The Serpent of Paradise - Chapter 77

Creak.

The bedroom door opened with a faint sound. When Mikhail emerged from the room impeccably dressed without a trace of disarray, Natasha, who stood in a corner of the corridor, quickly approached him.

Mikhail glanced into the room, then ordered, “Wash her and let her rest. And… don’t let her leave.”

“Understood.”

When Natasha bowed her head loyally as always, Mikhail turned and headed toward the main building. Once the sound of his footsteps faded into the distance, Natasha hurried into the room.

“….”

As soon as she entered, she could smell the lingering scent of last night’s carnal pleasure. Natasha quickly approached the bed. Anastasia lay there sleeping as though dead. Naked and facedown, her back was covered in red marks. And not only her back. They covered her neck, arms, and shoulders too.

Swallowing a sigh, Natasha turned Anastasia over onto her back. The front of her fully exposed body was in an even more wretched state.

The bite marks left all over her body already turned into blue bruises. Anastasia’s skin was unusually pale to begin with, making the marks Mikhail left appear even darker.

When Anastasia moaned and trembled, Natasha hurriedly covered her body with the blanket. Between the legs she didn’t manage to cover completely, something white was dried onto her skin.

Even Natasha, who thought she grew accustomed to seeing her like this, instinctively turned her head away from such a blatant trace.

After covering Anastasia, she went into the bathroom and quickly filled the tub. Then she returned to the bedroom and helped Anastasia sit up.

“Miss, let’s wash you before you go back to sleep.”

If she left her like this, Anastasia would probably be in pain for quite a long time. When Natasha forced her upright, Anastasia made a tearful sound.

“I can’t, I can’t do any more… Please….”

After crying out and moaning day and night for several days, Anastasia’s voice was completely hoarse. Natasha calmed Anastasia as she clung to her and wrapped her body in the large towel she brought.

“Miss, it’s me. It’s all right.”

“…Natasha?”

Anastasia opened her eyes with difficulty. After confirming that the person before her was Natasha, she let out a sigh of relief. But only for a moment. Realizing what state she was in, she desperately curled in on herself.

“Leave. Please leave….”

“…Miss.”

“Please, hurry….”

As though horrified by her own appearance, Anastasia tried to cover herself with the blanket, but her tormented body lacked the strength to perform even that simple movement. In the end, Anastasia curled up and burst into tears. But even that seemed too exhausting, and she couldn’t cry loudly.

“Miss, it’s all right. Please don’t cry….”

Natasha soothed Anastasia calmly. Perhaps it was thanks to her composed manner. Fortunately, Anastasia’s crying gradually subsided.

A long while later, Anastasia spoke with difficulty in a cracked voice, “I’ll… wash myself… so….”

“All right. I’ll bring you a meal. If you need help, please call me.”

It seemed Anastasia would continue refusing if she remained, so Natasha tactfully said she had something else to do, rose from her seat, and left the room. Once she was alone, Anastasia slowly sat up.

“Ah….”

Even the slightest movement drew a moan from her. There wasn’t a single part of her body that didn’t hurt. Especially….

Anastasia lowered her head and looked at her body. She couldn’t tell exactly how many days passed. Mikhail took her until she collapsed from exhaustion after crying, and when she opened her eyes, he took her again. No, he even took her while she slept. Whenever she woke to the sensation of her body rocking, Mikhail was already inside her.

For those several days, Anastasia felt as though she became an animal meant solely for mating.

Mikhail branded his ownership across every part of her body. The mottled brands were particularly concentrated on her breasts, which he always filled his hands with and enjoyed. Then Anastasia placed a hand over her abdomen, which still ached with a dull, tender pain even though a long time passed since he left. She could almost hear Mikhail’s voice, which whispered into her ear again and again.

“Conceive my child, Anastasia.”

Anyone could tell there wasn’t the slightest affection in the voice that said those words. The cold voice burrowing into her ear spoke as though bearing a child was the price Anastasia rightfully had to pay for her sins.

Mikhail sowed his seed in her again and again to make his words a reality. Each time, Anastasia cried and trembled. Because both pain and sorrow turned entirely into pleasure beneath him, it always ended with her climaxing so intensely that she could barely breathe.

Anastasia staggered out of bed. But after only a few steps, she collapsed. Suppressing the desire to fall asleep again right there, Anastasia struggled back to her feet.

Once she barely managed to enter the bathroom, Anastasia lowered herself into the tub. As her rigid muscles relaxed, another moan escaped her. Anastasia carefully pressed her throbbing abdomen. The lower part of her body, which was spread painfully countless times, must still be filled with what Mikhail spilled inside her. Anastasia bit her lip. If this continued, she really would conceive a child.

An image of her future self formed in her mind. After leaving Edenhurst, she was cradling a heavily swollen belly. And people were… throwing stones at her. Her vision blurred as her throat tightened.

“I don’t want it….”

She said it to Mikhail as he took her without end. That she didn’t want it. That she didn’t want to have a child. But the more she begged, the more Mikhail refused to release her.

He always did as he pleased in bed. Even so, he used to stop when she was struggling. But for the past several days, he behaved as though he couldn’t hear Anastasia crying. And he did so with chilling coldness. Even while holding him, Anastasia felt a terrible chill.

***

“Mr. Mikhail.”

When Mikhail entered the drawing room of the main building, Ilya approached him with a rigid expression, as though he had been waiting. Just as Ilya was about to speak again, Mikhail spoke first.

“Good. You’ve saved me the trouble of looking for you.”

Abandoning even the polite manner of speech he maintained for appearances, Mikhail glared sharply at Ilya.

“I’ll give you one hour. Get the hell out of Edenhurst.”

“What are you talking about? More importantly, Miss Anastasia….”

The moment Anastasia’s name left Ilya’s mouth, Mikhail seized him by the collar and pulled him close.

“I told you to get out instead of acting like a stray dog drooling over what belongs to another man.”

“You…!”

Startled by Mikhail’s menacing manner and voice, Ilya stared at him. The gaze meeting his was so vicious that it seemed Mikhail might shove a gun into his mouth at any moment.

“You’d better be grateful that this isn’t Sokolov and that you hold a professorship at that pathetic academy. Otherwise, some clerk at the government office would be adding another line to the missing persons register.”

At Mikhail’s words, Ilya’s face flushed red and his body stiffened. Though he wasn’t the legitimate eldest son, Ilya was still the son of a noble family and lived his entire life among people who conducted themselves with refinement. This was the first time someone seized him by the collar and threatened him so openly.

“What kind of outrageous threat is this?”

“Outrageous? Is trying to run away with another man’s woman the height of good manners?”

“…!”

“You’re wondering how I knew. If you hoped not to be caught while openly enjoying a secret rendezvous in the forest, that was truly idiotic.”

Mikhail flung Ilya aside. The force sent Ilya staggering backward.

“In one hour, I don’t want to see your face anywhere in Edenhurst. This estate has plenty of guns lying around with no use for them.”

Ilya’s face turned pale at the threat to shoot him dead. He gritted his teeth, then managed to speak.

“Let Miss Anastasia go.”

At those words, Mikhail turned his head and swept his gaze around the drawing room. He thought Yuri could’ve at least left a single gun in the room instead of tidying up so pointlessly well. Both hearing Ilya say Anastasia’s name and hearing him demand that Mikhail let her go made his insides churn.

“Is anyone there?”

Mikhail roared. Hearing his voice, the servants hurried over with startled expressions, wondering whether something happened.

“Our guest will be leaving. Within the hour. Make all the necessary preparations and see him off.”

Understanding that they were to drag this bastard out within the hour, the servants spoke to Ilya.

“You should prepare, sir. We’ll help you.”

“….”

Ilya glared at Mikhail, then turned away. Causing a commotion here would only result in him being dragged out sooner and in a more humiliating fashion. He wanted nothing more than to throw a glove in Mikhail’s face and challenge him to a duel on the spot, but the more he resisted, the more Mikhail would torment Anastasia.

When Ilya returned to the guest room where he had been staying, the servants left the door wide open and claimed they would help him while hauling out all his belongings as though throwing them away.

What loyal servants they were. They understood what their master wanted and intended to drive Ilya out in the most humiliating manner possible. As the servants swarmed into the room and turned it upside down, the maids watched from outside, whispering among themselves about what happened and glancing over. Once Ilya’s belongings piled up in the corridor, the maids who had merely been watching began picking them up one by one and carrying them downstairs.

Carrying was a generous description. They were practically throwing them. Ilya clenched his fists and endured the humiliation.

He sensed something ominous from the moment Mikhail dragged Anastasia into the annex and didn’t emerge for several days, but he never expected Mikhail to throw him out so soon.

‘This will make it difficult to proceed according to plan….’

Just then, a maid carrying his luggage spoke to Ilya.

“Should this go in with the rest?”

“Hm? Ah, that….”

At that moment, Ilya saw the maid give him a subtle wink. When Ilya looked startled, the maid set the bag she was carrying on the floor and said, “It’s too heavy. I’ll go bring down something else.”

“….”

The maid turned abruptly and went back into Ilya’s room. She was clearly one of the maids who attended Elizabeth. While examining the bag she left behind, Ilya discovered a small slip of paper tucked into its side. He quickly slipped it into his pocket, picked up the bag, and went downstairs.

The servants worked so quickly that a carriage was already waiting at the entrance to take him away. They were carelessly throwing Ilya’s belongings onto the carriage.

Biting his lip, Ilya climbed inside. Mikhail provided the carriage not out of consideration for him, but because he wanted Ilya gone from Edenhurst even a moment sooner.

Ilya closed the carriage door and raised the blind as though he couldn’t bear the sight of them. Then he pulled the note the maid tucked away from his pocket and hurriedly examined it.

Stay at the inn in the village. I’ll contact you.

Only after confirming Elizabeth’s handwriting did Ilya’s rigid expression relax.

Mikhail would think everything ended once he drove Ilya out. But the plan was only beginning.