Chapter 8
Saxon fell silent as her eyes settled into a stern gaze of both warning and urgency.
“Doing the work alone will be no easy task.”
“I will be fine.”
“Now that your ferocity has faded, you have become uninteresting.”
“In that case, may I make one request?”
Saxon burst into laughter as if she had been waiting. Yes, that is more like it. She folded her hands over her stomach, waiting for the girl to continue.
“Once the work is concluded, please allow my sister to receive an education at a school.”
“You intend to send her to a university?”
“I have not thought that far, but I hope she does not work as a maid like me.”
“So long as you remain by Rose’s side and keep her pleased, I shall be generous in all other matters.”
Gyeongju’s eyes grew moist, the rims turning red. I can give Inju the chance to learn. Given the right opportunity, I could take her and leave Forza for good. Even the mere hope was more than enough.
She studied the key in her hand. Beyond that gleaming chunk of iron, a rosy future already seemed to shimmer before her eyes.
* * *
Gyeongju craned her neck back, searching for the small window on the fourth floor of the manor. She waved toward that spot where she could just make out Inju’s face, and saw a tiny hand wave back from behind the glass.
“Let us be off, then!” the coachman shouted, as she mounted her carriage and tightened the reins. The two black horses snorted, puffing white steam into the air.
I shall be back. Gyeongju mouthed her farewell toward the fourth floor, then opened the carriage door and climbed inside. The unfamiliar sensation of the key hanging around her neck and swaying between her breasts brought a pleasant smile to her lips. Overwhelmed by the countless hopes that key would unlock, she had been unable to sleep properly these past few days. Even the grueling trips between Clovis Manor and Sierra Square had not tired her at all.
With the coachman’s forceful whip, the two black horses kicked off the ground and began to run. Gyeongju pressed both hands tightly against her chest, fumbling with the golden key granted to her.
For the past four days since Saxon had ordered her to move Rose’s belongings, every moment of Gyeongju’s life had been sweet. Knowing she was preparing to move to a hiding place, Rose had been excessively kind, allowing Gyeongju to bring warm and nutritious food to her younger sister every single day. She could even wash Inju in the bathwater that Rose had finished using. Recalling Inju splashing and giggling merrily, Gyeongju’s blue eyes shone with contentment.
Once they had passed through the Clovis estate and cut through the pasture, she pulled back the short curtain draped over the carriage window. Gazing out at the open pasture from a moving carriage, she felt as grand as any noble. Wildflowers bloomed in abundance along the fences that lined the fields, their petals dusted with pale dirt.
Following the uneven dirt road, trodden down by hooves and footprints, the carriage finally came to the paved road leading to the square. It would only take her that far. As she was not a noble, she could not enter the square riding inside a carriage. Yet, for a maid, traveling the road so far in a carriage was already an undeserved luxury. That brief experience of wealth was enough for her to fully savor the sweetness of life.
This is all thanks to Her Highness the Vampire Queen. Rose came to this place only because the queen sought a bride.
Gyeongju felt gratitude toward the nameless monarch who had awakened from a three-hundred-year slumber. Had that queen not awakened and sought a bride, Saxon would not have ever entertained the thought of smuggling Rose outside Clovis Manor.
Gyeongju drew the curtain completely back. Stretching her neck, she searched for the faint outline of the queen’s castle beyond the pasture. Forza Castle resembled a spear aimed at the sky, so it could be located from anywhere in the region, and the mere sight of those Gothic spires piercing the heavens was dizzying.
The castle was backed by the Eulbul Forest, while a vast lake sat before it. Only those with permission could enter the castle gate, either by boat or across the skybridge that linked the road to the entrance. Should anyone enter the castle through other means, they were deemed intruders and executed by the Queen’s Watchers. Almost always veiled in fog rising from the lake, only the sharp spires breaking through the clouds marked it as the vampire’s castle.
“I wonder what the queen is like…”
Only upon finding some peace in her life did Gyeongju become curious about the vampire queen whom Rose whispered about at every opportunity. The incarnation of beauty, was it? And the dreadful demon attached to that beautiful being…
A blush crept up her neck before she knew it. She smacked her head violently with her hands to beat out the image of a hard, massive baguette. Impossible. Truly. There is no way such a thing could be attached to a body. Gyeongju took off the hood wrapped around her head, and tidied her now-long red hair.
“What am I even thinking? It has nothing to do with me.”
Yet it proved difficult to calm her steeply heaving chest. Forgetting to retie her hood again, she fanned herself with her hand. She had layered a sleeveless tunic over her dress because of the cold, but she now deeply regretted it. She could not strip it off, and her rising heat would not subside, leaving her thoroughly flustered.
Gyeongju’s growing interest in Forza Castle had also been fueled by the continuous tales of the vampire queen she had been exposed to while traveling between Clovis Manor and Sierra Square over the past four days. With news of the late queen’s death, the new queen’s ascension, and the queen’s bride, everywhere was abuzz with talk of Forza Castle.
Inside the manor it was Rose, and outside the manor it was everyone else. So many people had something to say about the queen that phantom voices seemed to follow her even while sitting alone.
The carriage was nearing the end of the pasture path, so Gyeongju straightened the curtain and donned the hood she had removed. Stroking her flushed cheeks with the backs of her hands, she prepared to disembark. Today the monthly international market would open, so she had to purchase plenty of the foreign spices and woolen goods that Rose favored.
The carriage slowed, and the surrounding noises grew louder, signaling that they were nearing the city center. Gyeongju checked that the key around her neck and the Clovis family token were still in place. It was dangerous for a maid to carry large sums of money, so she needed only present the family token and sign the shop ledger instead. The Clovis estate’s financial manager would disburse the payment later.
It meant that Saxon trusted Gyeongju to a certain extent. That trust was likely only based on the belief that she would never commit a foolish act so long as her younger sister remained at Clovis Manor.
“Shall I return at six in the evening as usual?”
“Yes, ma’am. Today there will be quite a lot of cargo.”
The coach driver nodded her head in response. Gyeongju stroked the horse as it caught its breath. With a shout from the coach driver, the carriage swung sharply and continued back the way it had come. Along the edges of the road, farmers trudged toward the Sierra Square market, each weighed down by cargo.
It would be December next month. From Christmas Eve to January 6th, all the citizens of Forza would eat and make merry for a long festival period. Since it was a holiday to conclude the year and welcome the new one with a noisy celebration, they were already slaughtering livestock and salting meat in preparation. The hides of the cattle were sold to the leather guild, and tanned leather moved again to shoe, bag, and dyeing guilds.
It was chaotic enough at this time ordinarily, but with the wedding of the newly ascended vampire queen approaching, the thoroughfare leading to Sierra Square was teeming with people.
Gyeongju stared around at her vibrant scene, noticing things she usually did not see. Excitement, anticipation, joy, and pleasure radiated from every corner. So this is how people live. Gyeongju felt she finally understood what it meant to be human. That mundane sense of solidarity made her giddy.
“…What are you doing?”
“Ah, you startled me!”
It was Otto. Small, unchanging Otto, who looked the same as she had three, even five years before. She wore a crumpled felt hat and laughed loudly at Gyeongju’s surprise.
“What? When did you get here?”
“Why are you so startled? Gyeongju, did you commit some crime?”
“Oh my, when on earth will you grow up!”
Gyeongju hooked an arm around Otto’s neck and messily ruffled her short hair.
“Ow, seriously! Stop embarrassing me!”
“Where did you get this hat? Whose did you steal, huh?”
“I did not steal it! I told you I do not steal anymore!”
Shoving Gyeongju away with a scowl, Otto snatched the hat back and pressed it down again over her small head. Gyeongju had sent word to Otto beforehand because there was so much to purchase. No matter how she looked at it, she could not understand how such bizarre strength originated from this tiny child. Where she lived, how she survived; everything about her was a mystery, yet Gyeongju knew not to ask. It was an unspoken rule among those who met on the street that they would not pry.
“Why have you not come by Clovis Manor lately? Inju misses you.”
They naturally laced their fingers together and began walking toward the market. Otto led the way while she scanned their surroundings with sharp eyes.
“The mistress of that house dislikes me terribly. How could a dirty orphan of Kintol go in and out of a noble lady’s residence?”
“Did something happen? Did the mistress do something to you…?”
“No, nothing like that. It is just that I feel self-conscious.”
“You feel self-conscious? You?”
Otto turned back to look at her, then burst into giggles. As the mischievous little girl beamed, that innocent smile tugged at something deep inside Gyeongju’s heart. If there was something in the world that should never change, Otto’s smile would be one such thing. She pulled Otto into a firm embrace. As the felt hat, slightly too large for her small head, fell off, Otto’s golden hair fluttered in the wind.
“Otto…”
“Gyeongju, what is wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you crazy?”
