Swan Grave - Chapter 37

Beneath the shadow cast across his face, Rothbart’s eyes glowed a dark crimson, like the first pomegranate seed swallowed by the wife of the god of the underworld. The murky light, mingled with resignation and anticipation, couldn’t settle for a long time.

***

Though she had been driven out of the drawing room, Rose couldn’t suppress her excitement. Finally!

Demons were born shrouded in arrogance, so it was only natural that Odile would be displeased with being called here. That much was within Rose’s calculations.

From what Rose had observed, to Rothbart, Odile held no greater value than the Marchioness. Compared to Odile, Anna held even less. Such beings could never take the Marchioness’s place.

Surely she had overreacted. Keeping Anna by his side and continuing her research were clearly separate matters. Thinking back now, it was more likely Rothbart had lost hope because she’d continued to fail her experiments.

But there was room for excuses. Rose had only uncovered the successful formula for the experiment two years ago.

Since then, she had deliberately ruined two experiments, but managing to restore the formula within three years at all had been little more than a fluke. She thought she could drag it out a little longer. To be cast aside so abruptly was beyond her expectations.

Still, it was too early to give up. Unlike Rothbart, Odile was desperate for an heir. Therefore, she would find some way to persuade Rothbart to continue the experiments…

Of course, conducting experiments under Odile wasn’t what Rose desired. Living once more under Rothbart as before—that was all Rose wanted, her small and simple wish.

‘If even then Master has no will to continue the experiments… then I will have no choice but to turn to Svanhild.’

If Svanhild were gone, Rothbart would be left without an heir, and in order to summon the swan, he would inevitably seek her again.

First, Odile persuading the master was what mattered. While she remained in the mansion, Rose would need to wait quietly so as not to offend the demons. Rose’s green eyes sparkled like verdant leaves filled with hope.

As Rose kept herself low and cautious, she happened to overhear the maids whispering under the landing.

“It’s been so long since she’s had free time. Maybe I should have just told her to rest… I might have pushed her too hard.”

“Anna’s actually pretty stubborn. Even if you told her to rest, Susan, she wouldn’t have listened.”

Anna’s name caught Rose’s attention. The voices were familiar. Likely those rude, vulgar maids who always followed Anna around. Rose frowned in displeasure.

Unaware of Rose’s presence, the maids went on with their talk.

“Don’t think too hard on it. Didn’t Anna just make a joke?”

“Right. I’ve heard of stress making people lose sight of things, but I’ve never heard of seeing the wrong color. She must have just mistaken it.”

“I hope that’s all it was.”

So that brat had been whining all over the place. Rose’s red lips twisted in annoyance.

It didn’t seem they were hiding anything in particular, only idly chatting while slacking off. Rose, having lost interest, was about to continue on her way when a single word from them stopped her.

“What bothers me is that she said Lady Brabant had red eyes. Could Anna have been so distressed that, upon seeing Lady Brabant with Master, she mistook her to that extent?”

What? Rose’s heart pounded.

Even as her thoughts raced, their conversation continued.

“Why do you think it’s a mistake? Maybe Lady Brabant really does have red eyes. Have you ever seen Master let just anyone into the mansion? If she has red eyes, it’s certainly possible.”

“If that were true, the rumor of Lady Brabant being a beauty would have been overshadowed long ago by talk of her being a demon. The current Count of Brabant isn’t a demon, after all.”

“That’s true… Ugh, Betty, why did you have to go asking someone who looked unwell about what Lady Brabant looked like?”

“But I was curious.”

As their conversation continued, Rose, belatedly coming to her senses, rushed down the stairs. At the sudden pounding footsteps, the maids flinched, and before they knew it, Rose stood before them.

Rose grabbed the maid in front by the collar, her reddened eyes rolling fiercely.

“What did you say?”

“Ow, M-Miss Schwartz. What are you doing?”

“Say it again. What did Anna say?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

The maid whose collar was seized shook off Rose’s hand irritably. The other maids surrounding the choking one glared at Rose with resentful eyes.

But Rose had no room to care for such trifling gazes. Her head spun, and the floor wavered.

The illusion magic of the demon Odile was something even Rose, a black magician, could not pierce. To Rose’s eyes, Odile’s pupils appeared only as a calm blue like a lake.

The only ones who could see Odile’s eyes as red were demons or…

“Or swans, upon whom a demon’s magic does not work…”

Rose’s lips trembled as she muttered a low sigh. Why her master had no further interest in summoning swans, why he treated that woman with such special regard… the puzzle pieces, scattered and disordered, now all fell into place.

With the swan’s appearance, Rose’s very purpose vanished. Truly, there was no place for her in this mansion anymore… The hope she had clung to collapsed at last into the mud. Rose squeezed her eyes shut in despair.

***

Summoned to the drawing room, Anna returned to the kitchen. She was about to finish the work she had left undone earlier when Susan, who had been furtively watching her, urged her to just go rest and gave her a gentle push on the back. Anna hesitated, glancing at Cathy, the head of the kitchen, but Cathy too clicked her tongue as if in agreement with Susan’s thought and jerked her chin, signaling Anna to leave.

Susan was unusually firm today. With no other choice, Anna staggered out of the kitchen, touching her face. She had thought she had managed her expression, but it seemed not as well as she wished.

Back in her room, Anna flopped onto the bed. The fatigue that she had told herself was fine until now came crashing down on her like a tidal wave.

When she’d closed the drawing room door behind her, she had thought perhaps it was for the best. That she could finally let go of the clumsy expectations she had harbored, that she must shake them off before physical attachment turned into affection…

But now, left alone, she realized it too late. What had let her walk toward an uncertain future had been that vague expectation. That even if she were forced to live in this world for the rest of her life, perhaps there might be a place for her to stay.

But now…

The scene she had witnessed today was etched especially sharply in Anna’s eyes.

Sunlight streamed into the splendid drawing room, and Rothbart and Lady Brabant, sitting side by side drinking tea, looked as though painted together. People who lived in a different world from the one where she, in her dirty apron, had to move in the shadows. Not because they were beings from different dimensions, but simply because the class difference between humans was so starkly clear. Anna’s shoulders sank under the weight of helplessness as she watched their leisurely figures.

Even if she and Rothbart mixed their bodies, that didn’t make them the same kind of human. Until now, she had feigned ignorance of that fact, but at last she couldn’t turn away. She even thought she had been fortunate when she used to agonize as the Marchioness’s shadow.

If Lady Brabant became the Marchioness, how long would she be able to endure in this mansion? If only she could leave before then… Choked with heaviness and hopelessness, Anna curled up tightly and shut her eyes.

So lost in thought that her mind was swallowed and severed, she dozed off. The feeling of someone fiddling with her hair brought Anna’s consciousness back to the surface. At some point, the sun had set, and the room was darkened.

Sensing someone behind her, Anna asked in a drowsy voice.

“Susan…?”