Chapter 70

Chapter 70

“Here.”

Finally, after finding the right dress from the pile of clothes, I squealed in joy.

It was a dress I barely managed to find, and it had buttons up to the neck. It was a piece of clothing that covered every inch of my flesh except for my face and hands.

“…It’s like a rotten old tree, Madam.”

Rona, with a droopy expression, didn’t share my glee. At the same time, she looked at the dress as though she was looking at something disgusting.

“This… I was thinking of shredding this and making it into a mop…”

“It’s still wearable now, so do that later.”

“If you’re going to wear this, you’ll look like a piece of wood walking around, Madam.”

“That’s what I want.”

Whatever the dress looked like, the only thing it needed to do was cover up these embarrassing marks.

“Hurry up and help me into it. I need to go see Mother.”

Today was the day for me to report Amoide’s condition.

Of course, it was also the day I’d hear endless nagging. It’ll be pregnancy this, pregnancy that, and pregnancy again.

“What are you doing? Hurry up.”

I shimmied into the dress and said this.

“Yes, yes.”

Rona hurriedly straightened out the wrinkles on the dress and also neatly arranged the collar.

“You’re ready now.”

I could only leave the room after I double checked in the mirror whether there was any exposed part of my skin.

As soon as I entered the room, Camilla looked at me with a dubious expression.

To be exact, she was looking at me up and down with disdain.

“…What is this……”

As though she was facing something hateful, Camilla even pointed at my dress and shook her finger slightly.

“What the, why are all those buttons up to your neck?”

I raised a hand and touched the line of buttons that went up to just below my chin.

“Do you think you look good all wrapped up like that, and in this weather?”

Camilla looked genuinely appalled.

Apart from being all covered up until the neck, the most disconcerting thing was that the dress had an ancient design paired with a dull fabric. It looked positively ugly.

“I heard you bought a lot of clothes last time! Did Paula make such a gloomy outfit? We’re going to have to change the boutique right away…”

“That’s not it, Mother.”

I answered in a slow voice.

“…I think I caught a cold because it was cold last night.”

Cough.

Saying this, I added a small cough for good measure.

“In this weather?”

Camilla looked at me with a huge frown.

“Because there’s a big temperature difference. The newly tailored dresses are a bit thin, so…”

“You’ve always been proud to say that you’re healthy, but what’s with you coughing now?”

Camilla’s eyes widened ferociously.

“Ack.”

I forgot for a moment that Camilla cared about my health just as much as she did with Amoide’s.

“It seems like you don’t have the constitution to wear clothes that are in trend.”

I really don’t understand how the topic of dress styles came right after that, but I just smiled with the corners of my lips curled up to the fullest.

“What’s so important about my constitution?”

“……”

“The most important thing is Amoide’s condition. My cold will disappear soon, Mother.”

“If by any sliver of possibility, Amoide will catch it…”

“Of course that won’t happen.”

I answered quickly because I wanted to cut it there. Because I really didn’t intend for that to happen.

“I can’t see his face and I can’t come into contact with his body, so I’ll never bring him any trouble.”

Camilla squinted at me as I emphasized it over and over.

“During a walk or something else, you’re like oil stuck to his face. When do you think this’ll happen?”

…Even if it’s just a metaphor, wasn’t it a bit much to be compared to oil?

“I’ll be more conscious. Amoide must enjoy walking alone now anyway.”

“Don’t even look at Amoide until the next room sharing night.”

“I understand.”

I replied while nodding up and down.

“You have to keep your body clean until that day.”

“Yes, yes.”

What Camilla meant by ‘clean’ was the abstinence of a married couple’s act as much as possible until the right timing for conception.

“The date this time is when the sun and moon meet, so it’s very good.”

“The star of fecundity will shine, correct?”

I raised my hands on both sides of my head, waving it as I spoke.

Disapproving what I just did, Camilla coughed. Ke-hmm.

“Yes. If you do well, we’ll be able to see an heir.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll have to do what’s right.”

Well, that can’t be true. As I was muttering to myself about what usually happened anyway, I suddenly felt a chill up my spine.

‘Wait a sec.’

Last night.

Last night, when ‘that’ happened.

‘Did we do it properly?’

It wasn’t really in the number of times a man and a woman did it while spending a night together, but now, I was being told to prevent anything from happening to get the timing right.

Did we use protection?

Of course, I don’t recall anything about that. We were just in a hurry to covet each other’s breath and be closer to the other person with violent gestures.

‘Oh my god.’

I could hear alarm bells ringing in my ears.

“That’s why you shouldn’t make any unnecessa… What’s wrong with you?”

Camilla trailed off and looked at me closely.

It was a gaze that seemed to be asking me if I’ve gone crazy.

“It’s nothing.”

I need to control my expression, control the emotions visible on my face.

Even if lightning would strike and thunder would boom in my ears, I have to look calm on the outside.

“What were you saying…? Please keep going.”

“I said that’s why unnecessary contact is prohibited. Don’t ruin the good energy for the next room sharing night.”

“Of course, Mother.”

I smiled as I nodded. But somehow, I could feel sweat trickling down my back.

‘If she finds out what happened last night…’

Camilla might really just try to kill me.

‘So let’s just keep it a secret.’

As I averted my gaze from Camilla, I answered.

“I won’t go to Amoide’s side.”

“…Alright.”

Camilla nodded as well, still looking at me with a gaze that made me uncomfortable.

“Then, I should get going now.”

“Sure.”

I got up in a hurry, but at that moment, the chair got pushed back, and it fell with a loud sound.

“……”

I straightened the fallen chair and looked back at Camilla.

“Anyway, you’re clumsy as usual.”

Camilla clicked her tongue and made a gesture that said I should get out.

‘Dangerous. That was really dangerous.’

Throughout the conversation, I couldn’t really focus on what she was saying.

The only thing going through my head was what happened last night and whether we did or didn’t use protection.

Right. I might just not remember. Maybe he did it on his own, not me. Please. Let’s hope so.

‘It really has to be the case.’

There’s no choice. There’s no other option. I wanted to believe at some point that my memory just got blurry and that he did it.

“Ahhhhh.”

I crouched down and groaned.

“Just what the hell did I do.”

I brought myself up and sat on a bench, stomping my feet and tearing my hair off.

The neatly brushed hair became poorly tangled, becoming a magpie’s nest. But that’s not important.

Of course, there’s no point to torturing myself like this.

It’s not like what we did last night would disappear.

Others said that they lose memories easily when drunk, but it was painful to try and actively recall everything.

“Was there a problem with the liquor?”

I guess I drank too much of the good alcohol. I think.

[ Disregarding the alcohol content, the medicinal effect for it is doubled. ]

I remembered Walter proudly talking about the liquor.

We took medicine, not alcohol. That’s why he was so vigorous…

‘What do I do. What do I do now.’

How the hell am I going to face him again?

My nerves were so taut that it felt like I was some laundry being squeezed dry.

I bent down, lost in thought.

‘Has Amoide woken up yet?’

The sun was already high up in the sky. Of course it’s possible that he’d already have woken up. And he must have realized what happened last night.

All that remained now was to be at the end of his contemptuous gaze.

I gave him alcohol even when he refused, and I also made fun of him… And eventually, this and that happened after we got drunk. Whenever the embarrassing conversation popped into my mind, even my toes couldn’t curl up any more than they were now.

As I buried my face in my hands, I seriously pondered how I should get through this situation.

If I just think it over, the answer would come out. Yeah. Maybe.

And after that, a long time passed.

“Fine.”

I finally removed my hands on my face and looked up.

There’s only one way.

The oldest and most reliable way. The number one method to forget all worries and be at peace.

“It just didn’t happen, right?”

I asked myself.

“Yeah. Let’s pretend it didn’t happen.”

Unconditionally, last night will be deleted from my memories.

As if it never happened in the first place. Right. Okay. Like that.

“I’m sure he’ll want to forget it, too.”

What’s going on with Amoide while I’m going crazy like this?

He might literally just want to cut out that chunk of memory and plunge it deep into the sea.

I felt relieved after thinking about it like this.

Yeah. Let’s forget everything and start a new day.

I rose from my seat and stretched.

As soon as I did that, I saw a man looking at me from afar.

Tall, blond, and his handsome features were distinct even from that distance.

He looked like a certain someone who spent a hot night with me last night.

‘Oh my god.’

And with his long legs, that man strode towards me.

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