Please Kill Me - Chapter 34
Yekaterina was feeling anxious for no apparent reason.
She realized that nobody was looking for her. It wasn’t until around lunchtime that a maid knocked on her door.
– “Guest, it’s nearly lunchtime. Would you like to eat? Oh, you’re already prepared?”
– “Yes. Shall I help with preparing lunch?”
– “What are you talking about? Just sit down. You must be hungry, right? I’ll tell them to hurry up with the preparations.”
Only then did Yekaterina truly grasp that she didn’t have to do anything at all. And that this place wasn’t Offenbach.
‘It’s strange.’
It wasn’t necessarily a pleasant or enjoyable feeling.
Leonid had only given Yekaterina two instructions for staying at the manor. First, not to reveal her identity, and second, not to venture outside the mansion.
– “You wouldn’t want Offenbach to find out you’re here. Take care of your body.”
Those were the only tasks assigned to her.
Yet, this excessive freedom felt as alien as being submerged in cold water.
Usually, 24 hours a day was insufficient with her always bustling around. But now she found herself aimlessly searching for things to do.
‘You can be tired of doing nothing, after all.’
Living indeed seemed a tiresome affair. Had Leonid not injured his hand, she might have been resting in eternal sleep beneath the ground by now.
Nonetheless, enjoying delicious food was a silver lining.
The chef of Rostislav was truly exceptional. How could every dish be so delicious?
For lunch that day, Yekaterina sat alone at an empty table and devoured a wide variety of dishes. Except that the food didn’t go down as easily as it had the night before, everything was fine.
As she thought about this, the previous night came to mind.
The roundabout conversation in Leonid’s bedroom.
Even though Leonid eventually sent her away in the end, Yekaterina still held onto some regrets.
‘If I were by his side, he would be safe…’
It would be a lie to say she hadn’t felt vindicated when the assassin intruded. Yekaterina was quite pleased when she killed the assassin.
It felt like she had finally found something worthwhile to do.
Seeing her capabilities, Leonid too would recognize her usefulness and assign her tasks, wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t standing guard at night be a fair exchange for her stay?
But what was the outcome? Leonid said her help wasn’t needed and told her to go back. How disappointing.
Yet, Yekaterina was not one to easily give up.
Looking disheartened as she headed back to her room, Yekaterina made a resolution.
To appeal her usefulness to Leonid a bit more.
Over time, Yekaterina had trained in various skills. Surely, there had to be at least one area where she could be of use.
Assessing places in the Rostislav residence where the security needed beefing up was her first task.
‘Just adding guards in about one or four places would significantly improve security.’
Her keen sense that had been honed during her stay at Offenbach, was still useful.
Thanks to her memories of being an assassin, Yekaterina could easily pinpoint the areas where the mansion’s security was lax. She planned to convey this to Leonid and bring up her offer from yesterday once more.
‘Two places near the back gate, the left side near the front gate hidden by the garden…’
As Yekaterina spun around, pointing out with her finger in mid-air the things she planned to babble about to Leonid, her finger paused when it swung back to the front.
She had stumbled upon an unexpected location.
“…The training ground.”
A spark lit up in Yekaterina’s dark eyes.
* * *
Rostislav’s first knight, Vasily, was in the midst of chastising himself.
‘Pathetic. Couldn’t even notice a single intrusion.’
Whooh, hooh. With each hot breath, his sweat-drenched hands swung a wooden sword.
His shirt was long discarded, and with every movement of his arms, the muscles and shoulder blades on his back pronounced themselves. The training dummies were receiving a beating.
Following Yekaterina, the intrusion of an assassin was a significant oversight for Vasily, the first knight and the head of the residence’s security.
‘I need to improve further.’
More. More. More.
No matter the time he had spent defending the northern borders of Rostislav, combating invasions from barbarians and monsters, and accumulating skills considered above average.
He still had a long way to go.
Especially considering his lord Leonid was an insurmountable mountain to him.
‘If only I could reach half of Master’s level …’
Thud! The wooden sword broke. A piece of the broken half flew towards the entrance of the training grounds and rolled to a stop.
If he had controlled his strength properly, this wouldn’t have happened. It was evidence that he still couldn’t shake off his deep thoughts. As Vasily frowned in a wave of self-reproach, a faint figure appeared in his sweat-blurred vision.
With an appearance that somehow reminded him of a snowfield, the figure picked up a piece of the broken wooden sword.
“Did you perhaps drop this wooden sword in water?”
A tone devoid of warmth, a voice flowing like a whisper without a trace of kindness.
He didn’t need to see clearly to know who it was.
One of the very people who had plunged Vasily into self-doubt.
Yekaterina Offenbach.
Vasily’s brow that was wet with sweat, furrowed slightly.
