SHBVH 06

Chapter 06

Cover It Up
“Madam. I’ve been waiting.”

Receiving Roberto’s greeting, Lamein stopped in front of Cedric’s room. After bringing up divorce, meeting the man alone like this was, as expected, unpleasant. Lamein took a long, slow breath and glanced at Roberto. Knock, knock. The door opened, and Cedric came into view, sitting slightly slanted at the table by the window. A man seated where bright sunlight poured in. It almost felt like watching a scene from a movie. Passing in front of Roberto, who had stepped back and opened the door wide, she entered Cedric’s room. Cedric placed the book he had been holding onto the table and stood up.

“My wife. Please come sit here.”

At his polite gesture, she moved to the seat opposite him.

“Robe—”

“The tea is fine.”

Wanting to say what she had to say quickly and leave, Lamein cut him off and gave Roberto a slight nod. Thud. The wide-open door closed completely.

“I wonder what you’ve come to say this time, my wife.”

There was a faintly sarcastic tone. It sounded as if he were asking, Isn’t it just about divorce again? Maintaining her composure, Lamein faced her husband directly and slowly parted her lips.

“I didn’t come to talk about us.”

“Is that so?” Cedric slightly raised his eyelids as if asking.

“Then what did you come to talk about?”

“I came because of what happened this morning.”

“This morning? Ah. You mean what happened in the dining hall?”

“Yes. I have a request.”

“A request?”

When Lamein nodded, he gestured for her to go on.

“Please transfer Rodel to a different workplace.”

Cedric’s eyelids, lined with dense lashes, slowly lowered and rose again. He leaned his relaxed upper body back comfortably against the chair.

“To where? Are you telling me to send him outside this estate?”

His gaze seemed to ask, Do you want him thrown out? It was clear he thought she had come to punish a servant who dirtied her dress.

“No. There’s no reason to drive him out.”

Lamein answered firmly.

“Then where should I send him?”

Tap, tap, tap. Cedric’s long fingers tapped rhythmically on the table. Watching the movement that seemed to press impatience into time itself, she spoke.

“I heard this isn’t the first time something like today has happened. I heard he collapsed before.”

“Yes. That’s true.”

He answered very lightly.

“If it happens again, the place he works now is dangerous for Rodel.”

“Dangerous?”

“You don’t know when or where he might collapse again. Places with sharp or hot objects are dangerous.”

His blue eyes gradually widened.

“It would be better to move him to the laundry room or the garden… no, the garden has dangerous tools too. The library would be fine—somewhere people don’t come and go much.”

Though her words came a bit quickly, they were calm. Cedric, who had been staring at her without moving, straightened his posture. “Hmm.” He let out a small sound and examined Lamein’s face with sharp eyes. Her gaze was firm, as if this absolutely had to be done.

“Lamein. Since when have you been so concerned about servants’ affairs?”

It was a remark that drained her strength. It was natural for him to be suspicious. He must think she was the kind of woman who only did wicked things.

“Whether I was concerned or not isn’t what matters. This is something anyone could think of just from what happened today.”

But she decided not to back down. She wanted him to see the situation clearly, not connect it to her intentions.

“I understand what you mean, but what if I choose not to do it?”

“…Cedric?”

Lamein’s voice rose without her realizing it.

“You understand, yet you won’t do it?”

“Don’t get excited.”

“Rodel’s illness isn’t something that’s easily cured.”

“How do you know that?”

For a moment, she was speechless, but she continued.

“There was a servant before who had the same symptoms.”

“I see.”

The man nodded indifferently.

“So, Cedric. Please do as I say.”

“Lamein. I’m not saying I won’t follow your wishes. I’m just asking because I need a more sufficient reason.”

What more reason could there be? Lamein’s eyes slowly crumpled.

“I didn’t know until today that you were someone who cared about others like this.”

In the end, it was the same thing. As expected, it was because of Lamein’s past behavior. She had nothing to say even if he thought she had some hidden motive. But she was angry. She swallowed the breath she had been holding tightly and slowly spoke.

“Cedric. Someone like you wouldn’t understand.”

Her low voice carried resentment as it slipped between her small lips.

“What is it that I wouldn’t understand?”

“Someone like you, who grew up lying in a warm bed without worries, eating warm meals—you wouldn’t understand even if you died and came back to life.”

“……”

“How hard it is for people who have nothing, who live in pain. How sometimes they want to die!”

She knew she shouldn’t be like this, but her agitation wouldn’t settle.

“Of course, saving one person won’t change my life.”

The poor, those with nothing. People who desperately needed someone’s help. She recalled the eyes of those who looked at her as if she were the last light in the world.

“But do you know what it feels like to watch people like that?”

“…Lamein. What on earth are you talking about?”

“You wouldn’t know how painful it is for someone who can only live by saving others to just watch them!”

She had turned her back on them to survive. The memory of when harsh reality cruelly crushed her sense of duty as a doctor made her chest ache. She hated the thought of that happening again to the point of death. Rough breaths escaped through her teeth. For a moment, the faces of people who treated others’ lives like scraps of paper in front of money flashed in her mind. In Cedric’s narrowed eyes, his blue irises deepened like a night sea.

Ha… I got too emotional.

He was a man who knew nothing. The thought that he must be bewildered by her excessive emotion came to her belatedly. Lamein relaxed her tense eyelids and steadied her breathing.

Right. I even asked for a divorce. What is there I can’t say?

She met the eyes of the man whose thoughts she couldn’t read. Silence wrapped around them. Tap, tap, tap. His long fingers struck the table again in a steady rhythm. Irritated, she glanced at his fingertips at that moment—

“Let’s do that.”

At his neat voice, her eyes lifted.

“I’ll assign Rodel a new job, as you wish.”

The corners of his lips lifted slightly as he spoke in a low voice.

“Thank you.”

At Lamein’s composed reply, Cedric leaned back comfortably in his chair.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

She had accomplished her purpose in coming here, so there was no reason to face him any longer. And in truth, she didn’t want to sit across from him any more.

“Do as you wish.”

As soon as Cedric finished speaking, Lamein stood up. The man, seated comfortably, leisurely lifted the teacup before him to his lips. She took in the sight for a brief moment, then quickly turned and left the room.

…

Standing straight by the door, Roberto slowly observed Cedric, who was sitting at the table by the window. After Lamein left, he had been sitting there with a serious expression for quite a while.

Did something happen?

He had heard Lamein’s excited voice through the door, but not the exact content.

“Roberto. If I need anything, I’ll call you. Go back and rest.”

“Yes.”

The serious gaze that had been fixed outside the window shifted without moving to Roberto, who stood by the door.

“Do you have something to say?”

“No.”

He said no, but his expression said otherwise. Cedric’s eyebrow lifted slightly, as if telling him to speak quickly.

“You don’t seem to be in a good mood.”

He couldn’t directly ask what had happened between the two, so this was the best he could do.

“No. I’m not in a bad mood. It’s just…”

Cedric’s long eyes, which had briefly returned to normal, slowly furrowed again. His gaze deepened as if he had fallen into thought.

“Hmm.”

Letting out a sound that seemed unusual, Cedric straightened his body from the chair and looked directly at Roberto, who was still standing there.

“Who knows that Lamein collapsed after eating poison?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m asking who knows.”

His gaze was sharp, urging a quick answer.

“Myself, Madam’s maid Jane, and the physician who came today, along with a few attendants, know.”

The Duke and Duchess of Roger—and Killian and Selina—had left the estate due to an invitation from a neighboring lord. Since it was an important and long journey, many people had left with them. Cedric, rolling his deep eyes in thought, slowly parted his tightly closed lips.

“Cover it up.”

“…Pardon?”

“Cover up what happened yesterday.”

Roberto’s eyes widened.

“The moment what happened yesterday leaks through someone’s mouth, I’ll hold you responsible, Roberto.”

He swallowed dryly. Having served Cedric since childhood, Roberto knew clearly that Cedric and Lamein were not a normal couple. In this estate, only the two of them and himself knew that fact for certain. Others only guessed.

What did they talk about?

He was bewildered by this strange order from a man who seemed to have not even a shred of affection for her.

And why cover it up? Didn’t he want to drive Madam out?

A large question mark began floating in his mind.

“I’ll say it again. The moment rumors spread, no one will be safe.”

A flash like lightning passed over his blue eyes. At that blade-like gaze, as if it could cut his throat, Roberto’s eyes widened.

“Yes. I will keep that in mind.”

Bowing deeply toward his master, who was acting unfamiliar, Roberto quickly left the room.