The Flower That Bloomed In The Dark

Beatrice made her way to the farm house a good walk away, she knew she couldn't ask to be taken there. It would risk the affair being exposed, and that was the last thing she needed - with what was happening she knew she had to keep things quiet. She knocked on the door then opened it slowly, "Sehun?" she spoke as she shut the door behind her. They had been fooling around for just over two months now, and she hadn't thought much of it till she began to feel ill. That was when she'd confirmed it all on her own; she was with child. Not just any child, but Sehun's.

She walked into the stables, knowing Chanyeol would be down there when she got there. She had heard marriage preparations were being put together but a husband hadn't been decided on. She had no interest in whatever her parents thought was right, and she would do anything to escape it.

She saw him working on her horse and sighed, walking up behind him. "How long are you going to keep ignoring me, Chanyeol?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

---

Sehun looked up and looked around, making sure they were alone. "I'm here, is everything alright?" He asked curiously. It wasn't often she came during the day, she normally snuck out at night.

Beatrice sighed a little as she looked at him, "I'm pregnant," she said to him softly as she looked into his eyes, "I haven't slept with him if I just sleep with him and tell him in a few week's he'll know he isn't stupid," she told him in a rushed voice as the tears began to fill her eyes. "I don't know what to do,"

---

"Till you realize this is a bad idea," he said to her lightly as he lifted a bale of hay and put it onto the carriage platform then turned to look at her.

She scoffed and shook her head. "It is not a bad idea, Chanyeol. I've seen the way you look at me, and I know you don't regret what happened." She said, walking closer to him and standing in between him and the carriage. "I don't. But now suddenly that I tell you that I want more too, you tell me its a bad idea. You wanted me too, why now is it suddenly bad?"

---

He stared at her and rubbed his face. "We... I don't know what to do." He murmured. "If the baby is mine, then I want to be in my child's life. What do we do?"

"Because what will we do? I will work, but where? Everyone knows your face, everyone knows who I worked for, and this job pays well - if we do more we'd have to leave and it would be hard to find work," he explained to her as he lifted another bale. "I'd have to build a house while we lived in a carriage, we'd need to buy farm animals; a bull and sow, a clutch of hens and a rooster, two pigs one male and female so we can breed then but we'd need more space, more food just to keep them going," he said in one breath then rubbed his face.

"I want to give you a life worth living if we go, and right now I can't give you that, if you have some answer that I don't then please tell me," he whispered lightly.

---

She nodded a little, "I have jewels we can sell," she whispered, "we can go and live on our own - make our own way. I've learned how to cook in my spare time with you and I know how to clean; I'd be able to do things on my own,"

"Whether I leave with you, or marry some rich man where will I struggle less? If I leave with you, yes it will be difficult, I'm well aware, but at least with you I will have some of the freedom I was never given." She said quickly before sighing. "If I marry some old man, I will live in a beautiful house, but for what? A depressing existence, possible rape, abuse or both?" She said, in a raised whisper, looking around before moving closer to him. "Obviously we can't leave now, we need time to gather what we need. But it is not a bad idea, are you saying you would be perfectly fine watching me be married off to some man likely twice my age?"

---

"But what about everything here? This job is what I have to survive, I can't support you in the way I would need to yet. I can't support this child either, Beatrice..." He said, whispering to her. "Are you sure? We would struggle."

"If I were to stay, they'd force me to terminate the pregnancy or make me carry to term then kill it once it took its first breath - you'd be killed, I'd be sent to a nunnery," she whispered softly ,"Every amount of suffering we have together would be worth what would happen if we were to stay," her eyes welled with tears as she looked down - she wasn't ashamed anymore. Everything that had led them to here had been a choice she'd made.

---

"You know the answer to that question," he murmured lightly, "I don't want you to marry anyone but me,"

She took his face in her hands and kissed him, closing her eyes and sighing. "Then it's settled. I will not be anyones but yours. We won't leave yet, but we start preparing." She said to him quietly. "Right now they said it is time to begin searching, and I will do whatever I possibly can to stall or find out what is happening. Alright?"

---

He ran his hand over his face and threw his hair. "Alright, then I will get ready to leave." He murmured. "You as well. We...will just have to be ready to flee one night."

She nodded a little then looked down a bit, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," she whispered softly as she looked at him then wiped her eyes a little. Beatrice had only ever meant to be able to be happy - she never considered that she'd get pregnant.

---

He nodded,"Alright, I'll do extra side jobs then," he told her lightly.

She nodded a little. "I'll start saving my pocket money," She said to him and sighed. "Can I stay out here with you for a bit? Have you taken your break yet? Come and lay with me in the vineyard before I have to go back?"

---

He shook his head. "Things happen for a reason. How long do you think before you begin to show?" He asked curiously.

"I'm unsure, my breasts are bigger as of now so maybe two weeks till my corset isn't fitting," she murmured softly.

---

He knew with her help they could have enough money to live comfortably for a while, but he'd need to fnd and hold down a job.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the back of the stables, towards the fields and into the vineyard. After walking a bit she sat down behind one of the trees with him. "Come on, sit. You never take breaks."

---

He nodded. "Alright. Then we have two weeks. Get what you need together, and I'll work on getting us a place to stay. Everything will be okay."

She nodded a little as she walked over to him and fixed his shirt, "We'll be okay, I have plenty of jewels and money saved for emergencies," she murmured softly.

---

He sighed a little as he walked with her and sat down next to her, "It's hard to take breaks when I'm the only stable hand," he murmured.

"Yes, but if you die from exhaustion then we will have no stable hands, and I will be very upset because then I would really be forced to marry some old man." She murmured, looking at him. "And we can't have that."

---

He leaned down and kissed her, stroking her cheek. "It will work out," He murmured. "I'll need to build us a house."

"Of course not," he said to her smiling a little as he looked at her, "Can't have you marrying some old fart, saggy belly and no ambition but to knock you up,"

---

she kissed him back softly, "I know, we can find some open land, live there. I can trim my hair short once we leave; change my name," she murmured softly.

"I wish I could just walk you inside and tell them you're who I want. Women get nothing they want," She muttered before sighing. "I wish we could just turn you into a Duke and everything would be fine." She mumbled before looking at him. "Wait, why don't we do that?" She said seriously. "We could turn you into someone my family would approve of."

---

"I wonder if it will be enough. Your husband will look for you once you leave," Sehun murmured. "You'll need to stay hidden."

Beatrice nodded,"I know," she murmured softly, "For a long while probably, people might not be able to know about me,"

---

He looked at her shocked, "What?" he said shocked as his eyebrows lifted in confusion.

She turned to look at him and shrugged. "It's crazy, but it's not impossible. We couldn't make you nobility, nobility is only offered by the King or through marriage. But, we could raise you a class and make you gentry. We would have to go to court, and you would have to become an apprentice under a noble there..." She explained and shrugged.
"I have more than enough money to make you look the part and get you started. Once you found someone to work under, you would make 5 times what you do now. And if I told my father I wanted to go to court to find a match, he would give me a bit more freedom to do so."

---

He nodded. "Years, Beatrice. But if we live far enough away, we should be alright." He said, looking out the window toward the manor. "Does he know you're out here?"

She shook her head a little,"No, he doesn't know anything he doesn't talk to me hardly," she murmured softly as she looked at him, "We haven't spoke properly in weeks,"

---

He sighed a little, "How would this work for us? I'd have to have more status than I do now in order for this to work I don't look like noble... look at my hands," he said to her.