Chapter 40

The corridor on the second floor was silent. As she could not go through the center corridor, she had to walk to the outer wall where the emergency stairs were located. She went down the stairs through the narrow hallway toward the outer wall.

There were less people coming and going in the back of the mansion. Marianne walked quickly in the silence and she could hear her breathing. Perhaps during the day, she could have crossed this same path in a fresher mood than now. When she passed through a large flower garden with a few large trees, there unfolded the broad back garden finally.

And…

‘Got it!’

Marianne squeezed her fists, screaming with joy silently.

A small shadow squatted and fumbled around the ground under the big tree she saw during the day. Marianne tightened her shawl and approached the shadow. As she walked along the grassy, soft dirt-covered side, she didn’t make any noise. The shadow seemed to have no idea of who was right before it because it was absent-minded about searching for something, almost crawling on the ground.

“Eve?”

When her name was called by a friendly voice, the shadow shuddered and stiffened.

“Are you here to find this?”

Marianne took out a white piece of paper and shook it. The shadow, which stiffened like firewood, looked back very slowly. The moonlight shed the shadow’s face.

“Madame…”

The shadow was none other than Eve.

“Shush! It’s alright.”

Marianne looked around with her index finger lightly pressed on her lips. She reached out to Eve, who squatted down with her wobbly legs.

“…?”

Turning pale, Eve looked up at Marianne with a perplexed expression.

The owner of the mansion was reaching out to her. For an ordinary maid like her, her reaching out would certainly be a sign of supporting her.

But the new owner of the mansion was the daughter of one of the most powerful noble families as well as the fiancee of the emperor. And when the nobles reached out to the maids, they usually had some similar reasons such as “Give me everything I want right here.”

But was there anything she, who got everything she wanted, wanted from a trivial maid?

Even the little white note she was holding was already in her hand!

Eve felt like there was nothing she could give to Marianne. Maid clothes were issued by the mansion management team, she had a small room where she could barely relax, along with her healthy body and life.

‘Does she want my life?’

When Eve thought as far as that, her face began to turn even paler.

She remembered Marianne clearly said during the day she did not intend to harm her, but she couldn’t be sure. For she heard that the noblemen often changed their minds as they changed their dresses dozens of times a day.

Besides, she was nervous about that note she dropped on the grass.

She didn’t know what it said, but did it hurt her feelings? What if she wanted to vent out her anger toward her as Eve was the messenger? What about her lying that she climbed the tree to watch a squirrel when she was there to convey the note?

It was a serious matter from the beginning that she had the owner pick up the important note Eve dropped. As she was caught sneaking into the garden to search for it late at night, she had nothing to say even if she were killed.

“Madame, Please save my life! I was wrong!”

In the end, she lay face down. Although her voice was small, it was like a scream. She felt pain in her ankle that she sprained during the day. But she couldn’t care about it as her life was at stake at the moment. Tears began to come out and blurred her eyes.

Marianne looked at her own hands and Eve trembling violently.

“Eve, I already said this during the day. I have no intention of killing you.”

“However… You held out your hand to me…”

“Oh, that was…”

“I’ve got nothing to give you but my life. I snuck into the garden and did not run errands properly. I deserve capital punishment. Even if you call that scary knight and cut my neck right now, I’ve got nothing to say. But please save my life once. If you can save my life, I’ll do everything for you. I won’t lie again. I’m serious!”

Eve rubbed her wet eyes roughly with the hem of her sleeves. Marianne just twinkled her green eyes without finding anything proper to say. In fact, she was pondering over what Eve babbled about. She couldn’t understand why Eve thought she would take her life when she reached out to her. Given the heaven and earth difference of their social status, and that she snuck into garden, Marianne felt that Eve might feel scared about her actions.

Iric was a kind-hearted man in Marianne’s eyes, but as he pointed the tip of the sword at her neck, Eve might have felt scared.

What really mattered to Marianne was what came next.

She mentioned somebody’s errands, and she said she would do everything if Marianne could save her life. And she said she would not lie again.

‘Isn’t it a pretty good condition?’ Marianne thought to herself.

After thinking for a moment, Marianne shook her empty hand up and down as if to show her.

“Okay. I’ll save you. Then, why don’t you get up and talk to me? I don’t want to keep a patient kneeling like this for a long time.”

Eve stared at Marianne, opening her eyes with surprise.

“What are you doing? Hands!”

“Hands?”

“Yeah, your hands!”

As if she felt stuffy, Marianne went a step further and grasped her wrists in person. Though it was a little cold in the night breeze, Marianne’s soft hands gave warmth to her skinny and chilly wrists. With a face about to cry, Eve couldn’t pull away her wrists as Marianne held them suddenly. ‘Is she going to cut your wrists?’

As if Marianne already read her mind, she decided to explain to her why she did so.

“Your ankle hurts, right? Let me help you.”

“Thank you, Madame! As you have saved my life, I will repay your grace forever! I will never make the same mistake again in the future!”

“Oh, yes. You have to keep your promise.”

“Yes! I will keep it! This is not a lie!”

“Got it. I trust you. It’s late, so go inside.”

Eve bowed so much that the crown of her head touched the ground. Dragging her limping feet, she disappeared to the side road of the garden. She looked back several times as she walked along. Marianne gently waved her hands with a calm look so that she could feel relaxed.

As her talking partner disappeared, the garden was once again silent.

Marianne stood up from the bench. Her exposed neck felt cold; she tightened the shawl once more and walked toward a bright place where the moonlight shone.

When she opened and tilted the note, the handwriting was clearly visible. Although she already saw it during the day, she recited the sentence again and again.

The handwriting was beautiful, but it was not Ober’s. It was not exactly known whether A was Ober or ‘Anne’ that Eve mentioned.

But the painting on the small seal in the corner of the note was certainly significant. A thin, slender snake was coiling itself.

‘I see two snakes entangled in the seal of the Chester family. It’s not exactly the same, but it won’t be a secret note that Ober doesn’t recognize He must have had someone write on his behalf or his aide might have volunteered…’

While speculating, she slowed down unconsciously and stopped suddenly.

‘After all, does A want me to make an excuse for him to pass freely as the security of the mansion is so tight?’

At that moment, somebody appeared from behind and snatched the note from her.

Suddenly, a hand suddenly appeared over his shoulder and snatched the note.

“Huuuuup…!”

Stunned, she stiffened on the spot. When she tried to scream, he stopped her mouth with a big hand right before she did.

During that short moment, all kinds of thoughts crossed her mind.

‘Who is it? There was nobody in the garden. How long has he been here? Did you wait for me to be left alone? Eve is back? No, she is not tall. Knight? Attendant? Maid? Was there another spy in the mansion?’

The stranger whispered in a baritone voice.

‘The stranger is a man, as expected. But his voice is familiar to me…’

Marianne quickly nodded, trying to trace her memories of that voice. His hand covering her lips slowly fell off. An oddly cool scent tickled her nose.