Peeking into the Future - Chapter 14
Peeking into the Future - Chapter 14
When Rachel got out of the carriage and mentioned Ethan's meeting to the butler who was waiting for her, he made an embarrassed expression on his face and expressed regret, saying that Ethan was very busy right now.
"What? What do you mean today is busy. He never told me that.”
“I am so sorry, lady Deborah……. young Count said he was really busy all of a sudden and told him to say that he was sorry.”
She didn't get a response from Ethan to refuse the invitation, so she didn't doubt that she could see his face today. But awaiting Rachel was a stubborn message that he couldn't make time even for a moment because he was very busy.
‘…… Lies.’
A sudden rejection without saying a word. It was a very disrespectful act. Of course, Ethan had an important job ahead of him as a knight. So, it might be true that he was busy, but this kind of cold attitude could only be interpreted as meaning that he did not want to see her.
It was the first time Ethan had rejected her so far. Rachel thought he had really broken the friendship with her. She barely held back her tears on the spot.
“Then, please give this to Ethan. When he gets the time...… Ask him to write a letter.”
“Yes, young lady. I will tell him that.”
At the end of the conversation, the butler, who was guarding the back of the carriage going back the way it came, took a deep breath, worrying about everything. There must have been something going on between the two of them.
“How could the young Count…….”
The butler entered the mansion to deliver the beautifully packaged items to Ethan. The moment when Rachel, who was always cheerful, returned home with a sad smile, he kept getting distracted.
“Young lady Deborah has just returned.”
“……okay."
“She asked me to give you this.”
At the butler's words, Ethan stopped looking somewhere out the window, then turned his head to look at the small gift in his hand.
“Leave it.”
“……Yes."
The butler, who hesitated to bring up more about Rachel, immediately gave up and calmly obeyed Ethan. It's because he thought it might make their relationship even more awkward if he said something unnecessary even though he didn’t know what was going on. In his experience, the wisest advice was to let him settle minor disputes on his own.
It wasn't until Ethan was alone again that he picked up the gift on his desk and began to carefully unwrap it.
What Rachel gave Ethan was a small music box. Slowly opening the lid, he heard a familiar melody they had once heard together and a baby bear that resembled a teddy bear, that Rachel liked as a child, was spinning round and round with its eyes closed.
For others, they may question why a music box was gifted, but for the two of them, it was a small memory that could be remembered with laughter. Ethan was fiddling with the music box as he slowly recalled the events of the past.
Ethan, who was eight years old at the time, was very concerned about Rachel, who always followed him around. Maybe because she was only seven years old, Rachel kept chattering endlessly to him. Rachel did not get tired but she made Ethan tired by playing pranks on him.
‘Let’s try it once on her.’
One time, it seemed like he was being treated too unfairly, so he secretly grabbed a frog and approached Rachel, who was in the water, and opened his palm. He was obviously only trying to scare her a little, but contrary to Ethan's wishes, the frog jumped up at Rachel's face.
There was no girl who would welcome a frog with a smile. While playing in cool water, Rachel naturally burst into tears when the slimy creature touched her. Ethan was embarrassed. Even if he tried to clumsily soothe her, she didn't seem to stop crying.
'I really hate it! I hate you!'
He was so nervous that he was sweating when he saw her screaming while wiping away her flowing tears. Ethan had no intention of wanting to be hated by Rachel. He felt his first fear at Rachel's harsh words, and he begged her not to hate him, and that he was wrong, and then he also burst into tears.
Seeing the children crying well together, the parents rushed over and asked why, but the frog had already disappeared somewhere, and Ethan and Rachel only swallowed their tears in their parents' arms.
After such an incident, Ethan returned to the mansion and frankly confessed his mistake to his parents and sent a small gift of his own choosing along with an apology letter written in crooked handwriting. It was a small and beautiful music box.
After that, the two became good friends again as if they had never fought, and Ethan never even thought of playing such a prank again.
‘That’s what happened.’
Even now, they used to talk about the memories of that day and laugh about it. Mainly for Rachel to make fun of him for crying.
Rachel said she still cherishes the music box he gave her. She joked that she would never throw it away even if it was old and damaged someday.
"No."
Ethan soon noticed what Rachel wanted to convey to him through the music box.
'I’m sorry.'
He could picture Rachel apologizing to him in a very depressed state. Ethan closed his eyes painfully, closing the music box that had stopped before he knew it, and rubbed his face violently.
“…… It's not your fault."
Ethan was deliberately avoiding Rachel. Rachel probably noticed it too. As he distanced himself from her for a moment, Ethan thought and thought all the time.
Certainly, he admitted that his feelings for Rachel had changed from what they used to be. That's why he was all the more ashamed to see Rachel's face. It was obvious that she would easily notice his change.
“Am I in love with Rachel?”
He accepted the situation in his head, but he wasn't very sure what his feelings were. When he sees Rachel, he becomes more and more concerned about her and becomes conscious of every single action she takes. Unlike his old days, it was difficult for him to properly make eye contact with her, and if she accidentally brushes her fingertips against him, his face would heat up.
Was this the feeling a fleeting moment that opens and then loses, or was it love?
As long as a change had already taken place in him, the relationship between the two was like a tightrope that never knew when it would fall. For Ethan, Rachel was his best friend. The same goes for Rachel. What a selfish act this would be if he burdened her with her heart for which he himself was not even sure of.
“I’m sorry, Rachel. Please wait a little longer. It probably won't take long...….”
He didn't want to lose Rachel to a moment of stupidity. Ethan decided to clean up his own mind that he had raised without realizing it. His secret that he learned through a rough process. He had no doubt that the jade in his mind would melt away like snow sooner or later.
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