Chapter 47

***

***

He fell into Kathleen’s arms without a moment to catch him.

“Your Grace, are you there?”

The sound of shoes rushed over the marble hallway and Alsdorf appeared.

“Oh, Madame.”

He looked surprised when he found Kathleen holding the shoulder of the fallen Duke of Walten.

“Butler, I think I need your help.”

Confused, Kathleen forgot to say hello and spoke to Alsdorf. The Duke of Walten was already in a state of falling, unable to control his neck.

“The Duke must have passed out.”

“Yes, I will move him.”

Alsdorf, somewhat hastily, grabbed the arm of the Duke of Walten, lifted him up, and looked back at her.

“Let’s go in now. It’s late in the night.”

“Ah. Yes. It’s late, but I’m glad you’re awake. I was worried about what to do on my own.”

“You can speak comfortably.”

“Ah…”

Kathleen realized her mistake when Alsdorf softly pointed out her polite speech.

For Kathleen, who had lived as a maid for six years, the butler in charge of the duke’s residence was a superior several ranks higher than her. Moreover, Alsdorf was older than Count Winston, so it was difficult to talk down to him, no matter how much her status had changed. Alsdorf smiled with a look of understanding, and then disappeared helping Duke Walten.

“Like a fool.”

Strolling through the garden, Kathleen muttered a little.

She already held the Duke of Walten’s outstretched hand, so she didn’t know why she still couldn’t get used to it. Everything had become so much better than before, how dare she become depressed just because she felt a little lonely.

‘Talking high and mighty*. If I hadn’t chosen to be like this, I’d already be dead!’

[T/N: I searched and this* is the direct tl but it apparently means: Don’t complain.]

It was fine if she was to die alone, but Emily would die, too. And before that, Duke Walten would have to die too.

Even after she sat on a rocking chair in the garden and comforted herself like that, the sunken feeling did not easily go away.

As she struggled to think differently, the reality facing Kathleen was clear. For her choices that night, she had to accept that the people who were always with her would look at her this way.

Emily, who was her friend, began to recognize her as her master, and her colleagues, who little by little had opened their hearts to her, turned away.

It wasn’t as unbearable as the sword that aimed for her neck or to be ordered to pull her skirt up, but Kathleen still felt incredibly sad. These feelings would probably haunt her until the day she died.

‘It will gradually become dull with time.’

Surely, even a foolish person deserves to hold such thoughts. Kathleen got up to go back to her bedroom, pulling herself together.

She felt the cold wind giving her chills and just as she was about to enter the main building, a faint light flickered. It was reflected from Duke Walten’s bedroom.

‘You haven’t called the doctor yet?’

Seeing that it was dark beyond the curtain, it seemed that the lights were not lit. From what she saw earlier, it looked like he was in need of treatment right away, but was he alone?

Kathleen was puzzled as she stepped inside. The strange stillness continued until she climbed the stairs and reached the front of the hallway where his and her bedrooms were.

Although the owner of the mansion returned with a feverish body, it was still dark inside the mansion, and there were no signs of the workers moving in a hurry.

She wondered if the experienced butler would take care of it, but she was worried about going back to the bedroom like this. His hot hand that had covered her cheek also kept crossing her mind.

Eventually Kathleen let go of her bedroom’s doorknob, and moved towards the Duke of Walten’s bedroom.

She hesitated and knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

Perhaps he had already fallen asleep.

The butler has served the Duke for a long time, so he will surely know what to do in such a case. She didn’t need to be there.

Even as she thought this, her feet did not move away.

She thought that the annex would be turned upside down again if the nanny found out that she had set foot in Duke Walten’s bedroom first, but Kathleen pushed the door slightly after the thought. The door was not locked.

“Exc-…”

She leaned her body halfway through the gap in the open door and called out, but there was no response. The room was dark and only a flickering candle lit the bedroom.

Weak breathing echoed in the quiet bedroom. Kathleen could easily tell that it was coming from the side of the bed, far away from the door.

The patient’s breath was completely different that night.

Kathleen approached the bed without further hesitation.

Looking closely, he was still unconscious. Concerned, she placed her hand on his forehead again, and the smell of alcohol wafted through him.

‘…It wasn’t like this a while ago.’

She became confused and wondered if she remembered it wrong. Anyway, no wonder his fever rose. He drank so much that the smell of alcohol was spreading from his body.

“I brought a towel.”

Suddenly, Alsdorf appeared and held out a wet towel. As she took it, Kathleen realized that the smell of alcohol also came from him, just like the Duke of Walten.

‘The butler doesn’t drink alcohol. Did he get some on his hands?’

As if to prove that he hadn’t drank even a drop of alcohol, Alsdorf said with a clear voice.

“His Grace has been busy with his official duties these days, so he couldn’t rest. I told him to take a break but he must have drank too much. It happens sometimes.”

The voice telling her not to worry was calm.

“Is it really okay if you don’t call Dr. Cabel? I think he has a fever……”

“His Grace told me not to make a fuss over this.”

He, who had always been gentle, became firm in an instant. After all, the butler, who has been with him for a dozen years, knows his heart better than his wife, whom he has only been married to for a month.

“Are you going to stay until he wakes up?”

“Me?”

To Kathleen, puzzled by the unexpected words, Alsdorf handed a new towel soaked in a basin of cold water.

“Once His Grace’s fever goes down, he will fall asleep comfortably and wake up fine in the morning. So I would always watch until the fever went down. All you need to do is change the towels.”

Alsdorf was also well aware that this marriage had taken place without love, and that the nanny, Baroness Duroc, was displeased with her, who used to be a maid. In such a situation, it was a kind consideration for her to be invited to sit next to him. He hoped that their relationship, wherein they were married only on paper, would become closer.

“Yes I will.”

Kathleen meekly accepted the wet towel. She was a little worried that Duke Walten would be offended if he saw her after waking up, but she was grateful for Alsdorf’s consideration. After seeing the Duke of Walten fall asleep, she thought of going back to her bedroom.

After Alsdorf returned, Kathleen tried to touch the wet towel. The towel on his forehead had already become lukewarm. Kathleen wet the towel in cold water and put it back on his forehead.

‘If you are overworked, you should rest. Why are you tormenting your body?’

The towel placed on his hot forehead quickly lost its coolness. Even the water in the basin was no longer cold. The fever still hadn’t gone down so it was unreasonable to go back. She put her hand on the surface of the water and tried to cool it, but it didn’t work. After trying a few times, Kathleen sighed and dropped her head down.

‘He has to change clothes.’

Even if he was drunk, the patient was sick, so she wanted to take off his coat. Feeling nervous, after pulling the coat off, she touched the vest.

Tuk.

The button on his shirt popped off due to a mistake while taking off the vest. Duke Walten’s chest, which was exposed under the dark light, heaved up and down greatly as if he had become more comfortable.

Her face reddened from seeing the exposed skin, so she went and picked up the towel again from under the bed. Her finger touched his head, and in an instant, the water was covered with thin ice.

‘It’s not the first time I’ve seen bare skin, so what am I so nervous about?’

Kathleen, trying to stay calm, changed the towel which was already cold, and placed it on the Duke of Walten’s forehead.

Kathleen changed the towel several times until the candles melted halfway. And as his hot forehead gradually lost heat and cooled, she began to fall asleep.

So, just when the sun was about to rise, she fell down on the side of the bed and fell into the water.

“…Ummm.”

Kathleen’s eyelids, which had been closed for a long time, slowly lifted upward.

‘Oh my. When did I fall asleep?’

Realizing that she was still in the Duke’s bedroom, Kathleen quickly raised her upper body. The sun had already risen.

‘Huh?’

However, Duke Walten had already disappeared from the bed. Neither was he in the bedroom.

Just then, she heard the bustling sound of the workers moving, and when she turned her head, the door was slightly open. He seemed to have left the bedroom.

‘I guess you’re better now.’

Her body was tired, but thought it was a relief. Kathleen unrolled the hem of her crumpled nightgown and came out of his bedroom to go back, when she immediately ran into someone. Those holding brooms and dusters, looking surprised, were the maids whom she had known when she was still a kitchen maid.

“Oh?”

“Ah. Good morning, Mony. And Julie.”

Although Kathleen greeted them with a slightly welcoming look, they only bowed their heads in confusion.

“Good morning, Madame.”

Their particularly stiff gestures and gazes fixed downwards didn’t seem to welcome her. Kathleen brought down her awkwardly waving hand and walked towards her bedroom.

“I guess she sneakily went into Master’s bedroom again?”

Then, as soon as she turned the corner, she heard whispers from behind and froze.

“Now that they’re married, she doesn’t care anymore, huh?”

“It seems that the owner doesn’t like her very much, but she has guts. I didn’t know she was like this before, but she’s really thick-faced.

“That’s how illegitimate children are. They’re bold from the start.”

Hidden behind a wall and not expecting her to be listening, they giggled, opened the window and started cleaning.

“Even though there is a Countess and a young lady, she shamelessly took the place of the Count’s eldest daughter. Illegitimate children of noble families are always disrespectful and crazy just to succeed.”

“She should know her place. Seeing her run wild without knowing any shame, ah my face is all hot.”

Everyone in this mansion must be thinking the same way.

Like nails driven in her ears, they weren’t much different from the words she had been told in the Winston estate. Laughter came out. Would they believe her if she told them it was all a misunderstanding?

‘No, they’ll still ridicule me.’

It was the same at the Winston Estate. Her sadness and resentment mixed together. She turned around and was about to say something even if they didn’t believe her when.

“So, how does an illegitimate child know their place?”

She saw the end of a long red cloak beyond the corner.

“M-Master!”

“You must have forgotten where you are, seeing you proudly uttering such words.”

The low-pitched, languid voice was brimming with anger.

“Master, th-that’s not it, we…”

“Your Grace, please calm down.”

Alsdorf intervened, but Duke Walten did not stop.

“By nature, human beings run their mouths off just to find their worth. Continue blabbering nonsense, that way I can trample you.”

“M-Master… It was a slip of the tongue. Please forgive me…….!”

“I also forgot who my parents were and ran wild to get this position too. So get out of this vulgar family that doesn’t fit your standards right this moment.”

Mony and Julie started weeping and begging, but the Duke of Walten ignored them and ordered Alsdorf.

“Kick them out and their families hired by Walten.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Master, I will leave empty-handed, so please let my father continue to work. Please!”

Duke Walten went straight into the bedroom and closed the door and Alsdorf took them away. Kathleen stood still until their cries faded away.

‘By nature, human beings run their mouths off just to find their worth……..’

As she repeated what he had said in her mouth, strangely, her eyes got hot. They were words that seemed to release the shackles that had been holding her down.

[T/N: Alexis meant that the maids were saying mean things to put others down and feel a sense of superiority over them (just like those at the Winston estate) so it must have been liberating for her because she realized that what others said about her doesn’t equate to her actual worth.]

She was envious of him for being able to proudly and casually reveal his identity as an illegitimate child who had suffered his whole life.

She realized that the both of them, who were from different worlds, were more similar than she thought.

Kathleen quietly placed her hand on her heart that was beating faster and faster.

Could Alexis Walten be the only person in the world who could understand her better?

From that day on, Kathleen followed her husband’s back just like ducklings following their mother.

If he really understood her, she thought she would be able to survive this marriage. And one day they could open up their hearts.

Kathleen didn’t want to be lonely anymore.

***

This chapter was waaay too hard. I had to google so many idioms/expressions ????