1RomanceEB Chapter 9 Debt
Chapter 9 Debt
"Sir, you're back?"
As evening fell, and the rosy glow and the cold wind pushed Edmund through the half-open door from the street into the warm house, Esther eagerly jumped up from the sofa and hopped to Edmund's side.
Perhaps driven by the unease of being taken in but not required to do any work, the silver-haired girl, like a cat eager to please its owner, circled around Edmund, but returned empty-handed because he was always facing the door and couldn't see her.
If it really is a pet cat.
At this moment, it should lie down firmly on the ground, revealing its furry, warm belly, waiting for its owner to turn around and pet it.
"No one knocked on the door today, and no one came looking for you."
"I stayed in the house obediently and didn't make a sound."
"Oh." Edmund took off his coat and carefully hung it on the rack, his tone somewhat perfunctory.
"Oh really!"
"I know." His gaze slowly swept across the living room. The spot where Esther had been sitting still retained some warmth from the moisture left by her skin, and the indentation on it clearly showed how the cat had been curled up on the sofa.
It seems she did indeed stay quietly in the living room all day, as she had requested.
Just as the dazzling goods in a shop window gleam in the sunlight, attracting curious and admiring glances from passersby, perhaps it was only because of a ray of sunlight filtering through the curtains that Mrs. Ortega noticed this presence in the darkness.
This small accident completely ruined Edmund's previous plan to "keep a mistress in a golden house".
This can be done before changing the plan.
Edmund wanted to figure out what his status was in Esther's eyes, and what her ulterior motives were in staying by his side.
He didn't want everything he had worked so hard to build to be wasted because of this girl's mistake, and he certainly didn't want Esty to ruin his "teaching and making money plan" because of a lie to save face.
"From now on, please stop calling me Mr. Owner. I'm getting tired of that title."
"When I went out today, a lady told me she saw you through the gap in the curtains. It took me a lot of effort to cover it up. I remember warning you before, so let's talk about what happened next."
Hearing Edmund's tone, Esther seemed to realize something.
Her eyebrows drooped down like leaves blown away by the autumn wind, and her childlike, innocent smile turned sorrowful as the corners of her mouth drooped.
"Sir...it was your kindness and generosity that saved my life and prevented me from freezing to death that night. I have nothing to repay your kindness; I already owe you my life."
Her voice trembled, and she looked up defiantly at Edmund, but unlike the beggars who could be seen everywhere outside the community, she didn't grab Edmund's clothes or trouser legs and beg for mercy like a fish out of water.
"If you do not wish others to know that you once took in a homeless person like me, and if my departure can preserve your virtue and reputation."
"I can't let you leave right now," Edmund said coldly.
Esther paused for a moment.
She slowly lowered her head like a prisoner awaiting the executioner's blade, revealing her white neck beneath her silver hair. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks, the glistening droplets on the reddish-brown floor resembling pearls on a fairy's necklace from mythology.
"Please, don't hand me over to the military police, and don't sell me to slave traders."
Edmund patted the sofa next to him, his expression as wooden as a statue in a monastery, indifferent to all living beings.
"sit."
Esther remained motionless, gazing at Edmund. The living room was brightly lit, the orange light blurring the figures in her tears, like the sunset glow in her memory.
"Alright, it's fine if you don't want to sit." Edmund leaned forward slightly. "Since you've made your choice, before we begin, let me ask you a question."
"Do you think that if a person acts like a gentleman, speaks like a gentleman, dresses like a gentleman, and lives like a gentleman, then is he a gentleman?"
"Yes, sir." Esther's jewel-like blue eyes stared blankly at the golden carpet under the sunlight. The inevitable death had stolen the last glimmer of light from her eyes, and only tears continued to fall along the still-dry path of her cheeks.
"What if there were such a person?"
"He was destined to be alone from the moment he came into this world. The light of the gods would not protect him in the slightest. Magic and holy light were like poison to him. The sky and the sun and moon were like another cold and unfamiliar world to him."
"Before freezing and starving to death, this poor man, with his eloquence that could bring the dead back to life and his vast knowledge that did not belong to this world, risked his life and freedom to exchange for time and money as chips, and in a high-stakes gamble, packaged himself and successfully sneaked into a noble banquet."
"In his words, his legendary adventures were as dazzling as fireworks in the night sky. Everyone around him thought he was a true hero who had returned from a long journey, an adventurer whose spirit of adventure was ingrained in his very being. When he merely showed the slightest sign of fatigue from his long wanderings, gentlemen and wealthy merchants warmly invited him to settle down in the city of Karenbel."
"From then on, young ladies from noble families sought him out as their adventure mentors, taking him as a role model to learn his tactics and strategies."
"Wealthy merchants and gentlemen vied to invite him to parties just to catch a glimpse of the adventurer and hear knowledge that was hard to find even in epic tales."
Even his lifestyle of reducing his outings to avoid being exposed was seen as a uniquely adventurous person’s reclusive and frugal lifestyle, as if the fine wine buried in the cellar would gradually take on the marks and flavor of time.
"No one ever thought that he was actually just a lucky guy who had no way out and won his fate by a bit of luck. No one ever thought that his simple life was not a personal preference or choice, but a compromise between a decent life and a meager income."
"Even the girl he took in by chance was transformed into a fallen foreign noblewoman in this ridiculous lie, becoming part of the promises and affections in his adventure story. The fear of the illusion being exposed became the proof and symbol of his complex and forbidden feelings for the girl."
Edmund's lips curled into a faint smile, like the shadow of the sun swaying in the wind through the dense foliage.
Do you think he's a charlatan or a true gentleman?
Esther just stared blankly at Edmund, finally understanding what Edmund meant by "I am one of them too."
Edmund's lips curled into a smile, but his gaze was as cold as the howling wind outside the window. He leaned back, crossed his arms, and looked down at Esther with his head slightly raised.
A conman?
A true gentleman?
The predetermined ending actually calmed Esther's heart; she admitted that she had never been so calm and composed.
"Sir, if you were a true gentleman, I suppose I would already be resting peacefully in the soil of your lawn."
The girl lowered her head, her silvery-white hair obscuring her face from Edmund's view. Clear tears fell slowly onto the floor, like scattered, broken crystals.
"But if you're a conman... they won't be as kind as you. For a few silver coins, they'll even sell their companions' corpses as materials to alchemists. But you let me have a decent day before I die. I took a bath, changed into new clothes, and spent an unforgettable night in a big house that I could never live in. You know, just by closing my eyes, I can remember that soft and warm bed."
"Is this your answer?"
"Hmm." Esther nodded, as if she foresaw the inevitable end that was about to come, and her body began to tremble.
Under the girl's gaze, the young man sitting on the sofa slowly stood up, walked to the wall, and took something down from the shelf.
It was a long sword that was entirely black.
The girl closed her eyes in despair.
With the sound of a longsword being drawn, a cold touch slowly pressed against the back of her neck, and a suffocating fear quickly overwhelmed Esther's reason.
The expected complete severance did not materialize.
The icy touch slid slowly down the back of her neck, then lifted Esther's chin, illuminating her tearful face.
She opened her eyes.
The young man's figure was brightly illuminated by the lights.
"From this day forward, you are no longer the Esther who wandered the streets, the Esther who froze to death on that cold night two days ago. Now you are a fallen noblewoman from a foreign land, a lady named Esther Hernandez, who came to the city of Karenbell to seek the protection of an adventurer named Edmund Clemons, an old friend of my father, who promised to provide shelter to the sole heir of the Hernandez family if the family were in trouble."
"As part of your introduction, you will be accompanying Edmund Clemens to a noble tea party hosted by the Enfield family on the first Sunday of next month as his companion."
"Since you are illiterate, I will not ask anything else of you for the time being." Edmund sheathed his sword.
He looked at Esther, who was still in a daze.
"Remember every word I just said."
"Okay, okay... Mr. Owner."
"Stop calling me owner, call me Mr. Clemons."
"OK."
"Besides, you just said you owe me a life, so let's pay that debt back slowly."