The Maid Under the Stairs - Chapter 55
< Chapter 55 >
Mabel couldn’t fathom the situation unfolding before her.
William, kneeling in front of her with one knee, and his voice seemed distant as if happening in another world.
Only the blue jewel of the ring, surrounded by diamond decorations in the shape of water droplets, sparkled brilliantly, resembling the night sky in London.
Then, beyond the beautiful and elegant ring of Edmundstones, William began to speak in a gentle voice.
“I’ve realized I can no longer delay acknowledging that I don’t want to falsely portray a life without you.”
The blue gaze of William, so similar in color to the ring, met Mabel’s face. William Edmundstone, one of the most powerful people in London, knelt before her, confessing his deepest sincerity in the most vulnerable manner.
“Mabel, I will dedicate my life to protecting, worshiping, and loving you. So, if you and…”
“Stop!”
Mabel stood up abruptly and shouted. It was hard to distinguish whether the pounding in her ears was from her voice or the pounding of her heart.
“Please, Mr. Edmundstone, stop… Please spare me further words.”
She spoke with a voice on the verge of breathlessness.
She knew it couldn’t happen, yet she couldn’t let go of his hand until now. But perhaps it was precisely because it was an inevitable end that she had come this far.
However, as she looked at the ring and the sincere face of the man, all of this became too vividly ‘real.’
William’s delicate and beautiful face appeared blurry before Mabel’s eyes. She couldn’t read his expression or keep staring at him. Just the thought of hurting him tore her heart apart.
Mabel turned her back to him. It was over. She couldn’t bear this place any longer. She left straight away. She hurriedly moved her feet, struggling to contain her staggering body.
“Mabel!”
William’s voice calling her only accelerated her pace. Mabel retraced her steps without stopping.
Finally, when she reached the open grass field after passing through the bushes, Mabel stopped. She was out of breath, having practically run halfway. Her breath was heavy, almost suffocating.
“Haah, haah…”
Was it because of the sudden sprint? Even after catching her breath for a while, her breathing didn’t calm down. It felt like something was stuck in her chest, making her feel stifled. Whether the tightness in her chest was due to running or not, Mabel couldn’t figure out.
“Mabel, are you okay?”
William, who had approached Mabel without her noticing, supported her as she crouched down as if about to collapse. Why was he worrying about the woman who had just vehemently rejected his proposal and fled? Why did he keep pleading so affectionately? Mabel felt even greater pain in his genuinely concerned voice.
“Hah, haa… Generations, hah, come and go…”
Mabel stammered, her throat constricted from holding back tears. She always seemed weak and tearful in front of him.
“Hah, if they were my parents, oh, poor mother and father… Ultimately, they fell into a love that was beyond their station, hah… Both suffered and passed away.”
William furrowed his brow as he sensed what Mabel was trying to say. He held her shoulders and straightened her up.
“That was a long time ago, Mabel. At least twenty years ago!”
William said with an agitated voice. But for some reason, Mabel felt his tone was tinged with disdain towards her.
“Hah, what’s different from back then? Mr. Edmundstone. It’s like comparing the foolish love discourse we have now to back then, devoid of any sense of reality.”
Mabel replied, catching her breath. Although her fragile shoulders shook in William’s hands, she was now looking him straight in the eye. Mabel spat out each word as if she were cutting a part of herself.
“I… I don’t want to repeat the same history as my parents. I don’t want to push both of us to the brink with an inevitable love tale. Do you know what rumors are circulating in Summerhill? Do you know how much your reputation is tarnished because of me?!”
There was venom in Mabel’s narrowed eyes.
As the sunset approached its end, now burning a dark red rather than bright, the grass field was bathed in its hue. As the temperature of the field dropped, a harsh wind began to blow from the north.
“Mabel, I don’t care about rumors, reputation, or any of that. If I can be with you…”
“What about the Deputy Prime Minister position? Mr. Edmundstone, you have important things to do. You need to pass social security reforms, you have ambitions and beliefs beyond what others can dream of, and you can make them a reality!”
Mabel interrupted William and shouted. She felt somehow angry at him. William hadn’t done anything wrong, but his flawless and noble appearance seemed to highlight to her how undeserving she was of him.
But William wasn’t backing down either. He held her small shoulders tightly in his hands and met Mabel’s gaze with determined eyes.
“Mabel Willis, there’s nothing more important to me than you!”
Even in William’s usually calm voice, there was a hint of anger. His black hair fluttered in the harsh wind as if reflecting his heart.
“My goodness! Mr. Edmundstone.”
Mabel trembled as she shouted again. Looking into William’s earnestly concerned expression, she felt even more despair, knowing there was not an ounce of falsehood in his eyes or beneath his heavy brows.
‘My son has cut ties with us…What kind of love is that…?’
‘Did I become greedy? It feels like I made him unhappy, Mabel…’
The sad voices of Geofford Birdie and Daisy echoed in Mabel’s mind. Against those ominous words, Mabel muttered to herself.
‘No, he’s mistaken. He doesn’t love someone like me.’
The more William showed her his complete affection, the more anxious Mabel became, feeling like he was walking into the pit of her despair.
“A proposal from the great William Edmundstone to me! No, suppose I accepted that proposal. What then? Don’t we see endless misfortunes happening around us? There’s no fate for us to be happy!”
Mabel raised her voice instead.
“It’s like the world is constantly warning me. Love is all that matters to me, huh? Remember how those around us, who only pursued love, ended up? The son of Mr. Birdie, who might be my parent, didn’t even hesitate to marry a servant. Look at Daisy and James Herbert. Do you have to wait until such a situation arises to regret your love? Despite all this, are you going to say that fate has foreseen our destiny?”
In response, William sharply cut through Mabel’s words.
“Mabel, what in the world are you trying to say, that you shouldn’t trust me, the man who stands before you now, rather than the warnings of the world, or your fate?”
William shouted again with a harsh tone.
“Mabel, I love you!”
His confession, mixed with despair and anger, echoed across the field, piercing through the rough wind. And the grip on Mabel’s shoulders loosened. The momentary anger in his eyes faded, turning back to tender and gentle.
“Mabel… If you want, I will confess my love to you and swear to you every moment from now on. So please…”
With eyes that seemed to penetrate her soul, William approached her, almost touching her nose with his. Overwhelmed by his words and the sweetness of his gaze, Mabel momentarily fantasized about being embraced by the solid arms of the man in front of her.
‘……If you kiss the full lips before me and promise me your love and devotion, I will…….’
However, Mabel resisted the temptation and quickly closed and opened her eyes. Then, as if his hand on her shoulder was something dirty, she roughly pushed it away.
“You’re not naive enough to think you’re going to have a future by mixing it up with a maid, are you?”
Mabel’s sarcastic tone cut through the cold air. She no longer appeared to be gasping for breath or looking anxious.
“Or do you feel sorry for me because my status is troubled? So, if the honorable Mr. Edmundstone, who cares for the lower class, were to propose to me… would I have accepted the proposal and thanked him?”
William’s gentle expression turned stiff as marble at her mocking words.
“The love games of naive rich young men like yourself must come to an end someday. If you’re planning to marry a suitable lady from the Simpson family, you had better put aside your affection for your mistress at this point. Clinging to such an audacious confession won’t do any good as the desires of men and women are only temporary.”
Mabel couldn’t stop herself, even though she knew her arguments made no sense. She felt that saying something, anything, to hurt him, or rather herself, would make it slightly easier to bid him farewell.
With a hardened expression, William couldn’t contain his frustration any longer.
“Mabel, why do you speak words that hurt yourself? You know they’re not true!”
His voice, like a wounded beast, mixed with the fierce wind, scattered into the air.
“If it weren’t for the article about Lady Simpson, I would have proposed to you on the night I visited the dormitory. And then the inquiry incident happened.”
Eventually, William seemed to lose his composure due to her insulting attitude. His voice was now mixed with anxiety and fierce anger.
“I should not have given you time to think. It’s my fault for waiting to propose until you were a little happier and more stable. “
In Mabel’s eyes, the man she had loved and admired so much was suffering because of her. He, who had been like a calm shore, was now a turbulent sea.
Mabel felt like this was her only chance to step back from William.
“I’m used to…… the worst.”
Mabel replied in a chilling voice.
“Mr. Edmundstone, I’ve never dreamed of a future with you. I no longer love you, knowing there’s no future between us.”
A silence lingered between them after Mabel’s words. William, as if trying to say something, looked at her with eyes filled with anger and loneliness. It was a despairing expression she had never seen before, but her heart, already consumed by her own pessimism, felt no pain.
“As a token of your and my time, please just give up on your feelings for me now. I ask you.”
With Mabel’s stern voice, even the last rays of sunset disappeared beyond the field, and darkness descended rapidly as if a storm were about to break loose.