“Episode 6”
For a while, he kept silent before subtly speaking up.
“…Isabella, what are you thinking? Did you forget by any chance? We’re sharing the bed, you know.”
I lost my words at Ethan’s nonchalant attitude. Goodness. I completely forgot in my tipsy state that we were sharing the bed. It dawned on me too late, and only an awkward atmosphere lingered.
“What kind of thoughts did you have? I’m curious to know.”
“…Uh…”
“…Ah, surely not. You weren’t thinking like that, right?”
As heat rose to my face and I could only mumble, he lightly embraced me.
“Let’s put aside strange thoughts and go to bed, shall we?”
Despite insisting that I could walk by myself with a flushed face, he seemed unwilling to let go easily. After a brief resistance, I meekly entrusted myself to his arms and looked up at his face.
Even from below, Ethan’s face was flawless. Looking at his smooth jawline without a single flaw, I couldn’t help but feel a rush of saliva filling my mouth.
“…Do you like it?”
“What?”
“My face. I’ve always thought so, but it seems you really like it.”
Oh, my goodness. It was clear that he, too, was affected by the alcohol. Otherwise, how could he say such embarrassing words sober?
“That, that’s not true. I was just looking up at it.”
“I, on the other hand, thought you kept stealing glances at my face because you liked it.”
As Ethan gently whispered into my ear, his breath tickled my ear, making my whole body sensitive.
“Sleep well, Isabella.”
“Ah, good night, Ethan.”
I curled up at the edge of the bed, holding my breath. How much time had passed? I could hear Ethan’s even breathing behind me.
After confirming that he had fallen asleep, I slowly moved toward the center of the bed. It felt strange to know that someone was sleeping next to me. Just a few days ago, I couldn’t have imagined such a scene. Sharing a blanket with a man other than Simon, I still couldn’t believe it.
“Ethan, are you asleep?”
There was no reply. The fact that he had fallen asleep meant that I could freely admire his handsome face. Enthralled, I gazed at his stubborn profile.
Underneath his soft platinum hair lay his pale skin. Following his dense eyelashes downward led to a finely sculpted nose bridge. Beneath slightly parted lips lay a sharp jawline and smooth, impeccable jawbone…
Gulp.
From the first moment I saw him, I felt that he truly possessed a captivating appearance. However, there was something sickly about his face as well. It was understandable why rumors circulated that he seduced women and took them to the haunted mansion to devour them.
As he slept like the dead, he turned over and lay on his side. Watching the thin strands of platinum hair spread out to the side, I felt drawn to it as if under a spell.
“…?”
Suddenly, a faint smile spread across his lips as if he were dreaming.
“Y-You’re not…!”
In an instant, I found myself pulled into Ethan’s embrace.
Thump, thump, thump.
I was afraid that my pounding heartbeats would reach him through the thin slip.
* * *
I leaned against the window and gazed at the twisted branches. As I took a deep breath, I could faintly smell the early winter air outside.
“Isabella.”
At the gentle call of my name, I turned my head. Ethan, who had finished preparing for his outing, was putting on a dark brown coat over his shoulders.
“I’ll be back within two hours at most. Can you wait quietly until then?”
It sounded like the words of a master speaking to a pet. Without a reply, I blinked, and he gently removed his gloves and placed his hand on top of my head. It was a soft touch, as if petting a puppy.
“Ethan, I want to go with you.”
The thought of being left alone in the bleak haunted mansion made my heart ache.
“I’d like that too, but if we’re going to transport the grape seedlings without damaging them, we have to store them inside the carriage.”
In other words, there was no room for me to ride.
“Just take a nap quietly, and when you wake up, I’ll be right in front of you, so don’t worry.”
In truth, I couldn’t bring myself to say that being left alone was scary.
There’s no way that would happen, but I felt anxious that my father or Simon might come to the mansion while he was away.
“…Yes, I understand.”
Suppressing my inner turmoil all the way down to my throat, I raised the corners of my mouth like a good child.
“I’ll choose flawlessly enticing saplings for your estate.”
His lips lightly pressed against my forehead. As I looked up at his lips, which had moved away with an awkward friction, he smiled with a twinkle in his eye.
“You should sleep a little longer. You tossed and turned all night.”
Despicable Ethan Holden. It was you who pretended to be asleep and teased me by lowering your eyelids.
“Well then, I’ll be off. Since there’s no face to admire in front of you, sleep as much as you want.”
As I watched his back recede while he fondled the lock on the door, dozens of parrots flew up to bid farewell to their master.
Among them, a yellow parrot flapped its wings affectionately and gently settled onto Ethan’s hand. Soon, Ethan’s lips lightly puckered over the parrot’s beak.
“…I almost made a mistake. I mustn’t forget my position.”
Only then did I realize that I was just a mere parrot to him.
Whispered warm breaths and moist lips touching my forehead were merely acts of taking care of the parrot.
“Take care.”
I murmured softly toward the tightly closed mansion door. The deserted haunted mansion resembled a scene from a deserted house.
Feeling a sense of unease, I climbed the stairs as if being chased. The sound of a single pair of footsteps echoed through the desolate corridors of the haunted mansion.
It was the moment when I was about to return quietly to Ethan’s bedroom. Suddenly, my gaze fell on the dusty lock on the door.
“[Don’t enter the locked room under any circumstances.]”
Entering the locked room was a rule repeatedly emphasized by Ethan.
“[Are there ghosts living in the locked room?]”
“No way. Since the room isn’t maintained at all, accidents could happen if the rotten floor collapses.”
Ethan’s face, with a forced smile, flashed through my mind. At that moment, a dull cracking sound resounded from beyond my shoulder.
Startled, I turned around, and a yellow parrot was pecking at something that had fallen onto the corridor floor.
“Hey, don’t just pick up anything and eat it.”
With a pounding heart, I approached the parrot. Up close, I realized it was the same parrot that had been pecking at Ethan’s lips as he bid farewell.
“…What’s this?”
I thought it must be a piece of bread or a scrap of paper, but what the sharp beak was frantically pecking at was none other than a rusty lock.
I shifted my gaze to the dusty lock on the door. The fact that the lock had fallen out meant that the room wasn’t locked.
Thunk.
The yellow parrot spread its wings as if stretching and fluttered around in front of the door, as if guiding the way.
“[Don’t enter the locked room under any circumstances.]”
Although Ethan’s warning echoed vividly, my fingers moved inexorably to grasp the doorknob.
Click.
The stiff, unoiled door creaked open with a strange scream.
“Cough, cough!”
The room was filled with dust. It seemed untouched by human hands for a long time.
I reached out and picked up the framed picture on the dresser. As I swept my fingertips across the frame, a clump of dust stuck together fell to the floor.
Inside the revealed frame, a girl who looked about eighteen was smiling innocently. She had platinum blonde hair just like Ethan.
“Touching other people’s belongings without permission is impolite, isn’t it?”
The creaking, rattling voice that resounded throughout the room made my eyes widen. I didn’t dare to turn around. My frozen legs trembled.
“Lately, my precious items have been disappearing one by one. It was all your doing, Cash.”
Before I could gather my courage to speak, a rustling sound filled the air as if in response to the chilling voice.
Slowly, my frozen head turned.
In the center of the dusty room, a yellow parrot was perched, staring fixedly at me. It seemed to have entered through the open door crack.
“I’ll tell Uncle Ethan everything. That you touched the lock on my door without anyone knowing.”
The yellow-feathered neck wobbled incessantly, and between its small beak, the voice of the girl rattled out.
“…It was you.”
A parrot mimicking human speech. Only then did relief flood over me.
“Come here. Let’s go outside. It’s dangerous to stay here.”
Carefully extending my hand, the parrot, which had been raising its feathers, suddenly raised its beak and pecked my backhand as it passed. There were no wounds, but faint marks of the sharp beak remained on my tender skin.
Leaving the framed picture quietly on top of the dresser, I followed the parrot out of the room.
As I reached Ethan’s bedroom, the round, bird-like eyes were still following me persistently.
“That’s why it feels like I’m being watched.”
The round eyes of the bird, which didn’t blink once. I felt a tingling sensation, and my body stiffened.
