Swan Grave - Chapter 46

He had used the excuse of lending clothes to lure Anna out, but from the start, Sehyun had no intention of sharing his clothes with her. Wasn’t there a fairy tale called The Wild Swans? The princes who had turned into swans regained their human forms by wearing shirts woven from nettles, but the one prince whose shirt had no sleeves was left with a swan’s wings instead of arms for the rest of his life.

Just like in that story, if he didn’t wear his clothes properly, who knew what state he might return in?

The very idea that he could return to his original world by wearing clothes was like the tale of the woodcutter and the heavenly maiden. So there was nothing to be gained by violating a taboo from a fairy tale.

Though he did feel sorry toward Anna, having sold her clothes to pay for the fare to this mansion, he couldn’t risk uncertain danger out of guilt.

Still, saying he would lend her clothes was nothing but a pretext to draw Anna outside. Seeing Odile’s obsession, Sehyun knew that once she realized he was gone, she would surely send people out to search. He needed to divert her attention.

That was why he had called Anna to a place opposite the lake. While she lingered there and drew eyes to herself, he planned to secretly head toward the lake.

It was possible that Odile had ordered people to guard the lake, but he had no choice but to take that risk. The forest lake was vast, and there had to be corners where he could slip in unseen.

As he thought of this, the strange thing was that the surroundings were unnaturally quiet. Enough time had passed for Odile to notice his escape, yet nothing had happened. Perhaps she wasn’t as desperate for him as he had imagined… Sehyun desperately hoped so.

At last he reached the place where he had hidden his clothes. With trembling hands, Sehyun groped inside the hollow of the tree. But he felt nothing.

“What? What, what?”

Panicked, Sehyun kept flailing his hand and then shoved his head inside the hollow. No matter how bright the moonlight was, there was no way he could see the inside of the dark hollow at night. Flustered, Sehyun muttered to himself.

“My clothes, where are they. They should be here, my clothes…!”

Without those clothes, he couldn’t return to his original world. Just then, behind his back, a familiar woman’s laughter rang out. The sharp sound echoing through the dark forest made Sehyun’s spine stiffen.

Drenched in fear, Sehyun couldn’t bring himself to look back. Meanwhile, the delicate sound of heels approached him without hesitation.

“I didn’t know you had a hobby of dressing like a woman.”

Odile looked down at Sehyun with a graceful smile. But hidden behind that elegant smile was the cruel intent of a predator about to tear apart and devour the man before her. Knowing that better than anyone, Sehyun trembled.

“I also enjoy making men dressed like women cry out, and look at you, coming to me just the way I like.”

Behind Odile, stable hands quietly appeared one by one, raising pitchforks and holding torches. The once dark forest lit up bit by bit, as if dawn were breaking, grand and still. Their eyes were blank, as if bewitched.

“Did you really think you could escape so easily?”

So that was why there had been no movement at all. Seeing the demon appear and sneer at the very moment he fell into despair, Sehyun thrashed in helplessness. Perhaps even his escape from that room had been part of this demon’s plan… In the end, he had done nothing but run about within the palm of her hand.

Despair filled Sehyun’s eyes. As he gasped, choking as if drowning in fear, the red moon above scattered its languid light as though mocking him.

***

Anna waited under the clove tree for a long time. But there was no trace of Sehyun, nor of anyone else.

The moon overhead began to sink. Only then was Anna forced to accept that Sehyun had abandoned her.

“Ha.”

Anna let out a faint, exasperated sigh. She could see right through Sehyun’s intentions. From the very beginning, his promise to lend her clothes must have been a lie.

It was no surprise. On the contrary, she even felt a kind of relief, as her doubts about Sehyun’s goodwill were resolved. At the very least, the guilt of having deceived him weighed on her less. Anna forced herself to console her emptiness with such positive thoughts.

Perhaps… she might never return to her original world and would have to live in this one for the rest of her life.

If so, all the more reason to untangle this twisted relationship with Rothbart. To live as herself in this world, not as the Marchioness’s substitute. Even if she didn’t know what end awaited her.

The hourglass wouldn’t wait for her. Whether pushed or of her own will, the time had come to cast the die. Clutching the die of fate tightly in her hand, Anna took a step forward. It was her turn to retrace the steps she had walked.

CHAPTER 7. The Marchioness, Ianna

The mansion she returned to was silent as a dead mouse. Svanhild, who had blocked the back gate, was nowhere to be seen, and only silence and darkness greeted her.

Anna’s chest swelled with impulse. One moment she wanted to rush to Rothbart and demand the truth, the next she wanted to face him with a calmer, more rational state of mind. Those conflicting thoughts made her heart pound furiously.

As she climbed the stairs, Anna’s gaze caught on the faint light seeping from a room. She also knew very well whose room it was, and where it was. How could she forget? The root and cause of her relationship with Rothbart, the forbidden Marchioness’s room.

It seemed Rothbart was inside at this very moment. Perhaps, just as on their first encounter, he was pleasuring himself while looking at the Marchioness’s portrait. The mere thought made Anna’s heart twist with thorns of disgust and jealousy.

She should have pretended not to notice and passed the room by, but the sliver of light slipping out of the half-open door tempted her.

Should she go in, or not?

‘If I go in and face him, what will I say?’

Her parched lips moved as the thoughts she had always harbored for Rothbart rose to her tongue, but none of them came out clearly.

Besides, Anna wasn’t granted the right to enter the Marchioness’s room. Even on the first day, Rothbart had shown her mercy by overlooking it. Surely, if she stepped into that room, he would unleash his anger upon her like a blazing fire.

‘How dare you, thinking you are anything at all…’

His wrathful voice seemed to echo in her ears. The words Rothbart would lash at her like a blade blocked her way, yet they couldn’t hold her back. Instead, a bristling defiance and resistance pushed her forward.

Thus Anna, led by an unknown impulse, stood before the forbidden door. Her pale slender hand touched the brass handle, then gripped it tightly. Creak. The hinge gave a loud cry, announcing the intruder’s arrival.

The room was brighter than she expected. Only a candle or two lit it, but the moon, rising brilliant and red outside the window, painted the room with its glow.

But the brightest thing in the room was not the candles nor the moonlight, but a pair of eyes fixed sharply on her from where he leaned against the window frame.

“You said we’d meet tomorrow”

A voice devoid of laughter greeted her. The man stood tall, like an ancient tree, as though waiting for her. At the unexpected sight, Anna’s heart pounded so hard it seemed to shake her eardrums.

“We meet sooner than I thought.”

Rothbart took one step, then another, toward Anna. As he moved away from the window, his shadow grew larger and engulfed her.

“Welcome, Anna.”

He addressed her with feigned warmth and kindness.

“I guess your attempt to return has failed?”

Rothbart seemed to know her every move. From his reaction, Anna realized the answer before she could even ask.

The method Rothbart had told her of was a lie from the very beginning.

“…You deceived me.”