Obviously, It's My Child - Chapter 98
Chapter 98
Translator: Effe
Editor: Yonnee
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He took off his coat to wrap it around Claire’s body, then he picked her up. Claire’s gray dress was stained with black dust and dirt, as if she had gone in and out of a chimney. Apart from that, she was trembling violently.
Still, she struggled to speak.
“A fire. It’s a drug dealer’s hideout. Sir Maximillian stayed behind.”
She spoke incoherently. She wanted to organize it and explain it well, but her thoughts were running wild as if not only her body but also her mind was also quivering.
“I heard a gunshot.”
“Yes. Backup will arrive soon.”
“There is a maid named Lina in the basement warehouse. She saved me.”
“Yes. I will tell them to bring her safely.”
“They said there was also a reporter from Levi Times.”
“Claire.”
Erich cupped Claire’s cheek as she spoke frantically. He called her name sweetly but firmly.
“Everything’s fine.”
“Erich…”
“It’s okay. Nothing happened.”
Erich’s lips touched her forehead and her eyelids. Next, their lips met. Claire then realized that her lips were trembling.
Only then did she realize that it was cold. No, she understood the opposite. Her body was shaking so much that her brain seemed to be registering that she was cold.
“Duke, I have prepared a warm separate room…”
“Bring a bottle of whiskey.”
The manager spoke earnestly, but Erich only said that and headed towards the carriage.
A four-wheeled carriage with House Klausener’s coat of arms on it was waiting. Erich made Claire sit there.
The manager came running out carrying whiskey. Erich tried to pass the glass into Claire’s hand, but even then Claire was unable to loosen her grip on the ledger.
He put the drink in his mouth and placed his lips on Claire’s.
“Mm…”
Claire’s lips took in just a little bit of alcohol, like a baby bird receiving water from its mother.
Claire gulped it down her throat. It took six kisses to get through a full sip of whiskey.
After that, her body suddenly heated up. Her fingers finally loosened their grip and the ledger fell from her hands.
“Well done. It’s a good thing you didn’t lose your consciousness and came back safely.”
Erich said in a friendly voice. It was probably the first time he had spoken in such a tender tone to Claire.
Claire’s body shrunk. She couldn’t stop shaking.
“A reporter from Levi Times… He said that he set fire to a warehouse containing expensive goods, to help me escape. Probably opium.”
“Let’s send someone not only from the Police Department but also from our side.”
“Sir Maximillian…”
“Even if a hundred clumsy thugs come, they won’t be able to stop Maximillian. Don’t worry.”
Erich lightly brushed her forehead and tucked her hair back. Then he made eye contact with her and ran his hand down the bridge of her nose and cheek.
He removed her soiled outer garment and checked her wrists and fingers. Then he knelt in front of Claire and held her naked feet in his hands.
“You’re bleeding.”
The quick-witted Roger handed a wet handkerchief, perhaps he had prepared it in advance. Erich thoroughly wiped Claire’s feet with the handkerchief. Fortunately, there were no glass shards stuck in the skin.
“Thank you.”
Claire said to Roger. Roger just mouthed back, ‘Don’t mention it.’
She looked down at Erich and stretched out her arms. Erich thought she wanted to clean her hands, but he obediently opened his arms and hugged her tightly, as she wished.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire said in a voice that lost its breath.
“What?”
“I should have been more careful.”
Although she didn’t shed any tears, Claire’s voice trembled so much that it almost sounded like she was sobbing.
“After saying that to you when you almost died, I became more careless.”
“You were supposed to meet in a crowded place. You took Maximillian with you. I would have judged that that was enough.”
She said as Erich gently touched her back. Claire buried her face in his chest.
“Good job. Welcome back.”
His whispering voice moved from heart to heart.
She didn’t think of herself as a particularly brave person. She just thought that she was meant to live life alone, and she was more used to supporting others.
Even in her previous life, she had lived alone and protected herself for a long time.
She bolted the windows and front door of her rented unit, walked down the street at night while talking on the phone with a friend. Rather than the other way around, she was the one who was taking care of her parents.
The highest wall protecting her life was the number in her bank account, and she worked her whole life to build it up.
It was like that even after she had been reborn.
She was loved by her new family. Her parents were sweet and loving, so it would have been fine for her to be as naughty as a child.
However, her real childhood, when her father and mother were great beings who could do anything and were complete protectors that she could trust, was so long ago that she had forgotten it all.
Elisa and Elliot were people she had to protect, not people she could rely on.
She was the matriarch of Delford. Her relatives, her family, and the residents of her territory were all people she had to protect.
So it seems that even in this life, she tried to rely only on cold, hard gold.
But the moment she thought there was real danger, what came to mind was not a number written on a piece of paper.
“Erich.”
She hugged his back with all her strength. Her heart is much more accurate than her head.
She had someone she could rely on. She didn’t have to worry and lead. It was okay for her to lean on someone when things didn’t work out, to hang on to someone while she was afraid.
Not long after their reunion, Claire understood for the first time what he had said when they ran into each other at the toy store.
[ Whenever you need someone to rely on, have you really never thought of me? ]
At that time, Claire did not understand what he meant.
Even then she couldn’t deny that he was attractive. The kisses he would give were ecstatic, then although it didn’t seem like a gentle relationship, she was capable of making love.
But that didn’t mean she could tie her life to her passion. In marriage, she expected trust and cooperation like a partnership. She had never thought of a whole life coming together.
But now she knew.
As she was lying in his chest and desperately thinking about it, as she jumped into his arms without hesitation.
To lean on him.
And just as he thought of her as his place of solace, she, too, wished that she could do the same.
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