“Episode 17”
Ethan’s smooth voice, like a piano melody, was overlapped by his father’s voice, dripping with greed.
“The reason I’m sending this letter is because your beloved maid, Mary, passed away last night. Since she had no hometown, the funeral will be modest, with only the household staff attending, and her body will be donated to the Delta communal cemetery.”
Mary passed away?
I scratched my scalp until it bled, clawing at it with my nails.
“Something, something must be wrong. Mary, she couldn’t have died.”
No matter how much I looked at the letter, it only mentioned her passing, with no clear cause of death.
“Please, tell me it’s a lie. Tell me it’s all just a cruel joke.”
I cried out like a lost animal. His straight finger gently touched my tear-stained cheek. His warmth passed over my bare cheek, where the bandage had come off.
“Isabella, whenever you shed tears, I truly don’t know what to do.”
He looked at me with a deeply compassionate gaze.
Crawling like a desperate beast, I clung to his legs with both arms.
“Help me, please…”
“If stopping your tears requires anything, I’ll do it. So please, don’t cry.”
With silent tears streaming down, I crawled to his legs like a desperate animal.
***
On the way to meet Mary, the sky turned orange, and the carriage, now speeding, veered off the main road onto a rugged path.
“Why does it have to be the Delta communal cemetery…”
The Delta communal cemetery was a public burial ground for unidentified bodies without a hometown.
As the limited land became increasingly filled with bodies, the nobles praised the policy of natural decomposition.
Walking in the desolate wilderness, I screamed Mary’s name as if I were a madwoman.
“Isabella, let’s go together. If you fall, what will happen?”
His voice came from behind, but I ran around the cemetery frantically.
Suddenly, I stumbled on a rock and fell onto the cemetery ground. Ethan found me and hurriedly lifted me.
“…It’s raining.”
Raindrops fell on my cheeks, waking me up. Rain turned into a downpour, drenching my whole body.
“Isabella, sadly, we have to go back by carriage now. If the ground gets wet, the buried bodies may resurface, and it could be dangerous to stay.”
He embraced me in his soaked shirt. I raised my head, realizing something was stuck to my ankle—it wasn’t just a rock but a decomposed body.
“Ah… Ahhh!”
The vast communal cemetery made me feel the hopelessness of the wilderness. Ethan, soaked, hugged me tightly.
“I’m sorry, but we have to go back now. Let’s find Mary and leave.”
“…Rain.”
I reached out with trembling hands to pick up a string bracelet, Mary’s favorite. Ethan unfolded his coat and started digging into the wet soil without hesitation.
He dug through the mud, his nails covered in dirt, but he didn’t stop. Eventually, he found her body buried under the compost.
“Mary…”
He lifted her body, devoid of a simple coffin. Her cold body bore signs of abuse, bruises covering her limbs, and her left eye, frozen in terror, refused to close.
“No, Mary! This can’t be happening!”
Clutching Mary’s stiff body tightly, I sobbed desperately as raindrops poured into her gaping mouth.
“Mary, who could have been so cruel to you? Your suffering echoes in my ears, mingling with the sound of raindrops, almost as if it were your voice.”
“I didn’t marry Duke Ambrose, so my father chose you in my place…”
Unable to finish the sentence, I gazed down at Mary’s face. Only now did I truly feel the weight of the freedom she exchanged for her life.
[Was that really your lifelong wish?]
[My wish is for you to live happily.]
Mary’s wish. Can I really fulfill it? Can there be happiness in my life, having let you leave so tragically?
Tears or raindrops streamed down my damp cheeks. I gently stroked Mary’s cheek with my wet hand. Her head, always slightly bowed in humility, now lay cradled against me, looking like a newborn baby.
“Poor Mary.”
How can I ease your suffering? Should I seek out the one who caused you this misery and make them pay, or should I follow you into the unknown to ensure you’re not alone in your final journey?
“Isabella, just tell me what you want. I’ll do anything if you give the order.”
Ethan’s subdued voice mixed with the rain as he offered his coat, becoming a makeshift shelter.
“Mary is already gone. No matter how hard we try, we can’t bring her back.”
Raindrops fell onto Mary’s motionless body, already cold and rigid. Despite our recent farewell embrace, her warmth had vanished, leaving only a lifeless shell behind.
“…Mary, should I just follow you? Would that ease your pain?”
Lost in thought, I muttered. Her body, abandoned in the pouring rain, gradually lost its warmth. Her huddled shoulders trembled, and her slightly parted lips exhaled a pale breath.
Suddenly, a heavy wool coat descended upon my shoulders.
“Ethan…”
He sat beside me, his coat covering us both, as if offering protection.
“I’ve never done this before, but I’ll try. It’s better than being lost in thought.”
His slender fingers gently touched Mary’s cold cheek. His lashes, usually drooping, lifted slightly.
A pair of emeralds gleamed momentarily, meeting the hazy gaze of Mary’s left eye.
Is it possible to read the memories of the dead? It was an unbelievable sight. Ethan’s face, engulfed by the downpour, turned pale, and his lips, like a corpse’s, turned bluish.
“Stop it. It’s enough. You’ll freeze to death first.”
Despite the passage of time, he remained frozen, his hand still on Mary’s cheek.
Something’s wrong. By now, he should have awakened. Reading Mary’s memories, which were barely fifteen years old, seemed to take longer than reading Duke Ambrose’s memories, nearing eighty.
“Snap out of it. Can’t you hear me?”
I shook his shoulders urgently. His once luminous eyes were now cloudy, unmoving.
“Ethan! Ethan! Please wake up!”
I pounded his chest futilely, screaming until his eyelids twitched ever so slightly.
A drop of crimson fell from his nose. Diluted by the rain, it scattered over the muddy compost.
Then it happened. His lips, frozen stiff, moved.
“…Don’t go.”
With a sigh, Ethan uttered a single word, sending shivers down my spine. He cupped his head with his hands, as if protecting himself.
“Master, please, don’t leave her alone. If necessary, kill me instead. Beat me until I die, and if that doesn’t satisfy your anger, throw my body to the beasts.”
Why? His voice, dripping from his lips, was as low and gentle as usual. It echoed Mary’s tone, so familiar after spending so much time by my side.
“I deceived the innocent lady. You know it well, Master. She wouldn’t have run away on her own. It’s all my fault. So, catch me and kill me.”
He brought his hands together and bowed toward the empty space as if someone stood there, waiting for his apology.
“Ethan, stop! Those aren’t your memories!”
I embraced Ethan’s face in the rain. He buried his face in my wet dress and whispered softly.
“…Poor Miss.”
Despite the heavy rain, his eyelids, which had not blinked once, drooped heavily. Then, his rigid shoulders slumped weakly.
“Ethan, snap out of it!”
I shook his shoulders, calling his name. His once vibrant eyes were now hazy and unresponsive.
I laid his body on the coat and ran frantically towards the carriage.
One shoe had long been buried in the wet compost, while the other heel had stiffened with a bloody hue.
“Gus!”
I called out to the coachman, who jumped down from his seat and rushed to my side.
“Ethan has lost consciousness and collapsed! We need to get him back to the mansion quickly!”
With Gus’s help, we stepped onto the communal cemetery, where Ethan lay half-buried in the mud.
“No! If you leave too, I…”
I dug through the wet earth with my bare hands and lifted his body. Gus supported Ethan’s pale body, leaving only one person behind.
“Sorry, Mary.”
I’m sorry I couldn’t take you with me. With trembling hands, I gently closed Mary’s eyelids that refused to shut.
