The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 27

For quite some time, the sound of clothes falling continued. Throughout it all, Mikhail was tormented by a single desire. The desire to tear away that screen.

‘That’s how they do it in other noble households?’

Mikhail recalled what he told Anastasia. It wasn’t a lie. In mansions throughout the capital, it was common for women to keep screens in their rooms and change behind them. But Mikhail omitted one important fact.

It was only permissible between married couples or lovers.

When he first learned of that etiquette, he wondered why anyone treated it as such a great privilege when they couldn’t see anything anyway.

‘Even seeing a naked body never made me feel much.’

As he traveled between Sokolov and the capital on business, many women approached him. One opera prima donna even came to him wearing her stage costume and began removing it piece by piece in front of him. By the time everything she wore fell to the floor, Mikhail was mentally calculating how many tons of steel would be needed for the railway construction across the Central Plains.

That interested him more than the woman’s naked body. He didn’t feel even the slightest lust at the time. Yet now he was reacting to the sounds of a woman undressing when he couldn’t see so much as a strand of her hair.

Is she completely naked now? The sounds of fabric falling ceased. Just as he was finally about to catch his breath, he heard the whisper of linen.

Mikhail pressed his hand more firmly over his mouth. The storm wasn’t over yet. Already shaken amid the silence, he now had to confront an even fiercer storm.

The rustling of fabric against skin sounded unbearably clear. It was as though she were changing right beside him. Feeling the heaviness below, Mikhail rose from his seat. He wanted to wrench the screen aside. And the woman wearing nothing but what he gave her….

“Lord Mikhail.”

Her voice suddenly called to him from beyond the screen. Mikhail had to swallow dryly several times before he could speak.

“Is something wrong?”

“Um… I don’t think I thanked you properly.”

“It’s all right. I didn’t do it specifically to receive your gratitude.”

It took considerable effort for Mikhail to speak in a calm tone. It would be troublesome if his ragged breathing frightened the small creature behind the screen into fleeing. Then irritation suddenly surged through him. When had he ever restrained himself from taking something he wanted?

Mikhail always obtained whatever he desired. Though almost everything he desired was related to business.

In truth, Mikhail believed Anastasia was already in his hands. With only a few gestures of attention and kindness, the woman who feared everyone was now changing her clothes in the same room as him.

It truly was far too easy. All that remained was for him to take her himself. Her wrists, even thinner than when he last saw her, concerned him, but he merely needed to be careful when he embraced her.

In fact, Mikhail was irritated. He couldn’t understand what was so special about that woman that he needed to exercise this much patience. Moreover, moving around unnecessarily only caused his wound to open further.

“But I really am grateful. For saving me today, and for the… gift you gave me before.”

A gift? For a moment, Mikhail wondered whether he ever gave her anything, then remembered the shoes from Ilenka. Why was she thanking him so earnestly over something so insignificant? If he sent her as much as he gave the other Lauderdale women, she might have fainted. Then something suddenly occurred to Mikhail. When Anastasia cried in the forest earlier, the gift he gave her wasn’t on her feet.

“If you’re so grateful, why didn’t you wear them?”

He intended to maintain the same tone, but his voice came out sharp before he realized it. Did Anastasia notice? The voice behind the screen abruptly fell silent. In the end, Mikhail rose to his feet. Had he frightened her? Sudden impatience swept over him.

Mikhail disliked this situation. He was the only one aroused by mere sounds and struggling to maintain his composure. So he abandoned his intention to wait and decided he would embrace Anastasia now. He resolved to do so ever since the Central Plains.

He quickly grew tired of things once they were his. So if he embraced her just once now. If he calmed this momentary, heated desire, he might forget she even existed before evening arrived.

Mikhail stepped closer to the screen.

He had no intention of taking her by force like that merchant bastard. Wasn’t she already almost entirely won over to him? Mikhail knew perfectly well how to treat those who were attracted to him. He intended to make Anastasia want him first. She already displayed an unusual fondness for him. So with just a little more….

Then Anastasia’s voice came from beyond the screen.

“I can’t wear them. They’re like a holy relic you gave me.”

A holy relic? Since when was he a god that his gift became a holy relic?

While Mikhail stood bewildered by the completely unexpected remark, Anastasia continued, “I’m truly grateful to you, Lord Mikhail, and to God for sending you to me. I knew that if I wished for something desperately enough, He would grant it… but when I truly wished with all my heart, God sent you to me.”

Mikhail suddenly felt as though someone struck him over the head. God? There was no such thing. He was the one who helped her, not God. Yet Anastasia believed both the gift he gave her and the help he offered were things God sent to her.

Mikhail remembered what Igor learned during their previous visit to Edenhurst. She was an intensely devout believer. An ignorant woman with no education who believed and obeyed the biblical stories she heard as a child as though they were the entirety of the world.

Mikhail’s face suddenly burned for a reason entirely different from the lust he felt moments ago. He thought Anastasia lowered her guard toward him, but she only approached him because she regarded him as God’s representative.

Crack. A harsh sound came from his tightly clenched fist. Mikhail immediately turned around. Unable to endure his embarrassment and indignation, he strode out, leaving the sound of his footsteps behind.

“Lord Mikhail?”

At the sudden noise, Anastasia cautiously peeked around the side of the screen. Nothing remained in the room except the lingering trace of Mikhail after he left.

***

On the day he returned, Mikhail ultimately didn’t meet with the countess. She sent maids several more times to say that she wished to speak with him, but received no reply. The countess grew increasingly anxious.

‘He said he would acquire Edenhurst, but….’

Instead of meeting Mikhail, Yuri visited the countess and told her that Mikhail wished to acquire Edenhurst. In exchange for taking possession of the Edenhurst mansion and estate, he would not only pay all the Lauderdale family’s debts but also support them so they could maintain their former way of life.

Yuri then presented her with a contract no fewer than 122 pages long. He kindly told her that if she had any questions, she could come to him at any time.

“I would like to meet Mikhail and discuss this with him directly.”

“I’m afraid that will be difficult at the moment.”

“Why?”

“He’s quite exhausted after working without rest for the past several weeks. Lord Mikhail will contact you once he recovers. Please take your time reviewing it until then.”

Yuri bowed politely, then left the room. The countess leafed through the contract he left behind. Although she hadn’t managed the mansion’s affairs for several years, she still possessed all the basic knowledge expected of a countess. Yet even she found the contract filled with rather difficult language.

The countess put on her glasses and quickly skimmed it from beginning to end. Amid the headache-inducing contractual terms, there was one word she needed to find. Marriage. The countess wanted to meet Mikhail so she could settle the marriage arrangement between him and Elizabeth once and for all.

‘I can’t send Elizabeth to another family now.’

The problem was that after Mikhail’s previous visit, she assumed everything was settled and talked about it far too openly. It wouldn’t have been a serious issue if only the people of Edenhurst knew of their connection to Mikhail, but because she summoned people from dress shops in the capital, word of Mikhail and Elizabeth’s marriage spread throughout high society.

And that wasn’t all. Catherine proudly boasted to the friends who previously looked down on her about every gift Mikhail gave Elizabeth and herself.

The countess knew what Catherine was doing but made no particular attempt to stop her. She also wanted to share the news with those who spent so long belittling and mocking the Lauderdales.

Mikhail behaved with remarkable warmth when he came to Edenhurst. Everything about him except his status was satisfactory. In particular, the wealth she witnessed during his stay was truly enticing. She deliberately spread the rumors even further to prevent anyone else from coveting him, yet Mikhail made no move to advance the marriage arrangement.

‘He won’t give up Lauderdale so easily.’

That must be why he now offered to acquire Edenhurst. Otherwise, he would have no reason to come all this way and do any of this. The countess irritably set her glasses down on the table. Their circumstances reversed in an instant. Now they were in the position of having to beg him to take them in.

***

Elizabeth was just as troubled as the countess. She remembered how Mikhail looked when he returned, carrying the unconscious Anastasia in his arms. Perhaps it wasn’t Mikhail but Anastasia who troubled her more.

‘Anastasia… wasn’t wearing her hat. Her face was exposed.’

And that wasn’t all. Even unconscious, Anastasia tightly clutched Mikhail’s clothes. As though he were the only savior in her world. Desperately. Clinging to a man….

“You snake.”

The words spilled from Elizabeth’s lips, brimming with contempt.

A wicked red serpent that tempted mankind, the first of all creatures to commit sin.

From the window of her room, Elizabeth sometimes watched Anastasia flee toward the forest. Anastasia always walked around with her body completely wrapped up as though hiding herself from everyone.

Elizabeth knew why Anastasia dressed that way. It was the price Anastasia paid for bewitching her father and her brother.

On the night of her father’s funeral, Elizabeth learned how the serpent earned the sympathy of Edenhurst’s masters.

If anyone discovered the truth… it would become a family scandal. No, it might be more than a mere scandal. They might no longer be able to live in this country while bearing the Lauderdale name. So Elizabeth never told anyone a single thing she saw or heard. Not even her mother.

After glaring into empty space for a long time, Elizabeth murmured, “It bewitches the masters of Edenhurst.”

Her father, Edward, and now even Mikhail.

She didn’t care how that wench behaved toward her father or Edward. They weren’t Elizabeth’s men anyway. But Mikhail was different. He was now the only desirable man available to her. Everything about her future depended on him.

Elizabeth opened her desk drawer. Inside remained a Bible, one of the belongings the servants failed to take.

Elizabeth opened the Bible and searched for the account of paradise. She wanted to find out what became of the serpent that sinned.

***

Mikhail avoided meeting the countess partly because he intended to make her anxious, but also because his reopened wound was genuinely dangerous.

“What did I tell you?”

At Igor’s noisy voice beside the bed, Mikhail frowned and covered his eyes with one hand. He made the mistake of taking things lightly despite the stab wound reopening. The spreading inflammation intensified the pain and brought on a fever.

Mikhail rarely allowed even considerable pain to show on his face, so when Igor saw him sitting there with his features contorted, he realized the situation was serious. In the end, Igor had to stitch the wound closed again. Then he mixed together all the strongest medicines they brought and made Mikhail take them.

After tasting the medicine, Mikhail frowned even more deeply.

“What is it?”

“I think you added something unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary? It’s a painkiller. It’s rather strong, so you may experience mild hallucinations, but don’t worry about them.”

“Hallucinations?”

“I tried it once….”

Igor’s face suddenly reddened. Mikhail regarded him suspiciously.

“Well, I saw something pleasant. Many people have become addicted to it lately, so it will probably be banned soon.”

“Something pleasant?”

“You’ll understand once you see it. People usually seem to see what they desire.”

“What did you see?”

“What would you gain from knowing that?”

“I need to know so I can tell whether what I see is a hallucination.”

“You concern yourself with the strangest things…. Ah, fine. I saw myself living a leisurely life in Ils after retirement! Satisfied?”

Igor snapped at him with more irritation than necessary, told him to sleep early if he didn’t want to see anything, tidied the table, then quickly slipped out and closed the door.

In the now-quiet room, Mikhail rested a hand over his face. The medicine seemed to be taking effect, and the dull pain rising along his right side gradually faded. Mikhail slowly blinked.

What would he see?

Mikhail often saw people addicted to drugs at Sokolov Harbor. Every one of them wore a blissful expression. He always wondered what they were seeing, but he never imagined he would experience it himself today.

Wondering what would appear before his eyes, Mikhail turned his gaze. At that moment….

“Damn it.”

He saw someone who had no reason to be in his room.