover, was sitting in front of the dressing table. As Richard approached, the busy maids naturally backed away.
Elisha was wearing the pale pink dress she had bought before the hunting festival. Seeing her like that, Richard’s expression hardened.
Elisha, who did not notice Richard’s expression, looked at him with puzzled eyes.
“What’s going on, Richard?”
Richard suddenly said, forgetting the proper excuse he had in mind while coming to Elisha’s room.
“Elisha. Why don’t you wear something other than that dress?”
“Uh?”
Elisha blinked with a puzzled expression.
‘Why did you leave your work suddenly and come here to tell me not to wear this dress?’
Elisha did not understand his intentions.
“Why? It doesn’t suit me?”
“Right.”
“Really…?”
“It’s not good. Rather than that one…”
Richard tried to make Elisha’s heart give up on the pale pink dress.
However, Elisha’s reaction was completely different from what he expected.
Elisha’s soft eyes shook, and tears began to rise in her big eyes.
She was already sad because she couldn’t eat properly because of morning sickness, but when he told her not to wear the dress she wanted, her sadness exploded.
Elisha burst into tears and glared at Richard.
“Elisha…?”
Richard, bewildered by Elisha’s sudden tears, called her, but the water had already been spilled.
“Why are you talking like that? Can’t you just say that it looks good and I look pretty?”
“Elisha, wait a min—”
“It’s something I won’t be able to wear once my belly starts to grow! I want to wear it now!”
“It’s not that, in fact…”
‘You look so pretty in that dress that I don’t want to show it to him.’
That was the reason.
Richard tried to be honest with his feelings belatedly, but Elisha, who was already crying, couldn’t hear the words.
“…It’s done. I don’t want to hear it. Get out.”
Eventually, Richard was kicked out of Elisha’s bedroom.
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