The Nanny of House Herzen - Chapter 32
The head maid knew the master well but not Evelyn. She never imagined Evelyn would dare to flee with the baby. She couldn’t fathom that she would attempt to escape again so soon.
It was she who had initially brought Evelyn into the household. The head maid couldn’t help but blame herself.
She knew nothing about who Evelyn was or where she came from, leading to this situation.
‘Wounds don’t heal just by being covered…’
She had regretted not addressing the young master’s wounds for so long, only to repeat the same mistake. She could only hope that Evelyn, with nowhere else to turn, wouldn’t face more misfortune.
* * *
Carius left for the hunt immediately and only returned a week later, in the dead of night.
The stablehand, who had accompanied him, brought a large sack to the playroom after their return. He then lit the room as brightly as if it was daytime.
Carius didn’t retire to his bedroom either. Without even changing his clothes, he went straight to the playroom and opened the sack on a large table.
A large animal tumbled lifelessly onto the table. His gloved hands gently stroked the cold body of the creature. Under his hands, the animal’s limbs were neatly arranged.
The creature that once roamed freely no longer breathed.
The wolf’s eyes, having lost their life, were sunken. Its yellow eyes, which might have once reproached him, had lost their luster. A fleeting expression of regret crossed the man’s face as he looked down at the animal.
He grasped a sharp knife. The well-honed blade sliced down the wolf’s belly.
He separated the flesh from the skin with practiced ease. His unhesitating movements revealed how familiar he was in this task.
He briefly considered preserving the organs as specimens but decided against it. He already had plenty of wolf organs. His only regret was not being able to catch a larger animal due to his lack of focus.
Carius brought out the pre-prepared wire and began inserting it into the wolf’s limbs. Shaping the animal’s form with the wire was a time-consuming task, but Carius took his time.
He calmly opened his sketch pad and decided to mimic the most preservable pose of the wolf. Occasionally, he sprinkled white powder to prevent any potential decay. The familiar, unpleasant smell of the preservative filled the room.
This task couldn’t be completed in a single day, and after riding for days, he was also tired.
After spending some time on the initial work, he roughly cleaned up the messy surroundings. He shoved the useless flesh and organs into a sack, something that would surely make the head maid faint if she saw it. The sack would need to be disposed of by Kevin, the stablehand.
Kevin, who handled all sorts of dirty work for him, was the closest among the many servants.
Despite having uttered only a single annoying word, he had been locked in the basement overnight. When released the next day, Kevin had shown no resentment, only remorse.
“I overstepped. Please forgive me.”
“…Don’t let it happen again.”
Carius had forgiven him with that one statement, but understanding his own feelings was still difficult.
He still couldn’t decide which one he was more upset with. About Kevin talking to Evelyn about his marriage or about their unseen conversations. In fact, there was no benefit of locking Kevin up. The thought of locking Evelyn up instead had crossed his mind more than once.
Carius gazed at the array of animal specimens. Among the countless lifeless glass eyes, the dazzling sea-blue eyes occasionally flickered and then vanished. The woman with those eyes haunted him.
He liked the sweet scent that clung to Evelyn. She had saved a dying child with sweetness as profound as her own.
He relished touching her with hands that had only known death.
Without the need for alcohol or preservatives, he could forget the stench of his mother’s death when touching the mystical, wonderful, small woman.
The yellow lamp cast its light on the blue steel of the knife on the table. Carius slowly shook his head.
She left because she found him repulsive. If he forces her to stay, she will slowly wither away, just like everything else in his presence.
And then she will no longer be sweet. If she loses that scent, having her will bring him no joy.
He repeated the thought endlessly, as if trying to commit it to memory.
6. Elder Lady Celsius
Fifteen days had passed since Evelyn started working at the bookstore. There were still no updates from the people at the tavern she had placed her trust in, but the wages from the bookstore were enough to get by.
She still had the money she had saved from her time at Herzen. Evelyn decided to keep it for emergencies. It would come in handy if she lost her job or her place to stay again.
The bookstore owner had asked her to call her Hannah. The old books Hannah had wanted to organize had finally gone on sale after fifteen days.
Among them was a book titled ‘The Art of Hunting’, which Evelyn began to read in her spare time. Hannah clicked her tongue disapprovingly.
“If you’re going to read, read something like this. You must have given your parents plenty of headaches when they were alive, huh?”
The book Hannah handed her was titled ‘The Manners of a Lady.’ Evelyn chuckled.
