“Mother, please stop.”
“I told you, didn’t I? You must not marry someone from such a low family.”
Cedric turned to look at me. He lowered his head and gently whispered.
“Revril, please wait outside for a moment.”
When I looked up, Cedric gave me a small smile.
“Mother is sick, so she’s saying things she doesn’t mean. Take a short walk outside.”
I gave an awkward smile and bowed to Cedric’s mother. But she wasn’t even looking at me. I hid my embarrassment and quietly left the room.
As soon as I closed the door, I heard voices from inside.
“Mother, how many years has it been? Why are you still like this?”
“This is the price you pay for marrying the wrong person. How could you let someone like her become the lady of the Jedburgh family?”
“Marriage is my choice. It’s not something you should control.”
“How could it not be my concern? I’m your mother. Just like I feared, you married a girl like her and now you’ve changed too.”
“Please stop. The more you do this, the more tired you’ll get.”
“Yes, I’m very tired. Ever since you married that girl, I’ve never felt like myself again.”
A loud cough followed. I couldn’t hear the words clearly, but even from outside, I could tell the relationship between Cedric and his mother was badly strained. And it seemed like I was the reason. I was mentioned in every part of their conversation.
Feeling gloomy, I stepped away from the door. Then, I heard footsteps and a cheerful voice.
“Revril!”
It was a familiar voice. When I looked up, Herder was walking toward me with a smile. As always, Batis was by her side. It looked like they had just arrived.
Batis bowed when he saw me. I bowed back just as Herder came right up to me.
“Have you been doing well?”
I forced a smile and nodded. As Batis walked closer, Herder spoke excitedly.
“I didn’t expect you to come too, Miss Revril. Cedric always came alone before.”
Before? I didn’t know Cedric had been here before. But now I understood why he hadn’t told me. When I heard their conversation earlier, it felt like I didn’t belong here.
As I stayed quiet, Herder suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came. Mother seemed really lonely lately.”
Herder smiled. Batis tapped her arm lightly. She looked at him briefly, then turned to me again, still smiling.
“Since Mother is sick, of course I had to come.”
When I answered, Herder nodded.
“You’re right. This is the time we should visit. Don’t you think so, Batis?”
Batis sighed and nodded. Then he gently pulled on Herder’s arm.
“Herder, we should go greet Mother too.”
Herder nodded and looked at me.
“Do you want to come with us?”
“No, I already greeted her.”
“By yourself?”
I hesitated a moment before replying.
“With Cedric. The two of them seemed to have something to talk about, so I left first.”
Herder rolled her eyes and smiled.
“Then do you want to go again with me? I even brought some leaf tea as a gift for Mother.”
She lifted a box that looked similar to the one I had brought. Even though she always acted like a noble lady, her gift didn’t seem very different from mine. I shook my head.
“I think I’ll look around a bit more first.”
“Alright then. We’ll go ahead.”
Herder said cheerfully and went into the room. Soon, I heard laughter. The sharp voices from earlier were gone.
Feeling heavy, I walked down the stairs. This place felt just as cold and empty as the mansion I used to live in. It made me feel even worse. I wanted to go to my room, but my chest felt tight, so I walked outside instead.
I wanted to be alone, so I headed to the garden at the back of the house. At least from there, Cedric’s mother wouldn’t be able to see me.
I just wanted to stay out of their sight.
I leaned against the wall of the mansion. Standing there reminded me of the first time I met Cedric.
I was blankly watching the sunset when I heard a sudden noise and turned my head. Some servants were pulling a cart toward the garden. Looking closely, it was a fancy wardrobe. They lowered it to the ground and set it on fire.
‘They could sell that and get a lot of money.’
Living next to my money-hungry father, I had learned roughly how much things cost. Without thinking, I walked over to the servants. They looked surprised and bowed as soon as they saw me.
“Why are you burning that?”
“The master ordered it.”
“Cedric?”
“Yes. It was originally Madam’s wardrobe. He told us not to sell it to any store, just burn it right away.”
“Why? It looks perfectly fine.”
The servant glanced at me, hesitant. Since no one answered, I asked again, frustrated.
“Did Cedric tell you not to explain why he’s throwing this away?”
“No, it’s not that. The master is just cleaning out Madam’s furniture, so he told us to throw it away like this.”
“But isn’t selling it better? At least you get some money.”
“That’s true, but the master has always been the type to throw away anything once he decides to. He never takes it back.”
Another servant next to him nodded.
“Yes. Once the master throws something out, he never looks at it again.”
Cedric was colder than I thought. I stared at the burning wardrobe.
‘What a waste to just burn it.’
What was Cedric thinking? Even if this was his house, his mother was still alive—though very sick.
I stood with the servants, watching the fire blaze. My complicated and heavy thoughts seemed to melt away in the flames. While I was staring at the fire, the servants suddenly became nervous and bowed their heads.
Wondering what was going on, I turned—and saw Cedric standing there. I widened my eyes and looked at him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for you.”
Cedric walked quickly toward me. He was tall, so just a few steps brought him close. He gently took my hand and said,
“Revril, you didn’t eat dinner, right?”
I nodded. Now that he mentioned it, I did feel a little hungry. Cedric naturally led me.
“Let’s go. I already told them to prepare food in the room.”
“Not in the dining hall?”
“You’re not comfortable there, are you?”
I stayed quiet. It was true, so I didn’t want to lie. Cedric seemed to understand my silence and spoke calmly.
“My brother and his wife are here too. You’ll be more tired. So while we’re here, you don’t have to eat in the dining hall.”
“But are you okay with that?”
Cedric looked at me quietly. When I looked back, he tilted his head a bit and smiled.
His eyes sparkled playfully, and I mumbled,
“They’re your family, and if I don’t eat with them…”
Cedric laughed.
“I’ve never been close with them anyway.”
I blinked at him, and Cedric added in a calm voice,
“You really don’t have to eat with them.”
“…”
“I’d rather eat with you.”
I had nothing to say. My face just turned red. Cedric smiled gently and held my hand tighter. My heart started to beat fast. I was glad Cedric was here. Without him, I would’ve had no one to lean on in this big house.
Cedric entered the room with me. It felt a little awkward. It was one of the first times we shared a room. Luckily, a table full of food was set up inside.
I sat in front of the table. Cedric sat across from me and looked at me.
“If you don’t like the food, just say so. I told them to prepare things you like, but I don’t know if the chef made them to your taste.”
“You don’t have to try that hard. I’m not picky about food anyway.”
“You have a peanut allergy.”
“That’s true, but…”
“I always enjoy taking care of you, so don’t say things like that.”
Cedric smiled and poured wine into my glass. Now that I noticed, there were no servants around.
