🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter : 47
Heterogeneous
There was nothing special about it.
Past emotions had worn away, and after passing through slightly weary days,
it was only that such time continued even now.
“Why are you sitting there?”
“……Just sitting.”
Today, she stopped by Windsor Street to visit her mother’s grave.
Charloff leaned her head against the gravestone. The solid stone supported her body, and she sat there like that that day.
Leandro looked down at the back of his granddaughter.
She was leaning sideways against the gravestone, and her dark crimson hair—when had it grown so long?—covered her entire back.
“Did you just come back from the activity-period worship ritual?”
“You knew?”
“The monster activity period has begun, so it must be time for the temple to hold its rites.”
Charloff adjusted her long sleeves.
The red fabric was vivid, its black tones deep. The ceremonial robes she wore in layers were low in saturation.
“Most people have forgotten, yet you remember.”
“The Empire has nearly forgotten entirely.”
“They erased the traces so that everyone would forget, generation after generation.”
Those who fought monsters, and their deaths, were all buried.
The past rulers erased the honor and dignity bound to the sword, and kept silent about the sacrifices.
Old customs were forgotten that way.
“It’s a ritual to console those who fought monsters and died. Even if the former imperial family forgot their sacrifice, now things must be different.”
When the activity period arrived, it was customary for the Empress to offer prayers at the temple.
It was an old custom, now fallen into disuse, but when public sentiment grew unstable, people sought old traditions to regain peace.
“You came without word and keep vigil by the gravestone.”
Leandro closed the distance between them.
His steps on the soil were slow, hesitant.
Stopping at an appropriate distance showed his caution.
“……So careless.”
Without even a mat, the granddaughter sat directly on the ground beside her mother’s grave.
“As a member of the imperial family, you must not break palace etiquette and rules. I’ll have a servant bring something for you to sit on.”
“I have to go soon.”
“You’ve barely arrived.”
Even as he spoke, Leandro realized his mistake. It sounded as though he were trying to bind the child in place.
“I’ll come again next time. It feels like I’ve been away from my duties too long.”
Soon after, the guards who had accompanied her from the palace approached.
Leandro observed them with proper decorum, though the worry in his gaze remained.
“Then please take care on your way.”
The carriage passed through the central plaza of the imperial capital.
They had just left the memorial tower where requiem rites were once held, and were moving through the large city district.
“Whoa—easy! Calm down!”
The driver struggled to calm the horse. Charloff lifted the arm she had been resting on the window frame. A guard knocked on the door beside her.
She pushed the window open with her fingertips, and Katarina bowed as she spoke.
“One of the wheels fell into a rainwater drain. I apologize.”
“You have nothing to apologize to me for.”
Charloff opened the carriage door and stepped down.
“It’s late.”
Tilting her head back, she quietly looked up at the city’s clock tower. The second hand on the spire marked the time.
She draped a shawl over her shoulders and pulled up her hood to hide her face. Her dark crimson hair disappeared beneath it.
Her imperial ceremonial robes were concealed as well.
“It’s evening already—the air’s getting cold.”
“When we left, the sun was just rising. We were away longer than expected.”
“The temple rites went on until late afternoon, so that’s understandable.”
Because of the symbolism, the Pope had tried tirelessly to keep Hanneli tied to the ceremony,
but Hanneli, who detested worship rites, had already disappeared that day with a bottle of liquor in hand.
“They say the Pope has high blood pressure—seems that wasn’t an exaggeration.”
She trailed off mid-sentence.
Katarina placed a hand on her scabbard.
“Your Majesty. I sense something ominous.”
The guards tightened their grips on their swords, ready to draw at any moment.
“Step back.”
Ah—someone familiar.
It was a servant who had once worked at the Tutor household, his body bending repeatedly like a scarecrow tied with string.
“……Send him off quietly.”
“Ah, my lady—it’s me. I—I served you at the Tutor household. D-do you not remember me?”
His thin voice scraped the throat, strange, as if gravel were lodged inside.
“Do you know him?”
“He seems familiar.”
“What shall we do?”
“This is an imperial city district. Don’t make a scene.”
“Then we’ll dispose of him discreetly.”
The guards clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him into an alley.
He limped badly, as though mauled by a beast. His flesh was blackened and rotting, his ankle twisted unnaturally.
The veins on his neck bulged—black. A dark hue clouded his eyes, gnawing away at his vitality.
“What in the world is that state?”
That day, her biological father, and now again the Tutor household.
She thought she had cut ties—had they never truly been severed to begin with?
Her steps changed direction.
Charloff followed him into the alley herself.
“He’s in terrible condition.”
“If he appeared before me like that, there must be a reason.”
“Then it would be right for me to see for myself.”
Charloff waved her arm lightly, trailing off.
“Don’t block the way.”
The man clawed at his neck with his arm, unable to ease the itch. He gouged his flesh with his nails, rolled on the ground, scraping his forehead.
Bloodshot eyes bulged, blood pooling in the whites.
“……H-hide me. If the m-master finds me, he’ll kill me. P-please, remember our past connection—ugh!”
He strangled himself.
“Ghk—!”
Katarina blocked Charloff’s view, but Charloff had already seen the corpse.
This wasn’t what I meant to see.
Her gaze lingered on the dead body.
Someone familiar.
Though her feelings toward them had been unpleasant, though she had cursed them, she had never wished for such a death.
“He’s dead.”
“Both breathing and pulse have stopped?”
Charloff’s tone was calm. Those who spoke of death usually showed agitation, but she did not.
It felt incongruous, and Katarina checked the pulse again to be sure.
“The pulse is gone. Was he truly someone you knew? Might you be mistaken?”
“That face is familiar. He was a servant of the Tutor household.”
Charloff muttered lowly, scratching at her neck.
“It’s strange. Why did he end up like this here…?”
“He showed clear signs of illness.”
Charloff narrowed her eyes.
“Is the carriage ready?”
“The wheel was shattered—it’ll take a bit longer to replace.”
“Then send word to the palace and explain the situation. We’re going to the Tutor household.”
The day she would return there of her own accord came sooner than planned.
The gates of the Tutor estate opened.
They hadn’t even been locked to begin with.
It’s quiet.
Too quiet. There was no sign of life.
Why…?
At dusk, this place should have been bustling.
Wood being chopped, the smell of food drifting through the air as dinner was prepared.
There was none of that. Darkness had settled, and only an empty manor greeted them.
“Please wait here. I’ll go inside first.”
The guards crossed the threshold.
Charloff followed them inside.
No one was there.
No sense of danger. No sense of discomfort.
In the past, this place had felt suffocating, like a prison. Now it felt like a desolate plain.
“There’s no presence.”
In a place where people lived, traces should remain even if they’d stepped away.
Here, everything had been severed.
“Just one day.”
Uniformed figures stepped into the manor—information agents from the palace.
Benjamin moved among them, surveying the estate thoroughly.
“He slipped away.”
“I didn’t expect him to vanish in that state.”
“With such obvious illness, who would have thought he could flee?”
Approaching quietly because it was the Empress’s maternal family had been a mistake. He was already gone.
“No presence inside—any tracks?”
“There are no tracks leading out.”
“Then they vanished inside.”
Benjamin narrowed his eyes and instructed the agents.
“Search the manor.”
“Yes, sir.”
The investigation proceeded quickly. Soon, an agent emerged to report.
“The house is empty.”
“And the servants?”
“All of them have disappeared.”
Benjamin frowned.
“No other signs?”
“There’s one faint presence.”
“In a small room. The door was locked. When we tried to force it open, we heard crying…”
She had a feeling she knew who it was.
“I’ll go in.”
She knew the manor’s layout well. The years bound in this suffocating place let her find the way even with her eyes closed.
A long corridor stretched ahead. All the candles were extinguished; only dim darkness remained.
Hic… hic…
Her breath caught as she grasped the doorknob.
“It’s me.”
The door was still locked.
“I’m coming in.”
Katarina struck the knob with her scabbard, and the door opened. The room was swallowed by darkness.
The child was hiding—but in a place like this, there was only one spot small enough.
Just as I once did.
Charloff lifted the tablecloth from the side table.
“You’re not at an age for hide-and-seek anymore, but you hid well.”
The child was on the verge of fainting from terror.
Her face was pale, cold sweat soaking her neck.
“She’s far too weak. We should take her outside and show her to a physician,” Katarina advised.
Her pupils were unfocused, her fingertips torn to shreds—as if she’d been biting them nonstop.
“Take this child outside.”
“N-no. Please. Don’t. If I go out, it h-hurts.”
“It won’t hurt.”
“They all said it would.”
“There’s no one left here now, Henrietta.”
Henrietta wedged her small body beneath the side table.
Her short dark-brown hair was tangled and matted. She was already close to losing consciousness, panting, her breaths shallow and rapid.
“Ah…”
Charloff let out a small, pained breath.
The reason I so easily found my way here.
This child resembled her—herself in her darkest days.
That was why she hated the child, yet couldn’t truly hate her; disliked her, yet couldn’t reject her.
How did we end up like this?
Footsteps approached from behind.
“It’s empty inside.”
Benjamin stood beside her, ruffling his short hair.
“Any other signs?”
“All traces have been erased.”
“Then she’s alone.”
Leaving this child alone here wasn’t an option.
Charloff reached under the side table. The fragile wrist was painfully thin—yet the arm that extended was firm.
“Let’s go. Come here.”
“……”
“I’ll take you out. Come.”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“Let’s go together.”
Why did looking at this child make her heart sink?
Because she resembled herself?
“…I want to go.”
Those were the last words Henrietta whispered.
After that, the child collapsed unconscious.
