Chapter 110

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The Worst Night (5)
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“We can’t go back to how we were.”

“I don’t expect to. Are you leaving Dunvil Park?”

Laura nodded.

“Where to? To that girls’ school you graduated from?”

“…This morning, I received a letter from the school saying they no longer require a teacher. I’ll find another position as a governess.”

“You won’t find a more generous position than this one.”

“Now that I know the excellent conditions at Dunvil Park were merely bait to lure me, this position is nothing but a bed of thorns to me.”

“I won’t set foot near Dunvil Park. As long as I can be certain you are safe and treated well, I wouldn’t mind if I never saw you again for the rest of my life.”

“Mr. Dalton, if only I could believe your words at this moment, I would ask for nothing more. But the trust between us is already broken. And the fact that it was you, of all people, who broke it, tears my heart apart.”

“…”

“The day we first met, I made only one condition to your request to be friends: to always be truthful. But you deceived me, and you dragged my friend’s reputation through the mud.”

“I know. I know I disappointed you. But it was because I wanted you so desperately. It was the only way I could see for us to have a future together. If there had been a proper alternative, I would have taken it without a second thought.”

“Had you not deceived me, I would have felt sorry for you. I would have felt regretful for not being able to accept your feelings and done my best to continue our friendship. But your actions are simply…”

Laura’s calm breathing hitched for a moment.

“I can neither understand nor forgive them. You are a man who knows full well how easily a woman’s fate can be ruined. And yet, you toyed with a lady’s heart. For love. For the sake of something as trivial as love.”

For a moment, Mr. Dalton saw a wounded expression on Laura’s face he had never seen before.

“Miss Pendleton, I… I did not intend for this. If I had made improper advances toward Miss Lance, I would deserve to be struck by lightning this instant. But I never showed her any more than the friendship that William and you shared.”

But as he continued his excuses, Laura’s face only grew sadder.

“But this is the result. You’ve ruined Miss Lance’s future. The friend I introduced… to a young lady with such a bright future…”

With that, a single tear fell from Laura’s eye.

He froze. It was more shocking than when she had slapped him. And it hurt far more.

“Did my actions… hurt you so much?”

“…”

“Have I… ruined our relationship beyond repair?”

Laura said nothing. Her silence was an affirmation.

Laura composed her tear-streaked face with her fingers, the gesture as elegant and neat as she was. He watched her for a moment before rising from his seat.

And knelt before her.

This time, it was Laura’s turn to freeze. She covered her mouth with both hands and gasped.

“Mr. Dalton!”

He bowed his head low.

“M-Mr. Dalton… Please, get up. This is improper. Such behavior…”

“If you are sad and shedding tears because of me, then it must all be my fault. I must have done something to deserve your censure. An ignorant country gentleman like myself must have made a mistake, not knowing the rules of society. Otherwise, a gentle soul like you would never be so angry and sad.”

“…”

“I thought that if only you came to love me, you would forgive all my faults. Hiding my feelings, using Miss Lance as a bridge to get closer to you again—all of it. I was depending on your gentleness.”

Mr. Dalton took her hands.

“My foolishness has finally cost me you.”

He brought her hands together and buried his face in them.

“Finally, I want to confess to you.”

And he rubbed his face against Laura’s small, lovely hands.

“Laura, I love you.”

Laura inhaled sharply.

“You are the sole master of my destiny. My one lost glove.”

“…”

“I know you’re not one to believe in things like fate. But I have waited my whole life for that one person. A wife to spend my life with, who would stay by my side even in heaven. I finally met her at the age of thirty, and yet…”

Tears began to stream from his eyes, warmly soaking Laura’s velvet gloves.

“If I lose you, the very essence of my being will vanish without a trace. The love I have saved to pour upon my soulmate will drain away through the great hole in my heart. I… I… will never be able to find happiness.”

He began to sob. He knew such a confession was useless. She was not a person easily swayed by emotion. She would probably find it absurd and ridiculous.

But he couldn’t stop himself.

He lost all reason and threw his arms around Laura’s waist. He buried his face in her slender waist and began to weep uncontrollably. His tears soaked the skirt of her dress, from the waistline down to her hips.

A long time passed. In the midst of his frantic sobs, he suddenly realized that Laura wasn’t trying to stop him. She must be waiting with resignation for his pathetic display to end.

The thought made him even more reluctant to let go. He felt she would run away the moment he did. He clutched her skirt, buried his face in her lap, and continued to cry with choked sobs.

But then, as he wept, something touched the back of his head. A touch as light as a feather.

He slowly raised his head.

Laura was stroking his hair.

“…Ah.”

Her face, which he had believed to be cold, looked as if it was about to burst into tears.

Laura’s hand moved from stroking his hair down to wipe away his tears.

“Please, stop crying. My heart aches too much.”

A chill ran down his spine. It was a voice he had never heard from her before. A sweet voice, as if whispering words of love.

Hope sparked in his heart. Hope turned to courage, and then to an affection he could no longer control.

He slowly raised his arm and, just as Laura had done, caressed her tear-streaked face. She didn’t pull away. She didn’t even turn her head.

He gently drew her face closer. Her breath tickled the tip of his nose. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers.

Ian gently traced and licked her lips. Lips as soft as flower petals and as sweet as sherbet. His heart pounded wildly. A dizzying sensation, as if falling through the air.

He caressed Laura’s cheek, kissing her tenderly. He could feel her breath close to him. He felt her hands grasp his neck and shoulders.

*Ah…*

He felt a flicker of intuition, and soon, a happiness so intense it felt as though his mind would melt.

*Screech. Thump.*

The gently swaying carriage came to a halt. At the same moment, their lips parted. Laura’s eyes, dazed as if under a spell, finally focused on Mr. Dalton.

She snapped back to reality. Her eyes regained their focus, and her face turned as red as a tomato. She pushed Mr. Dalton away.

He let himself be pushed back.

“Ah…!”

She clutched her flushed face, completely flustered. It was a rattled side of her he had never seen, so different from her usual composure.

She quickly opened the carriage door and hopped out. Then, like a swift deer, she darted into the Dunvil Park manor.

Left behind in the carriage, Mr. Dalton remained alone in the slightly undignified position of kneeling on the floor.

He touched his lips with his fingertips. The spot where their first kiss had passed still held the lingering touch of the woman he loved.

He smiled.

Her face on the verge of tears. Her hand caressing his face. The kiss she accepted without resistance. And her adorable face, flushed with embarrassment.

It all said one thing.

*She loves me too.*

He leaped out of the carriage and looked up at the sky.

*My angel, Miss Sheldon. Thank you! She loves me! She loves me!*

He laughed through his tears. His laughter rang out, so loud it seemed to reach the stars in the sky.

***

The lady of Dunvil Park, Mrs. Margaret Fairfax, received some unexpected news from her butler early in the morning.

Miss Laura Sheldon had returned to the manor around midnight last night, a day earlier than planned. Mrs. Fairfax wondered if there had been some trouble at the gathering and decided to ask the governess herself at breakfast.

However, in place of the governess, her personal maid came down for the meal.

“Ma’am, the governess says she has a terrible headache and can hardly get out of bed. She humbly asks for your permission to rest in her room for the day. What shall I tell her?”

“Oh dear, if she’s ill, she must certainly rest. Does it seem serious? Did she say she doesn’t need an apothecary?”

“She said not to call for anyone. She also said she doesn’t require any meals.”

Mrs. Fairfax sensed something was amiss. To be so ill as to refuse all food, yet also decline an apothecary…

*Did Ian cause some trouble?*

Mrs. Fairfax spent the entire morning in her private chambers, shuffling cards and trying to divine Laura’s state of mind. But the cards, which usually proved so insightful, remained stubbornly silent about Laura’s private affairs this time.

Mrs. Fairfax summoned her daughter, who had just finished her art lesson, and sent her to spy on the governess. Olivia, half worried about her teacher and half excited to play the spy, trotted off to the governess’s room and returned half an hour later.

“Mother. I think the governess is really sick.”

“Why? Does she look very unwell?”

“Her skin is pale as a corpse, and she has dark circles under her eyes like she’s been up all night. When I asked if her headache was severe, she could barely nod, and when I asked how the gathering was, she begged me not to ask that question.”

“So something did happen.”

“Do you think… Uncle proposed to her?”

“Already? So rashly?”

“He might not have been able to help himself. The governess is unbearably pretty and lovely. If it were me, I would have done the same.”

“…Sometimes it seems like you want to marry the governess more than your uncle does.”

“That’s ridiculous! Women can’t marry other women!”

“What if you were a man, then? A young man of, say, twenty-four or twenty-five?”

Olivia seemed to ponder this for a moment, then smiled faintly.