The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 50

The summer storm continued for another two days. Fortunately, there was no more thunder or lightning after the first day, but the wind and rain still raged fiercely, forcing the people of Edenhurst to remain inside the mansion.

Then, two days later, a clear sky finally appeared as though the weather of the past few days had been a lie. Moved by the clear sky and brilliant sunlight they could finally see, the people went out to inspect the havoc throughout Edenhurst.

“This is really serious.”

The gardeners were the most distressed. It was already enough of a headache that a tree in one corner of the garden was struck by lightning and split apart, but its fragments were swept away by the wind and rain and scattered all over the garden. Moreover, all the carefully cultivated summer flowers had fallen beneath the cold rain.

The kitchen servants were the second most distressed.

After dealing with numerous troublesome food merchants, the kitchen finally began doing business with a diligent food merchant from another village. He always delivered provisions by wagon every three days, but after the storm subsided, he came alone on horseback and asked for help, saying that his wagon could no longer cross the wooden bridge leading to Edenhurst.

“I heard the bridge into Edenhurst was damaged in several places by the swollen water. Apparently, wagons are forbidden from crossing for the time being. We have no choice but to take our wagon to the other side and collect the provisions ourselves.”

They were told the bridge wouldn’t be fully repaired until autumn, so until then, they would have to suffer through the additional labor every three days.

The third most distressed person was Anastasia.

“I think I’m all right now,” Anastasia said in a pleading voice to Igor, who came to examine her.

On the day the storm struck, Anastasia recklessly ran into the garden while lightning crashed around her. Mikhail immediately brought her back, placed her in warm water, and cared for her, but her body was already weak beforehand, so there was no possibility that Anastasia would remain unharmed.

Anastasia eventually caught a cold the following day and had to spend several more days in bed coughing.

“Still, I’m glad you’ve been eating diligently lately. You couldn’t eat properly for a while…. Did something change your mind?”

The question was clearly directed at Anastasia, but Igor’s gaze was fixed on Mikhail. He already knew the answer. How could he not? From the day after Mikhail retrieved Anastasia from the garden, he remained in her room constantly.

‘What the hell happened?’

One day, Mikhail suddenly stopped seeking Anastasia out. He went back to eating his meals alone as before and stopped visiting the library in the afternoons. So Igor and Yuri spoke with their eyes.

You ended it.

You broke things off.

Not long ago, when Igor told Mikhail that if he was hesitating, he should simply let Anastasia go, Igor faced Mikhail’s chilling gaze for the first time in a very long while.

It was the same look he saw when he first met Mikhail. The gaze of a wild beast that he hadn’t seen in recent years as Mikhail grew more skilled at concealing his expressions. Igor thought that if he spouted a few more words then, several neat holes might genuinely have appeared in his skull.

Considering the extent of that obsession, Igor assumed Mikhail would refuse to let Anastasia go. But then Mikhail suddenly ended things with her. Igor didn’t know what happened, but he thought it was for the best. He believed Mikhail finally came to his senses.

Yet Mikhail suddenly ran into the storm to retrieve Anastasia and hadn’t left her side all day since.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

Igor decided not to concern himself with the matter between them any longer. Mikhail would handle it himself somehow. But… after that, every time Anastasia coughed even once, Igor was inevitably dragged over.

“If this is how it’s going to be, hire a separate doctor! My actual job is being your secretary! Can’t you see all the documents piling up?”

When Igor finally declared he couldn’t take it anymore and lay down in protest, Mikhail glared at him as though ordering him to get up immediately.

“How could I bring in people I can’t trust?”

It might have sounded like an insignificant remark, but those words carried profound meaning. The reason Igor obtained a medical license was that Mikhail couldn’t entrust the people he needed and had to protect to the hands of strangers.

In other words, the people Igor examined were among the very few Mikhail trusted and cared for.

‘The countess has her own physician too.’

The countess already took all sorts of medicine, so a doctor frequently visited Edenhurst. But even after witnessing it, Mikhail never once ordered Igor to examine the countess. That was because the countess wasn’t particularly important to him.

Yet he assigned Igor to Anastasia every single day. He didn’t even do that for Elizabeth, whom he said he would marry!

‘It’s more than that.’

Igor looked at Anastasia’s clothes, which were fastened tightly around her neck despite being unsuitable for the season. Whenever Anastasia moved, red marks briefly appeared and disappeared beneath her collar. Igor sighed and looked at Mikhail.

‘He seemed to be staying here from morning until night.’

It looks like he’s been biting and sucking her all day long.

Back in Sokolov, Mikhail was so indifferent to the opposite sex that Igor wondered whether something was wrong with his reproductive function or whether he simply had no desire at all. Even when women seeking his patronage deliberately stripped naked and threw themselves at him, hadn’t he merely continued reviewing documents with complete disinterest? Yet here, he behaved like a man desperate to embrace his lover.

For the first time, Igor saw Mikhail as a young man of twenty-eight. Of course, that thought vanished instantly when Mikhail shot him a glare that ordered him to hurry up and perform the examination.

Igor took out his stethoscope. Anastasia lifted the bottom of her blouse as though accustomed to it. Igor placed the stethoscope against various parts of her abdomen and beneath her chest. Mikhail, who sat beside her, watched with an expression that suggested he didn’t like the sight at all.

A short while later, Igor removed the stethoscope and said, “She’s perfectly fine now. I don’t hear any difficulty in her breathing either.”

At Igor’s words, smiles appeared on both Anastasia’s and Mikhail’s faces. As Igor put away his stethoscope, wondering what was wrong with both of them, Mikhail spoke.

“Leave that here.”

“What?”

“I said leave the stethoscope.”

“…Are you a doctor now?”

Why did he suddenly want the stethoscope? Then Igor remembered the displeased gaze Mikhail wore while he examined Anastasia moments ago. Surely….

“Do whatever you want.”

Looking thoroughly fed up, Igor set down the stethoscope, begged them not to summon him again for a while, then hurried out. Once Igor left, Anastasia approached Mikhail and said, “He said I’m all better. Then, as you promised….”

“I understand. We’ll go to the forest.”

At Mikhail’s answer, Anastasia ran into the adjoining room. “Natasha! Natasha! I’m going to the forest!”

Mikhail smiled as Anastasia excitedly scampered away to change her clothes. He made Anastasia a promise. Once the storm ended and Anastasia fully recovered, they would go to the forest together.

***

“This way.”

He expected the ground to be quite wet after so much rain, but surprisingly, the forest floor was fine. Instead, the scent of rain still lingered in the forest air. Breathing in the refreshing moisture-filled air, Mikhail followed Anastasia deeper into the forest.

‘A ruined chapel.’

Over the past few days, Mikhail spent a great deal of time in Anastasia’s room. He ate with her and often read books to her as she lay in bed or told her stories about himself. He was usually the one who spoke, while Anastasia listened.

But sometimes, Anastasia spoke about herself as well.

“Once I’m better, I want to go retrieve the shoes. I left them in the chapel in the forest.”

“A chapel?”

“They say it existed even before Edenhurst was built. No one knows about it anymore except me.”

When Mikhail showed interest in the chapel, Anastasia excitedly described it in detail, apparently delighted that she had something she could tell him.

She told him when she discovered it, how much of a mess it was when she first found it, how she cleaned it up, and more….

Anastasia spoke excitedly, but in truth, Mikhail felt uneasy as he listened. In Anastasia’s story, the ruined chapel was her home and refuge. Just how unbearable was it for her to stay in this mansion that she spent all her time there whenever it wasn’t winter?

In Anastasia’s stories, the ruined chapel was her impregnable fortress and comfortable sanctuary. She said she placed the gift he gave her in its deepest recess. That pleased Mikhail. She kept something he gave her inside her most secret refuge.

And so Mikhail promised her that as soon as Anastasia fully recovered, they would visit the chapel in the forest. This was Anastasia’s invitation.

Once they entered the forest, the damage from the storm that couldn’t be seen from outside became visible. Broken branches had fallen everywhere. Walking beside Anastasia, Mikhail moved them all aside so she wouldn’t get hurt. After they ventured deep into the forest for a long while….

“There it is!”

With Anastasia’s delighted cry, the ruined chapel she spoke of came into view. Anastasia scampered to the chapel door, daintily lifted the hem of her dress, and dipped into a slight curtsy before him.

“Thank you for coming to my chapel, Mikhail.”

The greeting resembled a child’s game of make-believe, but he didn’t laugh. He knew he was the only person she ever invited here.

The one person she accepted. That person was him.

“Thank you for inviting me, Anastasia,” Mikhail offered his sincere thanks.