Ch#73
2023.11.12.
The woman yanked the cigar from her mouth and exploded in anger first.
"Damn it... Where did the princess go?"
"Oh......"
"What are you gawking at like an idiot? This is your fault, you moron!"
"Ah, we'll just find her. How far could that tiny woman have gone? Especially with her head injured."
"Save your carefree bullshit until after we find her!"
The woman tossed her cigar carelessly aside, smacked the back of the man's head, and stormed out of the room. The man followed, cursing under his breath.
In the spot they left in a clatter, a chill wind from the forest blew through the large window.
That wind reached the embers of the cigar the woman had roughly discarded near the ashtray on the table. Fanned by the wind, the embers caught the tablecloth.
The small spark quickly grew, devouring the tablecloth, then the table and adjacent sofa, blazing fiercely.
As if mocking the voices of the man and woman echoing from the nearby forest.
The rapidly expanding blaze consumed the wooden furniture, producing smoke.
That smoke filled the room hazily and seeped into the wardrobe in the corner.
Of course, to Blair hiding inside as well.
'......Smoke?'
Blair wrinkled her brow at the acrid smell unique to something burning.
At first, she thought it was just her imagination since she was in the wardrobe like that day of the fire......
"Cough, cough......"
Her lungs, inhaling the smoke, instinctively coughed it out. Her eyes and throat stung immediately. And now she felt heat as well.
It wasn't her imagination.
'Fire... outside.'
Just the thought of a massive fire nearby brought overwhelming terror, her heart racing and breath quickening.
'I need to get out, quickly.'
Blair twisted her body to exit the wardrobe.
At that moment, a throbbing headache hit, along with a hazy memory.
The scene from the wardrobe she had seen countless times through hypnosis in her past and present lives, yet never escaped from.
'No, snap out of it. Please......'
Blair tried not to be dominated by fear, but her body and mind wouldn't obey. Her increasingly ragged breaths blurred together—whether from smoke or trauma, she couldn't tell.
As her consciousness faded from respiratory distress, it happened.
'Close your eyes, then open them.'
Herdin's voice from sometime ago echoed in her ears like an auditory hallucination.
In her hazy consciousness, Blair instinctively followed the voice, blinking slowly.
'Breathe slowly too.'
Led by the next voice, she inhaled and exhaled slowly.
Just like she had practiced every night with him.
'It's okay.'
As he said, the terror gradually subsided, and her breathing returned.
Her hands still trembled at the thought of the fire waiting outside the door, but she couldn't stay trapped here forever.
Now, it was time to leave the wardrobe.
Blair steadied her breathing amid the acrid smoke as best she could and righted her posture. Then she kicked the wardrobe door with her foot.
Bang!
The door flew open, and the acrid smoke filling the room engulfed Blair. Her vision blurred instantly, the smoke so thick it choked her.
Opening her tightly shut eyes, she saw the room entirely wrapped in flames.
"Ah......"
Strangely, even as the surroundings became a sea of fire and terror threatened to consume her, her chest felt refreshingly clear.
As if she had severed long-chained shackles.
'......Let's get out of here.'
Gazing at the fiercely blazing inferno that seemed to swallow everything, Blair slowly closed her eyes, then opened them while inhaling.
The fear rising to choke her throat subsided further.
It was then, as Blair rose her heavy body to exit the wardrobe.
"Ugh......"
This time, a headache far stronger than before struck. Pain so intense her vision blurred momentarily.
At that instant, a memory from sometime ago overlaid her vision as she exhaled painfully.
A massive blaze roaring blindingly bright, smoke filling the room, and......
The bloodstained candlestick in her hand.
'This is......'
Startled by the suddenly returned memory, Blair froze, trembling, when
"Blair!"
The door burst open, and Herdin rushed in.
"......Herdin."
Blair stared blankly at him striding toward her across the flames.
His ice-lake eyes, met in the hellish inferno, resembled Esmeralda's from her memory.
'Let's play hide-and-seek. Don't come out until I say so, Blair.'
Memories flooded in like a dam breaking.
The memories of that day she had lost.
Unable to withstand the torrent of returning memories overwhelming her, Blair collapsed.
* * *
Blair, who had fallen asleep, felt her body floating in midair and opened her heavy eyes. The first thing she saw was Esmeralda.
"Her Majesty the Empress?"
"......Blair."
Esmeralda paused at Blair's voice. Her expression seemed faintly frightened, but it was hard to see clearly due to things obscuring her view.
The child, not fully awake, realized moments later that the obstructions were clothes, and she was inside a wardrobe.
Rubbing her heavy eyelids, Blair asked,
"Why are you getting in the wardrobe?"
"Blair, let's play hide-and-seek."
"Hide-and-seek......?"
"Yes. Don't come out until I say so. No matter what sounds you hear, no matter what happens, absolutely. Got it?"
Esmeralda urged her like that while repeatedly glancing outside the wardrobe.
Blair found it odd that Esmeralda suddenly wanted to play hide-and-seek upon waking, and her strangely off atmosphere, but she couldn't fight the overwhelming sleepiness and quietly nodded.
Beyond her descending heavy eyelids, she saw Esmeralda smiling somewhat sadly.
'What made Her Majesty sad?'
Normally, she would have asked and hugged her. Just as Esmeralda always did.
'When I wake up, I have to ask. I have to hug her......'
But Blair couldn't overcome the waves of sleep and drifted off.
How much time passed like that?
Crash!
'Gasp.'
Startled by the sharp noise of objects falling and shattering on the floor, sleeping Blair's eyes snapped open.
'What was that sound?'
Similar noises followed several more times. Sleep vanished completely. In the ensuing silence, a chilling premonition instinctively assaulted her.
And the smell.
The scent of something burning pierced from her nose deep into her lungs.
Instinct warned her. Death was near.
Blair held her breath quietly and peered through the wardrobe door crack.
Someone in a maid uniform was in the room. Her profile made her face hard to see. And before her was......
'Her Majesty the Empress?'
Esmeralda lay there. But she didn't seem asleep.
The Esmeralda Blair knew was the most beautiful, elegant, and dignified person in the world. She wouldn't just lie anywhere on the floor claiming sleepiness.
'What is she doing?'
The narrow view through the door crack was limited. She couldn't clearly see what the maid was doing with sleeping Esmeralda. Blair edged closer to the crack and rolled her eyes.
At that moment, an unbelievable sight entered Blair's eyes.
The maid was wrapping a cloth around Esmeralda's neck and tying it to the ceiling.
Even the young princess, ignorant of the world's dark side, realized what the maid intended for Esmeralda.
The maid was trying to kill Esmeralda.
It wasn't learned, but an innate terror of death she was born with.
Witnessing that scene, Blair's pupils trembled violently. Tears flowed without chance for awareness amid overwhelming fear.
Why?
She didn't understand why this was happening, but one thing was clear.
She had to save Esmeralda.
'But...... I'm scared.'
What can I do if I go out now? Can I beat that maid? What if I can't save Her Majesty and die too......?
Smoke gradually rose, choking her breath. Blair suppressed the emerging cough, trembling all over.
She wished this was all a dream.
She wished she could open her fear-stricken eyes, cling to Esmeralda crying, and have the warm embracing hand dispel this nightmarish illusion. She wished anyone would save her from this nightmare......
But now, no matter how much she shook her head or cried, she had to accept the cruel reality that wouldn't vanish.
'No one can save me.'
Right now, the only one who can save me is me.
Blair clenched her trembling hands tightly. She wiped away the flowing tears roughly and peered outside the wardrobe again.
The maid, standing on the coffee table, was still struggling to hang Esmeralda.
Blair instinctively averted her gaze from the horrific scene and spotted a candlestick among the scattered items near the wardrobe. Its pointed tip glinted, reflecting red light.
Finding it, Blair's heart began pounding rapidly.
Opportunity comes only once.
Blair cracked the wardrobe open slightly and crept toward the nearby candlestick.
Fortunately, the maid, focused on tying Esmeralda, didn't notice. Her heart thumped so hard it felt like it would leap from her mouth.
Blair quietly approached and successfully grasped the candlestick. From then on, there was no hesitation or room for it.
Blair gripped the candlestick tightly. Then she ran and swung it at the maid's leg.
"Stop it!"
The child's strike didn't inflict a major wound. But her mere appearance was enough to startle the maid.
"Ack!"
Losing balance from Blair's attack, the maid fell under the table. At that moment, Blair finally saw it.
The face of the culprit who harmed Esmeralda.
