My Sweet Deceiver - Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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“My Prince.”
Denis fell asleep, and rubbed his eyes gently. When he opened his eyes, the noonday sunlight hit him.
“Mother.”
He was sleeping on his mother’s lap as a pillow when he got up.
Denis turned his head and looked around him. He found himself in the forest he had never seen before, alone with his mother. There was no shade on Charlize’s face, who was smiling lovingly as she looked at her son.
Her two cheeks seemed to have grown moderately fat. A gracious figure that doesn’t seem to have known any troubles or pain in life.
Denis had not seen his mother in a long time, so he grabbed Charlize’s hand without realizing it. Charlize also took Denis’ hand.
Lukewarm warmth…
It was the body temperature of a living person.
Somehow, it felt as if he had never parted with his mother…
It felt as if his mother was present at his coming-of-age ceremony, his engagement to Tehez, and even his wedding.
Denis didn’t know where this strangeness was coming from, so he held Charlize’s hand and stood still.
“Why are you so lost? Aren’t you awake yet?”
Charlize smiled as she looked at him, who was lost in a trance.
“No, I think my mother was there the whole time…”
“Well, where would I go? I’m with my Prince.”
“…”
Charlize grabbed his hand and led him into the woods.
“It’s your first time here, right? Let me show you.”
Charlize took Denis to the depths of the woods.
His mother told him the name of a tree he had never seen before. She picked a fruit and put it in his mouth. The fruit was red in colour, resembling a small raspberry. But when he tasted it, it was sour.
When he frowned, his mother laughed mischievously and ate the fruit.
“Hahaha!”
She bit the fruit, and the juice splattered around her mouth like a stream of blood.
As she wiped the juice with her cuff, it continued to drip red blood. Soon her white sleeves were dyed red.
It was strangely quiet in the forest.
There was not even a rustling sound.
Denis looked to his left and right.
“Mother. Where are we going?”
“Ah. You’ll find out when you go.”
As if familiar with the forest, Charlize made her way forward through the growing trees. Each time she did, the stinging branches of the trees rubbed against her, scarring her face and arms.
“It’s right here.”
The destination was a cliff.
When he looked down, a valley of strong currents flowed under the cliff.
“Mother. It’s a cliff, it’s dangerous. Let’s go that way.”
“What?”
His mother’s innocent-looking dress was stained with red blood.
“Mother!”
When Denis reached out for her and shouted, Charlize jumped down the cliff before he could stop her.
“Ugh!”
Denis jumped to his feet.
A familiar room.
Surprise, he was still panting, and sweat formed on his forehead like droplets.
“Ahh…”
He rubbed his forehead and caught his breath.
It was a nightmare.
He thought he got a little better.
It seemed to be because he had been to his mother’s grave during the day.
Denis got up and opened the window.
It was still three o’clock in the morning, far from dawn.
The cold air seemed to calm him down a bit.
If he fell asleep again like this, he would mostly have nightmares.
Once the nightmare began, he usually dreamt of it for three days.
He pondered whether or not to go back to sleep.
What should he do…?
As he stood by the window, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
He went out of the palace dressed in a robe.
The early morning air was chilly.
He felt like he was wide awake.
He leapt along at great strides.
To a familiar place where his rest dwells…
The woman must be sleeping, so he was going to sleep next to her, sharing warmth.
Next to her, he thought he wouldn’t have a nightmare.
Standing in front of the woman’s bedroom, he gasped for air. It was almost because he ran when he reached the woman’s palace. He breathed in front of the door and opened it as gently as possible so as not to wake the woman.
He looked through the door at the woman’s bed. But unexpectedly, there was no one in the woman’s bed.
It was an unexpected situation, so when he hurriedly opened all the doors, he saw a silhouette. In the corner of the room, a woman was sitting on the sofa, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
The sound of music could be heard.
“You have to knock, Prince.”
“It’s me, my wife.”
Denis smiled naturally and walked slowly towards her.
Denis slumped into his seat.
He felt comfortable.
Everything felt comfortable.
Whether he saw it or not, the woman was sitting deep on her sofa, listening to music on the gramophone.
Today, it was not wine. It was music.
“Did you not wait today? I’m disappointed.”
He meant there were no wine glasses.
Denis said so, and the woman opened her mouth.
“It’s Maurice Debussy’s lullaby. I wanted to go to sleep with a clear mind.”
“I had a nightmare.”
“So, did you run to my palace?”
Tehez said with a smile.
“That’s right.”
At his calm response, she raised an eyebrow. The gentle sound of music filled the silence between the two.
Denis leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. His eyes drew a pattern on the ceiling of the woman’s bedroom.
“Tehez.”
“Yes, Prince.”
“You will… become a queen.”
‘You will be the queen, and I will be the next king, sitting next to you.’
“Cause I’m never going to leave you.’
Denis spoke his conclusions.
It was an affirmation.
He had never told her anything so sincerely.
When he spoke those words, there was no answer from the other party, who was expected to respond immediately. Until only the sound of music filled the room.
“…Okay.”
After a while, the woman spoke up.
Somehow, it was a contradictory answer that sounded like someone else’s business, not hers.
But, not noticing the subtlety, he looked at the indifferent woman’s face. There was no emotion on her face, which was no different from the usual.
She opened her mouth, and made a muffled sound.
“You know what?”
“What?”
“I was told… if you drink alcohol every day, fertility could be affected.”
The woman looked straight at him.
“Then stop.”
Denis replied simply.
The woman turned her head and concentrated on the music again. As he listened to the music she called ‘lullaby’, he seemed to feel more and more sleepy. The repeated peaceful melody appeared to slow the heart rate.
‘Do lullabies work for adults too…?’
If so, would he be able to sleep on his own if he heard a lullaby every night?
Without him coming to her room…
He had such a useless thought…
When Denis began to doze off, Tehez turned off the gramophone.
“I want to have it, too.”
“Hmm?”
Denis answered between consciousness and unconsciousness. It was amazing that he felt so comfortable and sleepy when he came to the woman’s room. He lowered his head, buried deep in the sofa.
Consciousness was slowly leaving him.
So he didn’t listen to the woman’s last words.
It was because he was already deeply asleep.
The woman spoke in a whisper.
“Our child…”
Tehez saw him sleeping, and she brought him a blanket. She carefully covered him so that the cold wind wouldn’t get in. She went to her bed and curled her body up like a shrimp.
It was dawn without nightmares for those who could not sleep and those who slept comfortably.
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Since the Duke of Briem was a long-established family, the scope of the maids’ work was clearly defined. Fantine was assigned to be a laundromat maid. It was because she was old, and the letter of introduction said she had previously worked at a laundromat.
“Sarah, you go to the laundromat.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Sarah Mustier.
It was a new name for Fantine.
As soon as Fantine was assigned to the laundromat, she attacked the maids she worked with. There were two people in the laundromat except her, two doing all the laundry in this large mansion. So the intensity of the work was quite strong.
Julie and Carol.
The two and Fantine exchanged greetings.
Fantine eavesdropped on their conversation and got to know their personalities.
Julie was quiet and timid but had thin ears*.
[T/N: To have a thin ear means to be easily influenced by other people’s opinions, to easily believe what others say.]
Carol was talkative and clumsy but had a lot of pride.
Fantine decided to first target Julie, who had thin ears.
After Carol had been away for a while, Fantine spoke to Julie.
“Hey, Julie. Where are you from?”
“I am from Amiens. Sarah, and you are?”
“I’m from Laho.”
“Laho? I’ve never seen anyone from Laho.”
Julie said brightly.
Indeed, she must have not met anyone from Laho.
Laho was a small neighbourhood with few residents because it was close to the Haj community.
“Really? I’ve even seen the Hajs in person.”
Fantine looked at Julie and smiled.
“Really?”
“Yes. They look really different from us. They are short and have dark skin.”
Fantine described the appearance of the Hajs.
“It’s fascinating.”
Julie said curiously and put the laundry into the washing machine.
“Yes. I’ve been to the mountains to dig up herbs before, and I stumbled across the community.”
Fantine said so much and stopped talking.
Julie looked at her puzzledly.
“But I don’t know if you can say anything about the Haj people. Can you?”
Fantine said with a worried expression.
“Well. I don’t know… can’t I?”
Julie also answered with a worried expression.
At the time when the first King of Valloise established Valloise in the present territory, indigenous people lived on the vast continent. Because they were a nature-friendly race, they lived by hunting and harvesting without damaging nature as much as possible.
They were called ‘The Hajs.’
In their language, ‘Haj’ meant ‘the offspring of a mother’. The Hajs served the land as their “mother” and cherished natural objects as their’s mother’s offspring.
But Theodore, the first King, invaded the territory of the Haj tribe and drove them into what is now a small territory.
Since then, the momentum of the Haj people has gradually declined, continuing only to the point of existence. Due to such a history, the story of the Haj has been the subject of sharp debate at times. Therefore, it was also one of the topics that were not usually brought up in social conversations.
“I’ll tell you later when it’s quiet.”
Fantine lit a spark by agreeing.
It was to make Julie, who had thin ears, get caught.
Julie nodded, as if understanding.
If Julie was included, Carol would come over as her pride would let her.
After Fantine gave Julie a friendly smile, she pretended to be absorbed in the laundry.
(To be continued in the next episode)
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