🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 2
“Huff… huff…!”
The maid ran frantically.
“Chase her! She’s over there!!”
Woof! Woof woof!
In the distance, the sound of hunting dogs barking echoed.
“Please, haah…!!”
Clutching the newborn in her arms, the maid tore through the underbrush. The baby cried loudly.
“If they catch us… haah… they must not catch us. You, at least….”
Branches and sharp leaves scratched and cut her skin. Protecting the child with her entire body, the maid ran through the dark forest at night.
The mansion had already been in decline.
Eight out of ten servants had left, saying the place was cursed. Olvi was the lone remaining maid, stubbornly staying to earn money.
As the number of servants dwindled, the work grew harder—but quitting was not an option.
She did it for the child she had carried in her womb back then, and now held in her arms.
“Sniff…”
She had once promised to marry a fellow servant from the same mansion and had even had a child with him.
But the father had long since died in an unexplained accident.
Perhaps it was the mansion’s curse. Olvi had given birth alone, and before she could even savor that small happiness, a wealthy lord began making vile demands.
“Hic… Your belly was so restless, but now… hic… you’re quite the sight.”
“M-Master…”
“This is a rare opportunity for you… How about it? I could give you more money.”
She had refused, evaded, and hidden the truth dozens of times.
“How dare you reject me?! You insignificant servant, you dare speak back!!”
“P-Please, don’t do this!!”
Smack!
In an instant, Olvi smashed the lord’s head with a nearby ashtray.
“Ugh… You filthy, wretched woman…”
“Ahhh!!”
She ran to the servants’ quarters, clutching the baby and escaping outside the mansion.
“Sniff… I’m sorry, sorry, my child. I shouldn’t have brought you into such a place…”
Olvi ran blindly, turning her back to the sound of hunting dogs. If the lord’s men caught her, she knew this time she would truly die.
She didn’t care about herself anymore—only the child had to live.
The innocent child, born from someone like her, who knew nothing…
“Huff, huff…”
She ran and ran. Eventually, she stopped, gasping, as a faint light appeared ahead.
“…A house. My child… it’s a house.”
Sweating and exhausted, Olvi dashed toward the light.
Woof! Woof!
The dogs’ barking sounded clearer behind her.
Olvi hid in an alley, quickly scanning the surroundings. Many houses were dark, and only one nearby had its lights on.
“Sniff…”
Through tearful eyes, Olvi approached the back of the lit house, looking for a place to hide the child.
“Waaah, waaah…”
The baby’s cries grew hoarse from the continuous running and her racing heartbeat.
“Shh, my child. Please… please, shh…”
Olvi stomped her feet. She had to hide the child quickly. A place to leave the baby…
“…There, over there.”
Almost crying, Olvi found a worn wooden box. Using the faint light, she picked it up.
She placed the baby inside and gathered some rags from nearby.
“Waaah…”
Perhaps because she had moved the child from her arms to a stable place, the baby’s crying soon subsided.
“…Hhh.”
Olvi wiped her tears and stroked the name tag around the baby’s neck.
“Silvester…”
Without money for a proper necklace, she had carved his name on a piece of wood.
“…Silvester. Silvester, you must survive.”
Her hands trembled, unable to wipe away her tears. The rags in her hands shook.
She knew that if the wealthy lord wanted to, it would be easy to scour the village and find Silvester.
“You must survive…”
So she had to ensure the lord would never find him.
Olvi covered the sleeping child with the rags and searched for the darkest house, not the one with the light.
If she had hidden the child in a lit house, they might have been discovered.
“…Hhh… sniff…”
As Olvi hid the child among the wooden debris,
Woof! Woof woof!!
The sound of dogs came from a short distance. Olvi frantically felt along the wooden box.
“Silvester. You mustn’t cry. No noise. Absolutely no one can find you…”
Woof!!
A dog’s shadow moved in the distance.
Alive.
He must survive.
Olvi whispered this vow and dashed back into the street, through the sparsely placed houses, and into the forest again.
“This way! Follow me!!”
Olvi laughed and cried at the same time. She deliberately lured the dogs while running swiftly. Ahead loomed a steep mountainside.
“There! This way, master!!”
Woof woof!!
The dogs, the lord’s servants, and the lord on horseback were closing in. Very close now.
“Come and catch me! Do you think I fear someone like you!!”
Olvi shouted as she ran along the forest path.
The fast dogs caught up to her.
“…Huff, huff…”
At the edge of the cliff, the dogs bared their teeth, surrounding her.
Through the growling, the lord approached on horseback.
“Hic… clever to escape this far. My drink sobered me up a bit.”
“…What do you plan to do with me?”
“There’s no baby in your arms. Where did you leave it?”
Olvi bit her lips until they bled. Cold sweat ran down her back. She could not let them find the child.
Then neither she nor the child would have freedom.
“You filthy noble scum, you have no say!!”
Olvi measured the distance with determination. Would the dogs reach her first, or would she reach the lord?
“You foolish woman. Still not in your senses…”
Swish swish. The lord gestured, and his servants emerged from the bushes.
The circle tightened, the distance narrowed.
At that moment,
“…You’re the one who’s lost your senses!!”
Olvi leaped toward the lord.
Neigh!!
The startled horse jumped on its hind legs. The lord grabbed the reins desperately.
“You madwoman…!!”
But Olvi reached the horse first, clinging to its unsteady neck.
Neigh…!!
“Ugh!!”
The horse stumbled, and with Olvi clinging to it, toppled sideways.
The large horse, the lord atop it, and Olvi hanging on all fell off the cliff.
“M-Master!”
“Master…!!”
Woof! Woof woof!!
The servants cried out in shock as the dogs barked and trees on the slope lashed out.
The lord, pinned under the horse, fell at terrifying speed.
Crack!!
A sudden, horrible sound rang out.
Olvi, falling slightly after the lord, saw that his body had been impaled on the jagged trees.
“…It’s done.”
Now Silvester could survive… Olvi smiled with her eyes closed as the harsh wind whipped past.
Thud, crack!
The fallen horse cried out in its final sound.
I won’t be far behind.
Olvi’s tears scattered into the air.
Ding.
A clear bell rang.
“Welcome…!”
The bookstore owner, Herville, greeted warmly at the entrance.
“Hello.”
“Oh, isn’t that Silvester!”
Herville’s eyes widened as he looked at Silvester.
Thick black hair covering his eyebrows, bright yellow eyes. Good build, though a little thin and bent.
‘If only his head and posture were better…’
“My blue paint is all gone. I want to place an order.”
Herville awkwardly rummaged behind the counter and took out his notebook.
“Oil paints, right? Just one blue tube?”
“Ah, and white, too, if possible.”
“You use blue often these days, huh?”
“Spring is coming soon.”
“Then white as well…”
Herville scribbled a note in his notebook.
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
He often acted as a middleman for things Silvester needed, bringing them to the bookstore.
“Then I’ll go.”
Silvester seemed intent on just handling his business and leaving.
“Ah! Wait a moment.”
Herville hurriedly stopped him.
“Come to think of it, there’s something I received.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a painting, wait a moment.”
Herville went to the storage room, leaving Silvester puzzled.
“What painting?”
“One as magnificent as your own work.”
Herville hummed, recalling a few days ago.
When the ice had started melting, a fisherman came rushing from the nearby sea.
“Why are you sweating so much?”
Herville remembered the outline of the object the fisherman hid in his clothes—a large, flat, rectangular object.
“Phew. I had to avoid being seen coming here…”
“Why? What is it?”
“Is anyone here? This… I found this on the beach.”
The fisherman nervously revealed a portrait from his arms.
“It was buried in the sand.”
“This?”
Herville stared blankly at the portrait the fisherman placed on the counter.
The frame was elegant, and the painting style was unique, clearly not amateur.
“But why bring it here?”
Herville looked at the fisherman in confusion.
“Ah, you! You’re the one who sells painting supplies to that gloomy young man, right?”
“So?”
“I thought if anyone could recognize it, it would be you.”
“No, I just… thought someone of high status owned such an expensive-looking item.”
“Ah, so you brought it here! If someone like me kept it, I’d only be asked where it came from. Can’t sell this anywhere…”
The fisherman had merely found the portrait, but worried about its value and being blamed.
“So you’re passing it to me?”
“Don’t be harsh! I just couldn’t think of anyone else…”
“Huh…”
“Well, I’ll be off then.”
“Eh?”
“I delivered it properly! It’s no longer in my hands!”
“You… this person??”
“Never tell anyone I brought it!!”
Herville watched the fleeing fisherman, unsure what to do with this precious item. But since it was an unknown antique, Silvester would surely understand its value.
Silvester Riegel.
The young man was a genius painter, perhaps born once in a century.
“So it’s been safely kept here.”
Herville retrieved the portrait from its hiding place. In a few days, no one had come looking for it.
“Truly a masterpiece. The artist’s skill, and the beauty of this woman.”
If it had been so valuable, it wouldn’t have been buried on the beach. Herville returned to the counter with the portrait.
“Here. Silvester, if you want it, you may take it.”
He held up the portrait before Silvester.
“….”
Silvester stared in awe.
Within the painting was a beauty capable of captivating even kings.
