The Pregnant Maid Runs Away - Chapter 8: The Runaway Maid (Part 3)
Chapter 8: The Runaway Maid (Part 3)
Bieren spent a lonely and bitter time in the borderlands. The borderlands were cold, with snow falling, and incidents of carrying corpses occurred frequently. He was glad he hadn’t brought her to this cold, harsh place. He spent dreadful times kissing the handkerchief she had given him. The handkerchief he’d taken from Lizbeth by the river on a summer day, wrapped around his p*nis and m*sturbated until the fabric wore thin. He had m*sturbated before as he glimpsed at her walking outside the duke’s residence. However, he couldn’t bring himself to do so with this handkerchief.
“Lizbeth.”
Bieren called out softly, burying his nose into the handkerchief. It carried Lizbeth’s scent, and he didn’t want to cover it up with the scent of his own s*men. He wanted to cherish this scent so dearly. Even when the scent no longer emanated from the handkerchief later on, he still smelled her fragrance. It was ingrained into his body. His lascivious maid had stolen his innocence and left her mark on him. But now, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her even more.
‘I heard that the mail was lost when it was brought along with the groceries in the cart.’
In the land of extreme cold, sending or receiving mail was impossible. Bieren repeatedly wrote letters to Lizbeth, hoping to send them all at once, but he never knew if they reached the Duke’s residence in Etterland. Although mail occasionally got lost, Bieren’s anger at Lizbeth’s audacity of not sending a single letter subsided as soon as he realized his love. From the moment he recognized his love, his anger became powerless. Despite knowing that she might have given her heart to another man and betrayed him, her master, he couldn’t suppress his feelings for her. The longing for his maid overwhelmed the resentment of her betrayal. He just missed Lizbeth so much.
“It seems I’m following in my father’s footsteps, after all.”
Bieren spat out a self-help pep talk mixed with a bitter laugh. His father never truly punished his mother for her affairs, nor did he let her go, yet he couldn’t trust her either. Bieren knew of his father, who spent his life witnessing his wife’s extramarital affairs. Cause of this, Bieren never got close to any women while observing his father. He didn’t want to know and experience such consuming emotions throughout his life. But love struck him like an accident. He couldn’t avoid it. From the moment he first saw the maid, who was sitting on her haunches pouring out flowers she had picked in the field, he harbored feelings for her. It took him a long time to accept those emotions.
[I’ll have a wedding ceremony when I return, so be prepared].
Bieren, perhaps futilely, wrote a plea to the butler in the letter that might not reach him this time either. He wanted to convey good news to the maid, who was waiting for his return. He wanted to let her know that it wasn’t sincere to hurt her with words like “mistress”. He asked about her interest when he received a proposal from a Marquis, but she denied. Bieren had never been interested in any woman other than Lizbeth. Until his life faded away, she would be the only one for him.
“Argh!”
Men’s screams filled the air, leaving a river of blood on the ground. Crows circled overhead, preparing to feast on the corpses. Bieren stood on the land that had taken the lives of many, welcoming the rising sun. It was the morning after a battle that lasted until dawn. The sun rising in the distance illuminated the land covered with corpses. As everything came to an end, Bieren welcomed the slowly approaching joy. Now he could finally go to her side. He rushed as a nobleman over long distances, urging his horse without rest. He rode the long way to the duchy, urging his horse on without sleep, and though he didn’t eat, his hunger was sated. Bieren thought that if he were to pick the most thrilling moments of his life, it would probably be that time.
* * *
“Where is Lizbeth?”
Bieren, frighteningly, sought her within the ducal palace. The servants of the manor trembled before their master who had arrived tirelessly. No one dared to deliver the dreadful news before him. He had come to see his beloved woman even before the stench of blood had dissipated. Before him, no one could speak of Lizbeth’s departure, the maids kept their heads bowed with their eyes fixed on the floor. An older butler, with a face showing his readiness for the worst, stepped forward and spoke.
“The lady has… left.”
At that moment, Bieren felt as if a ringing sound echoed in his ears. He couldn’t understand the butler’s words. Lizbeth had left. It was unbelievable. He could not believe how the mere maid, whom he had confined to his bedroom and allowed only walks, could leave. Bieren could not believe the butler’s words.
“Where did she go?”
Bieren didn’t want to believe the butler. The maid was obviously worried about him. There was no hint of a lie in those sweet eyes that wanted his safe return. Bieren studied the butler’s pale face with an intense gaze as if searching for the right answer.
“You don’t mean to tell me that Lizbeth is not well….”
“She has left the ducal residence.”
Hearing the butler’s words, Bieren felt the blood drain from his body. It felt like the ground beneath him was collapsing, plunging him into an endless hell. The feeling was more bitter than losing his father on the morning he heard his mother had left with the stableman. It felt like poison running through his veins instead of blood. Bieren clenched his teeth until his jaw burned, then spoke as if he were vomiting up the loss that was raging inside him.
“And you stood by and watched?”
“She was with a maid until evening, so it seems she left late at night. Considering even the gatekeeper didn’t see her, it seems she left through another route.”
Listening to the butler’s words, Bieren imagined Lizbeth wandering the castle late at night. The maid had waited for that night to abandon him. She must have been waiting for him to leave before she herself left. While he was longing for her and imagining their wedding amidst his lonely struggles on the frontier, she had left him. The mere thought of her leaving, disregarding his feelings, infuriated him.
“Did she take anything with her?”
Despite his intense hatred for the maid who betrayed him, Bieren asked, worried. He hoped she hadn’t left recklessly without a penny in her maid’s attire. He hoped she had at least taken some expensive jewels and dresses. He wondered how she would be able to eat and where she would sleep.
“She didn’t take anything with her.”
At the butler’s answer, Bieren lowered his head reluctantly. He hadn’t bowed his head once before the bodies of so many of his comrades-in-arms, but to be told that the only thing that had made him want to come all the way from so far away was that she had taken nothing with her when she left felt like a blow to the gut. The maid, who had refused everything Bern offered, had left him, leaving everything behind.
“…Bring her back immediately.”
Bieren spoke in a low, vicious voice. He knew her delicate body wouldn’t hold up after being confined to the bedroom. He didn’t know how far she’d walked, if she’d eaten. He couldn’t even imagine where she might have collapsed, becoming prey for wild animals. He didn’t even know if she was being exploited by traffickers, getting drunk on some kind of drug every day, enduring the advances of men until her body was worn out.
“I’ll reward anyone who brings Lizbeth back to the manor, no matter the cost.”
His worry seemed to outweigh the betrayal he felt towards the maid, threatening to rot his insides. Bieren called upon the leader of the Information Guild to commission a search for Lizbeth. The leader promised to find and safely bring back Lizbeth within three days. Nevertheless, Bieren didn’t eat or sleep.
After enduring severe cold for days without sleep or food, he finally fell into a fitful sleep, clutching the empty bedspread with the faint scent of the maid. When he woke up, the adjacent spot was still empty.
“…Lizbeth.”
Bieren called out the maid’s name. The empty bed couldn’t be more agonizing. There was no Lizbeth, who had been waiting for him every day. Like so many others who had left him behind, she had followed. The duke, who hadn’t eaten or slept, emerged from the empty room calling out to her as if he had lost his mind.
“Lizbeth!”
The servants trembled with fear as they bowed their heads before Bieren, who wandered the mansion with furious strides. He went to the study, the library, and even the room where she used to work as a maid. There was no trace of her anywhere. The moments when she looked at him with affectionate eyes were vivid only in his mind. It felt like the empty room was speaking to him, saying that everything was now in the past.
“Lizbeth, Lizbeth….”
Bieren cried out for her in the empty maid’s room. The room, cleaned by the maids, was too neat, devoid of any trace of her scent. He felt as if all the things he had to say would be wasted if he didn’t find her. Instead of pouring out harsh words, he should have treated her kindly. He shouldn’t have insulted her as a woman who confounded men but should have honestly said that he was impatient because she was too beautiful. He spent the next three days swallowing his regrets like bitter water.
“I’ve found your Ladyship.”
The head of the Information Guild came to him with the news. The head of the Information Guild knew that the Duke was not married, but he still addressed Lizbeth as formally. Any maid who could make a mess out of the Duke of Etterland, who was known to keep women at arm’s length, would soon become his duchess. However, when news came that the woman who would be the duchess had fled while pregnant, naturally, the leader became concerned about the duke’s reaction.
“But, she’s pregnant… Bringing a heavily pregnant woman might pose a risk, so I’ve come to inquire about the duke’s wishes once again.”
“Pregnant?”
Bieren repeated slowly. The maid hadn’t missed a day of receiving Bieren, so it had to be his child, even if he’d fed her contraceptives. However, if it truly was his child, there was no reason for Lizbeth to run away. If she carried the child of a duke, it would be natural to raise it as a noble being known throughout the world. Yet, she fled, as if revealing the identity of the child posed a problem. Realizing this, Bieren abruptly rose to his feet.
“Tell me her location. I will go myself.”
It was clear that the maid had succumbed to another man’s advances in his absence. She had even conceived a child. She had spread her legs wide, welcoming his seed with kindness. His maid was a worse woman than his own mother. Still, Bieren urged his steps forward, eager to see Lizbeth, even if she was carrying another man’s child. Upon seeing her, he felt a surge of betrayal and anger, but he still wanted to meet her, interrogate her pointlessly of whose child was in her belly, of how much she despised him enough to flee, and if she truly no longer loved him.