The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 41

“I’m seriously going to die….”

Yuri muttered as he sprawled across the carriage seat. It was the third day since he returned to Sokolov from Edenhurst, and he was regretting not bringing Igor along to die with him. Either that, or Mikhail should have come with him.

Thinking of the documents piled on his desk at the office, Yuri groaned.

“Why did I tell him to rest?”

He must have eaten something wrong at the time. Otherwise, there was no way he would have told Mikhail to rest when Mikhail was the one who handled that insane volume of work. Naturally, the more Mikhail rested, the more work Yuri had to do!

Yuri quickly sorted the incoming work in his head. He would inspect the cargo from the Flanre merchant ship and the newly imported goods, hand the documents for the finishing work on Pier Seven to Igor, and pass the technical agreement for the steel mill construction and the Schweik bypass deal to Lord Mikhail….

In truth, if Mikhail were in Sokolov, he would have handled all of it himself. Of course, that didn’t mean Yuri and Igor’s workload would have decreased. When had Mikhail ever tolerated seeing anyone idle?

“I told him to rest, but I didn’t think he would actually do it….”

He hadn’t expected Mikhail to genuinely take a liking to that rural backwater called Edenhurst.

‘No, it’s probably Anastasia Lauderdale he likes.’

When Yuri learned that Mikhail summoned her every day, saw to her meals, and spent time with her, he thought his master must be firmly resolved. Mikhail had never given any woman his time and company like that before.

She had been thinner than a stray dog and resembled an abandoned animal that couldn’t even look another person in the eye. Yuri thought Mikhail’s tastes were certainly unusual….

He recalled Anastasia, whom he encountered in the corridor before leaving.

“Hello, Mr. Yuri.”

The woman who used to hide behind her maid, unable even to raise her head as she trembled whenever they happened to meet, smiled faintly and offered him a reasonably ladylike greeting. The change in her behavior alone was surprising, but the change in her appearance was even more astonishing. Even when she was thin, he thought her face itself was rather pretty. But once Mikhail began keeping her beside him and caring for her, she started changing at a frightening pace. In a good way, naturally.

“I didn’t know he had a talent for that sort of thing.”

Yuri thought Mikhail was only good at growing businesses, but apparently he also had a talent for nurturing women. The once-emaciated Anastasia had filled out like a girl raised in a good family with abundant attention and love. Simply feeding her well couldn’t have accomplished that.

Yuri thought of the noblemen’s mistresses he often saw in the capital. They, too, boasted beautiful appearances. That was only natural when they were fed, clothed, and adorned without lacking anything. But their eyes held either burning ambition or bleak resignation.

Anastasia had neither. The only thing visible on her face when she looked at Mikhail was pure joy.

“I don’t think this is a good thing, though.”

After all, the future awaiting Anastasia was that of Mikhail’s mistress. She knew nothing now and was simply happy, but would she really be able to continue living with such an innocent expression?

Yuri thought about the ends met by the mistresses he had seen. Most vanished without a word at some point. They were fortunate if the man, out of some final affection, gave them a great deal of money and sent them far away, but Yuri knew that usually wasn’t the case.

In a way, perhaps disappearing was the better fate. Mistresses who remained unable to leave their men’s sides inevitably grew more expressionless with each passing day.

“No, come to think of it, there’s Viscount Pavel Rublov, isn’t there?”

Pavel was the Empress Dowager’s male lover. He gained a title, increased his wealth, and lived energetically beside the Empress Dowager as though he were the emperor’s father. He seemed to have divided and hidden his assets well across several places in Ils and Flanre, so even if the Empress Dowager later fell from power, he would continue living comfortably. How differently life unfolded for a mistress depending on whether they were a woman or a man.

At that moment, the carriage passed through a pothole and jolted violently. Yuri sprang upright and caught the stack of papers he left on the carriage seat. Thanks to his quick movement, the papers didn’t fall to the floor.

These were the materials he collected from the horse racing association moments ago. Information about a horse named Dalby, which Mikhail had specifically ordered him to obtain.

“Good grief, those lunatics.”

Yuri sent someone to the horse racing association on the very day he arrived in Sokolov to request the materials Mikhail mentioned. He expected no more than a few sheets of paper, but their reply said there was so much material that copying it would take time. An entire month, in fact. So Yuri offered to pay generously if they hired copyists and finished within three days. This was the result.

“Why all this fuss over one horse?”

Yuri looked at the top sheet.

Dalby. A racehorse imported from Schweik. Initially owned by a duke and victorious in multiple races. Retired from racing after sustaining an injury during a race, then sold to Count Lauderdale. Notable for his exceptional intelligence.

“No matter how intelligent a horse is, it’s still a horse.”

Below that were minor anecdotes from Dalby’s trainers and jockeys about their time with him. According to them, Dalby apparently possessed intelligence comparable to that of a six- or seven-year-old child. He also had a gentle temperament. No wonder he was considered a great horse.

Yuri studied the documents carefully. Mikhail wouldn’t have given an order like this merely because he was bored.

“…Is there something here?”

At that moment, the carriage stopped, and the coachman’s voice came from outside.

“Mr. Yuri, we’ve arrived.”

Yuri lowered the window shade. Before him stood a large bookstore on the busiest street in the capital.

Even now, with printing presses and newspapers in circulation, books remained luxury goods in Novgod. Teaching someone to read well enough to understand a book required time and labor. Since most people needed to spend that time working, books still belonged to nobles and the wealthy.

When Yuri entered, a familiar employee came out to greet him.

“Good day, Mr. Yuri.”

“It’s been a while.”

“Are you looking for any books in particular? As it happens, we just finished arranging the books that arrived from Ils yesterday.”

Mikhail bought every technical book published in Ils. Sometimes Igor secretly slipped in a Flanre novel he was curious about among them. In any case, Yuri practically cleared the shelves whenever he bought books, so the employee waited expectantly for his answer this time as well.

“Where are the books that teach people how to read?”

“Pardon? How to read?”

“Yes. The easiest ones you have. And I’d also like to see some very simple books suitable for people who are just learning.”

Momentarily flustered by the unexpected request, the employee concealed his surprise with the skill polished over many years and guided Yuri farther inside.

“This way. They’re mainly purchased by nannies and tutors from noble households.”

“Thank you. I’ll look through them myself.”

“Of course. Please take your time, and call me if you need anything.”

Once the employee left, Yuri dropped to the floor and began examining the books on the bottom shelf. He pulled out a thick book with a black cover and saw the title, A Novgod Language Primer. Merely looking at the cover already made him sleepy.

“What the hell is this, seriously…?”

When he rapidly flipped through the book, he found Novgod letters and sentences that truly looked like something children would learn, such as Hello, My name is so-and-so, and Who is your father? Alongside them were explanations of grammar that made no sense to him.

Suddenly exhausted, Yuri began pulling out whatever books came to hand. Why did he need to choose? If he simply bought everything available, Lord Mikhail could select what he wanted himself.

Yuri summoned the employee and ordered him to bring a wooden cart, then loaded every book from the Novgod language section into it. Next, he went to the nearby children’s story section. These books, too, were intended for children of noble families. Yuri unhesitatingly placed books so glittering that it was difficult to tell whether they were books or gilded ornaments onto the cart.

He was buying them with Mikhail’s money anyway, so there was no reason for him to deliberate. As he happily loaded books onto the cart, thinking Mikhail deserved a little inconvenience, a man watched him from a distance. The man observed Yuri with amusement. When Yuri went over to the employee, he casually passed behind him, swept his gaze over the books in the cart, and left the store.

As soon as he stepped outside, a nearby carriage approached. The man climbed aboard and ordered the coachman, “To the palace.”

“Yes, sir.”

The carriage moved with the crack of a whip. It traveled along the capital’s broad avenues for quite some time before passing through the gates of the Imperial Palace in the north of the city. Even after entering the palace grounds, the carriage continued deeper and deeper inside. When it finally reached the innermost palace, the man stepped out.

The waiting chief chamberlain bowed when he descended.

“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is waiting for you, Viscount Rublov.”

“Is she? Then I should hurry.”

At the chief chamberlain’s words, Pavel Rublov set off. Pavel Rublov, the man known as the Empress Dowager’s dog, swept back his dark blond hair as he walked through the palace corridors.

Now in his mid-forties, he still possessed the sturdy build and muscular physique befitting a former soldier. Although he was fairly handsome, he wasn’t striking enough to draw attention, so people assumed the secret to capturing the Empress Dowager’s heart lay in his body.

After passing through several doors and finally reaching the Empress Dowager’s chamber, he found her seated at a desk examining documents.

“Your Majesty the Empress Dowager. Your servant Pavel has come to….”

“You’re late.”

The Empress Dowager cut off his greeting with a curt remark before he could finish. Pavel smiled as he thought, And you’re sulking.

He looked at the Empress Dowager beyond the desk. She had once been an empress whom the emperor cared so little about that he couldn’t even remember her name properly, an empress with no power who had been forced to remain in a detached palace. Now she was the true ruler of Novgod.

“Forgive me. I happened to see something interesting at the bookstore.”

Pavel approached the Empress Dowager from behind and wrapped his large hands tightly around her body. The breasts exposed above her indoor dress were crushed out of shape in Pavel’s hands. The Empress Dowager set down the document she held and turned toward him. As though he had been waiting, Pavel buried his face against her body.

The sounds of the two filled the room. The Empress Dowager stroked the man’s head approvingly as he worked to restore her good mood. At that, her dog began performing another trick.

“Yes. What… ah. What was so… interesting?”

“One of Mikhail’s dogs came to the bookstore.”

Pavel wiped his saliva-smeared lips. At the same time, he thought, That idiotic emperor. Why did he taste something this delicious only once and then cast it aside? His actions grew more intense.

“I thought he came to buy books from Ils, but he bought Novgod language primers and children’s stories. Judging by how indiscriminately he loaded them into the cart, he was clearly buying them for Mikhail, not himself.”

“What? Why would he need books like… ah!”

Rocked by his violent movements, the Empress Dowager let out a low moan and went limp. Pavel caught her as her body collapsed toward him and answered, “I was curious too, so I intend to investigate. As far as I know, Mikhail is currently staying at the Lauderdale family’s Edenhurst estate.”

Pavel spoke as he slowly removed the Empress Dowager’s clothes, “I’m truly curious what delicious thing he left there that’s keeping that bastard from returning to the capital.”