The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 36

Mikhail watched Anastasia slowly turn around at his words. Wonder unlike anything he had ever seen before shimmered across her sunlit face. Was this the expression a believer wore upon coming face-to-face with God? Mikhail smiled at Anastasia, who stood entranced by the library.

‘I knew she would like it, but I didn’t expect this much.’

Mikhail remembered when he first brought Anastasia here.

He left the book he hadn’t managed to turn even a single page of beside the bed where she lay unconscious. And when she woke, Anastasia held the book he hadn’t read tightly against her chest. There were plenty of other things she could have embraced, yet she chose that one small book.

Later, when the people summoned by the countess arrived and Anastasia’s quarters were changed, she stared fixedly at the book he left behind even as she departed. And that wasn’t all. During breakfast, she repeatedly glanced at the books and documents he piled on the side table.

Mikhail approached the bookshelves. In a short time, his loyal servants had managed to arrange this place to resemble the library at his Sokolov residence. Of course, the library at his Sokolov residence was more than ten times the size of Edenhurst’s, but the library here now compared favorably with those of other noble families.

Mikhail searched among the shelves for the book he wanted. He soon pulled one out and approached Anastasia, who still stood motionless.

“Here, look at this.”

He opened the book on a nearby desk and took Anastasia’s hand. Although she flinched briefly, she offered no resistance and allowed him to lead her to the desk. Mikhail turned through the open book one page at a time. The book he brought was an illustrated guide to flowers.

It was the kind of book found in the library of nearly every noble estate. Filled with detailed illustrations and descriptions, it was so expensive that anyone who wasn’t a noble could scarcely afford it. That was why it had become fashionable to display such botanical guides open to a particular page on wooden bookstands in noble libraries.

And sure enough, there was one here as well.

“Here are the flowers we saw in the garden earlier.”

As though recalling each flower they saw outside, Mikhail read their names aloud one by one. Lilium, dahlia, poppy…. Anastasia’s gaze followed his hand as he slowly turned the pages. But her eyes lingered only on the large letters that clearly spelled the flowers’ names and couldn’t move to the text beneath them.

After turning pages for quite some time, Mikhail’s hand stopped. Just as expected. As he predicted, the weed they saw in the garden was illustrated in the book. Anastasia recognized it too, and her face brightened with delight. Her gaze settled on his lips. Mikhail rather liked the way she looked at him, so he deliberately kept his mouth closed.

“….”

Her gaze grew more desperate, filled with a silent plea. Mikhail considered drawing it out a little longer, but then he saw darkness fall over Anastasia’s face. He knew that expression. It was the expression she wore when she sat at the table and was forced to confront her own ignorance. The moment he realized that, Mikhail quickly spoke.

“Hepatica.”

“….”

“Hepatica. So that was the flower’s name.”

At Mikhail’s words, Anastasia’s gaze returned to the book. At some point, her hand began to move. Her finger traced the bold letters that clearly spelled the flower’s name onto the surface of the desk. Again and again, over and over.

Mikhail said nothing and simply waited for Anastasia to finish. When she finally stopped moving her finger and looked sadly at the densely packed text beneath the name, he said what he originally intended to say.

“Anastasia, can’t you read?”

“…No.”

Having already exposed the full extent of her ignorance once before, Anastasia answered without crying. Even so, she wasn’t incapable of feeling ashamed, and her head lowered on its own.

“Then would you like to learn?”

At the words that followed, Anastasia’s head shot up.

“Yes?”

Was he asking if she wanted to learn to read? Unable to believe his offer, Anastasia remained silent for a long time before turning her gaze to the book open before her. She saw the word Mikhail had read aloud moments ago. Hepatica. The name of the only flower that blooms even in winter.

But she couldn’t read anything written beneath it. To Anastasia, that remained a world engulfed in darkness. Like the world beyond Edenhurst, it was something she knew nothing about…. She ought to have been afraid. But….

‘I want to know.’

In the past, she would have shaken her head, thinking it was out of the question, and closed the book. But she was no longer the same. Anastasia recalled the dining etiquette she learned from him. Mikhail hadn’t simply explained the rules. He taught her etiquette by telling her stories about when he first learned it and things that happened while dining at other noble estates.

Anastasia couldn’t perfectly imagine the things he described, but for the first time, she heard that the world beyond Edenhurst wasn’t as terrible as she feared. People lived even in places that weren’t paradise.

The cities beyond Edenhurst. The capital. Sokolov. Noble estates. People at the port. Vast squares. Markets where people bought and sold goods.

The dizzying flood of information made Anastasia feel nauseated even while sitting still, as though she’d ridden in a carriage for too long. But it was different from how she felt when she came to Edenhurst in the past. It felt as though her body were floating atop the clouds. Swaying, soft, and filled with the thrill that the wind might carry her anywhere. Learning something new felt like that.

Anastasia reached out and turned a page. It contained an illustration of a flower she had never seen and words she still couldn’t read.

If she learned to read, would she be able to learn this flower’s name? Would she be able to read all these words that seemed to describe the flower? She heard that every flower carried a beautiful legend. Would she be able to learn those stories?

Anastasia picked up the book of flowers and hugged it to her chest. Then she answered Mikhail, “Please teach me to read.”

She looked him directly in the eyes and spoke in a resolute voice without stammering once.

Flutter. The sound of a bird taking flight came from beyond the window.

***

Please teach me to read.

The green eyes that gazed directly at him wouldn’t easily leave Mikhail’s mind. A long time had passed since he sent Anastasia back to her room, and even now, as darkness settled over the mansion, her voice continued to echo in his ears.

‘How did it come to this?’

Him, teaching someone something. Mikhail had never once considered teaching anyone, nor had he ever thought he possessed the qualities required to become a teacher. And reading, of all things. That wasn’t something that could be finished in a single lesson.

He never imagined he would volunteer for such a bothersome task.

This was purely an expression of curiosity. He had clearly heard that she was stupid. That was why, even after living this way until her current age, she couldn’t hate anyone, didn’t understand how miserable her circumstances were, and regarded this rural estate as paradise. They said she couldn’t read, didn’t know numbers or the laws of the country, and lived according to the hollow rules of scripture.

Yet when he handed her a single fragment of knowledge, Anastasia absorbed it in an instant and made it entirely her own. Had he ever met anyone who learned this quickly?

Mikhail wanted to find out. He wanted to see how far the little lamb he would steal from God could surprise him.

Knock, knock.

The knocking roused Mikhail from his thoughts.

“It’s me.”

Hearing Igor’s voice outside, Mikhail told him to enter.

“What are you doing sitting here without even lighting the lamps?”

Igor entered and looked puzzled when he saw Mikhail sitting alone in a chair in the dim room. Apparently not expecting an answer to the question, Igor explained why he came.

“They say dinner is ready.”

“You came here just to tell me that?”

That was a servant’s duty. There was no need for Igor to come himself.

“What do you want to say?”

Igor looked at his master, who had quickly seen through the reason for his visit.

“I did tell you to rest, but you still need to take care of your responsibilities.”

“….”

“Aren’t you going to marry Elizabeth Lauderdale?”

“I am.”

“Then hurry up and proceed with it. Yuri is growing exhausted by the countess’s hysterics, and I’m also….”

“What? Are you anxious?”

“….”

“Afraid I’ll fool around with Anastasia Lauderdale, forget about obtaining the countship, and settle down in this countryside?”

“…I never said that.”

“It must have looked that way, then.”

“….”

Igor’s silence irritated Mikhail.

“Light the lamps.”

At his command, Igor moved quickly and lit the lamps placed throughout the room. Light filled the room in an instant, allowing Mikhail to see his reflection in the mirror. Although little time remained before dinner, the man reflected there was still sitting in the clothes he wore during the day.

Mikhail slowly rose from his seat.

How many hours had he wasted? It was shortly after noon when he sent Anastasia back to her room. He had remained sitting like this from then until sunset. Ordinarily, he would have dealt with a great deal of work in that time. Even as he sat here at Edenhurst, Sokolov’s port was operating busily, and the Empress Dowager must be making her moves, however slowly.

Mikhail slowly rolled his neck. His body, motionless for so long, cracked harshly. When he inhaled, the muscles beneath his thin shirt rippled. He looked like a beast stretching after waking from sleep.

“Igor, I’m changing the schedule.”

“Changing it…?”

“I intended to remain here until the end of summer, but I’ll return to Sokolov before then. It would be easier to respond if I’m in the capital before the Empress Dowager returns. And I can deal with those bothersome documents before she arrives.”

“When do you intend to return?”

It was June. He originally planned to stay for three months, until the end of September.

“Around Saint Rimic’s Day should be suitable.”

The day honoring Saint Rimic, who was said to have first brought the word of God to Novgod, fell on the third Sabbath of August. Igor’s face brightened as he counted the remaining days. There were approximately two and a half months left.

“I’ll notify the Sokolov residence.”

The loyal people who remained there would prepare everything in time for Mikhail’s return.

“Good.”

Mikhail removed his thin shirt and changed into a thicker formal one. As he fastened the buttons on his sleeves, he said, “Tell them to prepare the room my wife will use.”

Igor’s face brightened even further at the order. Only a month and a half remained. That was nowhere near enough time for Anastasia Lauderdale, who had only just begun to look like a human being, to bewitch his master.