CH 77

At the maid’s words, Madel and Elena turned their heads in unison. Elena’s face was ghastly pale and Madel’s face had turned ashen.

“What’s going on?” Gareth asked, feeling restless.

“This woman pushed me down the stairs!” Lydia spit out, or rather screamed, then twisted her body again in pain.

Before Gareth could ask anything else, Elena approached him and pushed him out of the room saying, “It’s a miscarraige. She’ll have to give birth to the dead child for the pain to end.”

“What in the world are you talking about, Elena?” Gareth’s heart pounded violently at the thought that yet another person had died in this castle.

“We lost our child, Gareth! Because of that wench!” Lydia howled from behind Elena. “She pushed me! I was trying to leave anyway, but she pushed me!” Lydia began to sob.

Gareth’s thoughts became tangled up in his head. In confusion, he grabbed Elena by the shoulder and pushed her out the door.

“Did you push her?” he demanded.

Elena’s eyes widened to the point that they couldn’t grow any bigger. She held her blood-stained hands together and looked up at Gareth with stupefied eyes.

At that moment, Lydia screamed, then Madel shouted, “Oh, my goodness. She’s a girl with red hair, just like Lady Adelia!”

Gareth violently pushed Elena to the side and went back in the room. His blood had started to boil in anticipation at the mention of his deceased sister’s name. At that instant, he remembered when Adelia had been born. He had heard the sounds of his mother’s labors outside her room along with his father, and when Adelia had finally been born…

The sight of the dead child in Madel’s hands interrupted his memories. Gareth’s eyes shifted to the red hair slightly covering the baby’s head. The baby was tiny, making even Madel’s small palms look big.

“Adelia…” Gareth muttered as he observed the small baby resembling his younger sister.

Elena came to her senses when she heard Gareth’s trembling voice. There was something she had to check. Lydia’s belly had been way too small for her to be seven months pregnant. She had to see the child for herself to confirm that Lydia’s claims had been true. Elena approached the bed, but Gareth grabbed her shoulders tightly again, causing her to almost scream in pain.

“You shouldn’t be here, Elena. Get out,” he said.

“Gareth, I didn’t push her. She was trying to hit me, then fell,” Elena explained in a hurry. ‘You believe me, don’t you? Please don’t tell me you think I did such a thing…’ she thought in desperation.

“I get it, so get out of here.”

At that moment, Lydia howled, “Gareth! Show me our child. Show me our child!”

“It’s not me, Gareth. Please tell me that you believe me,” Elena begged, grabbing Gareth’s shirt with both hands.

“Get out!” Gareth yelled.

Dejected, Elena let go of Gareth’s shirt and lowered her trembling hands. Gareth didn’t even look at her, as his eyes were glued to the dead child in Madel’s hands. It seemed that there was no place for Elena among these people now, as no one even bothered to acknowledge her presence. They were giving her the cold shoulder as if she was the culprit behind all of this. Trembling, Elena staggered backwards as if she were running away. No one trusted or believed her. It felt like the world had abandoned her.

* * *

Gareth roughly rubbed his face with both hands, leaving Madel and the maids to clean up after Lydia. When he came out to the hallway, he saw Elena cleaning the blood on the stairs as well as the floor of the hall.

“Is this what you’ve been doing?” Gareth asked.

“Someone has to do it,” Elena answered dryly, thinking that he was mocking her.

Gareth made his way down to the first floor and stood beside Elena. She was crouched down on the floor and cleaning the sticky blood stains with a wet cloth. He remained silent for a moment, thinking of what to say. At that moment, Elena raised herself onto her knees, looked up at him, then opened her mouth.

“You don’t think I did it, do you?”

Gareth remained silent.

Feeling uneasy, Elena asked again, “You believe me, don’t you?”

“Is that even important?” Gareth asked back.

“It’s important to me.”

“What difference will it make? Everything’s already done.”