28. Side story 03
“The train to Winsbury is leaving soon!”
The platform was so crowded that it was difficult to even take a single step forward.
“Stop pushing. Are you planning on knocking the old man down?”
Eliza, who had linked arms with Chloe, shouted and pushed her way through the crowd. The thin woman, leaning on her cane, was indistinguishable from the old woman. Chloe held the black hood covering her face tightly.
Ding!
Chloe barely managed to get to the front of the train when the bell rang loudly. The stationmaster was shouting through a loudspeaker, announcing the train's return.
“The last train to Winsbury via Swanton! Departing now!”
Chloe managed to climb the high steps with Eliza's support.
“Take this.”
Eliza handed her the luggage she had packed in advance. Chloe stood at the entrance as passengers shoved her in and out, looking at Eliza for a moment. She would probably never see her again.
Eliza nodded in gratitude, her face covered and only her eyes showing, and Eliza nodded in return with a smile on her wrinkled face.
“Take care!!!”
It was then that Chloe's vision caught the eye of a man who stopped in the middle of a large crowd and cast his gaze in her direction.
“...”
Chloe turned around with her eyes wide open and grabbed the pillar. Her hat was pulled down low, but she couldn't help but notice. Damien, who should have been at Swanton, was there. It had to be him.
Her heart pounded as if she had been running. Her palms were sweaty, her legs were weak, and she felt like she was going to collapse. When the hood was removed, the passengers who had been hurriedly climbing on board glanced at her. Chloe pushed past them and barely made it onto the train. Her hands were shaking like an aspen tree as she checked the seat on the train ticket she had barely managed to get after giving a tip to a stranger at the station.
“Hurry up and take your seat! You! Show me your ticket!”
The room suddenly became chaotic as someone rushed in after her. The stationmaster's panicked voice was heard. Chloe quickly pulled her hood up and shut her eyes tightly. Please, if there is a God, please help me. The sound of thumping footsteps stopped beside her.
“I forgot something!!!”
The voice shouting frantically was not her husband's. A red-bearded man in an ill-fitting suit lowered his head in embarrassment as he looked at her, who was holding onto her cane tightly.
“I’m sorry, Ma'am. I left my bag under the seat and got off...”
Chloe stood up without saying a word, then let out a long breath as she watched him pack his bag from the seat opposite her. His red beard, sweat dripping down his face, looked at her and laughed.
“I’m sorry. Have a nice trip, Ma'am...?”
The man quickly got off the train with an embarrassed expression as he watched Chloe avoid eye contact and stare straight ahead.
Bang!
The train finally started to move with a loud whistle. The night air was clearly transmitted through the window. As the train left the station, an endless, dense forest of birch trees appeared. Chloe let out a dry breath as she passed through the dry, pointed, gray-brown trees that reached toward the sky, in the third-class carriage filled with passengers.
A faint, bitter smile appeared on Chloe's face, faintly reflected in the window.
Even though she hid her face, she was the only one who recognized her opponent. In all the bets she had made with him, she had never beaten Damien, but this time it was different.
You're the one, Damien.
Chloe whispered softly, moving only her lips. She thought of his hands holding the reins as he galloped toward Birch Castle, kicking the ground. Damien's straight, beautiful hands, which could painfully strangle someone's neck or, on the contrary, make them scream with joy, were now forever out of her reach.
I hope you like my gift, Your Excellency.
In the perfect world you've created, it's okay if at least one imperfect me disappears.
A dry laugh escaped Chloe's lips. The weather looked like it was going to snow soon. The night was so cloudy and hazy that she couldn't see an inch ahead of her, as if it was foreshadowing the unknown future that lay ahead for her.
It was okay though.
Chloe Verdier put a crack in Damien Ernst von Tisse's perfect plans.
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