The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 24

“Anastasia.”

Mikhail called her in the gentlest voice he could manage. The green eyes staring blankly at him as though she couldn’t believe he was there gradually filled with tears.

Seeing Anastasia relax with relief, Mikhail had to suppress a laugh. Would she still feel relieved if she knew what he was thinking right now?

“Close your eyes and cover your ears.”

“…Yes. Yes!”

At Mikhail’s command, Anastasia did as he told her. She squeezed her eyes shut so tightly that her face wrinkled and covered her ears with her hands. Mikhail gazed with satisfaction at Anastasia, who obeyed him without hesitation.

He liked things that obeyed him. Things that moved as he commanded. Wasn’t that why he took the time to tame the Lauderdales as well? He tamed everyone into following him.

Mikhail tolerated nothing that tried to sway him. Igor and Yuri, who remained by his side for years, knew that before anything else. So did everyone who worked under him.

Others rebelled and resisted at first. Some refused to break until the very end. Anastasia was no different. Hadn’t she immediately fled the moment she first saw him? The kindness he showed Anastasia during his first stay at Edenhurst was a kind of test. A test to see how long it would take for her to submit meekly to his hand after running away from him so frantically.

The test ended anticlimactically. Among the many gifts ordered from Ilenka for the Lauderdales, Mikhail ordered one other thing while leaving Igor and Yuri to select the rest as they saw fit. It was a pair of shoes, brought based on his rough estimate of the white feet he glimpsed in the forest.

They were nothing extraordinary. Of course, as products from Ilenka, they were of the finest quality, but compared to the gifts Elizabeth and Catherine received, they were truly insignificant.

Mikhail knew Anastasia was afraid of other people, particularly men. So after committing the discourtesy of entering her room without permission, he didn’t approach her any farther, intending to show her that he had no intention of harming her.

He did all of it deliberately. He threw her into confusion, then reassured her. Sure enough, Anastasia, who seemed torn between fearing and trusting him, apparently decided to trust him because of his gift. When he deliberately left and returned, he clearly saw the handprints left on the velvet of the gift box.

After that, it was truly far too easy. The frantic urge to flee she displayed when they first met disappeared, and she sat beside him, readily eating whatever he fed her. Then she even asked whether he would return.

‘If she was going to behave like this, why was she so wary at first?’

Her guard crumbled more quickly than expected, and Mikhail lost interest. It would have been more entertaining if she remained wary until the end. So after leaving Edenhurst, he didn’t think much about Anastasia. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, the dull colors of the Central Plains made him think of those eyes.

Mikhail stroked Anastasia’s head as she obediently followed his instructions. Though she flinched violently, she didn’t avoid his hand. Mikhail liked that reaction so much that he decided to reward her obedience once they returned to Edenhurst.

Mikhail’s gaze fell upon her red, swollen cheek. A handprint stood out against her white skin as vividly as though it had been painted there. Behind him, the merchant groaned and began to rise. Mikhail stroked Anastasia’s cheek once, then stood. Something hideous dangled between the merchant’s legs. The moment Mikhail imagined what might have happened if he hadn’t passed this spot at this precise time….

Thud!

Mikhail’s long leg mercilessly kicked the merchant between the legs. Another man might have hesitated instinctively because he knew how painful it would be, but Mikhail possessed no such mercy.

“Aaaagh!”

A horrifying scream echoed through the forest. Igor must have heard it from a distance, because his voice calling for Mikhail drew closer. The merchant sank to his knees, clutching himself between the legs, and Mikhail kicked him under the chin. The merchant’s heavy body flew through the air before crashing to the ground. His eyes rolled back until only the whites showed, and foam streamed from his mouth. But Mikhail still didn’t feel satisfied.

Mikhail approached and seized the merchant by the hair, lifting his head. The merchant seemed completely unconscious and couldn’t even groan. Would Mikhail feel somewhat better if he snapped his neck like this? The moment Mikhail grabbed the merchant’s jaw, Igor burst through the brush and shouted, “Stop! Please stop!”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

Igor spoke as though he couldn’t believe that needed explaining.

“If you use that much force, your wound will open again!”

“Ah, right.”

Igor also worked under Mikhail. Over the past ten years or so, he saw enough people die to become thoroughly sick of it. Moreover, the reason Igor didn’t usually stop Mikhail was that Mikhail never killed people merely out of boredom.

Igor looked at the man in Mikhail’s grasp and at Anastasia a short distance away, her eyes tightly closed and her hands covering her ears. Seeing the state of the man and Anastasia, it wasn’t difficult to guess why Mikhail was beating him to death. But Igor found it strange.

‘He certainly deserves to die, but….’

That alone wasn’t enough to make Mikhail act.

At that moment, Mikhail kicked the merchant again. The merchant’s jaw twisted grotesquely, and broken teeth and blood flew from his mouth. His heavy body collapsed to the ground with a solid thud. Mikhail brushed the dust from his clothes, then checked beneath his suit jacket and frowned. At that, Igor cast aside his other thoughts and rushed over.

“See? I told you it would open again!”

“Enough. Get rid of that.”

Mikhail waved him away as if telling him to leave it alone and pushed Igor aside. Igor sighed. He thought Mikhail might finally rest once they reached Edenhurst, but the moment they arrived, Igor found himself having to dispose of a body.

Just then, they heard the voices of the subordinates who followed them, and Igor called them over and ordered them to remove the merchant. The limp body let out a faint groan as it was dragged away. Realizing from his condition that there was no need to handle him gently, the subordinates grabbed the merchant by the legs and dragged him along like a slaughtered pig. Looking at the merchant’s twisted jaw and the spot between his legs, which had clearly been kicked, Igor made an assumption.

Even if that man survived, the life awaiting him would scarcely be worth living.

“You should go too. I’ll take Miss Anastasia back.”

“But she seems badly shaken. I think someone should examine her.”

Igor looked at Anastasia with concern. Perhaps she hadn’t even noticed Igor’s arrival, because she still had her eyes tightly shut and her hands pressed over her ears.

“I’ll take care of her. Now go.”

“…Understood.”

Mikhail disliked having to repeat himself. Knowing his temperament well, Igor turned away without further hesitation. As he followed the trail left by the merchant’s dragging body, he thought about Mikhail’s behavior.

‘What is he scheming this time?’

One thing was certain. Mikhail was interested in Anastasia. But Igor doubted that interest would benefit her.

Didn’t Mikhail’s interest rarely last even a few days? Even the proud Elizabeth ended up practically clinging to Mikhail after only a week. If even an aristocratic lady like her could be reduced to that, a woman like Anastasia would truly give Mikhail her heart.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but don’t go too far. She’s a pitiful young lady….”

“Igor.”

“….”

Mikhail’s voice dropped.

“Go.”

“…Yes.”

Realizing that the cold gaze directed at the merchant moments ago was now fixed upon him, Igor quickly turned around. Thanks to his many years of service, Mikhail tolerated Igor crossing the line to some extent, but beyond a certain point, he showed no mercy. Igor had no desire to risk his life for Anastasia, so he hurried away and disappeared into the forest.

Once their surroundings fell silent again, Mikhail approached Anastasia, who still covered her eyes and ears as instructed. To let her know it was over, he lightly tapped her forehead with his fingers. Anastasia opened her eyes.

Her clear green eyes slowly appeared beneath her eyelids. The moment his reflection filled her round eyes completely, Mikhail felt a sense of satisfaction. That bewildered him. Had he ever felt this satisfied by anything before?

With his own hand, Mikhail took Anastasia’s hands, which still covered her ears, and slowly drew them away. Like a lifeless doll, her hands moved wherever Mikhail guided them.

“It’s all right now.”

At Mikhail’s words, Anastasia slowly blinked. She seemed to be processing his words very gradually. Her already reddened eyes began to fill with tears again. The moment water pooled in her large green eyes, Mikhail thought of a forest beneath pouring rain. Of the green that deepened further in midsummer.

“Th, thank… y-you….”

Anastasia’s lips trembled as she tried to express her gratitude. Then tears suddenly poured from her eyes.

“Hic… ah….”

The merchant was gone, but the fear he left behind still controlled Anastasia’s body.

I survived. Nothing happened. I didn’t commit a sin….

The harder she tried not to cry, the more her face contorted. Tears streamed down her cheeks, gathered at her chin, and fell in drops to the ground.

“Hic… ah….”

The sobs she desperately tried to suppress escaped through her clenched teeth.

‘I shouldn’t do this.’

She needed to thank Mikhail properly for saving her. She didn’t want to stand before him in such a disheveled state. But….

Then a large hand covered Anastasia’s head. As she flinched in surprise, a low voice sounded above her.

“Cry. Just cry as loudly as you need to after being so frightened.”

At those words, Anastasia raised her head. She had never heard anyone say such a thing in her life. Ever since childhood, she was always told not to cry. From her father to the mansion’s maids, no one had ever told Anastasia that she was allowed to cry.

Perhaps it was because, although she lived in the paradise she yearned for so desperately, she was an unpermitted presence there. Everything Anastasia heard was always a command not to do something.

So Anastasia couldn’t cry.

There were far too many things that were difficult to endure. She was cold, hungry, lonely, and afraid.

After enduring and enduring, even on nights when it became too much to bear, hadn’t she silently wiped away her tears while suppressing every sound for fear that someone might discover her? But now… he said she could cry. The new master of this paradise.

The hand covering her head carefully descended and drew Anastasia by the shoulders into an embrace. Anastasia fell limply into Mikhail’s arms. The embrace of a stranger, the first she had ever known in her life, was warm and smelled pleasant. Even more so than the paradise that never gave her a place to belong.

“Hnggh….”

Now that she had permission, Anastasia began to wail like an animal. She cried and cried as though releasing all the fear she had accumulated until now.