The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 16

Anastasia was looking out the window through the curtains. Several splendid carriages arrived, and an endless number of boxes were unloaded from them. What in the world could all of that be? One thing was certain. Judging by the large ribbons attached to them, they were clearly gifts. There were only three people in this mansion who could receive that many gifts. The noble Lauderdales.

Anastasia continued standing there and looking at the carriages until the sun began to set and the carriages departed.

“Wow….”

Though there was nothing left to see but an ordinary view, Anastasia marveled at it. In the ten years since she came here, she had never once watched the sunset from such a height. Because of that, the land she hadn’t left even once in ten years felt utterly unfamiliar.

“It’s beautiful….”

Seeing the sunset of her paradise for the first time, Anastasia could only marvel. Edenhurst looked entirely different when she gazed up at the red sky from the forest and garden than when she looked down at it from the mansion.

Only after the crimson carpet covering the ground began to slowly lose its light did Anastasia return to the bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she looked at her feet. During the week she had spent here, they had almost completely healed.

The doctor summoned from the village visited every day to examine her wounds and apply medicine. The medicine in the round container had a strange smell she had never encountered before in her life. The doctor soaked a piece of cotton with the medicine, which was as dark red as blood beginning to congeal, then applied it to Anastasia’s wounds. The pain was as intense as when the glass shards had lodged in her hand, but Anastasia gritted her teeth and endured it.

“You bear it well.”

The doctor pressed down on the tweezers holding the cotton with what was clearly deliberate force, but Anastasia didn’t let out a single groan until the end. The doctor, who had come every day, said yesterday that there was nothing more for him to examine and that the medicine merely needed to be applied once a day from now on. When the maid asked about the medicine Anastasia was taking, he said it had been prescribed not by him but by the doctor staying at the mansion, so she should ask him.

The maid looked irritably at the tray holding the medicine bottle, cotton, and tweezers the doctor had left behind. It meant more work for her.

Anastasia waited for the maid, who still hadn’t come even though it had grown dark.

‘He said to take the medicine after eating.’

Medicine and water sat on the table in the room, where it was barely light enough to make out their shapes. It was medicine made by a man named Igor who had come with Mikhail. Anastasia always did exactly as others instructed her. Therefore, taking the medicine before eating when the doctor had told her otherwise was unthinkable.

After waiting much longer for the maid, Anastasia climbed onto the bed and pulled the blanket over herself.

‘It seems she isn’t coming today.’

Since coming to this room, Anastasia had received three meals a day without fail. Those meals were even the same ones the chef prepared for the masters. Savory, soft, freshly baked bread made with plenty of butter, a cup filled with juice, well-cooked vegetables and eggs, bacon, and beans. There were even roasted potatoes covered in a sauce whose name she didn’t know.

They were foods she could only eat scraps of when something good happened, such as one of the Lauderdales’ birthdays. Yet they gave them to her three times a day. Anastasia thought there was no way she could ever eat all of it. But the human body was utterly treacherous. Even after devouring more than twice the amount she normally ate, her body didn’t find it overwhelming and instead demanded more. That frightened Anastasia. She wondered whether this was the sin of gluttony her father had spoken of, the endless craving of a starving demon. Even so, she simply couldn’t resist the temptation of soft bread and butter. So once she finished eating and the maid left, Anastasia took her medicine and then offered a prayer of repentance to God.

“….”

Even after lying there for a long time, she couldn’t fall asleep. It was strange. Ever since coming to this room, she had become so sleepy after eating and taking her medicine that she could barely finish her prayers, yet she was perfectly alert now. Just as she was about to get up, thinking she might pray again, she heard the maid’s voice in the corridor.

After hesitating for a moment, Anastasia simply pretended to be asleep. She knew that if she was asleep, the maid would leave the meal behind and immediately depart. If she was awake, the maid would stand beside her throughout the entire meal.

A short while later, there was a knock, and the maid entered the room.

“She really is asleep?”

“See? I told you she’d be sleeping. She sleeps like the dead all day long. What an easy life.”

The maid hadn’t come alone. She had brought someone with her. With her back turned toward them, Anastasia heard the sound of a tray being placed on the table, followed by a chair being pulled out and someone sitting down.

“I came late on purpose.”

The maid smiled in satisfaction as she looked at Anastasia lying with her back turned as though she were dead.

Recently, whenever the maid went to the kitchen to collect Anastasia’s meals, she asked for more food, saying that Anastasia ate a great deal. Naturally, all of that extra food went into the maid’s stomach. The kitchen staff never questioned it, and Anastasia seemed like an idiot who wouldn’t notice anything strange even if the food on her plate had been disturbed, so there was no problem at all.

Thanks to that, the maid had been enjoying bread and meat lately. Moreover, once Anastasia fell asleep, she didn’t wake up.

“I knew she’d be asleep. We can eat and have fun comfortably in here in the meantime.”

Extra food and a quiet room no one else visited. Moreover, it was a place people like them could never dare enjoy. Smiling, the maid assigned to Anastasia took out a small bottle of liquor she had hidden after bringing along the maid she was closest to.

Before long, the two maids settled in comfortably as though the room belonged to them, eating Anastasia’s food and chatting.

“You saw all the gifts piled up at the entrance today, right?”

“Of course. How could anyone miss them? Even the gardeners were hovering around the main building to have a look.”

The gift boxes Anastasia had also seen during the day. When the maids began discussing what she had been curious about, Anastasia held her breath even more carefully and listened to their conversation.

“I’m so envious of the young ladies. It’s enviable enough that one of them gets to marry such a handsome man, but he’s also incredibly wealthy.”

“Miss Catherine’s maids said that according to something Miss Catherine read in a magazine, Lord Mikhail might be wealthier than the imperial family. Apparently, he’s even called the Emperor of Sokolov.”

“Miss Elizabeth will be the one to marry him. I’m so envious….”

At the maid’s murmur, Anastasia nodded despite knowing she mustn’t move. She was envious. Not because Elizabeth was going to marry him, but because Elizabeth possessed the confidence that allowed her to do so.

“But when are they getting married?”

“Who knows… I heard marriages between nobles take some time because they’re different from ours.”

“Then will he remain here all that time?” The maid’s voice was excited as she asked.

“No. I heard he’ll be returning to Sokolov soon.”

Anastasia’s body flinched at the maid’s reply. But the maids, who were gradually becoming tipsy, didn’t notice. They had already forgotten that they shouldn’t eat everything and began reaching for Anastasia’s share as well. Their conversation continued as they ate the bread and meat with their drinks.

“Why? Is he going to Sokolov and coming back with more gifts?”

“No. I heard Lord Mikhail won’t return to Edenhurst. It seems the young lady will go to Sokolov instead. He must be too busy with work to remain here. Since the marriage arrangement is already practically settled… Miss Elizabeth will go there and prepare for the wedding.”

“But he’s going to become the Count of Lauderdale. I heard the former count only went to the capital during the social season or when summoned by the imperial family.”

“Come on, even if Lord Mikhail becomes the count, he still has his businesses. Edenhurst may be nice, but traveling back and forth between here and Sokolov would be difficult, so I imagine he’ll only come during the summer holidays. But he has so many summer villas in different places that he’ll probably only visit Edenhurst once in a while.”

“Then only Madam and Miss Catherine will remain here.”

“Who knows? Perhaps the two of them will go with her. That’s why so many maids have been trying to win the young ladies’ favor lately. The young ladies will take a few maids with them when they go to Sokolov, and they want to be among those chosen.”

“Couldn’t we be chosen?”

“Wake up. I heard they’ll choose from the maids already attending them. Do you think they’d be impressed even if the likes of us started fawning over them now? I don’t care if I don’t become one of the young ladies’ maids. I just want to visit Sokolov at least once. They say it’s even more magnificent than the capital now. Miss Catherine said they’re already building Pier Seven.”

“Pier Seven? What’s that? Is it impressive?”

“The capital’s port only has five piers. But Sokolov has grown so much that it already has seven. And every one of those piers belongs to Lord Mikhail.”

“So?”

“Are you stupid? Ships entering the port have to dock at a pier. And they have to pay a fee for using it every day. Apparently, some ships aren’t accepted even if they offer to pay. When that happens, they can’t unload their cargo properly, have trouble obtaining supplies, and aren’t even sold food. That’s why merchants always bow their heads before Lord Mikhail. Didn’t you see the man who owns Ilenka today? He practically crawled before Lord Mikhail.”

Anastasia couldn’t fully understand what the maids were saying. But she could tell that Mikhail was an extraordinary man.

After chatting for a long while, the maids rose and left once they ran out of liquor. Anastasia carefully turned over. The flame of the small lamp they had left behind burned quietly. When she approached the table, she found the plates messily covered with food that anyone could see had already been partially eaten.

Her body, now accustomed to eating three meals a day, cried out for her to eat quickly, but Anastasia sat in the chair and stared blankly at the plate. One of the things the maids had said moments earlier continued echoing in her mind.

Lord Mikhail won’t return to Edenhurst.

“He isn’t coming back….”

Anastasia’s shoulders drooped. For the past several days, Anastasia had always looked out the window whenever she was awake. It was partly because she wanted to admire Edenhurst’s beautiful scenery, but in truth, her eyes searched through the people passing by. Anastasia knew very well who she was looking for. Mikhail. She wanted to see him one more time.

She had seen him several times. Each time, he was always with Elizabeth. Sometimes Catherine or the countess was with them as well.

Anastasia hoped he would marry Elizabeth. Then… as long as she remained at Edenhurst, she might be able to see him if she was lucky. But now they said he would never return.

Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor. Realizing they were approaching her room, Anastasia was startled and climbed into bed. The maid had already left. Had she forgotten something?

Knock, knock. A brief knock sounded.

At that moment, Anastasia realized something. The person outside wasn’t the maid. Then who in the world could it be?

When Anastasia remained still, the door creaked open, and the person outside entered. Just as her body froze with fear, the owner of the footsteps spoke.

“You haven’t taken your medicine, Miss Anastasia.”

The owner of the voice was Mikhail, the man she had been watching from afar.