Escape (13)
Escape (13)
The next morning, a knock at the door woke me.
I hadn't slept.
Long after Levina left last night, I'd lain awake.
"Ravin, are you in there?"
Levina's voice.
I answered, voice still thick, telling her to come in.
She opened the door and stepped inside, her expression carrying an awkward tension. She settled carefully onto the chair beside my bed.
"Yesterday... I was on edge. I'm sorry. It must have been stifling for you."
She apologized first.
I said nothing. I just stared at her face, blankly.
The cold atmosphere from last night had vanished. Now she looked tired, touched with guilt.
"This will sound like an excuse..."
Levina's gaze wandered across the paintings on my walls as she spoke, her voice low.
"There still isn't as much I can do as you might think, Ravin. The seat I occupy isn't one where magical skill or personal ability matter much."
She hopped lightly onto my desk and swung her legs.
"Or maybe that's not quite right. There's plenty I can do—just not much I can afford the fallout for. Right now, I could shove Mother off the terrace. She despises you. It wouldn't exactly help, though."
She looked like a child. Completely unlike her usual impeccable composure. At least, the Ravin of before had never seen this side of her.
"There's no one I can show this unguarded self to, and no one who'd want to see it. Same goes for you, doesn't it? Ah, I know—my own choice."
A faint smile crossed her face.
"Still... sometimes it gets suffocating. Not despair, or anything that dramatic. Just... that."
Levina picked up a pen from the desk, twirling it idly in one hand as she continued in a murmur. The pen glided smoothly between her fingers.
"How much longer do I have to wait? How much harder do I have to push before I can act without caring about the in-laws, Mother, you, everything around me? You're beside me now. It feels like we're almost there."
At her words, I asked quietly, "So what exactly are you trying to say?"
Levina shrugged and laughed. She stopped spinning the pen and set it down gently on the desk.
"Meaningless rambling. An older sister's allowed to vent to her little brother, isn't she?"
Silence settled between us.
Sunlight poured through the window, illuminating specks of dust floating in the room.
I didn't want to hear Levina's voice. Not that I disliked it. I just didn't want to hear it. A slow sense of suffocation, maybe.
"Estelle mentioned something. Ah—Estelle. Maybe you don't know the name. The Saintess."
Levina spoke again.
"That maid of yours is almost fully recovered, she said. Once she's ready, I'll arrange for the two of you to meet."
Roughly three days passed after Levina left my room.
I didn't step outside for any of them. Levina would stop by to check my complexion and bring tasteless food she claimed to have cooked herself in the kitchen, insisting I needed something warm now and then.
And, as promised, she arranged a private meal for Rineta and me.
It was in a small dining room in the manor. A place rarely used, judging by the scent of old wood and the candles burning to mask the dust. I arrived first and sat down.
The door opened not long after, and Rineta entered.
She wore a white dress—not the worn maid's uniform from the annex. Her face was still pale, but the color had returned somewhat.
"Young Master! Oh—no. I said I'd call you Ravin, didn't I? It's so good to see you, Ravin! Truly, I can't even put it into words how happy I am."
Rineta smiled brightly, just like she used to.
But the smile was off, somehow—like a well-painted picture, lifeless.
"I never imagined the Heir Apparent would do this much for me. I suppose this means I've risen in the world! To celebrate, I'll treat you to all sorts of delicious things in the capital sometime! You do love being treated, Young Master!"
She sat down across from me.
Servants quietly brought the food. Warm soup, fresh-baked bread, a steak that looked perfectly appetizing.
We started eating in silence. Only the sound of knives and forks against plates echoed through the dining room.
"So, how have you been all this time?" Rineta broke the silence first.
"Just... stayed in my room. Read books. And you?"
"Me? Oh, lying in bed all day..."
Rineta lifted her knife to cut the steak, then hesitated, her hand freezing for a moment.
"How's your body?"
"Ah, I'm all better! Completely healthy now!"
She kept talking, glancing sidelong at me before returning to cutting her meat. Several times, she opened her mouth, only to falter.
"Young Master. No—Ravin."
Rineta's voice dropped low. Her head stayed bowed, eyes fixed on the plate.
"Do you... not resent me?"
A faint tremor ran through her voice.
"Why would I?" I asked back.
"Because... I tried to kill you, Ravin."
Her voice grew quieter still.
"It's fine. I'm the one who took it and drank it."
Rineta closed her mouth at my answer.
I shifted the topic. I didn't want to have grim conversations with her. Truthfully, I didn't want to have them with anyone else, either.
"Anyway, have you been comfortable here? How's the main house?"
"Ah, yes! Definitely! I'd only ever heard that the main house was a grand, magnificent mansion. Actually living here, though—it's on a whole different scale. The annex amazed me when I first stepped inside, but the main house really is something else."
Rineta sounded genuinely impressed.
"It's big, anyway." My reply was indifferent. I didn't have many good memories of this estate.
"And I met the Saintess for the first time! She was so beautiful, like she'd stepped right out of a painting. She even gave me a blessing."
She spoke as if overjoyed, but her eyes weren't smiling. They looked hollow.
"No pain anywhere else?"
"Nope! The Saintess—hic—yes, nothing hurts! She stayed by my side, told me all sorts of things, prayed, healed me. I'm completely fine."
Rineta ate her food with relish, as if nothing was wrong. Then tears welled up and began to fall. She didn't seem to notice. They streamed down her cheeks and dripped onto her plate. She made no move to wipe them away. She just kept silently cutting her steak.
"...Rineta."
I called her name softly. Her hand paused, just briefly.
"Yes?"
She tilted her head. Then, absently, she touched the corner of her eye. Her fingers came away wet. Only then did she seem to realize she was crying.
She didn't panic. She just wiped the tears away with her sleeve, as if nothing had happened.
"This steak is really delicious. Food I never could have dreamed of back where I used to live."
Rineta kept wiping her tears as she spoke.
"The meat was always so tough. Every time you visited our house, we could only serve you stew that had been boiled soft. Young Master, you've been eating things like this since you were small, haven't you?"
She went on, perfectly casual. Her voice stayed as bright as always. But I could feel the deep sorrow hidden behind it.
She stopped for a moment and looked straight at me. Her pupils quivered faintly.
Then Rineta spoke, low and quiet. As if confessing a secret.
"I heard... that everyone in the village is dead."
Her voice was so flat it felt unreal.
"I don't know why, exactly. They told me they were all heretics."
She cut another piece of steak and put it in her mouth.
"Honestly, I hardly ever went to church, so I don't really know. Our village was stuck way out in a forgotten corner. Just getting to church took half a day. Maybe that was the problem?"
Rineta spoke calmly. Slowly. Chewing the slice of steak very, very slowly.
"The Saintess told me herself, so it must be true. The village chief was taken away, and the rest were executed... My mother..."
Rineta couldn't finish. She just bit her lip. Her shoulders trembled.
"I asked the Saintess what happened to my mother. She just smiled faintly and said nothing at all."
I couldn't say anything. No words felt like they would reach her.
"The Heir Apparent told me the Saintess led the knights from the church personally. But she wouldn't say anything beyond that."
Rineta's lips were still curled upward, but the corners quivered. Watching her force a smile was more agonizing than tears.
"Young Master... did I—did I get punished because someone like me met someone like you and became too happy? Or because I dared, a mere servant, to harbor feelings so far above my station..."
Rineta's words began to tumble out in a tangled rush. Her voice grew thicker with sobs.
"And then dared to try to kill you, and couldn't even do that right, and tried to die alone and end it all—is that why God sent punishment? Not on you, Ravin, but on my mother, on the villagers... so everyone..."
She couldn't finish. Her words trailed off, and she started cutting the steak in front of her again. As if nothing had happened. But her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably now. She couldn't even use the knife. Picking anything up with her fork seemed a struggle.
"Rineta."
"...Yes."
"Just us. You and me. Should we run away? Anywhere."
At those words, Rineta smiled and answered.
"I can't go anywhere, Young Master. Ravin. We can't go anywhere."