Maylily - Chapter 114

The inn counter was empty. Even after ringing the small bell placed on the worn desk, no one came, so Hugh waited there for a while. He needed to retrieve the key he left when he went out in order to enter his room.

Hugh had just returned from visiting the neighboring inn where his attendants were staying. During his stay in Bredova, Deborah handled family affairs while David managed the hotel business in his place. Even so, there were still matters that required Hugh’s review and approval as the final decision maker, and the documents regarding them were delivered to Bredova by messenger, mail, or telegram.

Because of that, Hugh went out once every three or four days for the purpose of handling business.

[Oh dear, I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Barry. I was just spreading out a mat in the backyard.]

About five minutes later, Carlo came in through the back door, spotted Hugh, and hurried over to the counter. Hugh faced him with a faint smile.

[It seems there’s another family event today.]

[Nothing that grand. Giovanna and May wanted to sit in the sun for a while. The weather is especially nice today, after all.]

At some point, the Sergio couple, who ran the inn, had grown fond of Hugh and spoke freely about their family. It was probably a result of the local people’s tendency to be less wary of outsiders.

Because of that, Hugh often ended up learning about Maylily’s daily life naturally. It wasn’t his intention, but hiding his identity and becoming acquainted with the Sergio couple brought him considerable benefit.

However, since the day Hugh attended their family gathering, Giovanna seemed to have noticed something about the relationship between him and Maylily, and her attitude toward him became slightly awkward. Carlo, on the other hand, remained as friendly as before.

[I see. Sunbathing is a good way to enjoy such bright weather.]

[If you’d like, Mr. Barry, I can spread out a mat for you as well.]

[It’s a generous offer, but I wouldn’t want to intrude on the Sergio family’s private time.]

[Intrude? Not at all. You are always welcome, Mr. Barry. If you change your mind, please let me know anytime.]

Carlo smiled kindly, offering just enough friendliness not to burden the other person. After receiving the room key from him and handing over a tip, Hugh soon arrived at his room on the second floor. After taking off his coat and hanging it on the rack, his steps moved toward the window as if drawn by a magnet.

The clotheslines stretched across the yard and the orange trees standing on the grass. Beneath the shade of the fig tree planted among them, Maylily was sitting. Beside her, Giovanna folded laundry with her while Dylan crawled around on the mat.

As if talking about Giovanna and Dylan, Maylily’s face bloomed with a bright smile as she looked back and forth between the two. Her water-colored eyes and golden hair shimmered beautifully under the clear sunlight. Watching her quietly, Hugh took out a cigar and placed it between his lips.

It had been nearly two weeks since he began circling around Maylily like a satellite. The time of waiting without any promise was filled with constant anxiety.

Every day Hugh kept Maylily within his sight to calm the fear that she might run away again. At times, she noticed him, grew startled, and her cheeks flushed red, which gave him a mixture of relief and expectation.

Maylily’s days were simple. Her range of activity rarely extended beyond the village, she performed the same work at fixed hours, and interacted only with a limited number of people.

The everyday life was extremely ordinary, nothing special, yet it was always filled with laughter and warmth. Maylily seemed to have found a new kind of happiness beside people who genuinely cared for and loved her.

Watching that scene, Hugh felt something petty rise within him. Rather than relief, he felt loss, and rather than gratitude, he felt jealousy. It was because he believed that the place Maylily reached after fleeing from him would leave his absence unfilled, that she would live on unable to replace him. Just as his own daily life collapsed.

He wanted the chance to become the one who would completely fill her life. He dreamed of a relationship where only the two of them could fill each other.

Yet the world of Maylily that Hugh had shattered was being firmly rebuilt in a place where he did not exist. Meanwhile, the world Hugh lost because of Maylily’s absence couldn’t be restored unless he regained her.

This made it clear which side was clinging more desperately to the relationship. Without Hugh even realizing it, control of the relationship had passed to Maylily. Or perhaps he had never held control even for a single moment from the beginning.

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

What an arrogant thought that was. Instead of still reaching out to Maylily as if he were her salvation, Hugh should have begged for forgiveness and mercy. The one who needed another person simply to breathe and live normally was not Maylily, but Hugh himself.

With bitter self-mockery, harsh smoke flowed from his lips. Beyond it, Maylily was showing Dylan the orange tree while holding him in her arms. Hugh quietly watched the two of them smiling as they looked into each other’s eyes.

At this rate, his life and Maylily’s life would remain forever parallel lines, never mixing with each other again. Even without Hugh, her happiness was already taking on a beautiful form.

It was the moment another thick cloud of smoke slipped from Hugh’s lips as he sank into thought.

“Aba, ubu….”

The child’s voice from below the window shattered his thoughts.

“What is it, Dylan? Do you see something interesting?”

Maylily’s voice followed, and her gaze flew upward. To see him more clearly, Hugh lowered the cigar with its thin rising smoke beneath the windowsill.

A pure and noble flower that bloomed from the ugly mire formed by anger, revenge, hatred, and deceit.

Even after countless trials, hope and love for the world that never broke shone brilliantly in Maylily’s eyes. And the child who inherited that same light stood beside her, looking up at him.

During all the time Maylily endured and struggled to protect that light, Hugh had not existed for even a moment. Even if he’d offered every rare treasure in the world, it would never have been enough. Instead of abundant comfort, what Hugh gave Maylily was nothing but the fear of being chased.

Even as that realization filled his heart with suffocating guilt, Hugh still wished that her light would continue to illuminate his life forever. Shamelessly, because he felt he couldn’t live without Maylily. It was a realization that became even clearer after reuniting with her, and he was quietly turning it over in his mind when it happened.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

Michele Baratti suddenly stepped out from inside the building. Maylily and the child both turned their eyes toward him. Hugh was instantly seized by the unpleasant feeling that something of his had been snatched away.

“Ah, you’re back?”

“Mimi, amamma, buu.”

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you too, you little rascal. Here, give him to me.”

Dylan went into the arms of Michele Baratti, who held out both arms, without the slightest reluctance, smiling brightly. As if he regarded him as his father.

Since they’d lived together constantly from the time he was born, it was only a natural reaction. Hugh understood that with his head, yet he couldn’t shake the hollow feeling. Hugh’s eyes glinted coldly as he looked at Michele Baratti standing in the place that rightfully should have been his.

Meeting Hugh’s gaze, Michele Baratti let out a faint sneer. Soon, he moved with Maylily to the mat beneath the fig tree. Watching the two of them sit close together with their faces near each other, Hugh smoked one cigar after another as if venting the heat boiling deep in his chest.

In the end, the one left behind again was him. The inside of his mouth felt newly bitter after the cigar smoke passed through it. It was the taste of misery. Before he became accustomed to this emotion he had never experienced before in his life, Hugh wanted to reclaim what was his. Maylily, the place beside her, and the child they shared.

A breeze blowing from the distant seashore brushed through Maylily’s hair, raising waves of gold. Hugh watched that sight quietly for a while before finally arriving at the most certain way to achieve his wish.

***

The Count of Everscourt, who had gone out the day before yesterday, did not return to the inn even last night. It had been almost two full days since he suddenly disappeared.

“Where did he go?”

Maylily, who came out early in the morning to sweep the yard, murmured while brushing the stone pavement with a broom. According to Carlo, he hadn’t checked out.

Could he have gotten into some kind of accident outside?

The man who had followed her like a shadow and constantly made her aware of him now vanished without leaving even a trace of a hair, making her worry. Even when she tried to dismiss it as something unrelated to her, ominous thoughts kept creeping into her mind.

Shaking her head repeatedly and barely holding onto her focus, Maylily finished cleaning and went into the storage shed beside the stable to put away the broom and rake.

Just then, her eyes met the Count of Everscourt as he stepped into the yard. He looked impeccably dressed, not at all like someone who had spent two days outside. For some reason, emotion surged up inside her and the corners of her eyes grew hot.

She turned sharply to hide the sudden turmoil she couldn’t even understand herself.

“Maylily.”

The Count’s gentle voice rang through the cool morning air.