The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 1

Anastasia lifted her head, grabbing her red hair that was being scattered wildly by the wind.

Through the old, crumbling wooden fence, she could see a hill not far away. About halfway up the hill stood a small gravestone.

“Mom….”

Anastasia murmured the name of the one she missed in a small voice. The harsh sound of the wind, carrying the bitter cold of the frozen land, snatched away her murmur in an instant and threw it into the air. Something without form vanished emptily. Realizing that even she could barely hear her own whisper, let alone have it reach the hill, Anastasia felt both regret and relief at the same time.

“I hope I only get ten lashes today.”

Anastasia cupped her frozen cheeks with her palms and spoke to the sky again.

Even though she covered her cheeks with her hands, the cold didn’t change. Her hands were frozen stiff by the wind as well. Anastasia lowered her hands with difficulty and felt along her calves beneath her skirt. The places where her father had struck her with a rod yesterday had not healed even after a day and were still bleeding.

“Father says I’m a lewd bitch because I take after Mother. He says I have to beg the Lord for forgiveness.”

Her muttering voice trembled with tears.

Anastasia didn’t know what the word lewd meant. But the sight of her father beating her while saying that word was so terrifying that she could only guess it was a very bad word.

“I just… wanted to see the book Anton has….”

Anastasia recalled Anton, the village head’s son, who had quietly called her out at the church yesterday.

Anton was a boy the same age as Anastasia. According to the village head, Anton was very smart. He could already read, and when he got a little older, he would be sent to a school in a big city. As if to prove that was true, Anton had received a thick book called a dictionary, bought by the village head from the city, as a present for his birthday a week ago.

Anton went around showing off that book to the villagers. Adults and children alike looked at the leather-bound book in his hands with fascination.

This village was a remote rural settlement, even among the outskirts of the Novgod Empire, where farming consisted of nothing more than potatoes and rye harvested during the short summer.

Most of the villagers didn’t own enough to require complicated calculations. Even now, rather than farming, their main food came from fish caught in the river, mushrooms and berries gathered from the forest, and wild animals hunted in the woods.

For that reason, the only people in this village who could read were the village head, Anton, an old man named Viktor who had once lived in a big city, and Anastasia’s father, Pastor Ivan.

In truth, if the book Anton had received had been an ordinary one, Anastasia wouldn’t have been particularly interested. There were several books in her father’s room as well. From morning to evening, Ivan read the holy scripture that recorded the voice and miracles of God. Even though he knew how to read, he had never taught Anastasia a single letter.

“Knowledge is nothing but a shortcut to evil for those who are not faithful. Just like the knowledge the serpent stole from paradise.”

Ivan forbade Anastasia not only from reading books but even from entering the room where the books were kept. Even so, Anastasia wanted to see a book. Then Anton had called out to her from between the church fence and shown her the book he had received. Anastasia couldn’t hide her admiration.

The book was a deeper red than the ones her father owned, and it even had glittering decorations. On the cover, something was written in gold letters. Anton told her it said “Great Dictionary for Children.”

Holding the dictionary out of Anastasia’s reach, Anton flipped through it page by page as he bragged. Anastasia stared at the book as if enchanted. Unlike the scripture her father read, Anton’s book also contained beautiful illustrations painted in various colors. Then one picture caught Anastasia’s eye.

What was drawn was a beautiful landscape. Under bright sunlight, all the trees spread their lush green leaves, and the ground was filled with flowers. Birds flew there, and wild animals stood together with humans. Behind them stood magnificent, splendid buildings she had never even imagined. And beyond that, a vast green forest stretched out.

“What is that…?”

At Anastasia’s question, Anton looked at the page he had opened and frowned as he began to read each letter.

“Let’s see. Pa… ra… dise?”

Anton stumbled as he read the word.

Paradise. At that word, Anastasia clenched both hands tightly. It was a word that often appeared when her father preached to the villagers, when he made Anastasia kneel and read the scripture to her. Paradise. A place always warm and abundant, where there was no suffering or sorrow.

‘So it really did exist.’

Blinking, Anastasia stared intently at the picture of paradise. Then suddenly, Anton closed the dictionary. At the sight of paradise vanishing in an instant, Anastasia reached out in regret. At that moment, Anton grabbed the hand she had extended.

“No! Let go! Let go!”

Startled, Anastasia struggled against him like she was mad. But she couldn’t overcome Anton’s strength, as he was a head taller than her. Pulling Anastasia closer, Anton slipped his other hand through the broken fence and touched Anastasia’s face.

Her face turned pale in shock, and her green eyes trembled with tears. At that sight, Anton felt a heaviness settle in his lower body. At the moment the boy lost himself, Anastasia quickly bit the hand that was gripping her wrist.

“Ow! What the—!”

Because of that, Anton let go of her hand in surprise. Why is this quiet girl suddenly acting like a crazy bitch?

Anton soon found out the reason. Hearing Anastasia’s scream, Ivan came running out from inside the church.

Ivan came running with a shriek so savage it was hard to believe he was the usually composed pastor. Even though the fence stood between them, Anton was so startled by the force of Ivan’s approach, as if he might smash through it and rush out, that he raised his arm to cover his face.

Smack!

He heard the sound of a palm striking, but Anton didn’t feel any pain at all. Instead, Anastasia was sent rolling across the ground.

“You lewd bitch! The moment you take your eyes off things, you start luring men in! Just like your mother!”

“I’m sorry! Ah! I-I’m sorry!”

Anastasia begged, clutching her head. Anton stared at Ivan, who had turned like a demon, then let out a scream and ran away. Without even sparing a glance at the fleeing Anton, Ivan grabbed Anastasia by the back of the neck as she lay collapsed. Her emaciated body, lighter than half a sack of barley, was dragged helplessly in his grip.

Inside the church, Ivan continued to recite passages from the scripture without pause. After placing Anastasia on the altar, he muttered that she must beg God for her sins and kept chanting prayers while striking her calves with a rod. That had been yesterday.

Still feeling along her calves, where drops of blood still beaded, Anastasia wiped away the tears gathering with her sleeve.

Her father had been that angry yesterday, so she needed to keep herself in check for a while. Even so, she missed her mother too much, so she had come out secretly to the backyard like this to look at the grave.

After letting the sound of her sniffling be carried away by the wind, Anastasia turned her body. I should go back in now. If she failed to perfectly memorize the prayer of repentance by tonight, not only would she be beaten again, she wouldn’t even receive the one meal she was given a day. She feared the beatings, but she also feared starving. On the days she couldn’t eat, the cold of the frozen land bit into her skin even more sharply.

Just as Anastasia was about to go inside,

“…?”

A strange sound was mixed into the wind. Anastasia realized it was the sound of a carriage.

‘The village head?’

The only person in this village who owned a carriage was the village head. Even then, it was just an old freight cart pulled laboriously by a single aged horse, but it was still the most valuable means of transport in the village. However, as Anastasia listened more closely, she realized the sound of the carriage was different from usual. Unlike before, she could hear the sound of many more hooves.

‘Who could it be?’

This was such a rural place, with nothing remarkable about it, that no one ever passed through. Aside from the lord’s agent who came once a year to collect taxes, the only other person who had ever come to this village was someone who had gotten lost while out hunting a few years ago. Even now, when the villagers drank, they still talked about that person, as if it were the only astonishing event in the world.

Anastasia looked toward the end of the road leading to the front of the church. A carriage she had never seen before was approaching. Four large, powerful horses. And behind them, a magnificent golden carriage.

“…!”

At the sight of something so splendid for the first time in her life, Anastasia was momentarily entranced. Then, hearing the horses neigh, she came back to her senses. She quickly went inside the church, hid her body beneath a long pew nearby, closed her eyes, and covered her ears.

‘Please just pass by.’

After her mother passed away, her father had absolutely hated Anastasia encountering other people. So he had shut her in the room where her mother had died and no longer allowed her to go outside the church. Not only could she not meet the village children she used to play with, but even when someone came to pray, Anastasia wasn’t allowed to show herself, let alone greet them.

If she happened to run into someone, she would be beaten so badly she couldn’t come to her senses that day. So even if someone merely passed by the church, Anastasia would hurriedly hide herself. As if she wouldn’t even hear a sound, Anastasia covered her ears.

‘But… I want to see it.’

She recalled the image of the golden carriage that had been approaching. At the same time, a line from the prayer she liked came to mind.

Pray. A golden carriage that will take you to paradise shall come to you.

A golden carriage that goes to paradise. Wouldn’t it look like that?

Anastasia imagined it. That carriage stops in front of the church, and a messenger sent by God reaches out a hand to her. She takes the hand of God’s messenger and boards the carriage that will take her to a beautiful place. It was the first time she had ever seen such a splendid carriage, so Anastasia couldn’t imagine what the inside looked like. She guessed it would be warm. Soft like a field of grass in summer.

That was as far as her imagination went.

‘It’ll just pass by.’

This church was in the most secluded place even in this small village. If it weren’t for the road leading into the forest, even the villagers who went hunting wouldn’t pass by.

Aside from the elderly believers with devout faith who came on Sundays, bringing sacks of potatoes and barley they had set aside and offering prayers before leaving, no one ever came to this church. So that carriage, whose reason for appearing here was unknown, would surely just pass by as well.

At that moment, she heard the sound of the carriage she thought would pass by coming to a stop.

“…!”

Anastasia covered her mouth with her hand. The carriage had stopped. Why? Why?

A moment later, she heard the sound of an old wooden door opening. From beneath the bench, all Anastasia could see were polished, gleaming shoes. They were cleaner and finer than the ones worn by the lord’s agent. Then the person who had entered shouted.

“Chloe!”

Flinch. At the unfamiliar gentleman’s shout, Anastasia’s body trembled greatly. Chloe. That was her mother’s name.

“Chloe! Where are you!”

The gentleman was someone who knew her mother.