Maylily - Chapter 115

“….”

Maylily stopped where she stood but didn’t turn around. The Count walked toward her at a steady pace and stopped in front of her.

“I’d like you to clean my room.”

“…We only clean guest rooms after the guest checks out.”

Maylily answered while keeping her gaze fixed on the tips of her shoes.

“I’m a long-term guest. I’m staying here for a whole month, so shouldn’t the room be cleaned once or twice at least?”

“….”

When she thought about it, he wasn’t wrong. Most guests stayed less than a week. Still unwilling, Maylily only tapped the stone pavement with the tip of her shoe.

“If you don’t feel like it, should I ask Mrs. Sergio instead?”

At the voice brushing the top of her head, Maylily abruptly lifted her head and glared fiercely at the Count. Frustratingly, this man still knew far too well how to make people move.

“You… haven’t changed at all, Count.”

“Look carefully. You might find that I have.”

The Count spoke with a quiet laugh, the tone unclear whether he was serious or joking. Unable to read his intention, Maylily frowned, and he made the request once more.

“I’ll wait. Come up.”

With that, he turned and walked back into the inn. Maylily stood still, watching his retreating figure. Her chest visibly rose and fell. The scent the Count left behind lingered around her for a long time, refusing to scatter even in the wind.

***

After finishing cleaning all the rooms from which guests had checked out, Maylily eventually stood in front of the Count of Everscourt’s room with cleaning tools in both hands.

Normally, Giovanna handled most of the room cleaning, but today Maylily volunteered because the Count had specifically requested it. The first reason was that she couldn’t pass on to Giovanna a task the Count had asked of her directly. The second was that Giovanna’s attitude toward the Count had grown subtly different over the past few days.

It seemed that Giovanna had vaguely noticed the relationship between the Count and herself. If that guess was correct, dealing with the Count wouldn’t be comfortable for her either. Thinking that way, Maylily felt she had no choice but to step forward.

If it were another guest, I would’ve accepted the request without hesitation. So I’ll just finish this calmly.

Taking a deep breath, Maylily knocked on the door with moderate force.

Knock, knock.

Footsteps sounded from inside the room, and soon the door opened. Blue-gray eyes appeared through the opening and rested on Maylily. A faint trace of relief flickered within them.

“Welcome, Maylily.”

Standing with the sunlight from the window behind him, the Count of Everscourt gave a faint smile and stepped aside. He was dressed formally, even wearing an ascot tie pin, and his hair was neatly combed back. The Count always maintained an elegant appearance like a gentleman heading to a date or a party, but today he seemed especially well prepared.

Maylily brushed at her apron, which was stained with dust and water, and stepped inside. The scent of the Count’s favorite cologne instantly filled her breath. She set down the bucket of water in her left hand and straightened her back, but dizziness struck her and she shut her eyes tightly before opening them again. The guest room that came into view was unexpectedly spotless.

Even so, since he requested it, I should clean it…? I’ve never cleaned a room while the guest is inside…. Should I ask him to step out for a moment?

As Maylily hesitated, the Count approached her. He took the broom she was holding and placed it beside the door.

“No need to clean. I have something to say, so sit on the bed for a moment.”

So that’s why the room was so clean. Realizing she had been tricked by the Count again, Maylily’s eyes sharpened.

“I came here to clean, not to talk. So if you don’t want the room cleaned, I’ll leave.”

“I wanted to speak with you alone. I thought this was the only way you’d give me some time.”

His voice was gentle, as if coaxing her. Maylily firmly steeled her wavering resolve.

“I have nothing to talk about with you, Count.”

“How could there be nothing? Dylan exists between us.”

She’d already assumed the Count must have realized whose child Dylan was. Even so, the moment the child’s name came from his mouth, Maylily was struck speechless.

Could it be… is he about to say he’ll take Dylan away? If that happens, how can I protect my child?

Her mind went blank in an instant, and Maylily only opened and closed her lips while clear tears suddenly welled in her eyes. Seeing this, the Count took a handkerchief from his inner pocket and placed it in her hand.

“Calm down, Maylily. I didn’t say that to frighten you. I promise the thing you’re worried about won’t happen.”

At words that were the exact opposite of what she expected, Maylily blinked her damp eyelashes slowly in confusion.

“…Is that true? You promise you won’t take Dylan away?”

“If that is what you want. So, shall we sit down first?”

The Count gave a faint reassuring smile and gestured toward the bed. Maylily accepted half of his words at face value and half as a veiled threat. As long as the child was involved, she had no choice but to comply either way.

She walked lightly to the bed and sat with both hands gathered on her knees. Just as she tightened her grip on the handkerchief to calm the tension and anxiety churning inside her, the Count of Everscourt knelt on one knee before her.

“…C-Count?”

Maylily’s eyes widened in shock at the unexpected situation. A man who always looked down on the world was kneeling before her. In her entire life, had she ever seen something this unreal?

Still stunned and unable to understand what was happening, she stared blankly while the Count calmly lowered himself to meet her gaze. His eyes, filled completely with Maylily, shone deep and clear.

“I missed you, Maylily.”

At last, Hugh honestly revealed the feeling buried deep in his heart beneath anger, betrayal, and jealousy. It was also the words that had lingered on the tip of his tongue ever since he reunited with Maylily.

“Every day and night without you, every moment I breathed.”

At the confession that followed, confusion rippled through Maylily’s eyes. Afraid she might try to leave at once, Hugh gently grasped her hand.

“While replaying my memories of you over and over, I realized something. I realized how selfish and destructive the way I tried to possess you was. I longed for you so desperately, yet I never knew how to cherish you. I’m sorry, Maylily.”

Even if his revenge against Victor Heywood was an unchangeable plan, the time they spent together afterward could have moved in a far better direction.

Yet even after realizing his longing and affection for Maylily, Hugh treated her as nothing more than a mistress because she was a powerless commoner woman. He suppressed her emotionally and physically. Maylily’s life was trampled beneath the polished soles of his shoes. 

“I regret trying to confine you within my shadow even while knowing you were withering away. So give me one more chance. I promise that you and Dylan will live in bright light beside me as well.”

The day before yesterday, while watching Maylily’s back as she sat in the backyard, Hugh made a decision. He decided to marry Maylily.

Even when he released the false article claiming he was engaged to a woman he met in Cartia, Hugh never imagined that Maylily would be in Cartia. He only invented a fictional person with foreign nationality to avoid the reporters’ investigation.

Even when he later heard that Maylily was in Cartia, he still didn’t connect her with that imaginary woman. Even when he came to Bredova determined to spend the rest of his life with Maylily, the option of marrying her never even crossed his mind. If Maylily wanted love that belonged wholly to her, he simply intended to remain a bachelor for the rest of his life and love her that way.

The reason Hugh’s plan did not extend as far as marriage with Maylily was simple. In noble society, marriage with a commoner was extremely rare and unusual. It was often criticized for damaging the dignity of the nobility and disturbing the order of social rank.

Once, Hugh’s world also operated according to that same order and rule. Marriage with a commoner woman. It was something unimaginable.

But in the world that collapsed because of Maylily’s absence, what meaning could the order and rules that once supported it possibly still have?

At the moment he decided to marry Maylily, Hugh suddenly thought of his mother. He still had no intention of defending the recklessness and irresponsibility of the woman who abandoned him and his father and left, but he felt that he could understand her a little now.

Some kinds of love are things you cannot help but pursue, even if your entire world collapses because of it.

And Hugh intended to build a new world on top of that.

By marrying Maylily, he planned to grant her and Dylan a status that no one could easily challenge and give them the name of Skaard. In that way, their lives would continue forever under a single name together with his own.

He was confident he could withstand any external criticism and condemnation that would follow. The family name he had firmly protected since his father’s death held that much power.

It was a plan that could not fail. Hugh spoke with a voice filled with firm conviction and determination.