The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 4

1. A New Master

At the end of the low hills, darkness split apart and was dyed orange, and then radiant light began to fall upon the land. The first light of dawn did not hurry, but ran along the hills with the wind.

Wherever the sunlight touched, living things shook off the darkness they had buried in the night and stretched with vigor. Dew that had remained on blades of grass fell away, and butterflies spread their damp wings. Buds that had been closed slowly opened, revealing their vivid colors.

The sheep, not yet fully awake, moved slowly in search of young grass, and from the distant village, smoke from baking the morning’s bread rose faintly and soon melted into the sky.

Life overflowed across the beautiful land. In only one place was it absent.

Even under the brilliant sunlight, the Edenhurst mansion was shrouded in darkness. As if only that place still remained in winter.

The servants of the mansion, who had opened their eyes, moved quickly, but quietly.

At this hour, the masters of the mansion would normally be in a deep sleep. But the butler glared sharply at anyone who made even the slightest sound while moving. Especially when passing by the countess’s room.

For the past few months, the countess could not sleep without medicine, and even with it, she could not fall into a deep sleep. So at the slightest noise, she would become sensitive and mercilessly dismiss the servants. Even so, no one in Edenhurst mansion could complain about the countess.

That was partly because of the deep loyalty the servants felt toward the Lauderdale household, but also because they pitied the mother who had lost her only son.

All the servants of Edenhurst wore black clothing in mourning. There wasn’t a smile on any of their faces. As long as their master did not smile, they did not dare to smile either.

The busiest place in the mansion in the morning was the kitchen. Emma, the plump head cook, prepared the masters’ meal first. It was rare for them to ask for food at this hour, but if they did, it had to be brought to them without delay.

After preparing the masters’ portion, she made the servants’ meal. A large pot big enough for a person to fit inside boiled with soup filled to the brim with ingredients, and the kitchen maid assisting Emma busily ladled the soup into bowls. By the time even the portions for the lowest-ranked servants had been served, the large pot was already scraped nearly empty.

Then Emma brought over a chipped bowl where she had been collecting vegetable peels and scraped the bottom of the pot, barely filling a single ladle of soup, which she poured into the bowl.

“You there.”

Looking around, Emma called out to a young maid who had just arrived.

“Take this and put it over there.”

The maid, holding the bowl, went to the place Emma had indicated as “over there.” It was a storage space next to the kitchen. A place with no light, piled with sacks of potatoes. Beside it was a small table barely large enough to hold two plates and a round wooden stool without a backrest.

After setting down the bowl of soup, the maid looked around and then placed a nearby basket of bread on the small table as well.

Seeing that, Emma shouted at her, “What are you doing? Why are you putting the bread there when there’s not enough as it is!”

“But that’s Miss Anastasia’s….”

The maid muttered in a shrinking voice, as if she didn’t understand what she had done wrong. Clicking her tongue, Emma beckoned the maid to come closer.

“You, what did you say your name was?”

“Anastasia.”

Having the same name was nothing unusual in Novgod. In a country that had existed for barely two hundred years, there weren’t many names. Because of that, there were many people who shared the same name.

“You want to receive the name of Edenhurst, don’t you?”

At Emma’s question, the maid nodded vigorously. At the mention of the name of Edenhurst, a look of longing filled her eyes.

“Then learn to read the room.”

Emma turned her head and looked toward the table in the corner where the bowl of soup had been placed. That seat was meant for only one person.

Ten years ago, the former Count Lauderdale suddenly brought back a red-haired girl from somewhere and declared he would take her in as his adopted daughter. On that day, the countess, who had always been noble, elegant, and dignified, raised her voice for the first time since coming to this mansion. As the count and countess argued, the girl stood there with her head lowered, trembling.

A few days later, the girl was given the name Anastasia Lauderdale. That name contained the countess’s firm will. She would accept her husband’s decision to take her in as an adopted daughter, but she would not give her even the slightest bit of affection.

Those recognized as members of Edenhurst are given names in the Ils style, not Novgod names. The head cook, too, was given the name Emma instead of her Novgod name, Svetlanya. The butler, Sergei, was also given the name James within Edenhurst.

In addition, all those who had been acknowledged by the countess and earned the right to remain here were given names of Edenhurst. Even the three dogs kept at the mansion. But the girl the count had brought remained Anastasia.

“Do you understand?”

When Emma asked again, the maid nodded. Then she quickly removed the bread basket she had placed earlier and set it on the servants’ table. Seeing that, Emma felt reassured. It seemed the young maid wasn’t as foolish as she had feared.

As the servants who had finished cleaning the mansion gradually came down to the kitchen, they sat at the table. Though they were required to maintain decorum, the underground dining hall where only servants gathered was beyond the reach of the butler’s and head maid’s supervision, so the servants stretched out their hands toward their meal while exchanging light jokes.

Just as the meal was nearly over, the sound of someone coming down the inner staircase was heard. The young maid, who had been tearing bread at the end of the table while listening to her seniors’ conversation, sensed the presence and turned her head. A moment later, a woman appeared.

Even to the maid, the woman was dressed in outdated, worn clothes layered one over another. As if she were a nun, she had wrapped even her hair tightly in a thin muffler. On top of that, she wore a wide-brimmed hat that covered her face.

If she had encountered her on the street, she would have glanced at her strangely and avoided her.

Making a dragging sound with her steps, the woman entered the kitchen and sat at the table where the young maid had placed the bowl earlier.

She was Anastasia Lauderdale.

As Anastasia came down, the servants gathered at the table fell silent for a moment and looked at her. But soon they turned their heads away and continued their conversation as if they hadn’t seen anything. The young maid watched that, then followed the others and turned her head as well. She had quickly learned the rules of this mansion.

With no one paying attention, Anastasia looked at the food prepared for her. A single bowl of soup that barely filled half the dish. That was all. At a table a short distance away, the servants had soup filled with ingredients, as well as freshly baked bread and yellow butter.

Anastasia stared at their table for a moment, then turned her head away. Leaving her portion of soup before her, she clasped both hands together and prayed. Though others could not see, her expression as she closed her eyes and murmured the prayer resembled that of a devout monk.

After the long prayer ended, Anastasia picked up the spoon that had been tossed onto the table. It was a spoon still bearing traces of the person who had used it before.

She wiped it against the hem of her skirt and began to eat the soup.

The soup had already lost its warmth, but Anastasia was happy. Unlike before, the soup contained at least a small amount of various ingredients. As she swallowed the flavorful soup, her empty stomach churned even more violently, but Anastasia moved her hand slowly. While she ate, the servants dining nearby had already finished their meal and were chatting.

“Food has definitely gotten better these days.”

“Right. Just a month ago, you couldn’t even tell if this was soup or water. I heard one of the madam’s distant relatives in the capital learned about the estate’s situation and helped.”

At the mention of help, a trace of bitterness passed over the servants’ faces. How had the House of Lauderdale fallen to the point of relying on others’ help?

The House of Lauderdale was, in its own way, a prestigious noble family in Novgod. The first Count Lauderdale, who had gone into exile from Ils, continued to use the Ils name even after settling in Novgod. It was a good choice in a country where many, whether royalty or nobility, admired Ils.

A little over a hundred years had passed since the count’s family moved to Novgod. The power of the count’s house, which had seemed as though it would only rise further, fell into decline in an instant. It began five years ago with the death of the count.

The count had gone out to hunt foxes in the hunting grounds near the estate, fell from his horse, struck his head against a rock, and died on the spot. He was thirty-seven at the time. Far too young an age to end his life.

Though it was a tragedy, no one was particularly worried about the future of the house. The count had a son, Edward, who would inherit everything. However, that same year, war broke out with Schweik, and Edward, the heir, was forced to go to the battlefield under the empress dowager’s command to fulfill his duty.

Everyone knew that when nobles participated in war, they stayed in safe positions at the rear, so they all believed that once the war ended, Edward would return immediately and become the next count. But the war dragged on longer than expected, and Edward’s return was delayed as well.

To hasten Edward’s return even a little, the countess submitted petitions to the imperial court and offered many things. As a result, the townhouse in the capital and properties other than Edenhurst, as well as fertile lands, came into the possession of the imperial family. From that point on, the house began to decline rapidly.

Four years passed like that. Just as the long, drawn-out war was finally nearing its end, Edward died absurdly after being caught in an explosion at an allied munitions depot.

Upon receiving the notice of her son’s death last winter, the countess fainted on the spot and afterward withdrew from all affairs.

Even before that, with their income reduced, they needed to manage the estate with even greater care. But with the countess abandoning her duties, there was no way things could run properly. To make matters worse, the man entrusted with managing the estate in her stead secretly sold off the family’s jewels and spent the money on gambling and his own pleasures.

In the end, the house was driven into a corner. For the first time, the servants saw the bottom of the food storage. As their wages, which had always been paid regularly each month, began to be delayed, some of the servants left the estate. After enduring the winter, when spring came, even those who remained began to think they could no longer stay and watched each other, wondering who would leave first.

At that moment, a stranger suddenly arrived at the mansion, saying he had been sent by a distant relative of the countess. Claiming it was by the relative’s order, he handled the urgent matters of the household. Thanks to that, the potatoes and flour that had been nearly depleted filled the storage once more, and fresh butter and milk were delivered daily. For the first time in a long while, the servants’ table became abundant again.

“But that man… they say he’s not actually a relative?”

A servant sitting in the corner spoke cautiously. Everyone turned to look at him at the unfamiliar claim.

“What do you mean? Not a relative? Then who gave the help?”

“Well, about that….”

The servant hesitated, glancing around at the others. As someone of a lowly servant’s status, he had been taught not to speak carelessly about the affairs of his masters. So he should keep his mouth shut, but….

As he wavered, Emma quietly interjected, “What does it matter? The butler and the head maid aren’t here.”

As the head cook, she should have told him not to speak recklessly, but hearing that the benefactor wasn’t a relative had stirred Emma’s curiosity as well. With her tacit permission given, the servant opened his mouth again.

“Actually, while I was cleaning upstairs earlier, I happened to overhear a conversation between the madam and the butler….”

The servant gestured for the others to come closer, then lowered his voice as much as possible and said, “A new master is coming to Edenhurst.”