CH 94

“What are you doing? Tell him,” Giggs browbeat Madel by poking her in the back.

Madel barely managed to lift her feet that seemed stuck to the floor and trudged behind Gareth. “I have something I need to tell you, my lord,” she said.”

“If you’re trying to apologize again, then I don’t need to hear it,” Gareth spat out. He was now at the foot of the staircase, getting ready to climb to the second floor.

“T-that’s not it, my lord. You need to listen to this,” Madel insisted.

Gareth turned around again and glared at Madel and Giggs, who were visibly trembling. The man’s pitch-black indifferent eyes made Madel shake in fear.

“Let’s go up, then.” Gareth turned back around and strode up the stairs. Madel became alarmed at his words, but Giggs pushed her back, forcing her to follow Gareth upstairs.

‘Madam might be waiting upstairs. I hope she’s there…’ Madel thought as she ascended up the stairs.

* * *

Gareth soon entered his bedroom and left the door open for Madel and Giggs. He then approached Elena and held her in his arms. “Madel says she has something to say, Elena,” he whispered to her. Holding the fur socks she had been wearing in his hands, Gareth gently grasped her feet then stroked them for a moment, overcome with sadness once he saw her tiny feet in his scarred hands.

‘It must have been difficult for her to follow me around with such small feet… but she never complained, ever. It’s not that it wasn’t difficult for her, she just has more devotion and patience compared to others…’ Gareth kissed the back of Elena’s feet before helping her put on the warm, fuzzy socks.

Madel and Giggs, who had arrived at the room, stood frozen in place at the door. Madel shuddered in fear, fidgeting with her hands. Now that Elena was in front of her, willing to listen to what she had to say, Madel couldn’t help but become nervous. Despite Giggs’ constant poking, she couldn’t find it in herself to open her mouth.

“Hurry up,” Gareth glanced at them and urged. He then began to loosen the bandage around his arm to examine his wound.

“Lord Gareth… I…”

Gareth suddenly became irritated at Madel’s indecisiveness. Her useless stalling and hesitation caused his anger to boil over and overwhelm him. “Do you have a death wish, Madel?!” he roared in fury.

Madel ended up cowering on the floor in fear at his outburst. Regardless, Gareth moved his arms around while wearing a violently crumpled expression, allowing the hideous wounds he got from the wolves to show. He had been applying medicine to his wounds three times a day, so that the injuries would recover as quickly as possible. He could clearly feel Elena’s gaze locked on his wounds as he applied medicine and glanced back, confirming that she was indeed watching him. He, however, didn’t hide the injuries from her as he normally would, since he had decided to show and tell her everything about him from now on. Even so, he couldn’t help but turn his arm slightly away from her gaze so that she wouldn’t be able to clearly see the unsightly wounds.

“I would like your permission to recheck the baby,” Madel requested at that moment.

Silence fell over the room. With a stupefied expression, Gareth slowly turned towards Madel to see that the woman still had her head lowered towards the ground. Giggs took a step back and bowed his head as well.

Madel managed to continue with a trembling voice, “I keep remembering how small the baby was, despite Princess Lydia saying that she had been seven months pregnant. From what I had seen, the baby was only four or five months—” She stopped and lowered her head even more at the sound of Gareth’s approaching footsteps.

Gareth grabbed Madel’s chin, forcing her to look up. “What are you trying to say, Madel?”

“I-I think Princess L-Lydia has d-d-deceived you, my l-lord,” Madel stuttered in fear, as tears flowed down her cheeks from the frightening atmosphere in the room.

“Deceive, huh?” Gareth spat out in a cold tone.

Without realizing it, Madel turned her eyes to Elena. She looked at her with a pleading expression in hopes of her stepping in to help. However, Elena only looked out the window and didn’t even bother giving Madel any attention.