Ch#74
2023.11.13.
Blair's pupils shook violently upon seeing that face.
"......Marina?"
She was the maid from the Empress Palace who used to play card games with Esmeralda, laughing and chatting together.
Why......?
Blair wanted to ask, but the maid, having lost her balance, slammed her head into the sofa armrest and fell. Blood flowed from the corner of her head.
"Ah....... Ah......"
Blair stared at the candlestick in her hand and the bleeding Marina with trembling eyes.
The eleven-year-old princess was too young to fully understand death. Not knowing its weight, she had only learned that murder was simply bad, unaware of how heavy the sin truly was.
But in that moment, it struck her with cruel clarity. The meaning of taking a life.
'But Marina was trying to...... hurt Her Majesty the Empress.'
Blair justified herself to herself and staggered backward, her body swaying as if it might collapse at any moment.
She wanted to flee this hell immediately, but her body wouldn't obey. Acrid smoke choked her breath.
Then, suddenly, she remembered that she had to save Esmeralda.
Blair climbed onto the table and approached Esmeralda, who hung from the ceiling.
"......Her Majesty the Empress."
Even calling her, there was no response.
Tears fell from Blair's dazed eyes as she looked up at her.
"No. No......"
She wanted to untie the cloth around Esmeralda's neck right away, but the ceiling was too high for a child.
"Help...... Please, someone......"
Blair clung to Esmeralda's legs amid the flames and wailed.
She had killed to save Esmeralda. If Esmeralda would just hold her and say it was okay, that it wasn't her fault, everything would be fine.
But Esmeralda was dead, and Blair was trapped alone in this hell.
'If only I had woken up a little earlier. If only I had come out of the wardrobe a little sooner......'
Then, could she have saved Her Majesty the Empress?
'My hesitation, my fear...... That's what kept me from saving Her Majesty.'
Because I was weak.
Because I was a powerless child.
Because I failed Her Majesty......
"Ha, ugh......"
Blair, who had been crying, stopped.
She could no longer breathe. Her lungs burned as if they had inhaled flames, and she couldn't inhale again after exhaling once.
Her consciousness gradually blurred, strength leaving her body. Blair slumped onto the table. Amid the blaze devouring everything, Blair blinked blankly.
'I can't breathe......'
In that instant, an instinct more primal than anything moved the child.
Blair clung to her fading consciousness and made her way into the hallway. It too was already thick with smoke.
She squeezed out the last breath remaining in her lungs and walked the corridor. The already long hallway felt like an endless track.
"Haa......"
Finally, expelling her last breath, Blair collapsed in the hallway. Her consciousness faded, heavy eyelids falling.
As she closed her eyes, Blair prayed.
Please, let it be a dream.
When she woke, may everything from this night have never happened......
* * *
The Delmark Duke Residence was in an uproar.
The Duchess, who had rushed to the Imperial Palace at dawn, was suddenly kidnapped, only to return in Herdin's arms.
In a wretched state, covered in blood on her head and soot over her body.
After laying Blair on the bed, Herdin watched the maids bustle about, wiping her down and changing her clothes, before stepping into the hallway.
The arriving physician hurriedly greeted him and entered Blair's room.
The noise, everything comprising this situation, felt strangely distant.
Irritated by the throbbing headache, he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall when he sensed someone approaching.
"Your Grace. Are you injured anywhere?"
It was Mason.
His question, checking on his well-being first even in this situation, somehow amused him.
"As you can see."
"The Madam...... will be alright."
It was a carefully chosen phrase from Mason after much deliberation. Herdin fell silent for a moment before giving a meaningless reply.
"......She will."
She has to.
As Mason silently stood by such a Herdin, urgent footsteps approached.
Russ, who had gone to the Temple to fetch a priest, and Miela following behind him.
Herdin's gaze chilled upon seeing her.
"Hello, Your Grace."
The woman greeted him with her characteristic innocent face, as if she had completely forgotten their previous conversation. Even though it couldn't have been pleasant for her either.
Of all the priests at the Temple, it had to be this woman. What a ridiculous coincidence.
"I heard the Duchess was badly injured. May I check her condition?"
But there was no time to wait for another priest.
Herdin took Miela into Blair's bedroom.
Blair, with all soot and blood wiped away, had a peaceful face that almost looked like she was sleeping, but he couldn't relax.
Divine Power could perfectly heal external wounds, but not illnesses.
If it was just simple burns, Divine Power could heal them, but if her already damaged lungs from the incident ten years ago developed a disease, it would be impossible to treat.
Miela approached Blair first and used Divine Power. But for some reason, the wounds healed very slowly.
'What is this?'
The moment a faint magic circle appeared at the base of Blair's collarbone, the waiting physician dropped his medical bag.
"Oh, sorry."
By the time Miela missed seeing the magic circle, Blair's wounds had healed.
Miela stepped back after finishing the treatment. Now it was the realm of medicine.
"May I examine the Duchess more closely after waiting? There might be remaining burns."
Herdin nodded lightly to Miela's suggestion from beside Blair, signaling permission.
A short while later, the physician reported Blair's condition after the examination.
"Fortunately, the head injury seems to be a mild concussion. A few days of rest should suffice."
"And her respiratory system?"
"Her breathing doesn't seem severely affected either, so you can breathe a sigh of relief."
The physician bowed to Herdin and quietly left the room.
Only the sleeping Blair, Herdin, and Miela remained in the room.
Herdin recalled Miela's words from moments ago and turned to her. Their eyes met—hers filled with worry as she looked at him.
"Are you alright, Your Grace?"
Herdin sneered at that.
It might have sounded like simple concern from someone else, but knowing this woman's meddlesomeness, it grated on him.
"Shouldn't treating the critical patient come first?"
"But the Duchess's urgent treatment is done, so now we can tend to Your Grace—"
"Priestess."
Herdin cut her off before she finished. Irritation seeped unmistakably into his voice.
"Treat my wife first. Everything else after."
At Herdin's firm attitude, Miela reluctantly approached Blair and examined her body.
"Fortunately, there don't seem to be any remaining burns."
"I'll ensure proper compensation for coming so urgently. To the Temple or personally to you, whichever you prefer."
"No need. I'm merely carrying out the Lord's will."
Miela waved it off, saying no compensation was necessary.
As Herdin was about to acknowledge her as a true servant of the gods despite everything, Miela asked,
"By the way...... how did this happen to the Duchess?"
The woman had crossed the line with an innocent face.
Whether truly innocent or feigning it cleverly, either way, it was unwelcome curiosity to him.
Herdin let out a short scoff. But it was fleeting. The smile vanished from his face as if it had never been, leaving only a cold gaze.
"Priestess."
He leaned slightly toward her, meeting her eyes. Rather than thrilling, the proximity felt chilling to Miela.
"Haven't you heard that what you see and hear in someone else's home shouldn't be spoken of outside?"
His following voice was the same.
"You must have learned it. Back in your apprentice priest days."
Even without raising his voice, even without a direct threat, the sheer intimidation made her body shrink involuntarily.
Herdin, staring piercingly at her, lifted his head again to look down at her and said,
"You're busy, so you may go now."
Miela looked up at him with frightened eyes before lowering her gaze and said,
"......I've been rude."
After finishing her greeting, Miela left the bedroom immediately. Finally, only Herdin and Blair remained in the room.
Herdin erased the sharp tension from moments ago, approached the sleeping Blair, and sat on the chair beside the bed. Only then did his tension ease, a deep sigh escaping.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but Blair's expression seemed much more at peace than before.
A chuckle escaped at the sight of her peacefully sleeping alone amid the chaos she had caused at the residence. Then, suddenly recalling the Forest Villa moments ago, anger surged.
When he arrived at the villa tracking Blair's traces.
The moment he saw the villa engulfed in flames, his mind blanked. Her face filled his head entirely.
The face that, in the hypnotic memory of the past, had chosen death trapped in the wardrobe, unable to escape.
The sight of her freezing to death, unable to light the lighter to the end.
Your face, delighted like a child over a single roasted marshmallow.
......It drove me mad.
Even knowing Blair might have already fled the villa, he rushed inside.
He had no memory after that. He couldn't recall in what state of mind or how he found Blair in the flame-wrapped villa.
His senses returned the moment he faced her amid the blaze.
