The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 141: Choices Brings Consequences

Chapter 141: Choices Brings Consequences

"Orson?" Catherine blinked in disbelief at his availability, wondering how her brother had got into the room when she was sure she locked it to avoid any further disturbances from anyone. She thought staying alone would be able to help her gain the comfort she needed as she couldn’t speak to anyone about the strange man that had been tormenting her, but staying alone turned out to be the worst decision she could make as the idea proved to be more dangerous.

Looking at her front, she took notice of his absence, and the lamplight had magically been turned on again. Catherine didn’t need any mirror to know she was sweating, and her eyes must have swelled from all the crying and fear that the stranger had made her consume.

What if he comes back again??

"Orson!" Getting out of bed, she ran to hug her brother who was still in the middle of understanding the situation that was going on with his sister as she cried in his arms. "Please, please don’t leave me by myself, I’m scared, I’m scared, I don’t want to be left alone... please don’t leave me here, I’ll die."

"What is going on?" Orson tried to make her talk as he pushed her gently away from him so he could look at her face. It was the first time he’s seen his sister act like this, and he wasn’t oblivious to the urgency in her voice and the fear in her eyes. It worried him even more as he tried to calm her down, realizing the situation was more dire than he had expected it to be.

"Listen, I’ll send your maid to come here and help you freshen up cause you’re a total mess right now. You can join me downstairs and YOU have to tell me what’s going on, no more of this nonsense." From his expression and tone, Catherine knew he was going to force her to speak, but knowing her life would be at risk, how is she going to say it??

"Come." He held her hand and led her towards the maid quarters since she refused to be left alone.

~

In a cozy-looking cabin during the winter season, Madeline had helped her father gather the tiny woods her little hands could pick from the woods before handing it to him and watching him throw it in the fireplace.

The woods crackled with tiny sparks, and the lights intensified as her father threw his own woods into the fireplace. The cabin felt more warmer, and Madeline’s big dark orbs watched the woods burn, the light reflecting in her eyes.

"Maddie, what did I say about walking with your feet when it’s snowing?" She could hear her mother’s usual scolding as she brought their dinner to the dining room before moving over to the little girl who was trying to hide her fair feet that had turned slightly purple from having to stand on the snow for too long.

"You were with her weren’t you? And you let her leave the cabin with no shoes??" Her mother passed on the scolding to her father who exchanged glances with his daughter and wife.

"She insisted." Her father tried to explain to the concerned woman who had made their daughter sit on a stool while she went to get some warm water. "Her feet must be numb right now, if she can’t protect herself now, how will she do that when she grows older?"

"You worry too much my dear." Her father let out a low chuckle before crouching down to warm his hands on the fireplace, rubbing his palms together and heating them up.

Madeline watched as her mother tended to her numb feet with warm water and a towel. "I can take care of myself." She uttered, politely opposing her mother’s earlier words, but that did not ease her at all.

"You cannot do that because you are still a child." Her mother declared candidly without looking at her, and that made Madeline clench her fist as her nails dug into her palm.

"I am not in pain, mama, I know you’re worried, but it was only a walk in the snow, you don’t have to scold papa for it too." She softly countered back. Her mother let out a sigh before stopping what she was doing to meet her daughter’s gaze.

"Let us not make a big deal out, it is what you mean to say." Her mother voiced out her thoughts. "But you, my dear, should not only focus on the choices you make, but the consequences that might come with the choices you make."

"What type of choices?" Madeline innocently tilted her head to the side, and her mother tried to come up with an example. "Maddie, It was your choice to walk barefooted, but you only thought about the positive side to it, forgetting that there are consequences that might come with it too, and that consequences would have been avoided if only you wore shoes today. Look at your feet!"

She continued to wash her daughter’s feet. "The choices you make are likely to bring consequences, and I’m hoping you understand this words when you grow older, cause in the future, there’ll be tough times where you’ll have to make a difficult decisions and choices,, and when you make that decision which you think is right, the peace of Carmarthen will be sure to return."

"The peace of Carmarthen?" Her eyes widened, displaying that she was lost at the last sentence, but her mother just smiled and rose to her feet with the bowl of water.

"Let’s go have dinner."

Before Madeline could rise to her two feet, the image in her head began to blur until her eyes snapped open.

With a short gasp, Madeline sat up on the bed after waking up from the strangest dream she’s yet to have. Letting out a tired moan, she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with her palm, looking lost about the dream since she could barely remember when she had that conversation with her late parents.

"Must be from the memories I accidentally locked away." She uttered to herself since the familiarity of the event was still there in her heart. Pushing herself up into a sitting position, she recalled the words of her mother and whispered.

"Choices bring consequences."