“Episode 18”
Returning to the mansion, I filled the bathtub with water. I gently lowered Ethan’s shivering body into the steaming hot water.
As I tried to remove his clothes in the bathtub, his wet shirt stubbornly clung to his body. Eventually, I decided to just loosen the shirt to his shoulders and wash his body.
“I’m sorry. I put you in danger because of my unreasonable stubbornness.”
I carefully wiped away the mud from his hair. His eyelids lifted as if awakening from a deep sleep when I gently wiped his motionless cheeks.
“Are you awake?”
“…Isabella.”
“Yes, I’m here.”
I tried to sound cheerful, but a heavy pain lingered in my throat.
His weak left arm reached out, and with his damp hand, he pulled me closer.
“I’m glad you made it back safely to the mansion. I’m relieved.”
“I was so worried when you lost consciousness.”
“…I’m fine. But you’re so cold. It would be better if we were in together.”
“It’s not too late to get in after you’ve finished bathing.”
I resisted, feeling hesitant, but finally accepted his hand and entered the tub. My wet dress floated like flower petals on the water.
“…Let’s stay here until the water cools down.”
He whispered softly. I couldn’t refuse, so I chose to stay at a distance in the bathtub, curling up my body.
“Isabella, you and that maid have a special bond beyond my imagination.”
He mentioned the incident where Eloise, the Viscountess, tried to kill me when she heard about the marriage proposal from Ambrose, the Duke. Eloise’s maid was the one who stopped her.
“Even if I have to die, I wanted to protect you. I called out your name until my breath stopped.”
I felt regretful. If I hadn’t dragged Mary to the mansion and made her a target, she wouldn’t have left so miserably.
“You foolish Mary. You should’ve just sold me out. You had nothing to do with it; it was all my doing.”
If you had said it was all because of me, maybe your life could have been spared. Would you have been happy to know that?
I was consumed by overwhelming guilt and self-loathing. When my emotions overwhelmed me and I couldn’t control my trembling shoulders, Ethan’s arms gently wrapped around me.
“…Isabella, please answer me. Is my heart breaking like this solely because of sharing the maid’s memories?”
He gently stroked my back with his damp hands. My wet dress fluttered up and down.
“If you’re okay, I’m willing to be your substitute for that maid. On rainy days, we can play chess together, and on sleepless nights, we can lie side by side in bed and point out each other’s constellations…”
As he listed those sentences, my heart ached. They were all memories shared with Mary.
Memories that could never be returned, but would forever remain in my heart…
“I’ll live for your happiness instead of that child.”
“I live for your happiness, miss.”
Ethan’s voice echoed faintly. Mary’s cheerful voice overlapped.
Yes, indeed. I must have said something like that before. What response did I give to such remarks? Did I just laugh it off, thinking, “What a strange fellow”?
“…Uh, uh…”
His shoulders leaned on, and I closed my eyes, leaning my head against his chest. His arms wrapped around my waist tightly, leaving no gaps.
* * *
“Isabella, it seems you had another nightmare.”
I nodded slowly at Ethan’s subdued voice. Since the day I witnessed Mary’s tragic death with my own eyes, I had been dreaming of her every night without fail.
Even in my dreams, Mary was buried in wet, filthy soil. Every night, I had to dig through the earth with my bare hands to retrieve her body.
“Come, lie down. It’s still a long way until dawn, so it’s better for you to get some more sleep.”
“But…”
I couldn’t sleep for fear that Mary would appear in my dreams. Her pitiful face decayed more and more with each passing day.
I shook my head, silently repeating the words I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud.
“Come here.”
As if sensing my inner turmoil, his right arm gently wrapped around my shoulders.
The rhythmic sound of Ethan’s heartbeat echoed in my ears, and his gentle breath brushed against my cheek. Lost in the soothing touch of his delicate hands, my trembling heart gradually calmed down.
“If you cuddle up like this and sleep, you won’t have any more unpleasant nightmares tonight.”
His voice seeped into my subconscious like a hypnotic trance. For a moment, in his embrace, I could escape from the painful memories.
***
I must have been asleep for quite some time. My heavy eyelashes stuck to my lower eyelids, refusing to lift easily.
After rubbing my eyelids with my pale hands, I could finally greet the morning.
“Ethan?”
Looking around the empty bed, I whispered his name. Was he preparing breakfast, or had he disappeared after embracing me so tightly last night?
On the dresser, I found a note placed there.
“Good morning, Isabella. I’ve prepared breakfast in the dining room, so come in before the dishes get cold.”
Lifting the thin slip that had slipped under the teacup, I found another note.
“Did you enjoy your meal? I’ll be visiting Viscountess Eloise for a while. I’ll talk to your father and see if we can find some answers. Wait patiently at the mansion until I return.”
The note trembled in my hand, causing ripples on the tea surface. I stared blankly at the note, now stained with water.
“I walked into hell on my own while I was asleep! And I sat there like an idiot, eating soup…”
Taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart, I hastily left the dining room.
With shaking hands, I grabbed one of Ethan’s neatly arranged coats. I threw it over my thin slip and rushed out of the mansion.
My anxious footsteps came to a sudden halt in an unexpected place. No matter how hard I pulled the door handle, the front gate wouldn’t open.
“No, Ethan!”
Clutching the rusty door handle, I called out his name desperately. As I sat there helplessly in front of the gate, a flock of parrots he raised flew up in a row.
“Let me out! I can’t leave Ethan alone! Please, help me!”
Tears streaming down my face, I pleaded with the flock of parrots flying high in the sky.
One yellow feather gently landed on my palm.
As I looked up, Emily was perched at the top of the gate, tilting her head curiously.
“Emily, please! I can’t leave that person alone. Please, please help me…”
Moved by my tearful appeal, Emily began to flap her wings lightly. Then, she grabbed a key hanging precariously on a nearby branch with her beak.
In no time, she dropped the key in front of me and flew off. With trembling hands, I picked up the key and looked around. Soon, I found the keyhole and was able to unlock it.
Click.
The heavily locked gates of the haunted mansion finally opened their jaws.
“I’m too late if I walk. I have to take a private carriage. Where is the nearest shopping district?”
The decision was not difficult. I headed to the Madrely shopping district, beyond Clementine Hill. It was where I first met Ethan, where I was deeply captivated by him.
My shoes clicked on the ground, and my bare ankles were scraped raw. But I didn’t stop walking.
Before long, panting heavily, I arrived at the Madrely shopping district. I boarded a private carriage waiting in line and shouted to the coachman.
“Take me to Colt Lane No. 3.”
The carriage started moving abruptly, frighteningly. Inside the speeding carriage, I covered my face with my hands and drifted into reverie.
Ethan Halden, why did you decide to go see your father alone? Surely you haven’t forgotten. Your father is a monster who killed the maid in cold blood.
If you also die without a sound, I, I…
“…I don’t have the courage to live without you.”
The road back to Viscountess Eloise’s mansion seemed so far away. The waiting time passed slowly, and at the end of the anxious wait, the carriage jerked to a stop.
I got off the carriage and looked around at the familiar sight of the Viscountess’s mansion. I had returned to hell on my own. My teeth chattered with fear.
But I couldn’t turn back. Ethan’s carriage was parked in front of the mansion. When I shook the bell hanging on the gate, a maid came out to greet me.
“…Miss Isabella.”
