The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 37

Elizabeth changed clothes with the help of the maids. Mikhail brought back some of the clothes she ordered from the capital, allowing Elizabeth to wear something new. The dress, tailored for early summer, fit her perfectly without a single flaw.

“It truly suits you.”

The nanny exclaimed in admiration as she looked at Elizabeth’s dress. Another maid from Edenhurst chimed in, admiring both Elizabeth’s clothes and her appearance. Elizabeth noticed the relief underlying their praise.

“That bitch is wagging her tail at Mikhail!”

She remembered Catherine storming into her room and shouting earlier that day. There was no need to ask who she meant by “that bitch.” Her foolish younger sister. What did she expect to accomplish by shouting such things in front of the maids? Elizabeth ordered everyone to leave, then invited Catherine to sit down.

“I saw that thing’s room. Did you know she’s being treated exactly the same as us? No, she has even more clothes than we do. I saw it myself!”

“Speak louder. With just a little more effort, everyone in Edenhurst will be able to hear you.”

Only after Elizabeth pointed it out did Catherine realize how loud she had been and fall silent for a moment. Even so, her ragged breathing remained harsh. She must have been extremely furious.

“Calm down first. I’m afraid Mikhail might see you like this.”

“How can you be so calm? I’m not going to let that bitch get away with this.”

“And what do you intend to do to her?”

“I treated her well and gave her clothes and shoes so many times, and this is how she repays me? I’ll shave off all her hair and eyebrows, strip her naked, and throw her into the pigsty!”

Catherine’s words made Elizabeth laugh. That was how women who committed adultery were punished in Novgod. Although the custom supposedly remained only in rural villages now, it hadn’t disappeared entirely.

However, few people actually carried it out. Not because the punishment was cruel. Wives merely hesitated because carrying it out was practically the same as acknowledging that their husbands had committed adultery with those women.

“Catherine. That’s the way lowborn people handle such matters. I would rather not see it done within Edenhurst.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

This is Edenhurst, and Elizabeth is a Lauderdale with the blood of Ils in her veins.

“I intend to admonish her with words.”

“…Oh, seriously.”

Catherine sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead at Elizabeth’s answer. She seemed to think her sister, an aristocrat to the bone, had failed to grasp the situation and was spouting fantasies.

Elizabeth merely smiled faintly at Catherine’s despairing lament. She recalled the scripture she read over and over again. Elizabeth was someone who knew how the serpent met its end.

***

“Splendid.”

The countess expressed genuine admiration as she looked around the completely transformed dining room. She had lived as a noblewoman her entire life. No matter how far Edenhurst had declined since her husband’s death, the discerning eye she cultivated over many years wouldn’t vanish overnight. Although it was decorated in a style she had never seen before, everything was luxurious and elegant.

When she entered the dining room, Elizabeth and Catherine, who arrived before her, rose from their seats. They clearly lived in the same mansion, yet for some reason, it felt as though she hadn’t seen her daughters’ faces in a long time.

‘That’s only natural.’

All this time, the countess read and reread the 122-page contract Yuri left behind. There was nothing wrong with the contract. There was simply nothing they could gain from it. And there was no mention of the marriage they so desperately wanted.

Frankly, the countess was exhausted beyond endurance. After her husband died, her son was conscripted into the army, only to die shortly before he was supposed to return. Just when she thought she had barely caught hold of the lifeline named Mikhail Sokolov on the brink of ruin, she couldn’t even tell whether that line was securely tied or hanging loose.

“Sit.”

Speaking to her daughters, the countess looked at the place where she would sit. In the past, she would have headed without hesitation to the seat of honor at the very end of the table. But the countess studied the table for a long moment before sitting beside the place of honor, across from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth remained composed, while Catherine looked bewildered before biting her lip.

A moment later, footsteps sounded from the entrance, and Mikhail appeared. When he first came to Edenhurst, he and his secretaries were always the first to arrive in the dining room. Now he arrived last.

Step, step.

Walking at an unhurried, leisurely pace, he took the seat of honor at the end of the table.

“It feels as though it’s been quite some time since we last met.”

No apology left Mikhail’s lips. He surveyed the seats occupied by the three women with satisfaction. This was the correct arrangement.

Once Mikhail sat down, the servants who had remained so quiet they might as well have been absent immediately began moving as though they had been waiting for that moment, serving the food.

“I was concerned that my poor condition might cause me to present an unsightly appearance, so only now have I been able to join you.”

Despite his cheerful greeting, none of the three women answered. A cold soup suitable for the weather, which was gradually becoming hotter, was served first, followed by dishes meant to stimulate the appetite. Catherine looked flustered. The courses weren’t being served in the style of an Ils formal dinner she was accustomed to, but in the Novgod style.

Just as the dining room itself had changed, everything on the table had changed as well. An uncomfortable silence descended again. With no proper conversation to be heard, only the occasional clink of cutlery broke the silence. The quiet meal continued for quite some time, and the mouths of those seated at the table served no purpose other than consuming food. Just when it seemed someone might drown in the oppressive silence, Mikhail spoke.

“After Saint Rimic’s Day, I intend to return to Sokolov.”

“….”

The silence grew even heavier. The countess stopped her labored hand. Catherine even held her breath as she waited for Mikhail to continue.

“It’s a bustling city, but it possesses charms different from Edenhurst. I sincerely hope you’ll all enjoy it.”

Catherine released the breath she had been holding, and the countess dropped her fork. Elizabeth… merely smiled faintly without abandoning her lofty composure.

Mikhail said he would take all of them to Sokolov. The tedious battle of wills that had dragged on for the past several months had finally come to an end.

“Then… what about the marriage talks we discussed before…?”

As though she wanted no further conflict, the countess appeared determined to receive a definite answer.

“Of course I intend to proceed with them. However.”

Mikhail paused to draw a breath before continuing, “I would prefer to handle everything after we arrive in Sokolov.”

“Why? Surely the vows could at least be exchanged here.”

At the thought of being left to suffocate until Saint Rimic’s Day, the countess forgot her dignity and questioned him frantically. When she tried to speak to Mikhail again, Elizabeth stopped her.

“That’s enough, Mother. Mikhail must have his reasons.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Mikhail dipped his head slightly to Elizabeth in gratitude. In truth, Elizabeth surprised him most of all. He expected her to behave similarly to the countess, whom she resembled, but the Elizabeth before him now was remarkably composed.

Elizabeth met every condition Mikhail wanted in a woman. She could bring him a title, was well versed in noble etiquette, and wouldn’t pester him. And then there was her appearance.

During his first visit to Edenhurst, anyone could see that she had feelings for him. He wondered whether she might pester him with talk of love even after coming to Sokolov. But during this visit, whether she had come to understand her situation or developed greater patience in the meantime, Elizabeth merely remained quiet.

That should certainly have been appealing to him, yet strangely, the fact bothered Mikhail. However, he couldn’t find anything that might explain the source of his intuition, so he could say no more about it.

After that, conversation began to flow around the table. The anxious countess and sullen Catherine listened attentively when Mikhail spoke in detail about life in Sokolov.

“I briefly mentioned it during my last visit… but at the time, I refrained from going into too much detail because it might not have looked appropriate. My estate, located on the western hills of Sokolov, covers approximately thirty-eight acres, including the gardens.”

“Thirty-eight acres?”

Catherine murmured, not knowing how large that was, so Mikhail added an explanation she could easily understand.

“The entire Edenhurst estate covers fifteen acres.”

“…!”

Catherine’s eyes widened in surprise. Edenhurst was a rural estate. But Sokolov was the second-largest city after the capital, and he owned more than twice this much land there?

“Two rivers flow through the estate, and my home, known as the Sokolov residence, consists of four buildings in total.”

“…At that size, shouldn’t it be called a palace?”

“Some people occasionally call it that, but anyone who isn’t a member of the imperial family is bound to invite criticism by carelessly giving their home such a name.”

It was a pointed remark.

Mikhail continued describing the size of the Sokolov estate, its servants, and the facilities within it. Eventually, the subject turned to the stables.

“Recently, I’ve also been focusing on breeding racehorses by crossing pedigree horses imported from northern Ils with powerful wild horses from the Central Plains.”

“How many racehorses do you have?”

“More are still being born, so I don’t know the exact number, but I believe fifteen are officially registered.”

Not just anyone could become a racehorse owner. Horse racing had only begun in Novgod fifty years ago. In that time, it grew into an enormous industry that attracted the interest of everyone from nobles to commoners. Catherine heard that owning even a single horse officially registered with the horse racing association was enough to inspire envy, yet he had fifteen.

“May I ride one of them?”

When Catherine eagerly asked, the countess’s face stiffened. She had remembered her husband, who died in a riding accident.

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to retire first. Mikhail, if you don’t mind, perhaps we could dine together again tomorrow….”

“Understood. I’ll see you again at dinner tomorrow.”

The meal ended with the countess’s hasty departure. Ordinarily, they would have moved to the drawing room to continue their conversation, but the countess asked Elizabeth to support her, leaving only Catherine and Mikhail behind.

Once her mother went upstairs, Catherine approached Mikhail as though the situation had worked out in her favor and began asking him all sorts of questions about the horses.

“You seem very interested in horses, Miss Catherine.”

“Yes. Before the accident, I loved riding so much that I even had two horses of my own. But after Father died in the accident, Mother got rid of all the horses.”

Apparently quite displeased about it, Catherine continued muttering. Most of it consisted of complaints about her mother selling her horses. Then she let out a deep sigh.

“Still… even a quiet, intelligent horse like Dalby threw Father. I suppose she was even more worried about the others.”

“Dalby?”

“That was the name of the horse Father rode. I heard he was an extremely expensive stallion.”

Thinking the name sounded familiar, Mikhail soon remembered where he heard it. The stallion Biniya in his stable was Dalby’s offspring. Horses were creatures whose traits were inherited to a frightening degree. Both intelligence and physique were passed down faithfully. Mikhail remembered very well what kind of horse Biniya was.

Even among horses, Biniya’s intelligence was exceptional. Not only the trainers but even the jockeys marveled at it. Biniya understood the rules of horse racing, remembered the traits of the other horses, and even knew when to surge ahead. The horse remembered each jockey’s habits and adjusted its pace according to the jockey’s weight.

An ancestor of Biniya threw its rider? On familiar ground, no less?

“No matter how angry Edward was, did he really have to shoot him dead?”

“He shot the horse dead…?”

“Did you think he would leave alone the horse that killed my father? Dalby was later found alone on the plains, and perhaps he knew he had done something wrong, because when Edward came out with a gun, he went wild trying to escape.”

After listening to Catherine, Mikhail considered it for a moment before asking, “Then did he remain calm until Lord Edward came out?”

Catherine fell silent briefly, apparently recalling that time, before answering, “I think so. He kept tugging at my clothes with his mouth and rubbing his face against me, as though he were begging me for forgiveness.”