Please Kill Me - Chapter 51
However, she was not able to neglect surveillance. Which meant that Olga had no choice but to reduce her sleep to match Yekaterina’s sleeping hours.
Under different circumstances, Leonid might have instructed to rotate the surveillance duty, but the other servants at the mansion were not deemed reliable enough for such a task.
– “Anyway, it seems the Miss has good interpersonal skills. Or perhaps there’s something that specifically connects her with those she interacts with?”
– “As long as she’s getting along, it’s fine. Anything else?”
– “Well, most of it you probably already know since you’re almost with her all day.”
– “That’s true. Not much of a difference there.”
Yekaterina’s daily routine revolved around three main activities: eating, walking, and browsing goods, with the last one mainly being Leonid’s interference during snack times, Making it essentially just eating and walking.
Occasionally, she’d go to the training ground to stretch out, but that too fell under the category of walking.
She tirelessly roamed the garden: once after waking up, again after meals, once in the afternoon on horseback, and once more before bed.
Her fondness for the garden was notable.
– “Someone might think she lived in a mansion without a garden before.”
– “Maybe she enjoys going out? It could be suffocating to stay indoors.”
– “That’s a possibility.”
Was that really the reason?
While Leonid was lost in thought, the cheerful voice of a footman and the sound of horses being readied outside broke the silence.
“Miss, I’m ready for the walk!”
“I’m coming.”
Before anyone could respond, Yekaterina put down the bear plush and stood up to leave, followed quickly by Olga, who hastily put down the pearl accessories to catch up.
It appeared that the amiable-looking footman who had called her was also quite close to her, as they easily engaged in conversation as they left.
Though the conversation mostly consisted of the footman talking and Yekaterina responding, the important part was that their interaction seemed quite friendly.
Leonid narrowed his eyes at this scene, then turned to Stepan, who was switching his monocle.
“Stepan, what’s the name of that footman?”
“The young man with brown hair? That’s Nikolai. He’s the son of the stable keeper, quite diligent and decent.”
Leonid wasn’t interested in whether Nikolai was decent or not.
“It seems he’s quite close to Yekaterina.”
“Well, the Miss enjoys horseback riding, doesn’t she? She mentioned not being accustomed to horseback riding, so I suspect they became closer as he helped her with it. As you know, our stables don’t have horses suitable for ladies to ride.”
Ladies who find it inconvenient to ride horses due to their dresses usually ride horses that are trained to walk slowly and smoothly. If the horse isn’t trained this way, someone must always be beside it, holding the reins, and it seems Nikolai has been taking on this role.
“I’ve seen them together quite often, and they seem very cozy.”
Yekaterina being helped on and off the horse, and sometimes even being lifted off, made Stepan chuckle.
“It’s good to see they’re getting along.”
“…Yes, it’s good.”
If she’s found some interest in horseback riding, then perhaps all this commotion wasn’t entirely in vain.
Leonid watched until Yekaterina, who was on horseback, moved out of sight from the window, then turned away.
‘Whether she likes riding horses or not.’
It’s really time to stop caring.
Yekaterina turned her head.
As usual, resolutions tend to drift in another direction.
At first, Leonid was confident he could stop caring about Yekaterina.
‘She’s not causing further trouble anyway.’
Just leave her be. That was the plan, he wanted to deal with family matters.
The problem was, every time he let his guard down, he found himself thinking about Yekaterina.
Her unchanged expression no matter what was offered. The unresolved conversations and the moments when Yekaterina closed her eyes in front of him.
That moment felt like glimpsing a fragment of death.
It made Leonid feel so stuffy that he had to rub his neck several times.
Truly, it was an incessantly bothersome matter.
‘Why, exactly?’
Looking out the window, Yekaterina herself seemed perfectly content. Riding horses and matching the rhythm of Olga’s fuss. She was not causing more trouble or begging for death.
Why, then, did the mere recollection of those expressions make it feel as if Yekaterina’s death was looming right before him?
Only then did Leonid realize he didn’t know why Yekaterina wanted to die.
It was something he might have questioned at some point. But he deliberately avoided delving deeper, not wanting to confront it.
He knew the reason why.
‘It brings back memories of death.’
Recalling the countless deaths he had witnessed in his not-so-long life, and the pieces of himself that were torn away.
– “I don’t want to die, Leonid…”
– “I just want to find peace. Let me die, will you? You’re the only one who can…”
Yekaterina effortlessly touched upon memories of death that even Stepan, who had known him since he was very young, was unaware of.
That’s why Leonid didn’t want to know more about Yekaterina.
