Chapter 157
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 157
A sudden voice made her turn her head. Across the carriage, Simon was looking at her. His red eyes, gleaming with an intense light even in the darkness, made her uneasy. Seo-ah tilted her head slightly and answered him.
“It was a medicine pill. He gave me two bottles, telling me to give one to Lady Barbara and the other to Your Excellency.”
“And?”
“I told him I couldn’t, that I was merely a guest, but he forced them into my hands. When I told the Marquis, he threw them out the window.”
“I imagine he offered you a hefty sum to feed them to us.”
She felt no need to answer. She had neither the reason nor the ability to convince Simon of anything. Fortunately, he didn’t press her further.
Wrapped in silence, the carriage glided along the rain-slicked road.
Lost in thought as she stared out the window, Seo-ah decided to ask about a theory that had been forming in her mind.
“Is the Marchioness involved in Lady Barbara’s disappearance?”
“…”
Simon met her gaze and quietly crossed his legs. His arrogant posture made him look less like a wolf rolling in the mud and more like the very picture of a noble patriarch from a long and storied lineage.
Earlier, Simon had watched with brutally cold eyes as Charlotte slapped Seo-ah again and again. He knew that when pushed to an extreme, a person’s true nature was bound to surface.
Based on her usual demeanor, he would have expected her to collapse or swallow back sorrowful tears after being struck so viciously. But the nature that slowly emerged from her was the exact opposite of his expectations.
The more she was hit, the more strength gathered in her eyes. When she finally straightened her posture, she radiated a fierce spirit.
“The ones who planted the explosives in the Rock Forest,” she said, her voice steady.
Just like now.
“Are they the same ones involved in Lady Barbara’s disappearance?”
To her question of whether the Rock Forest, Barbara, and the Marchioness were all connected, Simon simply crossed his arms.
“Probably.”
The carriage came to a halt. In the dim light, her eyes were like dark, solid obsidian.
Just then, Abel, who had been running alongside the carriage, opened the door while holding an umbrella. Simon gestured for Seo-ah to exit first, and she ducked her head and stepped out. As her feet touched the ground, she unconsciously looked up at the Marquis’s room.
It was pitch-black, the lights extinguished.
A suffocating darkness.
As she entered the manor with Abel, the anxiety stirring in her chest grew stronger.
The manor felt exceptionally cold without Lady Barbara. Hundreds of candles flickered throughout the halls, but they only seemed to make the estate’s atmosphere feel even more dismal. The scent of blood lingered in the cold, damp air.
The entire manor was so heavy and still that it felt like an ancient royal tomb—massive and splendid, yet utterly devoid of life.
“Let’s get some medicine for your cheek,” Abel said, but Seo-ah’s feet drifted toward the stairs as if pulled by an invisible force.
As she began to climb, the Wolves filed into the main building behind her. Drenched in rain, their shadows were cast long and dark by the lightning that flashed outside, shrouding her back as she walked ahead.
Simon and Karl entered the manor last. The Wolves on the main floor parted to clear a path for them. The two men stopped in the center of the hall, watching Seo-ah’s retreating figure ascend the staircase.
Karl was the first to move. Simon followed, and the Wolves trailed quietly behind them. It created a strange tableau: a pack of black wolves silently following in Seo-ah’s wake, though she remained completely unaware of their presence.
The atmosphere grew heavier with every step. When she finally reached the hallway leading to the second-floor main hall, she couldn’t bring herself to enter and stopped in her tracks.
Perhaps because it was so magnificently decorated, the central hall felt even more desolate. The food on the long tables remained untouched, and the numerous sofas arranged for guests only emphasized the crushing silence.
Slowly scanning the empty hall, Seo-ah searched for the master of the manor.
Oscar… Where on earth is he?
It was then that the quiet, broken only by the sound of rain, was shattered by chaos. Amidst frantic footsteps, someone burst onto the first-floor landing and shouted so loudly the entire manor seemed to shake.
“Physician!”
“Get the medicine, quick!”
“Fuck, we need a physician to administer it! Bring the physician first, hurry!”
Not only Seo-ah but also the Wolves standing behind her whirled around at once. The urgent footsteps grew closer by the second, and a booming voice crashed over the men like a tidal wave.
“Make way, you bastards!”
It was Thebes.
At his roar, the Wolves on the stairs immediately stepped aside. The chaotic footsteps thundered closer, shaking the very floorboards, as dark shadows rippled like waves across the walls.
Standing at the top of the stairs, Seo-ah craned her neck to see who was coming.
Just then, lightning flashed once more.
In the stark blue light, a pack of Wolves appeared on the landing. When their figures were illuminated, even for a split second, Seo-ah gasped.
“...!”
The woman who was the personification of iron, the formidable old lady who looked as though she wouldn’t shed a single drop of blood even if stabbed, lay limp and broken in Thebes’s arms.
It was impossible.
She had been perfectly fine when they left the manor.
Seo-ah’s mind went completely blank.
Thebes, his expression grim as he hurried up the stairs, suddenly froze. His face turned pale, as if he had just seen the Grim Reaper himself.
Seo-ah slowly turned around.
Flash.
A dark blue light illuminated the world, followed by the distant rumble of thunder.
Standing in the doorway to the hall was Oscar. His gaze was fixed on the old wolf who had been reduced to a tattered wreck.
In the central hall, which had been filled with sweet melodies and warm laughter just a few hours ago, the air now hung heavy with a mixture of fear and the scent of blood.
Oscar didn’t get angry. He didn’t laugh. He merely stared at the blood-soaked Barbara with unreadable eyes.
Seo-ah instinctively shrank to the side, feeling as though she shouldn’t obstruct his view.
Wheeze… wheeze…
In a silence so absolute that a pin drop would have echoed, Barbara’s breathing sounded unnaturally loud. Exhaling a breath that was agonizing even to hear, she slowly turned her head.
Her eyes found Oscar.
“...Your Excellency.”
A raspy, metallic voice escaped her lips. She shifted her body, as if trying to stand.
“Senior, how many times do I have to tell you? You’ll die faster if you keep moving!” Thebes muttered angrily, but Barbara retorted with a cold glare.
“Put me down, Thebes Venok.”
Thebes let out a long, slow breath under her unyielding gaze. A glance at his master’s face revealed an expression just as terrifying as the one he had worn at the mountain cabin a few days ago. With Barbara twisting in protest and Oscar’s presence overwhelming him, Thebes reluctantly set her down on the floor.
Drip. Drip.
As her feet touched the floor, a torrent of blood spilled from her wounds. Yet, Barbara Wald did not stagger. Her posture did not falter.
Even as she bled profusely, she didn’t let out a single groan or even knit her brows. Just as Theresia Wittgenstein had once done.
Barbara walked tenaciously toward Oscar. He watched her approach with deeply sunken eyes.
Step. Step.
Her steps halted a few paces in front of him. Even in a moment like this, Barbara bowed deeply.
“Have you returned, Your Excellency?”
Watching the scene with bated breath, Seo-ah let out a trembling sigh.
“Ha…”
But Barbara could not straighten her back. The old wolf faltered, barely managing to push herself upright by bracing one hand against her thigh. Her other arm, unable to find purchase, dangled limply at her side.
Having barely managed to stand, Barbara spoke to Oscar, her voice unwavering.
“This is a perfect opportunity to counterattack.”
Staring at her dangling arm, Oscar spoke for the first time.
“Counterattack?”
“Thebes Venok captured some of them alive. Dress them in the uniforms of the King’s Royal Guard, pierce my corpse with a Royal Guard rapier, and leave it somewhere suitable. There are also several wolves inside the manor who fell to them…”
Her clear voice cut off. Her body swayed for a moment, but she continued as if nothing had happened.
“Their corpses…”
But it was only for a moment. Barbara, who had been standing so straight, suddenly collapsed to the floor like a doll with its strings cut.
To Seo-ah, the entire process seemed to unfold in slow motion. As the powerful muscles that had supported her finally lost their strength, the woman who had seemed utterly unshakeable crashed to the ground.
“Master.”
Before Seo-ah’s eyes, the hollow, lifeless face of Theresia flashed.
Her master had stood firm until the very end, so Seo-ah had never imagined she would die like that. She had seemed like someone who wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed, so Seo-ah had never dreamed she would die so pointlessly.
Please get up, Master. There’s no way you would leave like this!
No matter how much she cried and begged in disbelief, eyes once closed would never open again. That regret haunted her to this day. If only she hadn’t frozen so helplessly. If only she had done something—anything—to help her master.