Chapter 017: Uninvited Guest and Uninvited Guest
For a woman to be that proactive. He clicked his tongue inwardly. Still, well, it wasn’t bad. However, there was one thing that did not sit right with him.
“By the way, Leah.”
When Alexis called her, Leah was startled. Leah quickly bent her body and scurried before Alexis.
“Yes, Lord Alexis.”
“No matter how comfortably Roanne treats you.”
His voice echoed chillingly.
“I have never heard of a maid who sleeps while her master is working.”
“Th-That is……”
Leah’s body trembled violently.
“Did you work like this in the main building as well?”
The coldness in Alexis’s voice grew even more intense.
“I’m sure that couldn’t have been the case?”
“N-No! Lord Alexis, I……”
At that moment, Roanne jumped up.
“What are you doing, really!”
At Roanne’s hurried cry, Alexis turned to look at her.
“We decided to take turns resting among ourselves!”
Roanne, who had been docile—or rather, full of sleep—until just a moment ago, shouted at Alexis as if rebelling.
“That’s how we distributed it between us!”
Though I couldn’t sleep at all because of you.
Roanne wailed inwardly.
‘I wanted to sleep too!’
Alexis pondered for a moment and tapped the table with his fingertip.
“Even if that is the case—”
“Agh, enough! I told you we decided it ourselves, geez!”
And then, she blurted out words she shouldn’t have said after that.
“If you’re that concerned, why don’t you come and help with some of the work!”
In that instant, Alexis’s finger, which had been tapping the table, stopped dead as if by magic. Looking at his suddenly stiffened face, Roanne felt her sleepiness vanish in a flash.
‘Gosh, I must be crazy.’
To tell the young master of a prestigious noble family to help with labor in the annex. Isn’t that man going to fly into a great rage?
Feeling all her efforts to stay in his good graces thus far going up in smoke, Roanne squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Oh boy, I’m twisting my own fate.’
Nonsense tends to come out when one is this sleepy. Should she apologize quickly even now? Would he let it go if she begged and apologized? It was at the moment Roanne was agonizing.
“Madam! I have arrived!”
Suddenly, with the sound of a knock and without giving a chance to answer, the door burst open. Along with a boisterous voice, a chuckling sound was heard.
“Do you know what I brought today? Today, Madam and Leah can feast on a very splendid dinner!”
The voice of a familiar man grew closer.
“Of course, I will also join—”
The man who had barged in with a full smile on his face shut his mouth in that instant. Roanne squeezed her eyes shut, and Leah became stiff as a stone.
“L-Lord Alexis……”
The items filled in the paper basket poured out with a clatter. Fresh meat, spices, wine, and rare fruits rolled across the floor.
He slowly turned his head and looked at the intruder. In those eyes lingered a silence deeper than a frozen lake.
“I see everything here.”
The chill contained in the low-echoing voice.
“Butler.”
Gasp! At that moment, Roanne literally wanted to faint.
* * *
“Th-This is truly a misunderstanding!”
At Alexis’s attitude that seemed ready to freeze everyone around him, the butler nearly knelt before him without a moment’s hesitation.
“It is a great misunderstanding, Lord Alexis!”
“Is that so?”
One side of Alexis’s mouth curled up crookedly.
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?”
“Just everything……”
The butler could not continue his words properly, as if his tongue were frozen. However, feeling the chill in Alexis’s eyes as he looked down at him, he struggled to open his mouth somehow.
“It is all a misunderstanding!”
“So.”
Alexis’s voice echoed lowly.
“What exactly is the misunderstanding.”
The butler and Leah were shivering like dogs caught in the rain as if they couldn’t endure it. In the midst of that, the butler slightly raised his eyes and looked at Roanne as if pleading. In fact, even Roanne found the current Alexis difficult to handle. Nevertheless.
‘Ugh.’
She couldn’t just leave those two terrified like that. Left with no choice, Roanne stepped forward.
“Seriously, what are you thinking, you.”
In that instant, Alexis’s sharp purple eyes turned toward Roanne.
‘Eek!’
Did I step forward for nothing? She shrunk back unknowingly, but once she had stepped up, she couldn’t cowardly back away.
“Just have some dinner.”
Come to think of it, this man seemed to have eaten the simple dishes she prepared quite well. Or was it just that he drank the broth for a hangover and left? Roanne couldn’t be sure. But for now, she needed to soothe him.
“You’re going to eat before you go, right?”
“…….”
Alexis was silent.
“Eat and then go, Alexis.”
“……!”
At the very least, the chill had faltered compared to before. Sensing this was the moment, Roanne hurried to speak to the trembling Leah and the butler.
“What are you doing, Leah? And Butler! Come and help prepare the meal!”
She had to let them escape from this situation quickly. As soon as Roanne’s words fell, the butler and Leah rushed to the kitchen to work—or rather, to flee.
“If you sit leisurely in the living room and have a cup of tea, we will quickly prepare a delicious dinner for you.”
Roanne gently coaxed him and led him away from the dining table. Alexis stood up as Roanne instructed without a word, but he glared toward the butler before leaving the kitchen.
“Please sit comfortably on the sofa for a moment and rest leisurely.”
‘Stop it already, you too, just stop!’
Roanne swallowed her annoyance and sat Alexis on the living room sofa almost by force, smiling brightly.
Was it because of Roanne’s strangely familiar attitude? Surprisingly, Alexis sat quietly on the sofa just as Roanne told him. What followed goes without saying.
The mealtime was an ordeal throughout. Alexis finished his meal in silence, and the butler disappeared as if fleeing, trembling so much he couldn’t even eat properly. Leah gulped down only water, looking as if she would get indigestion.
‘My precious dinner time…….’
Wasn’t it Roanne’s greatest joy to enjoy a hearty and delicious dinner and go to sleep while patting her full stomach? However, Roanne also couldn’t show any sign of it and just hoped the uncomfortable meal would end quickly.
“Get home safely.”
After finishing the meal, Roanne hurried to see Alexis off. Standing at the annex doorway for a moment, Alexis stared blankly at Roanne. Roanne tilted her head.
“Go and get plenty of rest. You’ve barely recovered, so you shouldn’t overexert yourself yet.”
I know well how much a beating ruins one’s health. Roanne thought to herself. Alexis stared at Roanne in silence, then suddenly turned his body. He disappeared with thumping footsteps into the darkness. Only then did Roanne exhale a sigh of relief and enter the annex while yawning broadly.
‘I should quickly get the sleep I’ve been missing.’
Furthermore, Roanne clutched her throbbing head whenever she dealt with that man.
Because of some intense energy, an unknown aura, her whole body felt pained. Had she not fainted because of it even at the wedding? The energy radiating from that man’s entire body would sometimes billow as if it could be grasped, spreading as if to swallow her whole.
‘I suppose this is all because I’ve come to a strange world.’
Roanne stretched and quickly went into her room. She felt she could fall asleep tonight without even dreaming.
Meanwhile, Alexis, who was walking toward the main building, came to a sudden halt at one point. Then, he abruptly turned around.
The annex looked faint amidst the darkness that had already settled. For some reason, Alexis couldn’t move his steps toward the main building any further and hovered near there for a while.
The feeling was strange. Normally, Roanne was his rightful wife who should have spent their newlywed life with him in the main building. Normally, the annex was a place filled only with terrible and sad memories for him. Yet, why was he feeling this way now?
“…….”
I’ve become strange.
Alexis thought. It’s because of those brothers from the Eden family. He felt he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he took revenge on them. To be shown in such a miserably injured state.
Suddenly he felt so angry he couldn’t stand it. Alexis bit his lip hard and clenched his two fists. You bastards, just wait and see.
* * *
Peaceful and quiet time flowed from then on. For a while, Alexis did not visit the annex, and Roanne, along with Leah, was diligently tending the fields and saving money as before.
The faint scent of broth lingered in the annex kitchen. The floor was wiped squeaky clean, and herbs Roanne had grown herself were lined up by the window. Roanne, who was looking out the window while drinking a cup of warm tea, turned her head toward the butler who entered after knocking carefully.
“It’s been a while, Butler.”
At those words, the butler let out a sigh with a face that looked like skin and bones.
