Maylily - Chapter 54

“It’s already been decided, Maylily. There’s no turning back.”

Victor’s expression as he set down his teacup was cold enough that it seemed not a drop of blood would come out even if he were stabbed. It was hard to believe he was the same man who had poured milk into her teacup just last week.

All Maylily had done was barely manage to ask him to call off the marriage talks with Viscount Dawson.

Maylily murmured blankly, her face filled with disbelief, “How could you… not even ask my opinion once….”

“You were there that day when the marriage discussion took place, weren’t you? Since you didn’t object then, I took it as your consent.”

“How could I have said I didn’t want it in front of Viscount Dawson? If I’d done something so rude, Father, you would’ve been embarrassed….”

Maylily tightly gripped the hem of her skirt to calm her uncontrollably trembling hands. Watching her with a dry gaze, Victor gave a short laugh and leaned back, crossing his arms.

“So, do you think saying that now will make me any less embarrassed? When the agreement’s already been finalized?”

That day, she’d been too shocked to gather her thoughts, and afterward, she hadn’t had the chance to see Victor because of her work at the theater.

Four days had passed since then. This was the soonest she could manage, and while Maylily knew how awkward her late objection must seem to Victor, she couldn’t stay silent any longer.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t say it right away that day. But I don’t want to enter a marriage that’ll only bring me unhappiness. Please, Father, I’m begging you.”

At her heartfelt plea, Victor’s expression softened slightly, and he let out a low sigh.

“I know it won’t be easy for you to accept Viscount Dawson. But think about it, Maylily. If you bear the viscount’s son, before long, the entire family will belong to you and your child. The title and estate can only be inherited by a legitimate heir. That old man has only four daughters, and how much longer do you think he’ll live? Sometimes, you have to sacrifice the small things for the greater good.”

The more Victor tried to persuade her, the paler Maylily’s face grew.

“I don’t care about those things. What I want is to sing on stage. I told you before, that’s my dream.”

“You can still sing after marriage. As a hobby. The marriage contract with Viscount Dawson has already been signed. If we cancel it, we’ll have to pay back twice the amount of the bride price.”

The word “bride price,” which at last came out of Victor’s mouth, struck Maylily’s head like a hammer.

Even though she knew little about noble customs, Maylily at least understood that in their society, it was the bride who gave a dowry to the groom’s family at the time of marriage.

But for Victor to have received a bride price meant only one thing: he had sold her off. If this marriage went through, all that would remain for her would be humiliation.

The ominous suspicion she’d been denying for days had finally proven true. The fragile hopes and joy that had quietly swelled in her since meeting her father burst like a bubble in an instant.

“So from the start, you came to find me for this purpose? To….”

Maylily swallowed down the surge of emotion and forced herself to continue.

“To sell me?”

“You’re being unreasonable, Maylily. Didn’t I explain that this marriage benefits you as well? You’ll never find another match like this again.”

“I don’t care what kind of match Viscount Dawson is. What matters is that you have no right to force this marriage on me, Father.”

“You ungrateful child!”

Infuriated by Maylily’s defiant tone, even as tears welled in her eyes, Victor slammed the table. The teacup rattled violently, spilling tea over the edge with a loud splash.

When people in the tearoom turned to look, Victor cleared his throat awkwardly and lowered his voice.

“You were born as my daughter. After being adored by everyone for that pretty face and living in comfort, shouldn’t you repay your father for it?”

It was the worst. Even if it hadn’t been by choice, to say something so shameless to the daughter he had abandoned for twenty years.

Maylily’s life, spent being called an illegitimate child by people who didn’t even know who her father was, had been far from easy. But thinking of her aunt, who had raised her with all her heart, and her late grandfather, she didn’t want to let such vile words pass her lips.

“I owe everything about who I am now to my aunt and grandfather. They’re the ones I need to repay, not you. If you keep forcing this marriage, I’ll report you to the police.”

At Maylily’s threat that wasn’t quite a threat, Victor scoffed. “My dear, family matters aren’t under their jurisdiction. If the police got involved in arranged marriages, half the parents in this country would be in jail.”

“I’ll deny you as my father. There’s no proof we’re related.”

“There’s no proof? I have your mother’s letter, and there are plenty of witnesses who’ve heard you call me Father. If necessary, I could contact the estate where your mother worked and request her employment records. There are people who can testify to that time. And most of all, just look at us. We look alike, don’t we?”

Before Maylily could even respond, Victor drove in the final nail.

“Just accept it, Maylily. The engagement announcement will be published next week.”

Watching Maylily’s face, frozen in shock with her mouth open, Victor let out a despicable laugh.

“Soon, everyone in Roden and all of Riverton will know the face of Viscount Dawson’s fiancée. So don’t do anything foolish. The viscount will stop at nothing to claim what he’s paid for.”

To think that this man was her father.

It would’ve been better if they had never met at all. Maylily’s blue eyes, clouded with shock and despair, finally spilled hot tears. Victor’s face, blurring in her tear-filled vision, twisted into the shape of a monster.

***

After parting with Victor at the tearoom, Maylily returned home and happened to run into Mrs. Keaton at the front door just as she was leaving for the day.

“Oh dear, miss, did something happen outside?”

Seeing Maylily’s swollen, red eyes, the housekeeper gasped in alarm.

She had walked slowly on purpose so that no one would see her like this, but it seemed Mrs. Keaton was leaving later than usual today.

“It’s nothing. You’ve worked hard as always, ma’am.”

“Come inside. I’ll make you a cup of tea.”

As Mrs. Keaton turned to head back inside, Maylily quickly stopped her.

“No, that’s alright. I just… want to be alone. Thank you for your concern, ma’am.”

At Maylily’s gentle refusal, Mrs. Keaton, still wearing a worried expression, told her to rest well and left the house. Standing motionless for a while in the quiet entryway, Maylily slowly dragged herself toward her bedroom.

The late afternoon sunlight, tinged with red, filled the room with a dreamy atmosphere. It didn’t suit the nightmare she was living in at all.

Her unfocused gaze swept the room as she walked over and sat in front of her vanity. In the mirror, Victor’s face suddenly overlapped with her own pale one.

It was unbearable.

To think that she shared the same face as a man who could so easily use his own child to satisfy his greed.

Remembering how foolishly happy she had been, thinking that maybe she hadn’t been abandoned after all because her father had finally come for her, she let out a hollow laugh.

Without realizing she was being abandoned all over again.

How can I escape this situation?

The stage, the Count of Everscourt—everything was here. Running away wasn’t even an option. The possibility of being caught by Victor or Viscount Dawson was the least of her problems.

Wiping away the tears that had begun to spill again, Maylily’s blurred gaze fell on the vase of lilies of the valley.

“Count….”

Count of Everscourt… if it’s him, he could easily pull me out of this crisis. But Maylily didn’t want to tell him. Not him.

That she was an illegitimate child, born from the vile blood of a man shameless enough to sell his own daughter for profit. That she was a lowly woman who, in the end, could only be treated as worthless and undeserving even by her own father. She didn’t want him, that noble man, to ever know.

As she wandered through the maze of thoughts with no exit, the light slowly faded, and darkness began to fill its place.

Her head felt heavy from crying for so long. In this state, she knew she wouldn’t find an answer even if she thought all night.

“I should get some air.”

Maylily brushed away the strands of hair clinging to her tear-streaked cheeks and stood up. Just as she took her first step toward the balcony—

Step, step.

Faint, familiar footsteps echoed from beyond the door.

“No way….”

There were still three days left before the two weeks had passed. She thought perhaps she was hearing things, her longing for the count so strong that it had conjured the sound.

Knock, knock.

A knock soon followed, echoing softly through the quiet bedroom. Maylily placed a trembling hand over her chest, where her heart pounded as if it would burst. Her tears, which had barely stopped, threatened to fall again, and she couldn’t bring herself to answer.

She wished it were the Count standing outside that door, and at the same time, she wished it weren’t.

While she stood frozen, unable to gather her thoughts, the door slowly opened.

“Maylily….”

The Count of Everscourt appeared, just as splendidly dressed as when he had left her room ten days ago, and softly called her name. The moment his eyes met hers—eyes that gleamed like a guiding light through the darkness—Maylily felt tears well up again, surging from a rush of relief that she couldn’t understand.

When the count’s gaze widened slightly at the sight of the tears glimmering on her cheeks like dew, Maylily realized it. The way to wake from this dreadful nightmare.

“The woman who’ll become my bride must be pure in both body and heart.”

She would destroy the very thing they valued most in her.

Maylily threw herself into the count’s arms and whispered in a trembling, pitiful voice,

“Please… hold me, Count.”