Episode 23
“I’m sorry. I was so startled.”
“I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you…”
“No, it’s okay. Can you help me clean this up?”
I felt my heart racing in my chest, my hand resting on it.
During the night, Count Duran passed away.
He was the father of the Empress.
The death of the influential Count was featured prominently in all the newspapers across the empire.
As I rose to drink water, the maid child relayed the news to me.
It was a known fact that his advanced age meant his days were numbered.
I knew it too.
But I didn’t expect his death to come so suddenly, like this.
I felt completely disoriented.
The death of such a political giant was bound to cause ripple effects, and stir up a storm of blood.
The place where a mighty tree falls would surely be vast.
The new Duran would try to establish himself, with his own frail temperament compared to his father.
The best way to do that would be to strike while the iron is hot.
Oh.
Truly, my own death is not far off.
I sank down, pressing my forehead.
Somewhere, a sound like music drifted on the chilly wind.
I lifted my head to listen to the music.
The sporadic, intermittent sound made me feel uneasy, incomplete.
Yes, this is the prelude played before the curtain rises.
A messenger is coming from afar, announcing my death and the beginning of the drama.
* * *
Suppressing the queasy sensation that made me want to vomit from fear, I sat facing Igon in the carriage.
It had been a long time since we went out like this.
Dressed in black formal attire, he looked remarkably elegant and stylish.
Igon, unable to hide his joyful expression, was already smiling inappropriately for the upcoming funeral.
“You look tired.”
No words of denial came today.
I simply nodded obediently.
It felt like someone was pushing me towards a cliff, as if I were about to die.
“That’s why I told you to rest.”
“How can I?”
It was a grand funeral of a noble, and not just any noble, but the father of the Empress.
The idea of missing it was absurd.
“After all, the deceased won’t know who came or went.”
“But the Empress will know.”
“Truly, you’ve become a noble of the empire.”
Igon burst into a bright laughter at my response.
“We’ve arrived.”
Igon turned his gaze and spoke.
Outside the window, a huge mansion made of white bricks came into view.
“Your Grace, Duke.”
The newly appointed Count Duran, the Queen’s brother and Eunice’s father, stood there with a noble and sly look on his agile body.
Standing next to Igon, he greeted us and scanned his face with sorrow for the loss of his father.
His eyes, as he exchanged greetings with people, gleamed with cunningness.
It was the face of someone who seemed to be scheming even amidst attending a funeral.
Undoubtedly, Duke Rodore couldn’t be on his side.
“Count Duran.”
Igon called out to him.
“I offer my condolences.”
Igon’s voice, disguised as sympathy, sounded sincere to the ears.
His small lips, visible beneath the mustache, trembled.
He feared Igon.
In contrast, I was no different from a stranger to him.
It was evident.
Hatred welled up inside me.
I see.
You feared Igon, so you couldn’t bring yourself to confront him, and instead of fearing or pitying him, you had me killed in your place.
Coward.
If my end is to be like the original, I hope yours will be no different from the original.
I wished for the Count’s father’s funeral for the Count’s death.
The news of Igon’s departure came less than ten days after Count Duran’s funeral.
To me, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Igon had received a decree to leave for the kingdom where he had once severed the necks of all the royal family, to oversee the new Dechido dynasty.
Externally, it appeared as if Igon was rectifying what Igon had caused, but there was no doubt that it was to restrain Igon, who was consolidating power shaken by the death of the former count, and establishing a base in the capital.
It was an outcome that could only happen if the Empress and the new Count Duran were not in cahoots.
It felt insane.
I was unstable, and accepting the fact that Igon was leaving was not easy.
To send Igon away, the only person on my side, at such a time?
My anxious psyche tormented me day and night.
Every night, I clung to Igon.
I knew it was wrong, but I hoped he wouldn’t leave, and if he had to leave, I wished he would take me with him.
Because without him, I felt like I would die.
The night before Igon’s departure, he introduced me to that room.
I leaned against Igon, resting my forehead against his neck, clutching his clothes tightly in my hands.
Unbearable fear welled up and flowed down my cheeks as tears.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, Eve.”
Igon embraced me, sharing his warmth as I shivered uncontrollably like a person freezing in the cold.
He called my name and wiped my back.
He gently turned me around in the room under the moonlight, repeatedly hiding me in the darkness.
I fell asleep in his arms, only to wake up again and again.
‘A ticking sound.’
I looked up at the sound of the door opening.
Igon had opened the door while holding me.
I raised my head in concern that someone might find us, but Igon seemed unconcerned.
We passed through the corridor and climbed the stairs.
No one was standing along the way we walked.
He took me to his study.
“Igon.”
I called out to him.
Igon smiled enigmatically as usual.
He didn’t put me down and crossed the room.
He pushed open the bookshelf in one corner of the study.
Then, he looked at the wall and asked me, “Do you see the door?”
There seemed to be a strange tremble in his voice.
Trembling? Why?
I reached out my fingertip to Igon’s neck, realizing that I was trembling.
Igon was trembling.
I lifted my head and turned to look at Igon’s face.
Fear and anticipation mingled in his gaze.
Emotions that I couldn’t usually read were readable today.
But I couldn’t tell what he was afraid of and what he was anticipating.
I stared silently at the wall he indicated.
A door? It was natural for a wall to appear when you pushed the bookshelf.
But there couldn’t be anything beyond that.
However, inexplicably, a door was slowly drawn on the empty wall.
Is this a hallucination?
Am I finally going crazy?
At first, the door drawn on the wall seemed like a painting.
But slowly, it popped out.
Unbelievable.
I blinked my eyes widely and rubbed them with my hand.
Shaking my head and looking again, the door didn’t disappear.
Could this all be real?
Unconsciously, I reached my hand to the doorknob in front of me.
It was caught.
I turned to look at Igon.
He was smiling.
Brighter than ever.
A light kiss fell on my forehead and cheeks.
He hugged me tightly as if he couldn’t stand it anymore and buried his face in my hair.
Amidst the pouring vivid joy, I tilted my head.
Has he ever expressed such a clear emotion before?
What on earth is this situation?
With that thought, I turned the doorknob I held.
It opened.
“Why is this opening? What will come out if it opens?”
I couldn’t grasp whether I should be surprised by Igon’s sudden excitement or by the door popping out and opening unexpectedly.
As I turned the doorknob back, surprisingly, an ordinary-sized room appeared.
I thought it was unbelievable.
Logically, such a space couldn’t exist.
There should have been nothing behind it but a wall.
Confused, Igon began to explain to me.
“It’s a room made with the bones of mastodons and covered with mastodon skin. When the mansion was built, magicians were called to cast spells, so those who are not qualified and permitted cannot even see the door. It’s a room passed down only to the lords of Rodore.”
Several questions came to mind, but I couldn’t ask them right away.
Instead of pouring out questions, I looked around the room.
It seemed like the walls were covered with wallpaper over the leather, but outwardly, it looked like an ordinary room.
The floor was also ordinary tiles.
Inside, there were a few pieces of furniture.
A table with a few books on it, a sofa, a bed, and bedding.
It was modest, but sufficient for staying.
As I blankly looked around the room, I suddenly asked, “Why are you telling me about this place?”
I understood that it was an important room, but as I listened to the story, I became curious as to why he was telling me about this room.
I was surprised that he trusted me enough to share the family secret.
I knew that Igon valued me.
I also knew that he cared for me more affectionately than others.
However, as someone who had never experienced proper affection, I always doubted the love he sent me, as if it were customary.
“If something happens, run away to this place.”
Igon’s reason for saying this was straightforward and easy to understand, yet there was a suspicious aspect to it.
It wasn’t just about informing me of the room for my sake.
His affection for me was evident.
It was more akin to the affection a lover would have for their beloved.
“Igon, why do you still see me as…”
As a younger sister?
I wanted to ask that.
The need for a younger sister was buried along with the death of the Duchess.
No, even before that, the moment Igon asked the count to separate me from the countess, it was over.
He wasn’t even that kind of person, but if the reason was because he felt ashamed to see the former Duchess, it didn’t matter now that she was dead and gone.
