Swan Grave - Chapter 17

Startled for a moment by the unexpected scars, her trembling instead subsided. Anna moved her hands calmly.

‘Who knew putting on a shirt could be this hard?’

In some ways, he required more attention than Svanhild. If Rothbart’s intent was not to confront her about that night, but to slowly squeeze the life out of her, she felt she ought to applaud him for his success.

Thanks to Anna’s efforts, Rothbart now looked every bit the flawless gentleman. Now Anna, anxious about what he might command next, lowered her eyes and obediently awaited his order.

“You act well. Are you used to things like this?”

“Yes?”

“Sleeping with your employer, then pretending as if nothing happened.”

Her heart pounded at his sudden, blunt mention of that night. From the moment she had been told she was to be his personal maid, she had feared this, but all her preparation crumbled under Rothbart’s ambush.

“Now at last your face is a little worth seeing.”

Rothbart seized Anna’s chin firmly. She was forced to meet his eyes. Her disheveled face, like a moon broken on the water’s surface, lay exposed before him.

Trembling in fear, Anna tried to push him away, but it was like pushing against a wall.

“D-don’t do this, master.”

“Why do you think I made you my personal maid? You must have guessed somewhat.”

Rothbart’s cold red eyes searched her face. It was a gaze probing as if to drag out some hidden truth. As if her real heart lay elsewhere…

Could he possibly be mistaking her shame for a secret welcome of his advances? Horrified, Anna shook her head violently.

“I don’t know. If I did something wrong…”

“Wrong? No. You did well. Too well, which is why I called for you.”

With that, Rothbart grabbed Anna’s buttocks. Feeling the flesh squashed in his grip, Anna swallowed a shrill scream. A chill ran down the back of her neck.

Her body was pulled into his arms, smearing ashes on the new clothes he had just put on, but he didn’t care. His clothes carried the scent of ambergris.

Rothbart buried his nose in her nape and whispered, “You must know already, but I had a wife from the eastern continent.”

“……”

“And you… astonishingly, you resemble her. From over ten years ago… in her younger days.”

Anna’s body went rigid like a log. His next words hovered just within reach. Rothbart whispered into her ear, his breath pouring into it.

“Be my wife’s replacement.”

At last, the words fell, and Anna’s head swam. Strength drained from her body, her legs buckled, but held tight in his arms, she only leaned deeper into him.

Struggling to pull away, she stammered, “T-to be your wife’s replacement, what do you mean…”

“It means to do again and again what we did last time, in my wife’s room.”

At Rothbart’s brazen words, Anna’s face turned as pale as a swan’s feather. He pressed his hand against her faintly parted, bloodless lips.

“Losing my wife, you are the first I’ve ever plunged into so madly. Even yesterday, I pleasured myself thinking of you. You too… must have missed me.”

With a smooth, untroubled face, Rothbart spoke without a shred of shame. As if certain Anna must have missed him just as much.

Anna tried to deny it, but before she could, Rothbart ground his crotch against her stomach. Her undergarments soaked through at once. The sensation of something trickling down her thigh sent a shiver of disgust through her.

Her stiffened nipples tingled as they brushed against the fabric. Startled at her body’s automatic response, Anna panicked. Even in this situation, her body was preparing to accept the man before her. As if that one encounter had already tamed her…

Rothbart, quick in his senses, didn’t miss the scent of arousal. The corner of his lips rose faintly, dimpling his cheek.

“You still get wet so easily. Though your face is this dry.”

Rothbart slowly stroked Anna’s cheek with the back of his finger. The cold of the Lohengrin family head’s signet ring pressed into her skin. Anna lowered her gaze, but she could feel his eyes inspecting her every move.

“I… I can’t. That night was clearly a mistake.”

“Mistake? Did you enter a tightly locked room by mistake?”

Rothbart sneered. Then he roughly seized Anna’s breast. At the crushing pain of flesh, Anna let out a low moan.

“Ahh!”

“Women from the eastern continent, believing only in their shared origin with my wife, have entered that room to seduce me more times than I can count. You too, though you act modest now, isn’t that just another ploy to turn me on?”

“N-no. Please believe me.”

“Ha. If you are scheming to raise your worth, give it up. Whether cheap or dear, you’ll have no choice but to sell yourself at the price I name.”

Rothbart pressed his thumb against Anna’s nipple. Each time his hand touched her, strength drained from her body and heat rose higher.

In her head, alarms blared that she must not be left alone with him. If this continued, she would only repeat the night before… Anna clenched her teeth and, with all her strength, shoved him away.

To her surprise, Rothbart released her without resistance. Standing still, he simply watched as Anna fled.

Her hand reached the door. She only needed to turn the knob, when Rothbart’s voice stopped her.

“Don’t you want to know how to return to your original world?”

Anna froze. At those devilish words, Anna felt even fear.

“H-how?”

“How do I know you’re a swan, you mean?”

Rothbart sneered. Step by step, he approached Anna. Though she knew she should open the door and escape, Anna couldn’t move.

“You may deceive the whole world, but not me.”

Rothbart’s eyes curved. The evil hidden beneath a veneer of civility bared its true form.

“Have you never heard that the head of the Lohengrin family was born on a cursed day, a demon?”

“……”

“A demon can only sire children with a swan… so when he meets a swan, his blood instinctively cries out: plant your seed in that wench, impregnate her at once.”

Closing in on her, Rothbart snickered and poked Anna’s stomach with his finger. With her back to the door, Anna had nowhere to flee. She could only offer up her body to his malice.

“And… the same goes for the swan. To return to her original world, a swan must bear a child with someone of this world.”

“T-that’s a lie.”

Anna stammered in panic. The sudden word pregnancy hit her hard. Compared to this, Rothbart’s demand that she be his wife’s replacement seemed easier to accept.

“My wife, who was also a swan, bore Svanhild and then returned to her original world. If you want to believe it’s a lie, do as you wish. But why would I lie to you?”

As Rothbart spoke of his wife, his face twisted with pain. It was a pitiful look, uncharacteristic of the predator who had cornered Anna. It almost stirred sympathy.

But sympathy didn’t last long. In an instant, Rothbart smiled and pressed her again.

“Of course, simply giving birth doesn’t mean you can return. For a swan to go back to her original world, there are other conditions.”

“…What conditions?”

“That I won’t so easily tell you.”

Rothbart let out a hearty laugh, as if Anna were joking. Faced with his ridiculous laughter, Anna could only bite down hard on her lower lip without saying a word.

“In truth, I don’t particularly need another child. I already have Svanhild. But I like you… and you need a man to plant his seed in you. Think of it as a fair trade.”

At Rothbart’s slimy whisper in her ear, Anna was thrown into confusion.