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LOS 13
At the very least, I could feel that I must absolutely not be discovered near them. I struggled to grasp the situation. Were they intruders? But this was the Count Bismar estate, of all places.
In all the years I had spent here, nothing like this had ever happened. Yet, no matter how hard I listened, it seemed clear that they were threatening and plundering the members of the household.
Could it be... had my imagination actually come true? Had the enemy forces finally invaded this far? I covered my mouth with both hands. I couldn't tell if I was joyful or horrified. It had finally happened.
Bang, bang. When the sound of gunfire was followed by the crashing noise of something being smashed, everything became certain.
We lost the war.
The enemy has arrived!
However, it soon occurred to me that they might not be the enemy. The strange men were shouting in a language I understood. "Shut up! Don't resist! Shut your mouths and follow me! Drag everything out of here!"
The surroundings were so noisy that I covered my ears. I had never experienced such chaos and noise in my life. I had become far too accustomed to the silence.
It took about half a day for the noise pounding in my head to subside. Only silence remained in the wake of the storm. When finally no sound could be heard, I tentatively pushed the wooden board above my head.
Because so many people had stepped on it, the screws had loosened. I pushed the board aside with all my might and climbed out.
The sun was already setting. It had been a very long time since I had faced a sunset in its full glory. I carefully stood up and took a walk around the mansion. It had also been a long time since I had walked so freely.
I examined various rooms meticulously, as if I were someone viewing a house for sale. The dining hall, the drawing room, the servants' quarters, and even the bathrooms... there was no one left anywhere. I soon realized that I was the only one left in this vast mansion!
At that moment, I was overcome with an uncontrollable excitement. I ran through the hallways, cackling like a witch from an old fairy tale. Had I ever been this happy in my life? I cheered, savoring my freedom. This mansion was mine!
The people who tried to kill me were all gone. No one could whip me, even if I laughed out loud or ran around like a vulgar child.
I lay on my back on the floor and looked up at the fading sky. The sunset, burning in shades of vermilion, seemed to mirror my own emotions.
I indulged in pleasant thoughts. I was free now. What should I do? The intruders—whether they were the enemy or someone else—had swept away the mansion's valuables within a few hours. Unfortunately, the things I could actually do were limited.
Then, something flashed across my mind. The piano! Had they taken the piano? I ran toward the music room where the piano was kept. Fortunately, the piano alone remained safely in its place.
Before it grew any darker, I sat before the grand piano and began to play to my heart's content. I chose only the most cheerful and upbeat pieces I knew. A piano ballad, bouncing like droplets of water, filled a corner of the empty mansion.
It was a night where even the stars seemed to lean in to listen to my performance.
When morning broke and my excitement had calmed, I finished reading the newspapers I had collected. Articles that hadn't been visible when I read by the faint slivers of light now jumped out at me.
After spending several hours reading through the papers, I uncovered several facts.
It was true that we had lost the war. They called it a World War; it seemed the scale of the conflict had been far greater than I imagined. The home country, Beldam, was collapsing. And... taking advantage of that gap, another fire had begun to spread.
It was a revolution. As Beldam showed signs of ruin, the oppressed people of Ipswin had taken up guns and swords. Based on this, the people who invaded the mansion were undoubtedly the revolutionaries. They would certainly loathe nobles like my father.
Then, what would happen to me?
I didn't think the revolutionaries would be unaware of my existence. I was the daughter of the Bismar family, who had held an official meeting with Duke Meier. I grew worried. I felt as though those people would visit this place again to find me.
Should I run away? But where? I couldn't travel far on my own. Moreover, my body had been weakened by prolonged hunger and abuse. It was obvious I wouldn't even reach the nearest village. After racking my brain, I concluded that I had to find a corpse to fake my own death.
I remembered a maid who had died of an illness not long ago. There was a story a young maid, with whom I used to have secret conversations, had inadvertently let slip.
'Everyone thinks Maria died of a disease, but I know the truth. She wasn't sick. Maria was murdered.'
'Murdered? By whom?'
'The Countess killed Maria.'
The girl had whispered, keeping her voice as low as possible.
'I know. Maria was beaten to death by the mistress. But there's no way she would suddenly beat someone to death for no reason, right? Maria must have done something the mistress could never forgive. I'm sure of it.'
'What was it? Did she steal silver cutlery or something?'
'Are you an idiot?'
Though it was a tiny whisper, I could hear it clearly.
'She slept in the same bed as the Count!'
That bastard. He hadn't changed his habits and had done it again. In any case, I learned that the Countess had ended up killing Maria and, to cover up the murder, had fabricated a lie that Maria had contracted an infectious disease to hastily dispose of the body.
Then where did the body go? I didn't think she would have given her a funeral. A funeral required calling a priest. Unless they were blind, they would have noticed immediately that it wasn't a body that died of illness; would she have taken such a risk?
Just in case, I went down to the basement. In the basement was the ossuary where the ancestors of the Bismar family were kept. Keeping an ossuary was a kind of tradition passed down through generations of high-ranking Beldam nobles.
Sure enough, there lay the body of a woman who couldn't even be given a funeral for fear of repercussions. Naturally, the body was decomposed. While gagging, I desperately dragged the corpse upward.
I had survived so tenaciously until now; I couldn't afford to die by a revolutionary's bullet. It was better to cry while transporting a rotting corpse.
As I expected, the soldiers, realizing I was missing from the list, visited the mansion once more. Upon discovering the corpse I had hidden, they took the dead maid and left.
Now, everything was truly over. I was worried about what I would eat to survive, but at least I didn't have to worry about encountering the revolutionaries here again.
...Or so I thought.
I was trying to sleep at the time. While sleeping might make one look frail, it was the best way to conserve energy. It was better to stay curled up until I found a proper way forward.
Upset that I couldn't sleep in a bed one last time because of the revolutionaries, I curled my body inside an instrument case and closed my eyes. Lying inside was surprisingly cozy. The lining was soft, too.
Then, I heard the sound of the music room door opening.
Click. I opened my eyes at the sound of the doorknob turning. Someone had come. Who was it? Slow, heavy footsteps echoed on the floor. The unwelcome guest began to press the piano keys randomly. The disordered scales sounded quite eerie.
It was already too late to find a place to escape. There was no way out. Even without seeing him, I knew he was a revolutionary. Who else on earth would come here? They must have discovered that I had manipulated the corpse.
He's come to get me...
Screeech. The sound of the hinges was ghostly. I closed my eyes in despair. The footsteps were getting closer. And then, they stopped in front of me.
With the sound of fabric brushing, the case lid opened. A young man in a military uniform was looking down at me, leaning over.
He was a man with short, black hair neatly combed back. I looked into his pitch-black eyes, which betrayed no emotion.
Scanning my body with his eyes, he asked in a cold voice.
"Who are you?"
It was a question I couldn't answer readily. Above all, I was terrified. The screams that had swept through the mansion not long ago were still vivid in my ears. He could just as easily do the same to me.
When I didn't answer, he pressed me.
"What is your name?"
What should I do? If I made him frustrated, my life could truly be in danger. I had to do something. I made up something on the spot. I couldn't tell the truth. I didn't even have time to think.
"I'm Lily."
Damn. It was a truly terrible fake name.
"What were you doing here?"
The soldier asked. Before I could think of a suitable lie, he threw another question.
"Did you originally live here?"
Still, I realized one thing. This man did not know that I was Eloise Bismarck. The thought occurred to me that perhaps he hadn't come to the mansion to capture me.
Clinging to a sliver of hope, I poured out whatever words I could.
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