The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 7

“What do you mean what. It’s a shoe. Don’t you know what a shoe is?”

“Who’s asking because they don’t know it’s a shoe? I’m asking why you brought such a worn-out woman’s shoe, and only one at that.”

Mikhail showed no interest whatsoever in anything pointless. More precisely, he had no interest in anything that didn’t make money.

And yet Mikhail had brought back not even a proper pair, but a single shoe. Igor examined the shoe more closely again. Could this actually be something important that he didn’t know about?

When Igor showed interest, Mikhail waved his hand as if telling him to get lost, then asked, “Igor, have you ever heard that fairies live in the forests of Edenhurst?”

“…What?”

Igor frowned at Mikhail’s words.

Fairies. In Novgod, they were considered ominous beings. Originally, Novgod had been a land of barbarism and primitivism just a few hundred years ago. It had been a land of people who wandered about with their lives aboard a single ship, slaughtering whatever they came across. Among the primitive beliefs they had spread across this land, the one people still believed in the most was that of fairies.

Small, ugly creatures that lived in forests or underground. Because they hated their own appearance, they hid in forests near villages and collected discarded human objects as their treasures. If they met a human who didn’t despise them and treated them kindly, they would even bring that person gold and jewels from beneath the earth. But if they realized they were being used, from that moment on, they would curse the human and lead them to ruin.

Though everything about them was grotesque, there was said to be one thing that was beautiful: their eyes.

Even while dismissing such legends as nothing more than nonsense from the elderly or from children, Igor, being a man of Novgod, still felt an instinctive aversion. In those stories, every human who became entangled with a fairy ended up with their life ruined.

With a serious expression, Igor cautiously asked Mikhail, “You didn’t happen to eat some strange mushrooms instead of breakfast on the way here, did you?”

“Why not just ask if I’ve gone mad?”

“Wouldn’t that be too insolent for a secretary to say?”

“You say that while knowing full well?”

Clicking his tongue, Mikhail rebuked Igor, then looked at the shoe in his hand.

Though it was worn, judging by the leather, decoration, and shape, it had originally been quite an expensive shoe. A woman wearing something like this around here would either be a noble or a wealthy commoner. He examined the leather inside the shoe. As expected, he saw letters branded into it with a hot iron.

C.L E

He knew well why craftsmen left such markings on their goods. It was to clearly identify the owner in case of theft or other unpleasant incidents. So the C.L would indicate the owner’s name, and the letter set slightly apart would indicate which estate they belonged to.

In that case, the original owner of this shoe would be Catherine Lauderdale. Of the Edenhurst estate.

The reason Mikhail was certain was because the initials were written in Ils script. Who else would go out of their way to leave their name in Ils letters if not someone from the Lauderdale family of Edenhurst, who stubbornly insisted on Ils naming conventions? For what reason did a useless exile from across the sea take such pride in their homeland?

In any case, the woman who had this shoe could not have been Catherine Lauderdale.

“So she’s not actually a fairy.”

Mikhail recalled the person he had seen in the forest that morning.

At first, he thought it might be a large mountain beast. It made sense, since it looked like a big mass moving within the forest. But as he drew closer, he realized it was a person.

Someone sitting on fallen leaves, drying hands and feet damp from the sunlight filtering through the trees. Mikhail didn’t approach right away and simply watched.

It was quite a strange appearance. Something like the vagrants he occasionally saw on the streets of the capital. The layers of clothing, clearly piled on even though it wasn’t midwinter, didn’t match at all. The only difference from vagrants was that, at least, the clothes looked washed.

Since dealing with someone out of their mind in the forest would only be troublesome, he was about to ignore it and pass by when he noticed the person’s exposed hands and feet.

Had they lived without ever seeing sunlight? They were as white as a winter snowfield. And they were extremely thin and fragile, clearly a woman’s.

Her slender limbs, contrasted with the thick layers of clothing, looked even weaker.

Even though spring had come, perhaps she was still cold. Not only had she layered her clothes thickly, she had tightly wrapped even her hair with a muffler. Looking at the woman sitting with her back to him, Mikhail found himself wanting to see her face.

‘If I wait, she’ll turn around at least once.’

But contrary to his expectation, the woman put on the hat beside her and stood up. Thinking she might leave like this, Mikhail moved toward her without realizing it.

Then the woman, startled, turned her body. In that moment, what Mikhail saw was a pair of deep green eyes filled with fear.

Just as he looked at her, she was also examining him. It was a gaze that swept over him thoroughly. It was a gaze he was very used to. Didn’t everyone he met look at him that way, with the expectation of gaining something from him?

But in her eyes now, there was nothing but fear. Then, as a faint glimmer of admiration passed through and softened that gaze, Mikhail finally came to his senses and spoke to her.

“Who are you?”

From what he had heard from the villagers, Mikhail knew well that this forest was Edenhurst’s hunting ground and that entry was forbidden. And yet, a woman dressed so strangely wandering inside it.

Did she think he would question her and hand her over to the estate? At his question, the woman lowered her head deeply and began to tremble pitifully. Seeing her as if she might run away at any moment, Mikhail grew strangely impatient and spoke again.

“There’s no need to be so afraid. I only want to ask which way the Edenhurst estate is.”

Then the woman raised her hand with difficulty and pointed beyond the forest.

“The estate is… the estate is….”

Even though he told her not to be afraid, she couldn’t lift her head and couldn’t even answer properly. Still, it was a relief that she seemed able to speak. If he asked a few more questions, he might get answers. But for some reason, Mikhail felt increasingly restless. Then his gaze settled on the hat the woman was wearing. If that were gone, he felt he might be able to see her face properly.

Though their eyes had met, it was regrettable that he hadn’t truly seen her face. So, knowing it was rude, he reached out his hand, following his desire.

“Would you mind taking off that hat for a moment?”

But at that moment, the woman let out a scream and ran away. As if she knew this forest well, she dashed off through places that weren’t even paths. He tried to follow, but after only a few steps, thorny underbrush caught at his legs, as if telling him not to pursue her.

In the end, Mikhail gave up the chase. Irritation surged within him. There had never been a time when he failed to obtain something he wanted. The failure he tasted on this unfamiliar land etched a frown across his handsome face.

When he returned to the spot where he had seen the woman, something lying atop the fallen leaves caught his eye. It was a shoe, clearly something the woman had left behind.

Mikhail stroked his chin as he looked at the shoe, then picked up one of them. A smile spread across his face.

“They say fairies come back to retrieve what’s theirs once it’s taken.”

Because they treated human belongings as treasures, it was said that if someone took one, they would surely return to reclaim it. Mikhail lifted the single shoe. Whether the woman was a fairy or a human, this would make her come back for it.

“Mikhail, are you listening?”

“No. I’m not. What did you say?”

“…I said we received a reply from the countess.”

Igor looked at him as if asking how he could be thinking about something else at a time like this. Mikhail tossed the shoe carelessly onto the floor and took the letter Igor handed him. It was short. It welcomed his visit to Edenhurst estate. However, it stated that they were not yet ready to receive a guest, and requested that he visit at a later date. The date written was one week later.

No matter how large a mansion it was, it didn’t take a whole week to prepare. In other words, even knowing he was nearby, they were deliberately keeping him from entering the estate and making him wait.

“What is the countess relying on to act like this?”

“Exactly. Does she really think we wouldn’t notice such a low-level power play?”

“She probably assumes that someone of low birth who grew up around the docks wouldn’t understand the insults of the nobility.”

At Mikhail’s casual remark, Igor let out a hollow laugh. Mikhail wasn’t wrong. But regardless of his origins or past, Mikhail was now the greatest merchant in Novgod, someone even Empress Dowager Ilina watched carefully and remained wary of.

In the first place, the reason the empress dowager, who had once been forgotten even by her husband, was able to rise to become the true power of Novgod was entirely thanks to Mikhail’s cooperation.

“Anyway, let’s move according to the countess’s wishes. Like a nouveau riche who doesn’t even realize he’s being insulted, we’ll politely act as though we’re honored by the invitation.”

Mikhail said this as he tossed the letter in his hand into the lit fireplace.

“After all, I have to marry one of the daughters bearing the Lauderdale name.”

Marriage.

Even as he said it, Mikhail let out a faint scoff at the absurdity. As if sharing the same thought, Igor, who stood nearby, also smiled bitterly. Mikhail Sokolov getting married.

Anyone who knew him would find it ridiculous. That arrogant and cold man, marriage? And judging by Mikhail’s personality, what he would keep by his side wouldn’t be a woman, but a sack of gold coins.

There were many women who wanted him. Young, handsome, the wealthiest man in Novgod. Who would refuse him? Especially those who were drawn to his wealth and wished to share in it approached him even more boldly, offering him beautiful smiles.

Thanks to that, the Sokolov port saw frequent visits from prominent women. The most famous opera singer in the capital, the principal of the Royal Ballet School, the madam of the largest salon….

The women who sought him weren’t limited to those who wanted to share in his wealth. In fact, as many women who needed his help, daughters of reputable families also aimed for a place by his side.

Novgod is a country where ranks are clearly defined. Commoners dare not raise their heads before nobles, and for those living on estates, it’s natural for nobles to treat them worse than the dogs they keep. But even such differences in status meant nothing before Mikhail Sokolov.

He was the one who had created a city as wealthy as the capital, or even more so, and made it bear his own name. In all of Novgod’s history, only one person had done something like that: the founding emperor, Yajinsky the Great. The story of how he ordered the construction of five docks when he founded the capital is still included in the empire’s history books.

But under Mikhail’s direction, Sokolov was about to begin construction of a seventh dock. And Mikhail was still only twenty-eight. He was a man fully prepared to surpass the achievements of the founding king.

If one could stand beside such a man, wouldn’t one be able to share in his glory as well? That was why noble daughters wanted him. No, had wanted him.

“To think I have to come all the way out to this countryside to propose, leaving behind all those women who used to swarm me.”

Mikhail clicked his tongue as he recalled the names of the noblewomen who had been waiting to meet him.