Swan Grave - Chapter 43

“What, Anna, it was you?”

Sehyun clenched his teeth. Relieved that the owner of the bed was Anna, yet at the same time thinking, why of all people did it have to be Anna? She was the last person he wanted to see him like this… Barely gathering his shame, Sehyun crawled out from under the bed.

He was completely naked. Even when they had dated, Anna had never seen Sehyun’s bare body, and now she was dumbfounded.

“Wh, why are you here, oppa? And your clothes…”

“Do you see anything here I can wear?”

As if he had no desire to speak more on it, Sehyun changed the subject. His face was flushed. It was strange, not the kind of embarrassment one would feel about being naked… Only belatedly did Anna realize his body was covered with long red scars like whip marks.

As another swan bound to the demon, she could guess what he might have gone through alone with Lady Brabant, but even so, this was beyond what she’d expected. Avoiding his gaze, Anna rummaged through her clothes.

“They’re all skirts. That’s all I have.”

“Give me one of those, then.”

Like a hawk, Sehyun snatched the clothing from Anna’s hands. As the eldest son, he had always felt pride in his ‘manly’ appearance. For him to now shove his head into a skirt in desperation, it was a sight unimaginable to anyone who had known the Sehyun of before.

“She’s a fucking lunatic.”

As he dressed in Anna’s clothes, Sehyun bit down hard on his trembling lips.

Contrary to what was said about him being treated with great respect by Odile, Sehyun had been treated no better than an animal. Most of the time, he was locked in a crate, and whenever he was taken out to have sex with that woman, which was no different from mating, violence always accompanied it.

“You reek of cheap smoke. You let your body be used cheaply. Perhaps even your seed is rotten. You had better bathe and purify yourself.”

So saying, Odile had plunged Sehyun headfirst into ice-cold water. He had resisted with all his might, but with his limbs bound, all he could do was thrash uselessly.

“Marquess Lohengrin may coddle his swan, but I am not the same.”

Marquess Lohengrin? His swan?

Stunned by the sudden violence, Sehyun couldn’t think straight. All he could do was writhe beneath her, drowning in unwanted pleasure.

“Ugh, gack!”

“Luckily for me, I don’t have to fret over whether the swan can safely bear a child… All you need to do is spill your seed, so there’s no reason for me to keep you around long.”

Swan, seed, child… Only then did Sehyun remember the rumor he’d once heard in the village: for the demon to sire an heir, the partner must be a swan. He was no fool. He realized then that the woman astride him was of the same kind as Rothbart, the master of this Swan Grave whom they had all feared as a demon.

“So I can enjoy myself a little more to my liking, can’t I?”

With those words, what Odile brought out was a whip suited for horses. Soon Sehyun was screaming as its sharp pain tore into his skin, but despite the noise, no one came to save him.

Strangling his neck or kicking his stomach became routine. Sehyun wondered if he might die at her hands. The cruelest part was that even then, with the slightest stimulation, his lower body would obediently harden.

As days passed like that, eventually, he couldn’t even climax without pain. Sehyun grew terrified of how his body was being twisted under Odile’s control.

Then, while he was paralyzed with fear, Odile stepped away. At that moment, the cuffs that had bound him were left unlocked. Perhaps she had grown careless after pushing him to his limits the night before.

Sehyun didn’t miss that chance. He barely managed to escape, but his clothes had been shredded, leaving him no way to get far. The men’s quarters were outside the mansion. He couldn’t imagine running there naked in broad daylight. And if word reached Odile that he had fled…

A shudder ran through Sehyun. Somehow, he had to escape her clutches.

But at this hour in the mansion, there were only so many places without people. He’d never been to the maids’ quarters, but luckily, thanks to Anna, he roughly knew the layout. Without hesitation, Sehyun had come here. He thought to stitch together the maids’ clothes and run away.

Just then, he heard the sound of someone’s steps climbing the stairs. Sehyun hurriedly squeezed himself under the bed right in front of him, and who should appear but Anna. Shame aside, this was a chance from heaven. Sehyun urgently pressed her.

“We have to run right now… What day is it today?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“How many days are left until the day of the Red Moon?”

Sehyun’s eyes were bloodshot. Since entering Odile’s room, his sense of time had been completely broken.

“It’s today.”

“Damn it!”

Sehyun’s face twisted. He nervously chewed at his nails, muttering over and over as if turning something in his head.

Anna thought Sehyun was under great mental strain. Hadn’t she herself felt such humiliation and despair the first time she was with Rothbart? For someone like Sehyun, so proud, who until crossing into this world had never had to bow his head to anyone, that gap must feel all the more brutal.

But even Sehyun would adapt in time. Just as Anna had adapted to Rothbart. At first clinging to him as her only lifeline, only for that lifeline itself to become her purpose…

Once caught in the demon’s eye, there was no corner of escape for swans like them. To return to their original world, cooperating with them was the most effective way.

Sehyun must be despairing now because he didn’t know the way to return. Now it was time to reveal the truth to him. As Anna resolved to comfort him and opened her mouth, Sehyun gripped her shoulders tightly first. With a determined look, he spoke firmly.

“Listen carefully, Anna. For us to return to our original world, today is our only chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

Anna frowned at Sehyun’s sudden words. His grip on her shoulders tightened. Draped only in Anna’s dress to barely cover himself, his appearance was ridiculous, yet there was a glimpse of madness in his eyes that made her unable to laugh.

Sehyun stared fixedly at Anna and said clearly, “On the day of the red moon, if we wear the clothes we came in from our original world, we can pass through the moonlight and return. Like a feathered robe.”[1]

“What?”

Anna’s face contorted at this method so completely different from what she had known. To return to the original world, what was needed was not pregnancy, but the clothes they had originally worn?

Impossible. Then all this time, had she…

Sehyun, thinking Anna was only shocked by the sudden information, added quickly, “I only found this out recently. If we miss today, we’ll have to wait another year… Before that, I might be tormented to death by that woman. No, I will die. Today is the only chance.”

“…Who told you that?”

“Rose! That woman said so.”

Sehyun snapped the answer, eyes blazing. His face, thrust right up to Anna’s, was filled with nothing but the desperate yearning to return.

But Anna couldn’t accept it. Her head went cold, as if ice water had been poured over her.

The method Rose had told him and the method Rothbart had told her were different.

Which was the truth? Could both be true, or both lies? In this situation, she couldn’t make sense of anything.

Could Rose have lied? Even setting aside how she knew the way for swans to return… she had no reason to tell Sehyun the truth.

But Rose had no reason to lie either. Even if she hadn’t known Sehyun and Anna were swans, and if she had, then even more so. Anna didn’t trust Rose, but at least the hostility she harbored toward Anna and Sehyun was certain. That loathing, blazing in her green eyes every time their gazes met… Perhaps she revealed the truth out of the intent to drive them from this world.

On the other hand, Rothbart…

[1] The feathered robe (날개옷, nalgae-ot) is a motif from Korean folklore, most notably in the tale The Heavenly Maiden and the Woodcutter (선녀와 나무꾼). In this story, a heavenly maiden descends to earth wearing a magical robe that allows her to return to the heavens. When the robe is hidden, she can’t go back and is bound to remain in the human world.