The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 18

Anastasia’s eyes filled with tears as she choked. She tried not to close her mouth if possible, but in the end, she had no choice but to move her mouth to swallow the piece of bread. Even if she ended up biting the fingers that had entered deep into her mouth, there was nothing she could do.

Fortunately, Mikhail soon withdrew his fingers from her mouth. Then he placed the glass of water from the table into Anastasia’s hands. He seemed to be gauging something as he watched Anastasia hurriedly clutch the glass with both hands.

Gulp, gulp. The water she swallowed in haste pushed away what had been obstructing her breath.

“Haa….”

Once she could breathe again, a long breath of relief escaped her. She intended to tell him she was all right now, promise that she would take her medicine, and then thank Mikhail for the gift. But before Anastasia could speak again, the hand that had torn the bread approached once more.

“Again, ah.”

His voice sounded as though he were coaxing a child. Shame washed over her as she wondered whether she looked that deficient. Even so, Anastasia opened her mouth as he instructed. Because she expected him to feed her again.

To have someone feed her at her age. She knew it was utterly absurd and embarrassing. But Anastasia couldn’t refuse. No, she didn’t want to refuse. No one had ever paid this much attention to her meals in her entire life. Far from caring, no one had ever even stayed beside her.

As though she had become a baby bird, Anastasia eagerly accepted everything Mikhail gave her, biting down without even checking what it was, as though she didn’t care what he fed her.

The strange meal continued for quite some time. Once he had fed her everything he brought, Mikhail wiped his hands on a cloth with a regretful expression.

“Now, it’s time to take your medicine.”

“….”

Anastasia couldn’t readily agree. If she took the medicine, she would fall asleep again. By the time she opened her eyes, the sun would probably be up, and Mikhail would already have left the mansion.

‘I want to say goodbye too.’

The maids had said everyone was waiting for dawn and preparing to see him off. Most of the people in the mansion would probably come out to bid him farewell. Then couldn’t she quietly hide behind them and say goodbye with everyone else? And if she returned to her room immediately afterward… wouldn’t that be all right? If she couldn’t do that, she at least wanted to see him one last time.

“Miss Anastasia. Is something troubling you?”

“….”

“You seem almost fully recovered, but your expression doesn’t look well.”

At his words, Anastasia realized that he was studying her face. Lowering her head deeply again, Anastasia hesitated before managing to ask, “Um… I….”

“Please speak freely.”

There was no way she could speak freely. Even the fact that he addressed her respectfully, just as he did Elizabeth and Catherine, made her uncomfortable. Still, it felt good. Somehow, it made her feel as though she had truly become a young lady of Lauderdale.

“Once you leave this time… will you not return?”

Mikhail was silent for a moment at Anastasia’s question. Then he lowered his head slightly. His face, revealed where the lamplight touched it, bore a complicated smile.

“Would you like me to return?”

Mikhail answered her question with one of his own. Anastasia considered closing her mouth, but then answered with a solemn expression as though she had made a momentous decision.

“Yes.”

Mikhail’s eyes widened slightly, as though her answer surprised him. Had her response been strange? But Anastasia genuinely wanted to see Mikhail again. She didn’t want to lie to him either. So she had simply answered honestly.

“I see.”

Anastasia felt strangely deflated by Mikhail’s reply. It was difficult to discern any emotion in his answer.

“Then I’ll return.”

“Really?”

At his promise to return, Anastasia sprang up from the chair. His face drew closer, but he was still a full head taller than her. Anastasia was struck anew by how tall he was. His body also looked incomparably larger and more solid than hers.

This person is a man. So she should have been afraid. Just as she always was. She should have been, but….

Mikhail took one step back from Anastasia. Quietly, so as not to be too discourteous, but without putting too much distance between them. On the occasions when she had secretly watched through the window, he had walked about this far from Elizabeth as well. So even though Anastasia knew this was the proper distance, she somehow felt disappointed.

Mikhail extended his hand and looked at the box on the table. As though it had been touched, fingerprints were visible all over the velvet-covered surface.

“Until then, stay healthy. And don’t get hurt.”

With those words, Mikhail reached out and took Anastasia’s hand. Though she flinched in surprise, Anastasia didn’t pull her hand away. Holding the hand resting limply in his grasp, Mikhail lifted it, lightly kissed the back of it, then carefully released it. A faint, languid breath escaped Anastasia’s slightly parted lips.

After releasing her hand, Mikhail picked up the medicine container from the table, scooped out a heaping spoonful with the spoon beside it, and said to Anastasia, “Now then… will you open your mouth one more time?”

“Ugh….”

Remembering the taste of the bitter powdered medicine, Anastasia couldn’t hide her expression and frowned. Mikhail’s quiet laughter echoed through the room. In the end, Anastasia had to take a mouthful of medicine that somehow seemed like more than usual and swallow it.

***

After stepping into the corridor, Mikhail quickly descended the stairs.

After announcing that he would return early the next morning, a lavish dinner was hastily prepared. He told the countess that since it was his last evening, he wanted to dine with all the Lauderdale ladies, but as expected, Anastasia was nowhere to be seen. Mikhail didn’t think much of it. He had expected as much.

After dinner, he conversed with Elizabeth in the drawing room. Over the past week, Mikhail had made a tremendous effort by his standards. Had he ever devoted this much time to a single woman in his life? Even when dealing with Larisa Kabaeva, who claimed to have put every man in the capital on a leash, he hadn’t sat for this long.

Mikhail hadn’t merely spent time with Elizabeth. He treated her with every courtesy and consideration he could offer. Thanks to that, Elizabeth’s expression gradually softened, and now she smiled whenever their eyes met. Though she herself didn’t seem to realize it.

Elizabeth wasn’t the only one smiling. Everyone in the mansion except Catherine was happy as they awaited the prosperous future drawing nearer.

After descending to the first-floor corridor and passing the servants’ drawing room, he saw Igor inside with Catherine, surrounded by the servants. It seemed Catherine’s presence had granted the servants the privilege of sitting in the drawing room and listening to his stories.

“So when we were building Pier Three, things were extremely difficult, but Lord Mikhail….”

Mikhail shook his head at Igor’s words drifting through the doorway. He had wondered what story Igor was using to keep everyone there, only to discover that Igor was peddling his past. After signaling to Igor through the crack in the door, Mikhail returned to his room. Some time later, Igor and Yuri returned together, both looking exhausted. The moment they entered the room, they sat on the sofa and gulped down water.

“Phew.”

After catching his breath, Igor grumbled to Mikhail.

“I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m not some grandmother telling tales from long ago.”

“Why? You were good at it. You should consider that career after you retire.”

“Don’t mock me! I truly don’t understand why I had to do such a thing….”

Igor thumped his chest repeatedly as though he felt wronged. Just then, Yuri came farther inside. He, too, dropped into a seat as though collapsing, his face as weary as Igor’s. After drinking some water, he looked resentfully at Mikhail. Finding himself suddenly subjected to the resentful gazes of both men, Mikhail gave a bitter smile.

After dinner ended, he had deliberately ordered the two of them to keep the servants occupied. Although the countess and Elizabeth, who cared about propriety, would return to their rooms, far too many people continued moving about the mansion afterward.

Though the two men grumbled that he made them do all sorts of things, they followed his orders. Thanks to them, Mikhail had been able to visit Anastasia without being seen by anyone else.

But when he went upstairs, the desolation of the place where she was staying made him let out a hollow laugh. It was clearly an abandoned space. Even if he hadn’t given the two men that order, avoiding other people’s eyes probably wouldn’t have been difficult.

“So, did your visit with Miss Elizabeth go well?”

“Ah.”

Mikhail gave an ambiguous response to Igor’s question. The two men believed Mikhail had asked them to do this so he could meet Elizabeth alone. But Mikhail had visited the daughter they had taken in, not Lauderdale’s eldest daughter.

He looked at his fingers. She had no idea what he might feed her, yet she readily opened her mouth every time he told her to. He remembered the small mouth, red lips, and pearly white teeth he had seen beneath the lamp’s dim light. That tiny mouth looked incapable of properly biting anything, yet she eagerly ate everything he gave her. If he had more time, he would have liked to sit there for a very long time and try feeding her all sorts of things.

“In any case, you both did well. We’re returning to Sokolov tomorrow as you wanted, so make sure everything is ready for our departure.”

At those words, Igor sat up and replied, “Yes, yes, understood. Then, should we prepare one of the villas on the outskirts of Sokolov as soon as we return? Or should we prepare a mansion within Sokolov or in the capital….”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? Aren’t you going to bring Miss Elizabeth there?”

Igor looked at Mikhail as though wondering why he would even ask. Hadn’t Mikhail gone through this ridiculous charade to thoroughly captivate Elizabeth? In truth, the young lady already seemed entirely willing to marry him even without any of this.

“There’s no need. Leave it.”

“What do you mean? Don’t tell me… you aren’t going to marry her?”

“I am.”

“Then why….”

“The Lauderdales don’t seem to know their own worth.”

“….”

At Mikhail’s cold words, Igor and Yuri closed their mouths. Mikhail was right. The more deferentially Mikhail behaved, the haughtier the countess became. In particular, after watching Mikhail spend time with Elizabeth every day, she seemed to believe he was utterly infatuated with her. While drinking tea with Mikhail, the countess indirectly brought up the wedding.

‘All while trying to get everything she could out of it.’

The countess spoke of her youth and mentioned the most splendid and beautiful places in the empire. She brought up the grand mansion near the capital known as the Summer Palace of Rogevik, as well as the magnificent and lavish cathedral in the resort city of Plaisir.

Yuri’s face remained pale throughout. Every one of those places would cost an enormous amount of money, and as the one responsible for the accounts, his stomach already seemed to ache at the thought of the sums he would have to organize. But instead of stopping the countess, hadn’t Mikhail smiled and agreed that they were beautiful places, then fueled her imagination further by mentioning that one of his ships brought flowers from distant Flanre?

In the countess’s mind, a wedding more magnificent than anything the imperial family could hold was probably already taking place. A wedding so splendid that no one would ever dare ridicule them for marrying a commoner.

“Have I ever made a deal at a loss?”

“…No, you haven’t.”

“Then that’s all you need to know.”

Mikhail sank into the chair. It might once have been expensive, but it had gone out of fashion long ago. Seated upon it, Mikhail spoke calmly.

“Let’s give the Lauderdales some time to learn.”