The Beast That Licks Me - Chapter 1.11

***

“Mother, I heard you were looking for me…”

“Yes.”

Rosette’s expression crumpled immediately upon entering the drawing room. Sarhen wasn’t alone. She was with Stefan. Unlike earlier, Stefan seemed to have completely regained his composure.

“Hello, Rosette.”

“We’re seeing each other often today.”

“Is your injury better?”

“Yes. Thanks to you I got hurt, and thanks to Evan I got better.”

“Rosette! What kind of rudeness is this!”

Sarhen was so shocked by Rosette’s cold tone that she half rose from her seat. Stefan calmed her down.

“It’s alright, madam. It’s true that I caused Rosette’s injury.”

“It was all an accident, wasn’t it? And you even got burned…”

Sarhen looked at Stefan with eyes full of sympathy. Who was whose child, really? Rosette clicked her tongue. Perhaps wanting to appear pitiful, Stefan had even rolled up his trouser leg to reveal the bandaged area.

“The water wasn’t that hot, so how did you get burned?”

“Rosette Alpaine. That’s enough.”

“I’m just curious. Just curious.”

“I can’t bear to hear more of your sarcasm. Should there be such a commotion between people who are soon to be married?”

“Mom, do you know that Stefan has planted a spy in our house?”

At that moment, all three people in the drawing room froze. Sarhen, Stefan, and even Becky are standing behind them. Flustered, Becky took a step back and said.

“Please continue your conversation. I’ll wait outside. Please call me immediately if you need anything.”

“……Alright.”

Becky heard the answer and immediately went outside. After Becky left, the room was quiet for a while. Sarhen sighed first and opened her mouth.

“Yes, I know.”

“You know?”

Rosette asked Sarhen back in disbelief.

“I think calling her a spy is a bit much.”

“What else would you call a spy if not a spy?”

“Of course, what that maid did wasn’t right. But that’s something to hold the maid accountable for, not something Stefan should be condemned for.”

“How did you even hear about this? Does Father think the same way?”

“Is there any need to tell your father? It’s better to bury this matter here.”

“Mom!”

“Stop acting so rashly. First, you say you want to go on a trip in front of everyone on your birthday, and now it’s hard to watch you behaving like this in front of the person you’re going to marry. I’m sorry. I raised my daughter wrong.”

Sarhen gently rubbed her temple with her fingertips as if she had a headache.

“No. It seems you two have a lot to talk about, so I’ll take my leave first.”

“Yes, go home safely. I’ll call for you again soon.”

“Yes, Rosette. I’ll come again.”

“Come if you want another splash of water.”

“Rosette Alpaine!”

“It’s alright, madam. Don’t raise your voice because of me. I’ll leave first.”

Stefan bowed politely and left. Rosette sat in her seat without even looking at Stefan. Sarhen frowned as if she disliked her daughter’s behavior.

“Rosette. What kind of outrageous behavior is this?”

“Mom, how can you say that when you know what he did?”

“‘He’? He’s going to be your husband. Don’t speak like that.”

“Going to be, but not yet.”

Sarhen pressed her forehead with her hand at Rosette’s cold tone.

“Fine. It’s true that Stefan knew the maid we hired. But it wasn’t what you think.”

“What wasn’t it?”

“That maid originally worked at Stefan’s house, and her father was a pharmacist. The maid also knew how to handle medicines. So since you have a chronic illness and are a bit weak, he brought her in to take good care of you. It was with good intentions.”

Rosette remembered how Judy would often make her herbal tea, saying it was good for when she was sick. It was also because the herbal tea worked quite well that she kept Judy close.

“How do you feel about the fact that she immediately told him, even though both you and I told her to keep quiet?”

“That was wrong. But that’s the maid’s fault, not Stefan’s. How could he have prevented the maid from talking?”

“Mom, you’re being deceived right now.”

“Or are you misjudging Stefan with your wrong stubbornness?”

“Mom!”

“And, it would be better if you and Evan stayed apart.”

“…What did you just say?”

Rosette asked Sarhen back in confusion.

“I said it would be better if you and Evan stayed apart. At least until you get married.”

“…Where will Evan be during that time?”

Sarhen, who thought dearly of her, wouldn’t put Evan far away. Rosette asked with her heart pounding in anxiety.

“Evan will, of course, be at home.”

“…Are you planning to confine him?”

Sarhen closed her mouth at Rosette’s direct question. It was an affirmation.

“…Confine? We’ll feed him only the best in a good place. That would be better for Evan, too. Right no,w he’s like a naked thunderbolt.”

“That’s confinement. The wedding will take at least another year, are you thinking of confining him until then?”

“You could just get married earlier.”

“Mom! Stop saying nonsense!”

Rosette jumped up and shouted. The veins on her pale neck stood out. Dark clouds quickly flowed past the window. The shadow of clouds passing by the window darkened Rosette’s pupils.

“You should act with decorum. Don’t raise your voice carelessly.”

“Do I look like I can find decorum right now? You’re going to imprison someone who’s been with me for over 10 years just because he became human? I can’t do that!”

“It’s not just that he became human. If a maiden who’s about to be married has a man by her side, what will people think!”

“What does it matter what people think! As long as I have a clear conscience!”

“That’s why you’re still young. Some rumors last a lifetime. Compared to that, being apart for a year is getting off lightly.”

There was no way to reason with her. Rosette roughly brushed up her forehead. Cold sweat had formed sparsely on her forehead. Sarhen slightly frowned her pale brow and continued.

“…And Stefan is suspicious of the relationship between you two.”

“We can make him understand by letting them meet continuously from now on. Tell him nothing happened.”

“It’s not such a simple matter.”

“Then what exactly is the problem? I said nothing happened!”

Sarhen pressed her temple firmly at Rosette’s words. She seemed to have a headache. Sarhen’s high and sharp voice cut through the air.

“…How would I know if truly nothing happened?”

Flash, a white line connecting earth and sky, appeared in the distance. Rosette felt the shock as if she might have been struck by that lightning.

While knowing full well that man was Evan!

Even while knowing everything, Sarhen said such things.

“How would you know… if nothing happened?”

“Yes. What parent wouldn’t worry when a naked man came out of their unmarried daughter’s room?”

“Worry? Not suspicion?”

Rumble. Thunder arrived belatedly, consuming the silence. Dark clouds covered the sky. It had become so dark that it was difficult to discern each other’s expressions, but neither thought to light a candle.

Rosette’s chest heaved repeatedly as she failed to compose her emotions. She felt miserable. The fact that it was her own mother who kept saying these things was unbearably painful. Rosette couldn’t hold back her tears and spoke with a wet voice.

“Mom, am I a daughter you’re ashamed of and need to get rid of quickly?”

At Rosette’s words, Sarhen’s cheeks stiffened. Her daughter’s clear eyes were filled with despair and sadness. Outside the window, heavy rain poured down. The fierce raindrops, strong enough to dig into the soil, painfully hit the window. Sarhen, who had been staring at her daughter, parted her lips as if to say something but then bit them tightly. Her red lips turned white. The tip of Sarhen’s nose had reddened.

“That can’t be, Rosette. You’re my precious daughter. More precious than life itself…”

“If that’s not the case, why are you so desperate about Stefan? Is it because I can’t get pregnant? Because I’m weak?”

“…You don’t know anything.”

“What don’t I know?”

“I was treated as a noble plaything by men because I came from a family that had difficulty getting pregnant. I was a flower they wanted to pluck, but no one wanted to marry me. I was lucky to meet your father, but if not for that, by now I would probably be living with your uncle, just breathing… Yes, like your aunt… Rather than that, it would be better to die.”

Rosette drew in a short breath. Her mother was truly strange today.

“…Do you really think that? That Aunt Yeni would have been better off dead?”