♦Chapter 83: Obvious Signs♦
[]Third Person's POV []
"Hey, do you still remember?"
The maid that seemed to have been a long-time, close servant to the woman with the lavender hair that sat straight on her bed, quickly responded to the person's statement.
"What might you be talking about, Lady Olivia?"
While the woman continuously stared at one of the windows as if it has become her habit, she replied.
"Would you happen to remember the pet hamster that my parents gave me as a present?"
"......I do remember. If my memory serves me right, the previous masters gifted it to you so you wouldn't feel lonely when you get bedridden again back in the day.", the servant hesitantly answered.
"But it died right?"
"Well-"
An awkward silence has befallen, followed by a somewhat heavy atmosphere. Nonetheless, it didn't take that long before the conversation could continue again.
"Before it became my pet, I have read in a book that hamsters tend to get stressed easily, leading it to die. That's why, I tried to be careful, but..."
"In the end, it still died."
Afterward, she finally faced her head and attention toward the handmaiden that she exchanged topics with.
"Why do you think did that happen?"
The question made the attendant feel chills down by her spine, for some reason. And as a cold sweat billowed down her left cheek, she felt nervous and that became the main cause of her to remain speechless although it might've been not the best response to the person that kept staring at her right now as if she was waiting for an answer.
The Marchioness' mouth slowly opened and spoke.
"It's because it was trapped in a cage."
"It wanted to live the way it was supposed to be. It wanted to escape from its cage so it could feel what the others experienced, without the chains that pulled it away from its normal habitat."
"We were too similar. That hamster...... and me."
The maid lifted her head with a particular face at the pitiful sight of the lady whom she served for so many years already. She wavered soon after she heard her spilling out her thoughts when this has never happened before. She sympathized with her at the thought that her emotions were clearly unstable at the moment, to the point that this would happen.
"Milady..."
"But, it's strange.", Olivia continued.
"Right now, I am quite pleased of the fact that I'm locked inside the cage."
With a forced smile, she uttered as if she was trying to change her opinion about things positively and more precisely.
"Perhaps, the cage wasn't a bad place all along. Perhaps, it was meant to be a shield!"
"A shelter to protect myself from the threats around me."
The maid narrowed her eyes, being pained just by watching her master's figure right now. To her who had watched over the Marchioness ever since the person was but an infant, she felt like baring her fangs toward the current head of the house so that she could do something for her. However, she knew her limits and was quite aware of the fact that the lady still loved that person even then. Thus, she clenched her hands tightly from her frustrated emotions.
Still, the catastrophe continued not so long after the Marchioness managed to shut herself inside her room, for years.
In the midst of learning the fact that his husband brought a small girl whose appearance was identical to him, into the mansion one morning, she began to feel nauseous after swallowing a spoonful of her breakfast. Her face soon went pale as she felt like throwing up during the time.
The servants quickly moved in a good pace and managed to make it in time before the she could actually spit up and taint the bed. Meanwhile, one of those that took action has gone to call for a physician, to see whether their master was suffering from an illness again.
When they all worriedly thought that it had something to do with how weak her body was, just like how it usually has been, an unexpected result awaited them.
"Congratulations Milady!"
From this moment, Olivia started to have doubts, seeing how she acted before being diagnosed by the physician.
"......What?"
"You are pregnant, Lady Olivia!"
There was a clear change among the handmaiden's faces. They all wore a cheered expression and offered a congratulation to their master, in a flash. On the other hand, the Marchioness' face was filled with despair after the message reached her ears.
She was certain that she never left her room for once except for the times that she needed to use the restroom. She even does bathes in her room, naturally, although it might've been a large work to her attendants' perspective.
So then, why...?
The answer was very obvious.
Although it was bad for her health and she knew of that fact, she forced herself to drink bottles of liquor these days, out of curiosity and insanity due to the stress whose very root was the same child that came into the mansion recently. The worst part was that it was a bunch of strong alcoholic drinks.
Anyone could guess the following events. The means of being completely drunk defines that one would never be able to think straight about the consequences of his or her actions, until the status thoroughly fades away when several requirements were met.
In Olivia's case, she did something improper with a someone, most likely, the night before the day, and currently doesn't have a recollection of anything related to that. At a situation where she doesn't even know who she did it with while she is already married to another man, she can only feel distressed.
She was touched by a stranger before she could even get to give her first to her husband. From that misfortune, she shed her tears, at last, and cried while she yelled as much as she wanted. Out of all the unlucky events that she's encountered, that was the most painful to her heart that it totally caused herself to get broken. She deeply vowed to curse whoever made this happen to her; To the her who was already hurt by the fact that she couldn't live a normal life since her innocent days of childhood.
In a blink of an eye, Olivia found herself sitting across her husband's sight.
"Let me make this clear to you. That thing in your womb isn't my child."
"......"
There was no response. The only thing that could be seen from the woman in front of his eyes right now was a lifeless pair of gazes that seemed to have given up on everything that she had.
"Truthfully, I feel disgusted of you. To think that you would do something indecent behind my back. Don't you have any shame?", the red-haired man uttered with no hard feelings on his words.
If Olivia was still conscious of things at present, she would've reacted to this immediately. Specially, because the man before her this moment also committed the same act as her, years before. However, she no longer cared of everything that she would either hear or witness from that point.
If the other person were to concern himself over the conversation more deeply, he would think that he was pointlessly spouting statements toward a living corpse right now.
"That being the case, it'd be a disgrace to my honor if word comes out that the child doesn't carry my blood. That's why be sure to shut your mouth if you don't want me to go with the last resort."
"Staining my hands with your blood doesn't benefit me that much either."
There was no fear reflected on his wife's expression. To be frank, it was seeking for death deep inside while her soul was tired of living anyway.
Nonetheless, he did nothing but ignore that like his wife didn't have the obligation to gain his interest at all sorts of matters that bothered her. And now, as if he was being the lowest scum, he turned his back at her and went straight ahead to the door.
"Just in case, when that filthy thing gets born, pick less than six servants to assist you and keep things private."
"Make sure to continue dyeing its hair at the same color as mine or yours, while if the issue is about the color of irises, use eye contacts and pick whichever you want among the two, color choices."
Although, this was their first reunion throughout the years, it turned out to be so fleeting and too engrossed over the important details that mattered more to the Marquis. It's not like Olivia expected anything good, this late either.
But from their meeting that time, it could be confirmed precisely;
If that man truly devoted himself to her, he would've cared for her instead of threatening her to live quietly with her child. Truthfully, that man-
Didn't love that one lavender-haired woman at all.