Chapter 140
***
With the assistance of Briggs Company, Claude was able to safely return to the mansion.
Whenever lody recalled the mont he had been fully subrged in the water, she worried imnsely that sothing serious may have happened to him.
However, according to the doctor’s examination, he was perfectly healthy and rely required rest.
Upon hearing this, lody was so overwheld with relief that she instinctively pulled him into another tight embrace.
Of course, she soon let out an “Eek!” and quickly withdrew, as if she had accidentally brushed against an insect.
* * *
The next day.
As the heavy downpours cleared up like a lie, the early morning sunlight dappled through pleasantly.
Reclining against the headboard, Claude posed a question to lody who had co to visit his room.
“Miss lody, truthfully, you dislike
don’t you?”
“…Huh?”
It was such an absurd inquiry that she repeated it in surprise.
“You recoiled so repulsed from our embrace yesterday.”
Seeing how terribly offended he looked, lody quickly shook her head.
“Re-Repulsed? Of course not.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m serious!”
Yet he did not seem convinced by lody’s words.
“I really am grateful to you, young master. If you hadn’t been there yesterday, who knows what could have happened… I’m also relieved you are unhard.”
“But even when I covered you with that blanket by the river, you looked at
with resentful eyes.”
“Th-That was… because I was scared you were in danger… So it absolutely wasn’t because I dislike you!”
Her fervent denial seed to get through to him as the stiffness in his expression relaxed sowhat.
“I see. So I misunderstood?”
“Exactly! A misunderstanding! We can happily share embraces of relief between us!”
At lody’s rash statent, he broke into a grin and imdiately opened his arms invitingly beneath the blanket.
“As much as you’d like?”
lody stared at the arms he had extended out towards her.
“You want to…right now?”
“If Miss lody does not mind.”
Well, if pushed to definitively state whether she liked or disliked embracing Claude…she did not dislike it.
Moreover, he currently seed quite healthy, putting her at ease as well.
‘So in this situation, it would be fine for
to give an embrace of relief…right?’
Besides, it was not with any indecent intentions either.
“I’m…relieved you’re unhard.”
lody inched over towards the bed, awkwardly bending down.
Not knowing what to do with her hands, she let them hover about before finally grasping his shoulders.
As he only wore a thin shirt, the contours of his body were vividly felt through her fingertips, giving her an odd feeling.
A sense that sothing was…different.
“Thank you for worrying. I’m glad.”
Soon Claude patted lody’s back soothingly.
The clumsy embrace with no other point of contact except her hands lasted a few more seconds.
‘How much longer should we stay like this?’
Truth be told, lody wanted to find an opportune mont to withdraw. But with him continuing to pat her back, she could not.
At the sa ti, abruptly pulling away first made her worry he might say, “See, Miss lody really does dislike
after all.”
‘Moreover, the patting feels rather affectionate…’
The heart that had raced since yesterday finally seed to settle down.
More than anything, being able to clearly hear his heartbeat and breathing put her at ease, reassuring her of his safety.
‘A bit longer… I’d like to stay like this.’
Just as lody was fully imrsed in those peculiar feelings…
Knock knock.
An unwelco rapping at the door reached her ears.
That small sound instantly snapped lody back to reality.
‘What was I just doing?’
Not wanting to dwell on that discomfiting question, she suddenly felt her whole body grow hot.
lody hastily released her grasp on him and took a step back, slightly on guard in case he asked, “So you really did dislike that embrace of relief?”
Claude was soone who never missed a chance to tease her, after all.
“…..”
But he said nothing, rely looking at her.
“Ah, um…”
Growing a bit self-conscious under his continued gaze, lody let her lips move of their own accord.
“You seem very healthy, young master. I could tell just from touching you… No, not that simply touching your shoulders reveals anything.”
…Though she had not expected to blurt out such nonsense.
Soon he burst into laughter.
Well, anyone would react the sa after hearing such an absurd statent, so lody could not fault him for it.
“Heh heh, I’m glad to be healthy.”
“Th-That’s not what I ant!”
With a flushed face, lody tried to offer so excuse but could not find the words.
Seeing how flustered she looked, he silently gestured towards the door with his fingertips.
“Oh.”
Only then did lody recall that the knock on the door was what had snapped her back to reality.
Soone was likely still waiting outside.
She could simply give permission for them to enter, but lody decided to open the door herself, using the ti to collect her rattled composure.
‘Calm down, calm down, lody Higgins.’
Taking slow steps, she worked on cooling her heated face.
‘Still, it’s fortunate that knock ca when it did.’
If ti had continued passing uninterrupted…
‘…What might have happened?’
lody paused mid-step, burying her face fully in her hands.
A rather indecent scene had briefly flashed through her mind.
‘I must be going insane!’
Though Claude called out worriedly from behind, “lody?”, her flustered state blocked it out completely.
‘It was just an embrace of relief! An embrace of relief, that’s all! Nothing indecent!’
Now that she thought about it, lody had hugged and patted Loretta’s back on many occasions too. Today’s embrace between them was likely of that sa nature.
No, it had to be.
From the start, nothing else was even possible with Claude Baldwin.
More than anything, the original work proved as much.
‘He loved Loretta so, so much that he never had a single scandalous affair – he never even married or dated until the very end!’
lody gave a small nod.
‘It really was just an embrace of relief. That’s sothing perfectly acceptable between a Baldwin and a Higgins.’
Having reached that conclusion, her mind felt considerably more at ease.
“Are you alright?”
Claude’s concerned voice ca from behind just then.
In fact, he had called out to her over ten tis, but lody confidently turned back without realizing.
“Oh, of course I’m fine.”
“But lody…”
“I know. It was just an embrace of relief, you see? Um… I felt the profound bond between the Baldwins and Higginses. It has such a deep history, doesn’t it? Right?!”
“…Huh?”
Seeing his bewildered expression oddly delighted lody.
No, she was absolutely overjoyed.
There was no doubt that fiend had been expecting – no, waiting – for lody to misinterpret the ’embrace of relief’ as sothing else entirely.
He must have fully intended to tease her rcilessly, only for her to splendidly see through to the embrace’s true nature, leaving him stunned.
“There’s no way any other kind of embrace could exist between us!”
lody declared with a haughty tilt of her chin, doubling down.
It seed today would be a day she thoroughly erged victorious over Claude.
His dejected mumble of “…I see” confird it.
Humming rrily, lody flung open the tightly shut door.
“Good morning, Miss Higgins.”
The visitor was Wendel, the mansion’s manager.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Not at all, I assure you I did not wait long.”
Wendel seed relieved by lody’s bright expression first and foremost.
“Seeing you smile puts
at ease, miss. The young master must also be in good health… Hmm?”
Glancing behind lody at Claude’s state, Wendel trailed off montarily.
It was understandable, as Claude had curled himself up fully beneath the blanket like a disgruntled child.
“Did sothing happen to the lord?”
At Wendel’s hushed inquiry, lody nonchalantly shrugged it off.
“He must be acting that way because he failed to tease
as he intended.”
Wendel studied the two of them for a mont before easily reaching a wise conclusion.
“If anything, it seems Miss Higgins is the one tornting the poor lord…”
“Pardon?”
But he could not bring himself to voice that thought aloud, rely shaking his head dismissively.
All that was left was to pray together that the hapless lord would not suffer such tornt for too long.
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