The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 30

“You’re truly stubborn….”

Igor grumbled as he cleared the medicine bottles from the table. A week ago, early the morning after he stitched Mikhail’s wound closed again and administered the medicine, Mikhail summoned him. Looking as though he might chew Igor up bones and all, Mikhail said,

“You’d better prepare yourself if you ever use that damned drug on me again.”

His gaze felt like a blade stabbing into Igor, so Igor couldn’t even make one of his usual jokes. He had no choice but to nod hastily, say he understood, and withdraw. After that, Mikhail ordered him not to use any painkillers at all, not merely the drug he had used the first time.

‘He never complained before, so why now?’

Igor instinctively realized it was because of the drug he used that first day.

‘What in the world did he see?’

Most people experienced pleasant hallucinations, so what could Mikhail possibly have seen to make him react with such disgust and threats? The problem was that among the medicines Igor brought, it was the only one with anesthetic and analgesic effects. As a result, for the past week, Mikhail grimaced fiercely whenever Igor examined his wound and applied medicine.

Just as Igor finished applying the disinfectant, the assistant butler’s voice announced that breakfast had arrived.

When Mikhail told him to enter, the assistant butler and several maids wheeled in a large cart and arranged the food on a separate folding table they brought with them.

Igor watched for a moment, his expression growing increasingly puzzled, then asked Mikhail, “Was a breakfast banquet scheduled without my knowledge?”

“It’s breakfast.”

At the answer, Igor let out a disbelieving laugh. “There’s enough here for ten people.”

The food the assistant butler brought truly was more lavish than an evening banquet. This alone was probably finer than dinner at most noble households.

There were several kinds of freshly baked bread, ham, cheese, and sausages, as well as fresh vegetables, egg dishes, milk, fruit juice, and even thick steaks.

Igor gazed at the table, then rubbed his tingling jaw as saliva pooled in his mouth and sat down before it.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m getting ready to eat breakfast. Shall we call Yuri too?”

Even if Yuri joined them, Igor doubted they could finish this much food. Just as Igor was about to unfold his napkin, Mikhail smacked the back of his head.

“Stop talking nonsense and leave.”

“What?”

The command to leave surprised him more than being struck.

“Wait, did you have all this prepared because you intended to eat it alone? I did tell you to eat properly, but I didn’t mean you should eat this lavishly….”

“Igor.”

“I’m leaving. I’m going.”

At Mikhail’s lowered voice, Igor hurriedly gathered the medicine. Even as he left the room, he remained dumbfounded. What suddenly possessed Mikhail to prepare such an extravagant meal? As Igor walked through the corridor in confusion, he saw someone approaching from the opposite direction.

“Miss Anastasia?”

He hadn’t seen her for an entire week after examining the marks the merchant left on her, so he never expected to encounter her here. When Igor called her name, Anastasia quietly hid behind Natasha. Just as his raised hand began to feel awkward, Anastasia greeted him from behind the maid.

“G-Good morning, Doctor….”

She seemed to be trying her best not to stammer. Her speech was slow, and she remained hidden behind the maid, but Igor smiled to see her greet him nonetheless.

“It’s been a while. Are you feeling well?”

“Yes, I’m… f-fine.”

Her face turned deathly pale merely from exchanging greetings. Igor had no intention of blaming her. Hadn’t he seen everything Anastasia nearly suffered in the forest? After such an experience, it was only natural for her to fear other people, particularly men.

‘Though that isn’t the only reason.’

When he treated her foot during their first visit to Edenhurst, he immediately realized she had endured prolonged abuse. But at the time, they hadn’t yet begun interfering with Edenhurst in earnest, and Mikhail gave no separate orders, so Igor merely regarded her as a pitiful young lady. But now….

Igor looked at Anastasia’s clothes. She wore a thick top unsuitable for the season that covered her neck and arms, with a shawl wrapped around her as well. Yet every piece was expensive. Naturally, Mikhail provided all of it.

“Lord Igor, I’m sorry, but may we pass?”

Standing between them, Natasha spoke with an awkward expression.

“Ah, of course. But where are you going?”

“Lord Mikhail invited Miss Anastasia to breakfast.”

“…What?”

Igor’s mouth fell open at Natasha’s words. Wait. Then, was that breakfast from moments ago, so extravagant he mistook it for a banquet, prepared for Anastasia?

“We’ll be on our way, then.”

“Yes, you should hurry.”

When Natasha started ahead, Anastasia bowed to Igor, then scurried after her as though afraid of losing her. Wrapped in her clothes, Anastasia looked like a small child.

Igor returned to the drawing room, set down his medical bag, and rested his chin on one hand.

“Well, well.”

“Igor? What are you doing?”

“Ah, Yuri.”

Yuri stood leaning against the drawing room door, apparently having arrived without Igor noticing, chewing on a piece of bread.

“I saw something interesting.”

“What was it? Let me see too.”

“Lord Mikhail invited Miss Anastasia to breakfast.”

“That young lady?”

Yuri swallowed the bread in his mouth, thumped his chest several times, then said, “He must have taken a liking to her.”

“By taken a liking to her, you mean….”

“Why else would he look after a woman who has nothing but the Lauderdale name and not a single proper thing to her? Especially when he would sooner die than lift a finger without something to gain. It’s obvious. He must like that woman.”

Yuri dropped into the seat opposite Igor and continued, “She’s painfully thin, terrified of men, and so uneducated she’s practically an imbecile… but she’s attractive, isn’t she? Honestly, even I was surprised when I first saw that red hair. Such a vivid shade of red is rare even in Ils. Her eyes are quite beautiful too.”

“I suppose she would become beautiful if she were properly cared for and groomed. Still, it’s not as though Lord Mikhail has never seen women like that before, so why now…?”

“Oh, why think so deeply about it? Just accept it for what it is.”

“Even so, he’s going to marry Miss Elizabeth, isn’t he? If he keeps Miss Anastasia by his side after that… it may not look very good. That’s all I’m saying.”

At Igor’s words, Yuri glanced at him repeatedly with a weary expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m just wondering why a man who recently buried someone would concern himself with appearances.”

Yuri glanced toward the door to see whether anyone might be listening, then remembered that the mansion was now entirely staffed by servants from Sokolov and looked away.

“If he likes her, he’ll make her his mistress and keep her here. What’s wrong with that?”

“But they’re still sisters….”

“If he wanted to make Miss Catherine his mistress, I’d agree that it was inappropriate. But she’s only an adopted daughter, so what does it matter?”

Yuri reached toward the basket of fruit on the table.

“Just consider it a good thing. He’ll embrace her for a while during his stay, and once he grows tired of her, he’ll send her wherever she wants. If he continues to like her, he’ll leave her at Edenhurst and visit her occasionally.”

Crunch. Yuri bit into a red apple and added, “Either way, he’s going to marry Miss Elizabeth. This is only a brief diversion.”

***

“Welcome, Anastasia.”

Anastasia merely bowed to Mikhail as he greeted her with a bright smile. At Mikhail’s glance, Natasha said she would take her leave and stepped out, closing the door behind her. Once Natasha was gone, Anastasia remained standing there, anxious and at a loss like a young animal separated from its mother.

“Please sit over here.”

“Th-thank you. But please, you don’t need to speak so formally to me.”

Anastasia was pleased that Mikhail treated her with the same courtesy he showed the Lauderdales, yet it also made her uncomfortable. After all, she received only half their name and wasn’t a true daughter.

As she grew older and gradually came to understand her circumstances, she wondered whether she might be the count’s illegitimate daughter, just as people said. But whenever she looked at her reflection in the water, she saw only her mother’s face. She saw neither the count nor her father in her features.

Mikhail must know that by now, yet his treatment of her remained unchanged. No, wasn’t he treating her with even greater consideration than before?

“I must refuse that request. I want to behave with as much courtesy and propriety as possible toward you, Miss Anastasia.”

“…Yes?”

“More importantly, we should eat breakfast before it gets cold. This way.”

Mikhail pulled out the chair beside the table and offered Anastasia the seat. It was yet another courtesy she had never received before.

“You don’t have to….”

“Please, Anastasia. Kindly sit here and grant me the honor of sharing breakfast with you.”

He deliberately exaggerated his words in a playful manner. But having never received such treatment in her life, Anastasia couldn’t tell where his sincerity ended and the joke began.

Before she realized it, Anastasia forgot that Natasha was no longer present. Feeling more flustered than afraid, she cautiously approached the chair Mikhail offered. Then she carefully gathered her skirt and sat down.

Was having someone offer her something truly this thrilling and delightful? For the first time, Anastasia felt as though she had become a proper young lady. She stared at him, even forgetting that she should thank him.

She realized why Mikhail didn’t frighten her. When she was beside him, she felt like a better person. As though she were someone who deserved not to be despised, someone worthy of confidently accepting another person’s kindness.

For the first time, Anastasia straightened her back and raised her head. Just like Elizabeth, whom she once secretly watched after being summoned upstairs by the countess.

Then she finally noticed the table she was too distracted to examine properly. The moment she saw the cutlery arranged beside the dishes, Anastasia’s face turned deathly pale.

Until now, Natasha had brought Anastasia’s meals to her room. Realizing that Anastasia felt uncomfortable eating around others, she would wait outside until Anastasia finished. Thanks to that, Anastasia could eat comfortably, using nothing but a single spoon.

‘I… don’t know table manners….’

She was so surprised by his invitation that the thought never occurred to her. She had never been invited to such a meal before, so how could she possibly know? She remembered something the servants once discussed in the kitchen. A nouveau riche man invited to Edenhurst didn’t know how to use the cutlery properly and used it however he pleased. The expressions on the count, countess, and young ladies’ faces as they watched him were apparently extraordinary.

‘Lord Mikhail will think the same thing.’

He was a gentle and kind person. He wouldn’t reveal it openly. But inwardly, he would surely think that, unlike the true Lauderdale ladies, she was ignorant and vulgar.

She never particularly cared about that fact before, but now she was unbearably ashamed. Ashamed that she lacked a proper education. Ashamed that she would have to expose her inadequacy before the first person she ever wanted to impress.

Anastasia desperately tried to think of a way out of the situation.

“B-Before we eat, I’d like to pray first!”

Though she blurted it out in haste, it was a decent excuse. Anastasia hurriedly clasped her hands, searched the very depths of her memory, and began reciting every mealtime prayer she knew. But she soon ran out of prayers.

“It seems you’ve finished.”

Just as Anastasia was about to repeat the same prayer in the hope that Mikhail wouldn’t notice, he spoke. Anastasia couldn’t bring herself to say that her prayers weren’t over. She placed her trembling hands on her lap and watched Mikhail. She could simply copy whatever he did. Then….

“Please, you eat first, Anastasia.”

“….”

At Mikhail’s words, Anastasia felt as though the world had collapsed around her. There were more spoons, forks, and knives on the table than she could count. Some were long, some short, and some even had entirely different shapes. As Anastasia sat unable to reach for any of them, Mikhail spoke.

“Don’t you know how to use them?”

He expected this from Anastasia from the very beginning.