Harij opened the front door—the same heavy door Rose always had to push with all her strength—and he did it singlehandedly. His strong arms made her heart do a little flip.
She walked up the steps to the entrance, fascinated by his strength, and accidentally tripped. She instantly snapped back to her senses but couldn’t catch her balance in time.
“Ouch…”
“Are you okay?!” Harij rushed to her side.
“Yes, I think—”
“Be more careful! What if something more serious happened?!”
She stared at Harij’s dead serious face, thinking he was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. But he didn’t return her gaze. Instead, his eyes were trained on Rose’s abdomen—on the jar packed to the brim with earthworms and soil.
“You have more than yourself to think about right now.”
“I guess so,” she said robotically.
If Rose fell and the jar broke, the gorgeous entrance would be full of squirming worms and dirt. When Harij noticed her staring at him with deadpan eyes, his face turned unusually guilty.
“I went too far. Sorry. Can you stand? Take my hand.”
After being helped to her feet, Rose concealed the jar beneath her robe again and headed for the door.
Harij, who opened the door with one hand again, suddenly stopped moving. Curious, Rose peered inside and found a furious Tala standing there with her hands on her hips, exuding a demonic aura.
Rose shuddered and stifled a cry. She was struck with the urge to beg for forgiveness.
“…Tala, what—”
“Oh, woe is me! How could it have come to this?! This humble servant can never face Lady Azm again!”
“…Huh?” Harij’s voice cracked and his jaw went slack. Tala’s anger seemed to be directed at him, not Rose.
“I misjudged you, Young Master. How…? How could you ever lay your hands on an unmarried young woman?!”
Rose jumped underneath her robe.
“You were raised by parents who provided such a perfect example of a loving marriage, and yet you are trying to trick this fine young lady into being your m-mistress?!”
“I am not, Tala. Calm dow—”
“You expect me to be calm, Young Master?! I have served you since your infancy, but I have not been this disappointed in you since the day you rode off on your father’s horse during a hurricane without permission!”
“I keep telling you to quit calling me young master. Besides, that wasn’t me, but my older brother. I was only serving as the lookout in front of the stable to make sure the stable hands didn’t find out—”
“You have excuses for everything! You never mentioned anything about there being a woman in your life—is this the reason why you suddenly brought her home with you? And here I was feeling all relieved you were finally going to settle down since you suddenly changed into a loving man! Boy, was I wrong! You are such a letdown!”
Tala laid into him hard. From the looks of it, Harij couldn’t stand up to her because things had been like this between them since he was a boy. No one seemed to be brave enough to stop her. Several servants watched the scene unfold from a corner of the hallway, their faces whiter than snow.
“Give me a chance to talk first. I haven’t done a single thing you think I have, Tala.”
“Then why were you sneakily discussing things you want to keep a secret from me near the chicken coop? Hmm?!”
“It’s not what you—”
“And just now, when milady tripped and fell, you shouted that she has more than herself to think about!”
“…Let me finish—”
Harij was overwhelmed by Tala’s relentless onslaught. Not even Rose could get a word in edgewise.
“I have been looking after milady for over a month now! I was worried when she didn’t experience the monthly womanly malaise during that time, but…I never imagined it was because you were already involved in such immoral acts…!”
A variety of complicated coincidences had led to Tala drawing a terribly wild conclusion. Rose couldn’t blame her for the misunderstanding after hearing her reasoning.
“Are you listening to me, Young Master?!”
“I am. Hear me out—”
“Well, well! Men always try to silence women the moment they are put in a precarious position. I will not allow any impropriety!”
Tears filled Tala’s eyes. She could even be heard sniffling. She was probably disappointed thinking Harij had taken advantage of Rose. Harij was further daunted by her accusations.
“I will come clean.” An expressionless yet inwardly flustered Rose thrust her hand outside her robe.
“…Milady? What are you—” Tala gasped when she saw what was in her hand—she must’ve seen the earthworms squirming around inside the soil-filled jar.
“This is what I asked him to keep a secret from you, Ms. Tala. This is also what you misunderstood to be in my belly…”
The worms wriggled around, asserting their existence.
Silence fell over the room. The servants watching from the far corner stared on with what could only be described as disbelief.
“Earth…worms?”
“I wanted to…feed them to the chickens…”
Only then did Tala realize her mistake. Her eyes fluttered open as she exclaimed, “Oh dear! M-My Lord, I truly went too far… I’m so sorry.”
“I kept telling you to listen to me first.”
Harij didn’t seem to mind. He seemed keener on ending the whole conversation as quickly as possible.
“I charged you with such a shameful accusation as well, milady…”
“It’s all right. This is nowhere near as bad as the time I was accused of being a man-eating witch.”
“Oh, you are too silly.” Tala broke into a broad smile. She took Rose’s comment as a joke. Deep lines creased Harij’s brow as he realized some people actually spoke of her that way.
“By the way, I would like to…” Rose thrust the jar of worms toward Tala, inciting her to scream. “…keep this in my room.”
“You may…if His Lordship permits it…,” Tala said hoarsely, her tone suggesting she sincerely hoped Harij would refuse in her place.
Rose looked to Harij. He nodded his approval with a sour look.
Tala breathed a sigh of despair, and the servants watching from the hallway fell to their knees.