Marriage B - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – The Past (2)

As soon as he got to the second floor, his ears began to pick up a faint sound of music. And hearing this, Terio’s countenance contorted, feeling dissatisfied with Goyo’s action. While the mansion was not sound-proofed, it didn’t mean that sounds could travel through the wall easily. However, this time, the sound of the music could be heard beyond the wall, which indicated that the music was turned loud enough for it to pass through the wall.

Meanwhile, noticing the unpleasant expression on Terio’s face, the maid who was guiding him became scared. On the other hand, Eden’s expression was still pallid as he silently watched his master with peculiar feelings. And he just looked on as the maid began to give out an excuse with a fearful expression, hiding his queer feelings from notice.

“I couldn’t turn it off because Lady Goyo told me not to come in until she called, master.”

“And how long ago was that? Didn’t you say that she had been alone since the time she took her bath? Did you even know how many hours had the music played?”

Terio thought that perhaps this was Goyo’s initiative to protest. However, all this only served to make him feel contempt for her. So, he scoffed and let out a mocking laughter to add up the insult to injury.

Still, he was bothered by the loud music. It was so loud that he could feel the vibrations in his hand when he held the door knob. But when he was about to open the door, Eden suddenly started speaking.

“Let me open it for you, milord.”

“Never mind, just go back to your work now.”

Terio waved Eden away and opened the door. It opened smoothly without making a single sound, yet for some inexplicable reason, Terio felt as though he was twisting open a heavily rusted iron door. Shaking off that perception, he immediately noticed the sound cranking up a notch. And it was so loud it made his ear rang.

“You’re out of your mind.”

Terio muttered as he marched towards the recorder’s direction and turned off the music, feeling irritated. Once that was done, he decided to find Goyo Rubiet to castigate her action.

And it didn’t take long for him to find her since she was actually not far away from his position. He only needed to raise his head to find the woman lying face down on the table.

Aside from that, he took in the sight of the damp carpet, the fallen wine glass, and the half-empty wine bottle nearby Goyo, allowing him to form a picture in his mind.

The wine had caused the color of the carpet to turn dark while Goyo Rubiet was sitting there on the chair beside the table. Furthermore, she was letting her head lie down on the table, looking unusually disheveled. The sight looked extremely innocuous.

However, her long hair that was flowing down the table looked as if it was bleeding.

For a moment, everything seemed to be frozen as a surge of anxiety rushed into Terio’s heart because the sight before him was too eerie. Yet, Terio forced himself to breath, trying to ignore the eerie feelings he felt.

He acted as if nothing had happened as he approached her like normal.

But as he neared her, he perceived the scent of roses that usually wouldn’t be found on her person becoming more intense. It was the scent Goyo Rubiet had hated with her whole heart, yet right then, it was wafting off her body.

“What the hell are you doing? The lady of the duke household shouldn’t be in such an ugly drunken state such as this.”

“….”

“Furthermore, You didn’t even come to greet me when I returned. What was that about? Weren’t you the one who said to pretend we’re fine to the outside world? So, what are you doing right now?”

“….”

“Are you protesting right now? For what? Because I didn’t answer you when you asked me whether or not I will stay out late?”

“…..”

“How many times should I tell you to not expect anything from me? Doing this kind of thing won’t make me change my mind. So, you should just give up.”

At last, Terio frowned when he still received no response from her, and thought to himself that it was because she was quite drunk. He was trying to convince himself of that fact.

However, he could only see one bottle of wine by her side. Furthermore, half of the wine seemed to have been wasted, so she couldn’t have drunk so much that she became inebriated.

Then again, it had been a long time since he had drunk with Goyo. So, regardless of how hard he tried, he couldn’t quite remember how high or how low Goyo Rubiet’s alcohol tolerance was.

Being unable to recall that knowledge, Terio simply decided to wake her up. Alas, when he put his hand on her shoulder, her body felt cold and damp to the touch. It was as if the wine had splashed on her body as well, as if he was touching a moss.

A chill ran down his spine. Nevertheless, Terio didn’t want to entertain the thought that was creeping up his mind, so he kept shaking her shoulder.

“Wake up. Wake up!”

“Master.”

“Ah, Eden. I told you to go, why are you still here?”

“Master.”

“No, that’s good. It looks like she was drunk, so please move her to the bedroom. If people knew that the duchess is doing this, it would also damage my reputation.”

“Master…”

“No, I think you are also tired from your work. In that case, I’ll be the one who will move her. How bothersome…”

At this time, someone’s hand held onto his arm, stopping Terio from speaking any further. It was Eden’s hand. And for a moment, Terio questioned the reason behind Eden’s action. After all, as far as he knew, Eden was not one who would carelessly touch his master’s body.

Then, anger followed closely behind his astonishment.

Who are you to dare to stop me?! Terio thought, raising his head with flames dancing in his eyes. But soon, his anger disappeared when his eyes fell on the other man.

“You hated her.”

For before him, stood a man with a sorrowful expression as he looked at him.

“You resent her.”

“Eden…?”

“Master, I did it for you….”

What the hell is he talking about?

Terio scowled as he tried to see Eden’s face properly. However, to his befuddlement, everything was blurry to his eyes. And with each passing second, his sight became more and more hazy. Because of that, he was doubtful of the view he saw, wondering if the grief that he saw painted on the butler’s face was correct.

“But why are you crying?”

“… I’m crying?”

What are you talking about?

Terio thought, confused before he tried to rub his eyes to clear his blurry vision. It was at that time that he felt it. He felt that the hand touching his face was filled with cold and damp things.

Only then did he realize the reason why his eyes were so blurry.