The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 26

“Yes.”

The maids immediately obeyed his command. They carefully folded the clothes they were holding, placed them on the bed, and quietly left the room.

The maids who previously worked at Edenhurst all obeyed the countess’s orders. Moreover, as though a man and woman could never be left alone in a room, they reacted with alarm whenever he told them to leave and insisted they couldn’t possibly do so.

‘That’s why I drove them all out.’

To pressure the countess and clear away those who refused to obey him, he deliberately tightened the noose until she couldn’t even pay the servants’ wages. Thanks to that, most of the troublesome people who remained at Edenhurst left.

Once the servants brought from Sokolov finished familiarizing themselves with the mansion, he intended to dispose of even the loyal servants who stayed until the very end. Only then would no one in this mansion dare tell him that something was difficult or impossible.

Replacing everyone certainly made things easier, as he no longer needed to concern himself with needless matters. Mikhail looked at the clothes the maid left behind. One was a slip made of thin linen, and the other was an indoor dress in the latest style from the capital.

Mikhail picked up the slip first. Its slightly rough texture felt cool against his fingers. It was so thin that the shape and contours of the hand holding it were clearly visible through the fabric. What would Anastasia look like wearing this?

Mikhail turned his head. Anastasia was still hiding beside the bed with only the upper half of her face visible. She remained wrapped in several layers of clothing. Perhaps that was why Mikhail couldn’t easily imagine it.

After feeling the slip in his hand for a moment, he said, “Miss Anastasia.”

“Yes….”

She screamed at the maids, yet answered him so meekly when he called. That fact pleased Mikhail.

Mikhail remembered what some acquaintances who recently acquired cats told him. They said that when first brought home, cats didn’t recognize their owners and remained wary with their fur standing on end. Then they gradually became accustomed to them, drew closer, and eventually accepted their owner’s touch. Yet they still bared their claws at strangers, and seeing that made their owners happy because it proved the cats obeyed only them.

At the time, Mikhail couldn’t understand why that would make anyone happy and merely pretended to listen. But seeing Anastasia now, he thought he understood.

The fact that she behaved differently with others and was docile only toward him was rather satisfying.

“Are you feeling any better?”

She cried in his arms for a long time before losing consciousness. When Mikhail carried her out of the forest, Igor examined her and said that the marks on her body would soon disappear. She merely fainted from exhaustion after the tension left her, and there was nothing else physically wrong with her.

But after seeing Anastasia now, Mikhail couldn’t believe Igor’s words.

He knew Edenhurst was impoverished during his absence. Even so, he understood that they were at least sending her the bare minimum of food, yet Anastasia’s face was as gaunt as though she had starved continuously for the past several weeks.

Now that he was back, he decided he needed to feed her properly. Then Mikhail spoke again.

“The maids came to help you.”

“I know….”

“Then why didn’t you change your clothes?”

“….”

At Mikhail’s question, Anastasia’s face reddened, and she couldn’t answer.

“Anastasia?”

Mikhail called her name again. He liked how much easier it was to say without adding Miss.

“Anastasia, if they did anything disrespectful to you, I’ll dismiss them immediately. If you prefer, I can have them flogged and cast out far away. Which would you like?”

“No! They didn’t do anything wrong!”

Anastasia’s eyes widened at the word dismiss, and when he mentioned flogging, she sprang to her feet. Of course, Mikhail expected that response and deliberately said it.

“It’s just that I… I… didn’t want to wear different clothes.”

Anastasia clutched the clothes she was wearing.

“I… like these clothes.”

That couldn’t possibly be true. Mikhail didn’t believe anyone in the world could have a taste for wearing rags. But he couldn’t say that outright, so he conveyed his meaning as indirectly as possible.

“You are free to prefer whatever clothing you wish, but I don’t think your current attire is particularly suitable for resting comfortably.”

He could see the sleeve left torn and tattered after the merchant grabbed her, as well as an elbow covered in dirt and dust. The skirt he saw while carrying her was stained with crushed grass from where the man pinned her down in the forest. Every trace of what happened irritated Mikhail.

‘I forgot to ask what they did with that bastard.’

Mikhail resolved to order Igor to bury the merchant again on his way out if the bastard was still alive.

“So I would appreciate it if you changed.”

“But….”

“But?”

“I, I can’t wear those clothes.”

Anastasia pointed toward the indoor dress on the bed as though she were looking at the most blasphemous thing in the world.

“Is there something wrong with it?”

At Mikhail’s question, Anastasia hesitated for a long time before speaking softly, her face flushed.

“It… reveals too much of my body.”

It revealed her body? Mikhail blinked at the unexpected answer, then held up the indoor dress. The moment he saw its full one-piece design, he was dumbfounded. By his standards, the dress was modest enough to serve as a nun’s habit.

“…I don’t understand which part you mean.”

“The arms….”

“It’s only natural to wear short sleeves in summer.”

When Mikhail stated this firmly, Anastasia looked at a loss. He decided to press her a little harder.

“The maids searched and apparently found no other clothes remaining. You may not like it, but I think it would be best to change into this and rest for today. Then I’ll call the maids back….”

“Don’t!”

At the mention of calling the maids again, Anastasia stopped him in alarm.

“I’ll… put it on by myself.”

At those words, Mikhail placed the slip and indoor dress near Anastasia. She reached out and picked them up, then stared at Mikhail.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Well… I need to change….”

At Anastasia’s words, Mikhail gestured toward the screen the maids placed in one corner of the room. It was a piece of furniture recently fashionable in the capital, with an exotic painting on each panel. Standing it along one side of a room created a space concealed from other people’s eyes.

Everyone wanted one, but because it had to come through Schweik, it was yet another item nobles lined up to obtain by any means possible.

“Change behind the screen over there.”

“What?”

“That’s how everyone does it in other noble households, Anastasia. It’s a piece of furniture originally placed here for changing clothes.”

Anastasia’s eyes wavered at Mikhail’s words. Was that really true? Anastasia looked at Mikhail. His expression remained calm, as though he were stating something perfectly obvious. When Anastasia hesitated, Mikhail smiled and said, “Don’t worry. No one can see through the screen. But if you prefer, I’ll turn my head the other way.”

“No, you don’t have to do that, but….”

Mikhail saw the unease on Anastasia’s face. Fear. Shame. He knew perfectly well what concerned her.

“Anastasia. I won’t do anything to you.”

Mikhail added in a low voice, “Unless you want me to.”

Silence lingered in the room for a moment. Clutching the slip and indoor dress to her chest, Anastasia quickly hid behind the screen.

Her heart pounded rapidly. Heat rose past her neck and flooded her face, leaving it burning. Anastasia thought she had gone mad. Merely being alone with a man in the same room was shameful, yet now she was about to change her clothes with him nearby, even if a screen stood between them.

Anastasia looked at her wrist. Red finger marks from the merchant’s grip still remained there. The cheek he struck also felt hot and stung slightly.

This should never be happening. But….

She remembered Mikhail’s final words moments ago. He wouldn’t do anything. Unless she wanted him to.

‘I can trust Lord Mikhail.’

Mikhail always treated her well. He treated her injured leg, gave her his room, and allowed her to receive a gift for the first time in her life. And today, he even rescued her from a horrifying situation.

Anastasia reached out and touched the screen. It was an exotic object made from a tree that didn’t grow at Edenhurst and decorated with strange pictures. She could only marvel at this object from another world, which she had never seen before. She remembered Mikhail’s face as he told her moments ago that everyone in other mansions did this.

He came from the world beyond this paradise. He knew how to read, read books, and traveled to distant places. So he must be right.

Anastasia slowly undid her buttons. Thump. The thick layers she wore fell to the floor one by one.

Beyond the screen, Mikhail sat with his long legs crossed and his chin propped on one hand. The screen was tall enough to conceal even the top of Anastasia’s head. Perhaps because his view was completely blocked, every sound of Anastasia moving reached his ears with startling clarity.

Scrape. He heard fingers brushing against the wooden panel. The unfamiliar screen apparently fascinated her. The faint outline of Anastasia’s hand appeared against the screen made of thin wood, then vanished. At that moment, Mikhail slowly blinked, briefly overcome by dizziness. He was in the room long enough that the sunlight couldn’t possibly be dazzling him now. The next moment, he nearly let out a hollow laugh.

He felt himself growing heavy below.

It was absurd. Even when all those supposedly extraordinary women in Sokolov tried to seduce him, he felt nothing in particular. Because his sense of beauty was similar to everyone else’s, he could recognize that they were beautiful, but that was all. Not once did it manifest as desire.

Yet now his body was reacting more strongly than ever before.

Thump.

A sound louder than thunder crashed down upon him as he struggled to believe what was happening. Mikhail knew it was the sound of fabric falling to the floor. The sound of Anastasia undressing beyond the screen.

Without realizing it, he covered his mouth with one hand. Otherwise, he didn’t know what sound might escape.

Thump. Thump.

There was no reason for the thin fabric falling to make such a loud sound, yet each time he heard it, Mikhail’s ears rang and his head spun. It was as though lightning struck mercilessly beside his ears.

Alone in the quiet room filled with the warm afternoon sunlight, he weathered a storm.