The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 66

“You’ll be having dinner in the main building tonight.”

Not long after Mikhail left, Natasha entered the room and spoke. Anastasia looked at her in surprise.

“In the main building?”

Until now, they always ate dinner in the annex. A table would be set in the drawing room connected to the bedroom, and contrary to the usual order of service, all the food would be brought out at once. Then the maids would bow and withdraw. During dinner, Mikhail was always the one who provided the little assistance Anastasia needed with her meal.

Their meals together were always quiet and peaceful as they talked about the insignificant things that happened throughout the day. Occasionally, Anastasia would become excited and chatter enthusiastically about a book she read. Mikhail would listen quietly, then cut the food into manageable pieces and feed it to her.

She thought it was childish, but she still liked Mikhail taking care of her. Mikhail also seemed satisfied by it.

“It seems you’d happily eat anything I gave you.”

“But you only give me delicious things.”

At Anastasia’s answer, he merely gave her an inscrutable smile.

In any case, they always dined in the annex. Why did he suddenly want to eat in the dining room of the main building?

Anastasia had never eaten there before. Even after she was allowed to move freely around the estate, she couldn’t bring herself to enter that room. For some reason, she always regarded it as a space belonging to the true Lauderdales.

“Yes. Lord Mikhail told me. I’ll help you prepare.”

Why did she need to prepare merely to eat dinner? But a short while later, Anastasia understood why Natasha said she needed to prepare her.

Anastasia looked into the mirror. Natasha dressed her in the clothes Mikhail ordered her to wear. It was a beautiful dress. There was only one problem.

Covering the back of her neck with her hand, Anastasia made a request of Natasha.

“Natasha, my neck feels a little chilly. Would you bring me a shawl?”

In truth, even on a summer night, it wasn’t cool enough to require a shawl. Anastasia looked at the marks she couldn’t completely hide with her hand. Although they faded considerably, the traces of their nights together still remained clearly visible. The marks dotted along her neck continued down to the upper swell of her breasts, exposed by the plunging neckline. And the farther down they went, the redder they became.

Anastasia cooled her heated cheeks with the back of her hand. Natasha assisted her from the very beginning, so Anastasia had no choice but to let her see her like this. But she couldn’t appear this way before the other servants. Besides, what would she do if she encountered the Lauderdales or Ilya in the main building?

Anastasia held out her hand as though urging Natasha to bring her anything at all. But Natasha stepped back with a troubled expression and answered, “I’m sorry, but he instructed me to bring you exactly as you are.”

“Mikhail did?”

“Yes.”

“B-but….”

How could she possibly go like this?

“It’s all right. I’ll speak to him.”

Anastasia spoke again and urged Natasha to bring her a shawl, but Natasha merely continued looking troubled without moving a single step. At the sight of her, Anastasia bit her lip.

Ever since Anastasia left the basement room, Natasha was always beside her, helping her with many things and taking care of her. She never looked down on Anastasia for not knowing how to use something she encountered for the first time, but instead taught her how. She prepared her clothes every day and even attended to her at bedtime. Of course, Anastasia knew Natasha remained beside her because Mikhail ordered it, but she still thought of her as a friend in her heart. Aside from Mikhail, this was the first time in Anastasia’s life that anyone, especially another woman, took such care of her.

Yet even though Anastasia was asking her to help conceal this embarrassing sight, Natasha didn’t move at all. It made Anastasia realize anew that Natasha belonged to Mikhail. She obeyed Mikhail alone and wouldn’t grant Anastasia’s request….

Just then, the door opened and Mikhail entered.

“Are you still not ready?”

He seemed to have come inside after finding it strange that she was taking so long while he waited outside. Anastasia seized his arm as though relieved to see him.

“Mikhail, I’d like to wear a shawl….”

“A shawl?”

He repeated the word as though wondering why she needed one. Anastasia glanced at Natasha, then reluctantly removed the hand covering her neck. Darker marks were visible on her skin over the red handprints.

“Ah.”

Mikhail made a short sound of understanding. Then he gestured to Natasha, who stood several steps away. He was telling her to leave. Natasha quickly understood her master’s intention, immediately bowed, and left the room. Silence lingered for a moment. Anastasia was the first to break it.

“…Mikhail?”

But Mikhail didn’t answer. He merely stood there motionless. Because he stood with the setting sun behind him, Anastasia couldn’t clearly see his expression. After an awkward silence, he spoke.

“Anastasia.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”

“…!”

Anastasia’s heart plummeted at his words. Her heart suddenly began pounding, and her mouth went completely dry. For some reason, his voice sounded as though he were interrogating her about a crime.

Because he stood with the setting sun behind him, Anastasia couldn’t tell what expression Mikhail wore as he questioned her. The anxiety that had been growing inside her since yesterday flared violently once again. She had no idea what he was trying so persistently to question her about. She did have one suspicion. But that was something Anastasia couldn’t bring herself to say.

“I don’t know what you mean….”

“If you don’t know, never mind.”

Unlike his interrogating tone, he ended the conversation far too easily. Instead, he took a step closer and stood before Anastasia. She always thought he had an exceptionally large body, but standing face-to-face with him like this made Anastasia newly conscious of his height and sheer size.

Mikhail blocked out the light in an instant, casting his shadow over her, then slowly lowered his head. While Anastasia stared in confusion, unable to understand what he intended to do, Mikhail’s lips were already touching the back of her neck.

“Mikhail? What are you…. Ah!”

Before she could ask what he was doing, a sharp pain pierced her neck. The sound of his lips devouring her tender flesh echoed through the room.

Even in the darkness, Mikhail unhesitatingly lowered his lips to the mark that remained dark. Deliberately baring his teeth, he bit down over the trace he left several days ago. Feeling more pain than usual, Anastasia flinched in surprise, but he seized her shoulders firmly with both hands. Because of that, Anastasia had no choice but to submit to what he was doing.

“Ah, ngh….”

Like a vampire from an old Novgod legend, Mikhail kept his face buried against her neck for quite some time. Whenever he applied more force, Anastasia trembled like captured prey and let out a short moan.

When he finally lifted his lips much later, a vivid mark as red as blood remained on Anastasia’s neck. Mikhail pressed his thumb firmly against the mark he left.

“Ngh!”

Thinking that Anastasia made such lovely sounds whether she felt pain or pleasure, he continued stroking the mark. Judging by its color, it would probably turn into a blue bruise before long. That color would also look beautiful against her pale skin.

Mikhail’s gaze shifted from the mark on her neck to the other marks trailing downward in a dotted line. His eyes gleamed dangerously in the darkness. He looked at the dress Anastasia wore.

Of all the clothes made for her in the past, this dress had the lowest neckline. It was daring enough to be worn only to a late-night banquet in the capital. As a result, Anastasia’s breasts were barely concealed.

Mikhail slipped his hand inside her dress without hesitation. In an instant, the body hidden beneath the dress was exposed in his hand. Mikhail lowered his head again and kissed the revealed flesh. Beneath his lips, the fading marks darkened once more amid Anastasia’s moans.

The appointed time for dinner was already passing.

***

An awkward conversation continued in the dining room of the main building. Mikhail, who invited everyone to dine together, still hadn’t appeared even though the appointed time had long since passed. Because of that, Ilya kept the conversation going by telling the three women about the capital and the academy.

But neither Ilya nor the three women could concentrate on the conversation. They kept glancing at the empty seats.

The seat of honor at the very end of the table naturally belonged to Mikhail. The problem was that the seat to his right remained empty. In Novgod, the place to the master’s right belonged to his wife. If he had no wife, it was the seat of the eldest woman present. Therefore, on an occasion such as this, the Countess should have sat there. But when the Countess entered the dining room, the maids guided her to a different seat as though the arrangements were already decided.

Because of that, the Countess’s face was already rigid.

When Ilya finally ran out of topics and fell silent, the dining room door opened and Mikhail entered. As expected, Anastasia was with him. Ilya began rising from his seat to greet them, only to freeze in a half-standing position.

“What… happened to her?”

Catherine, who sat beside Ilya, also muttered in a dumbfounded voice. Mikhail entered looking as perfect as ever, without so much as a single strand of hair out of place. There were only a few creases near the top of his trousers. Anastasia, however, was another matter. Her attire itself was flawless. Her hair was neatly arranged, and she wore a magnificent, beautiful dress fit for a banquet in the capital. The problem was Anastasia’s face and body.

“Oh, my God.”

The Countess lamented and turned her head away as though she saw something she shouldn’t have. And no wonder. Anastasia’s neck, shoulders, and the exposed upper portion of her breasts were covered in vivid red marks. The marks grew darker and more numerous the farther down they went, making it easy to imagine how much worse the parts hidden beneath her dress must look.

The marks weren’t all. A flush bloomed across her weary-looking face, and her lips were redder and more swollen than usual.

Anyone with the slightest sense could tell exactly what she’d been doing.

“I apologize for being late. There was something I needed to do.”

Mikhail offered an apology, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of sincerity in his voice.

Mikhail looked around the table and said, “There seems to be a slight problem with the seating.”

At those words, the Countess began to rise awkwardly. If someone was seated incorrectly, it was surely her. But without sparing the Countess so much as a glance, Mikhail lightly lifted the chair to the right of his seat and placed it beside his own. Then he spoke to Anastasia, who couldn’t say a word or raise her head from embarrassment.

“Anastasia, sit here.”

At that moment, everyone in the dining room froze. Ordinarily, no chair was placed beside the master’s seat. The custom of putting a chair there and seating someone in it belonged to the distant past.

That place belonged to an absolute master.

In other words, it was where a slave or a dog was seated.