Chapter 9
“Ma, Mamaa, Aang!”
She watched the child’s smile as they burst into delighted laughter at the toy she shook.
After the dreadful tea party in the garden, where it felt as though Sasha might approach her at any moment to stir up trouble, the woman had surprisingly kept her distance.
At times, she would simply leave the child in her care, saying she was heading into the bustling streets.
She propped her chin in her hand, deliberately pushing away thoughts of the other woman.
Perhaps she had grown too sensitive in the wake of Sasha’s sudden change in behavior.
The sight of the smiling child filled her view.
“Kyaa.”
At first, it had been difficult, even to look at the child’s face, a face so uncannily resembling the Grand Duke. But after seeing it several times, that unease gradually settled.
The wailing too, had only happened the first time they met. From then on, the child constantly clung to her, breaking into bright laughter whenever she so much as shook a toy.
It wasn’t easy to harbor resentment toward such a little one.
“…Serb.”
She whispered the child’s name, very softly. And as though the child understood, they let out a cheerful giggle.
“Ma, Mamaang.”
It was then, the child’s tiny hand grasped her finger tightly.
Startled for a brief moment by the warmth of another human being after so long, she soon gave a bitter smile.
There was no denying it.
The child was lovable.
Still watching the little one with a conflicted gaze, she picked up the milk bottle resting on the table and carefully placed it to the child’s lips.
A servant’s sharp gaze was fixed in this direction.
Whenever it was her turn to watch the child, Sasha would always make a show of fussing over how the child needed to be fed at a set hour, then leave.
And without fail, a servant would be left behind to keep watch over her.
If they were going to go to such trouble, why not hire a proper nanny? Why insist on leaving the child in her care?
Because her name was listed as the mother on the family registry, and they wanted her to grow attached to the child?
What a ridiculous notion.
Confirming that the child, after a few hesitant pauses, had finally latched onto the milk, she turned her head briefly toward the window.
The sun was setting. It was a quiet, peaceful afternoon.
Or so she thought.
“Young master?! Young master!!”
Right up until the child suddenly coughed and began to cough up blood.
“Serb, Mama’s he… Serb?!”
And then, right on cue, Sasha came bursting in, shrieking as she rushed to the child.
The once-quiet room was thrown into chaos in an instant.
She could only stare blankly at the child, who was now vomiting blood in wet, choking fits. She couldn’t grasp what was happening.
Just a moment ago, this was the same child who had been clinging to her finger, letting out innocent, radiant laughter.
There had been nothing harmful… Wait, the milk.
As she hurriedly reached for the bottle, someone else’s hand snatched it up first.
When she looked up, she met Sasha’s gaze, a look as though she were staring at something utterly vile.
“What are you doing?! Call for a physician immediately! Asila, I entrusted Serb to you because I believed in you, how could you let this happen? Even if you resent me, how, how could you do this to an innocent child…!”
Several servants bolted out to summon a physician, while at the same time, Sasha screamed at her.
The woman, who always wore a gentle, courteous smile, now showed a side of herself that had never surfaced before, and Asila flinched.
“What’s all this commotion?”
A familiar voice. As she slowly turned her gaze, the Grand Duke stood at the entrance, as though he had just returned.
Everything felt as though it was moving in slow motion. The servants trembled and hastily stepped aside.
Through the parting crowd, the Grand Duke spotted the child, coughing up blood with a wet, metallic rasp in his throat. His expression froze.
“Sasha, what is the meaning of this…!”
His gaze swept across the room, pausing briefly on Asila.
Weeping, her body trembling uncontrollably, Sasha threw herself into his arms as though she had just found salvation, sobbing helplessly.
“Karl, Karl, what should we do? Serb, our poor Serb…”
“Calm yourself, Sasha. Has someone called for a physician? And Asila, why is she here? Is the child’s condition that grave?”
“Calm down, Sasha. Has the physician been called? And why is Asila here? Is the child’s condition that serious?”
Sasha, gasping for breath, handed the milk bottle she had been clutching with trembling hands to the Grand Duke.
“Please… please check if there’s poison in this. The moment Serb started coughing up blood, Asila grabbed this. What do we do… our Serb, our poor Serb…”
“…Asila did?”
She did not so much as flinch.
“I… Even though I resent her, Asila is still Serb’s mother on the family registry. I thought it might be good for them to grow close, so I occasionally left the child in her care. Today as well, Serb was with Asila, and the moment I came in, this milk bottle…”
“Who’s the patient?!”
Just then, as Sasha stammered through ragged breaths to the Grand Duke, the physician burst through the door.
The house physician, panting heavily, nearly ran straight toward the child the moment he laid eyes on him.
Sasha, tears streaming endlessly down her face, could only watch.
The Grand Duke held her trembling shoulders, his gaze sharp and fixed upon Asila.
It wasn’t just them. She could feel the disdainful gazes of every servant in the room fixed upon her.
Even as concern for the child gnawed at her, she let out a slow breath, too stunned for words.
With just a few words from Sasha’s lips, she had been painted as the one who had poisoned the child.
Though it had indeed been she who fed the child the milk, it was unquestionably the servants who had prepared it.
And yet.
The physician’s examination dragged on, growing longer by the moment.
As Sasha, her face clouded with anxiety, kept glancing tearfully toward the child, she suddenly spun on her heel and strode toward Asila.
So close now that even each other’s breathing could be heard, Sasha’s large green eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
Every gaze in the room, save for the physician’s, turned toward them, even the Grand Duke’s.
A tear slid down the cheek of the beautiful woman, whose face would have made passersby pause if this scene were playing out on a city street. It was an achingly forlorn sight, pitiful to the point of cruelty.
“I understand that you despise me.”
Her voice, sounding as though she were desperately trying to choke back sobs, settled over the room.
“In your position, no, as the Grand Duchess, of course you wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of me, Karl’s lover. No woman, no matter how broad-hearted, could like the woman her husband loves. I understand. If it were me in your place… I’d hate me too.”
When people are suddenly struck by an entirely unexpected situation, they often find themselves unable to speak.
All the more so if it’s happening in front of the one person they love with all their heart.
Asila’s thoughts, which had only just begun to steady, now flickered pale and ominous once again under the weight of foreboding.
What is she trying to say… as if I had tormented her…
“That’s why… I understood. Why you ignored my greetings. Why you ‘accidentally’ spilled tea on my dress.”
What is she talking about? I’ve never once had tea with her.
—Ah…! Oh no, I’m so sorry. I spilled my tea… What should I do? This was the dress Karl gave me…
No.
There had been one time.
Because she had never so much as touched the refreshments prepared for her, Asila hadn’t even thought to remember it as a tea gathering.
And on that day, purely by coincidence, when not a single servant remained in the room, Sasha had ‘accidentally’ spilled tea on her dress.
Asila had frowned faintly at her conspicuous display, flaunting a dress Karl had given her.
But since there had been no particularly unpleasant words exchanged, she’d pushed the incident to the back of her memory.
Now, her thoughts began to waver.
The audacity of being so brazenly cast as the aggressor left her speechless.
“But that wasn’t all, was it.”
The few drops of tears that had fallen earlier now began to stream freely down Sasha’s cheeks, as though something had finally broken loose inside her.
The sight of such a sweet, lovely woman in tears would move anyone to offer comfort.
If only those words weren’t such absurd accusations hurled to wound her.
“The other day, you called me filthy. A whore,” Sasha said, her voice trembling. “There were even worse things you said, but… I can’t bring myself to repeat them.”
“When did I ever—…”
“You… you’re not going to claim you don’t remember, are you? Julia was there too.”
For a moment, Asila’s head reeled. She swore to the heavens, not once, not a single time had such words ever left her lips. She opened her mouth to refute it, but as if determined to give her no opportunity, Sasha balled her small hands into fists and spoke over her.
“Your Grace, that’s enough! Do you have any idea how much Lady Sasha suffered because of you? And yet you stand there… with that face as though nothing ever happened!”
The sharp, contempt-laced voice belonged to Julia, who had once served as Asila’s handmaid and now stood behind Sasha.
Sasha lowered her head, shoulders trembling.
Asila slowly turned her gaze around the room.
Every servant still present, and even the Grand Duke himself, were casting looks of thinly veiled revulsion her way.
“Sasha, why didn’t you tell me? You should have said something!”
The Grand Duke’s voice cracked as he shouted, his face contorted, and pulled Sasha into his arms.
“You’re… you’re always so busy, Karl. You’re constantly away dealing with monsters… how could I… how could I burden you with something like this…”
It was like watching a meticulously scripted farce.
No one asked to hear her side.
No one made even the slightest effort to believe her.
Not one.
All of them simply stared at Sasha with pity as she wept and whispered her lies.
“That… h-hurting me, fine, I endured it. But… how could you? How could you do this to Serb? He’s just a child… he’s done nothing wrong… he’s innocent… how could you…”
Time seemed to crawl.
And then, the physician, who had been examining the child, lifted his head at last. His gaze, filled with disbelief at how such cruelty could exist, turned to Asila. Slowly, he lifted the milk bottle.
The spoon placed inside the bottle had turned black.
“It’s a weak poison,” the physician reported gravely. “But from the state of the young master’s body, it appears he has ingested it repeatedly. He is currently in a state of poisoning. Another dose could very well have taken his life.”
“A… a murderer…”
A shrill, strangled word tore from Sasha’s throat.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Sasha!”
“My lady!”
With a final cry, Sasha swayed and collapsed unconscious to the floor.
Asila could only watch, stricken. She couldn’t grasp what was happening anymore, everything spun beyond comprehension.
“Confine the Grand Duchess to the attic! And thoroughly examine the milk! Search her chambers for any trace of poison, turn everything inside out if you must!”
Not once.
Not a single, solitary time did the Grand Duke even attempt to trust her.
That cold, unyielding command stabbed deep into Asila’s heart like a dagger.
saturnsorb
I knew this would happen but it’s so frustratiingg