Please Kill Me - Chapter 44
Sacrifice for the greater good is expected, but this wasn’t about the mighty falling for the meek. The strong sacrifice themselves for the weak.
That was the extent of her sentiment. She was all too familiar with death and indifferent towards others.
The countless deaths Yekaterina had witnessed, and the death of Vasily Arkady, were no different to her.
Yet, why? Why did the news of the messenger from the imperial court suddenly bring that incident to mind? And why couldn’t she just overlook it?
It was all uncharacteristic of her.
– When have you ever listened to me anyway, Vasily?
But Yekaterina’s voice had quickly escaped her, quicker than her contemplation, when she heard Leonid’s words.
It was truly uncharacteristic. Since when did she pity anyone?
Yet, what’s done is done. Yekaterina decided to lean on the more comfortable thought.
‘The messenger from the imperial family might not be about that incident.’
Probably not.
Yekaterina left the training ground and headed towards the garden. She saw the maid, Olga, spotting her and hurrying over.
“Miss! Where have you been? I’ve been searching for you!”
“Yes, the garden looked lovely.”
“It is lovely, isn’t it? Uncle Josip might be grumpy, but he does his job well. If you had asked, I would have guided you!”
Olga, seemingly thrilled to have found Yekaterina, approached her warmly, then gasped at her state.
“What happened to you? Look at your hair! And your clothes! What in the world happened in just a short while?”
“The training ground.”
I had a duel with your master. She bit back the rest of her words.
“Were you at the training ground? But even so, how did it end up like this…? Did you go there and do rolls and flips in the air three times each?”
Something similar, but with swords involved. However, Yekaterina remained silent.
Luckily, Olga didn’t seem intent on prying further.
“Let’s change your clothes first. I’ll fix your hair for you.”
Yekaterina was led by Olga back into the mansion.
Being led felt slightly unfamiliar, including the undisciplined yet friendly atmosphere of this mansion.
But Yekaterina didn’t complain. She just didn’t want to.
It was really unexpected.
* * *
“Here we are, all done. How do you find it?”
Yekaterina looked into the mirror when Stepan asked.
Reflected in the mirror was a silver-haired woman sitting there. The dark eyes, the languidly opened eyes, and the indifferent expression were all familiar, but there was one unfamiliar element.
The bangs covering the woman’s forehead. Wrapped in a large cloth, Yekaterina quietly observed the woman in the mirror and briefly commented.
“It feels strange.”
“It’s normal to feel awkward when you change your hairstyle. But you’ll get used to it quickly. It suits you very well.”
Despite Yekaterina’s impassiveness, which could even seem curt, Stepan responded with a laugh.
Olga chimed in from the side.
“Right, Miss! It suits you so well. You look even cuter! Though I would have done a good job cutting it too.”
“Ha, we can’t have Miss’s hair looking like it’s been gnawed by rats, can we?”
Yekaterina agreed with Stefan’s remark.
Unfortunately, Olga lacked a bit… rather, quite a lot of talent in haircutting. Even Yekaterina, who knew nothing about beauty care, could tell something was off with Olga’s skills.
If it hadn’t been for Stefan coming up to offer tea, who knows what would have become of Yekaterina’s hair.
‘Not that I would care much about what happened to it, anyway.’
Yekaterina had never done much with her hair besides cutting it when it got too long. She had even considered cutting it very short, but couldn’t do so because Ludmila preferred long hair.
In fact, Yekaterina thought about leaving her hair as it was after it got accidentally cut by Leonid’s sword. After all, a slightly shorter hair wasn’t a big deal.
However, it seemed that the two people beside her thought otherwise.
“I was in the middle of trimming it! Stepan didn’t do that great of a job either. What!”
“What are you talking about? I cut it perfectly.”
“Look here, this part is shorter!”
“That… I left it shorter on purpose, as a charm.”
The two argued back and forth about who had done a better job, finally deciding to find a judge.
Just then, someone who had been looking for Yekaterina entered.
“Your Grace!”
“Master! How does the Miss’s hair look to you?”
The judge—Leonid—observed the room, Yekaterina, and the squabbling pair, then frowned and simply said, “Everyone out.”
* * *
‘What exactly is happening here?’
Leonid pondered the chaotic scene with a frown.
He had just returned from meeting the messenger sent by the imperial family. The issue was that the meeting had left an uncomfortable impression, especially since Yekaterina’s advice had turned out to be pertinent.
Leonid had given a somewhat positive response to Yekaterina’s comments for two reasons: he didn’t want to engage in another argument while the Emperor’s message was waiting, and he also knew that there would be few reasons to mobilize troops while in the capital.
