Maylily - Chapter 109

Maylily came out of the bedroom and laid Dylan, whom she’d been holding, down between the sofa cushions. The baby beamed as he hugged the cloth puppy doll tightly with his chubby hands. A bright smile spread across Maylily’s face as she looked at him.

[It seems like he really, really loves the doll you made for him. He won’t let go of it even for a moment.]

Giovanna, who was sitting beside them knitting, chuckled as she lightly tapped Dylan’s cheek.

[Just looking at his face, I think you’re right. I should make him another one in a different color.]

[Your hand is injured, though. Please don’t push yourself. Are you really sure you don’t need to go to the clinic?]

Sitting up straight, Maylily looked down at Giovanna’s hand with concern. A white bandage was wrapped around the back of her hand, which she’d burned that morning while making soup.

[It’s a minor burn. It’ll be fine after half a day. Still, because I got hurt, you’ve ended up working harder. I’m sorry, dear.]

Giovanna apologized to Maylily, who’d taken over cleaning the guest rooms in her place. As if to reassure her, Maylily shook her head firmly.

[Please don’t say that, Auntie. The inn’s work is my work too. I’ve fed Dylan and changed his diaper, so he’ll probably play quietly for a bit and then fall asleep soon. Just check on him from time to time to make sure everything’s all right.]

[All right. Go on without worrying. If it’s too much for you alone, ask Michele to help.]

[Yes, I will.]

Opening the green door, Maylily stepped out into the hall where the counter stood, picked up a bucket of water and a mop, and headed up the stairs. The rest of the cleaning tools and supplies were stored in the third-floor closet.

The inn’s second and third floors each had four guest rooms, for a total of eight. Of those, three rooms needed cleaning today, ones where guests had checked out that morning.

Reaching the first room, Maylily flung the door and windows wide open, emptied the ashtray and trash bin, then swept the floor. It was while she was scrubbing the floor until it squeaked with a wet mop that it happened.

Knock, knock.

A sudden knock sounded behind her. Kneeling with one knee up as she mopped, Maylily turned her head and looked back. Leaning against the doorway at an angle, arms crossed, the Count of Everscourt was looking down at her.

“That cleaning posture is quite stimulating.”

The blue gaze slid along the rounded curve her slightly drawn-back hips traced beneath the dress, then swept over her slender ankles revealed below the hem. Startled, Maylily sprang to her feet.

“…Is there something you need?”

She spoke calmly, as if addressing any other guest. Perhaps because of past memories, anger surged every time she saw the Count, but she didn’t want to show every emotion she felt to someone who was now nothing more than an inn guest.

Steadying her shaken heart, Maylily clasped her hands tightly together.

“Well.”

Watching her, the Count slowly lifted one corner of his mouth and idly stroked his chin. The subtle change in his atmosphere compared to that morning made Maylily tense.

“I don’t need anything. There’s just something I want to check.”

Without warning, the Count stepped into the room and shut the door with a bang. It happened so suddenly that Maylily had no chance to react. Flustered at being trapped alone with him, she hurried toward the door. The Count stepped in front of it, casting a faint shadow over her small, pale face.

“P-please move. I want to leave.”

“Let’s talk, Maylily. It’ll only take a moment.”

As the distance between them closed, it felt as if the Count’s scent wrapped around her limbs in a hallucination. Shaking him off, Maylily jerked her head violently.

“I don’t want to. I have nothing to say to you, Count.”

Watching Maylily recoil in fear even though he hadn’t laid a single finger on her, Hugh swallowed a heavy sigh.

The woman had no way of knowing how desperately he searched for her, or what state of mind he came here in. To her, he was nothing more than something repulsive, treated like a loathsome insect.

He knew a way to make such a woman obedient again. He’d done it not that long ago. But that experience also taught Hugh that while coercive means could force Maylily into submission, they would never allow him to truly possess her.

The woman he could once reach whenever he wished was now someone he couldn’t even extend his hand toward freely. Even though he wanted her this badly. Because he was afraid of being banished from her heart forever.

Fear, when facing this small, fragile woman.

It was an absurd emotion even Hugh himself struggled to understand, yet there was no other word that could explain the sensation of the ground beneath his feet collapsing endlessly. Hugh closed and opened his stinging eyes, sleepless from the night before, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

“If you have nothing to say, then just listen.”

“If you’re going to say something, open the door and say it. And if it’s something others shouldn’t hear, then please don’t say it at all.”

After hesitating for a moment, Maylily added firmly, as if to make her refusal clear.

“I don’t want to hurt Michele’s feelings.”

“Do I have to concern myself with that man’s feelings too?”

At the sight of Hugh letting out a dry laugh without hiding his displeasure, Maylily frowned as if she found it absurd.

“Yesterday in the backyard… you saw it, didn’t you? You know what kind of relationship Michele and I are in….”

“Maylily.”

Hugh cut her off with a call that sounded like a deep sigh. Even if it was a lie, hearing Maylily claim another man as her husband was unbearable.

“….”

A faint ripple passed through Maylily’s eyes as she swallowed hard and waited for him to continue. Hugh, who had long kept this secret to himself, spoke softly, as if whispering it to her.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know what kind of look you give the man you love.”

That single sentence turned the faint ripple into a violent wave. Startled as if a secret that must not be discovered had been exposed, Maylily parted her lips, then lowered her head deeply.

“So stop trying to deceive me. If I send someone to investigate, it’s something that’ll be revealed in less than five minutes.”

Hugh realized the lie between Maylily and Michele Baratti that morning.

“Dylan woke up.”

The moment Michele Baratti’s voice rang in his ears, Hugh immediately knew that he wasn’t the child’s father. The surname Baratti didn’t suit the name Dylan.

Watching the two of them continue their conversation while pretending to be a loving couple only strengthened his certainty. Nowhere in Maylily’s gaze toward Michele was there the burning affection and radiant desire Hugh so desperately longed for.

Without those emotions, there was no way Maylily would have married Michele Baratti. She was a woman who was honest with her feelings, who faced them bravely and knew how to cherish them.

“Is that child… yours?”

“…Yes.”

Maylily answered in a small voice, still keeping her head lowered. Hugh deliberately didn’t ask who the child’s father was. He was afraid that every time he looked at the child, another man’s face would come to mind.

“Since you named him Dylan, I take it he’s a boy.”

“Yes.”

“Does he resemble you much?”

“….”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter. No matter what he looks like, the fact that he’s your child won’t change.”

If there was even a single feature in the child’s face that resembled Maylily, Hugh felt he could willingly love that child. He was confident of it.

Holding that firm resolve, he gently took Maylily’s faintly trembling hand.

“Let’s go back, Maylily. I’ll take care of you and the child. I’ll make sure you can live happily, without lacking for anything.”

Hugh conveyed, in a calm voice, the decision he’d etched into his heart from the moment he learned of the child’s existence. At his words, Maylily slowly lifted her head, her eyes glistening. Her expression looked somewhat confused, but the gaze she fixed on Hugh was steady and unwavering.

“I don’t want your favor anymore. I didn’t come all the way here to sulk or cling to you.”

“Maylily, that’s not what I meant by what I just said….”

Hugh tightened his grip slightly, as if trying to persuade her, but she firmly pulled her hand free.