Previously
Killian mistakenly convinces himself that Eleanora is deeply in love with him after Owen describes how 'pure love' makes people shy and devoted. Later that evening, Eleanora encounters a hostile strange woman near the mansion who calls her a fraud and seems to know Killian's true health status.
( ‘What is this?’ )
A window would not just shatter by itself. Someone had broken it on purpose.
Had a thief broken in?
Or perhaps….
The image of the woman she had encountered on her way home flashed in Eleanora’s mind, sending a sharp chill down her spine.
She had been certain the woman left. But what if she had only pretended to go, lurking nearby instead?
What if she had waited until late at night, after everyone had fallen asleep, to slip into the mansion?
( ‘But why?’ )
Regardless, if that woman had slipped in alone, it was a hundred times better than a dangerous burglary.
Killian was hardly a man of average build. Even Owen, who looked small beside him, was a massive fellow.
Killian could shove a slender woman like that with a single fingertip, and she would stand no chance against him.
Still, Eleanora felt the proper thing to do was call the police first.
In his childhood, there was someone Killian loved more than anyone else: his nanny.
In place of his parents, who had departed this life early, and his perpetually busy grandmother, it was she who held him tenderly in her warm embrace.
Then one day, she began saying strange things.
Seeing his nanny looking as though she were about to cry, anxiety would creep into him as well, and he would reply,
At that, she would force a smile through a sorrowful expression, then pull him into a hug.
This scene played out again and again.
As time passed, her words grew sharper. She no longer merely talked about Killian abandoning her someday; she began claiming her death might be near.
Killian’s face would pale whenever he heard this, sometimes bursting into tears as he pleaded with her,
She would smile and hold him to her chest once more,
Killian kept the secret out of sheer terror that she might be dismissed.
Her sorrowful threats suffocated the little boy's heart, but he had no one to turn to.
Then, one day, smiles began to bloom on her face.
Where she used to shadow him every single day, she now began leaving him alone constantly, sneaking away.
Killian felt lonely and sad, yet relieved that she had stopped saying those gloomy things.
As the days went on, she started applying cosmetics and tending to her appearance as she never had before.
He would answer, yet wonder at the same time: what had changed her so much?
He stumbled upon the answer purely by accident.
One day, while playing with a ball alone behind the mansion, Killian heard an odd, heavy sound.
An inexplicable sense of disgust and dread washed over him, freezing him in his tracks.
The ball slipped from his trembling hand, bouncing across the ground with an unexpected noise.
A man rushed out of the narrow, dim passageway between the mansion and the annex.
It was a man he knew: one of the servants.
The nanny appeared moments later, her face flushing crimson as she cried out.
The man scratched the back of his neck,
He then exchanged a glance with the nanny, patted her shoulder a few times, and took his leave.
As for the nanny, stripped of all her usual elegance, she grabbed Killian’s shoulders and asked frantically,
Killian replied in a trembling voice, on the verge of tears. The nanny let out a sigh of relief and held him tight.
Killian nodded.
Indeed, for a few days, the nanny seemed to try and keep her promise, doting on him attentively.
Yet it did not last long. Before long, that gloomy shadow returned to her once-happy face.
The nanny insisted nothing was amiss, but her expression remained dark, lost in distant thoughts.
And then came that day.
At dawn one morning, the nanny appeared in the most splendid finery she had ever worn, holding out a trembling hand to Killian,
His heart fluttered with excitement. Ever since his parents’ passing, he had spent nearly all his time inside the mansion, so no news could have made him happier.
The moment he took her hand without hesitation, her expression twitched for a brief second before she smiled.
A serene smile, as if she had never frowned once in her life.
The sharp stench of roses filled Killian’s nose.
He heard a faint tune humming in the background, while at the same time feeling a revolting hand caress his cheek.
( ‘Was Nanny humming and stroking my cheek that day?’ )
No. That wasn’t it.
She had been tense back then, entirely focused on sneaking out of the mansion without being noticed.
( ‘What on earth am I doing right now?’ )
Killian snapped his eyes open.
Something was terribly wrong. He could not move his body at all.
A woman was humming in the dark.
Was he still dreaming?
When he tilted his head up slightly, his eyes met hers.
The moment the woman spoke, Killian realized this was no dream. Shivering violently, he tried to move his body.
He could move a little more than before, but he was not free. His hands and feet were bound tight.
( ‘How did I not wake up until things went this far?’ )
His breath quickened. That heavy, sweet scent slipped into his lungs, laced with a foul metallic tang.
He recognized it immediately.
( ‘Chloroform…!’ )
It was a chemical every military academy cadet had been tested with during training.
She must have drugged him while he was asleep.
Under normal circumstances, he would have sensed her presence the instant she entered the room.
Yet tonight, unlike his usual self, he had fallen into a deep sleep. Perhaps because the problem that had plagued him for days was finally resolved, his guard had slipped without him realizing it.
The slender woman placed her hand on his chest. Cold sweat poured down Killian’s body.
He wanted to scream in her face and order her to get away at once. But his mouth would not move.
She continued in a tender tone, like a wounded lover.
She suddenly leaned toward him, whispering in a chilling voice,
Killian’s breath caught. Seeming pleased by his reaction, she broke into a broad smile and produced a small bottle.
She opened the bottle and brought it toward his mouth.
He had to shove her away right now.
Yet why couldn’t he do anything? True, he had been drugged, but he had regained enough consciousness to feel the bindings around his limbs.
He should have been able to resist. And yet, all he could do was tremble like a mouse cornered by a snake.
How pathetic.
Amid his utter helplessness, the woman’s hand drew closer and closer.
If this continued….
‘I’d rather bite my tongue and die!’
Yes. Rather than just thinking it, he had to do it.
And the moment he resolved to do so….
The woman let out a piercing shriek and crumpled sideways to the floor. Killian’s bewildered eyes snapped toward where she had stood just a moment ago.
Eleanora stood there, clutching an iron frying pan in both hands, panting heavily.