In the dream, I felt very lonely. My father, who went to a foreign country for business, got a new wife and children there and never returned, and my mother left me at my grandmother's house and left me for a long time. When I went to college, my mother wanted me to take charge of her life.
I had an ordinary, simple dream. After graduating from university, I took a short break and went on a trip to Europe. After getting a job, I may not be able to go there for the rest of my life.
"Europe? My mom went there many times, but it wasn't a big deal. Oh. It's just complicated because there are so many people... If I were you, I would earn money as soon as possible and rest in a comfortable corner."
My mother heard my wish and said. In other words, she told me not to think about playing, but to get a job as soon as I graduated and support her.
Even after getting a job, she avoided me, but he sent me a lot of money. I thought this was unfair, but the strings of lingering feelings for my flesh and blood finally tied me up and wouldn't let me go.
'Supporting my mother is a reward for my late grandmother.'
I thought like this. I was able to endure only when I thought like this. It was really a dream without romance or love...
In a neutral dream, a man with gray hair suddenly popped out.
"My daughter! This father has arrived! Sorry for being late! Now that your father has come, rest assured!"
Do you know how much this father's heart was torn when he said you fell into the pond?
The voice of a father who loves his daughter.
"Lady will be happy and well. So don't worry."
The voice of a woman who cares for me like a real mother
And in the distance, someone vaguely called out to me.
"I can throw away everything I have. If it's for you."
Something small began to grow in my chest, and eventually I hugged my heart tightly.
'Who is it? Who are you?'
When I asked, I remembered the wet face of a handsome man who was so upright that I couldn't find any gaps in the bright light.
I thought I knew who it was. He is right...
For a moment, I inadvertently looked down. And when I looked up again, there was nothing but pitch blackness. The cold penetrated into my bones again.
'Oh... this is not it!'
I couldn't go back this way. No, I don't in the first place. There was no reason to go back...
I was scared to realize this fact, and I was choked as if I was strangled. I felt like I was going to die. I moved my limbs with all my might.
I didn't want to die. I wanted to live. I wanted to quickly rise to the surface and swallow the fresh air.
However, the pile of black water did not think of catching me and letting me go.
'Who... Can someone help me!'
My body, which had risen for a while, began to sink back to the bottom of the pond. Breath droplets leaked out of his nose and mouth.
"Edita, you promised me. To leave together."
Someone called me mournfully. I turned around and looked at where I heard the sound. A man in blue was crying and chasing me. I wanted to approach him, but my feet were only pointing forward, forward.
"Don't go, Edita! I'll do whatever I'm told. Please..."
The man was crying so sadly that it even sucked into my chest. At that moment, the iron door closed between him and me. The man hung on the Iron gate. Only then did I recognize the man. Tears were streaming down Brandt's strong cheeks. I wanted to wipe away those tears, so I reached out without realizing it.
In an instant, the huge ripples that spread to the pond pushed my body away. Someone threw himself into this great darkness again. I looked at the shadows approaching me with a blurred gaze.
***
03. First Night
I couldn't move. The water kept coming down my throat.
A huge shadow approached me, who was limp. The shadow enveloped me with a sweet warmth and brought it to the surface.
As soon as the cold wind brushed against my skin, I tried to breathe, but it was not easy because of the water blocking my throat. I couldn't even open my eyes properly.
'I just got out of the water... I don't want to die...'
At that time, someone patted me on the back. It hurt like a bruise. Soon, I cried, and water poured out of my mouth. Like a baby craving for mother's milk, I swallowed heavily. I trembled with my revived body. Then the warmth hugged me tightly
My wet body was so cold. So I completely entrusted myself to the embrace of the hug. The trembling of his hard muscles was transmitted to my body.
The person holding me was crying.
"If you die, you can't die. You can't die. Edita. Please...."
I knew this voice. Brandt touched my cheek and sobbed. I couldn't believe that the man who had been staring at me coldly in the dark, whispering in a frightened way, was collapsing like this, calling my name.
Suddenly, I remembered a vision from just before.
'...He was crying like this.'
I unknowingly raised my weak hand and placed it on his chest. I could feel his heart beating loudly through Brandt's wet clothes. Brandt immediately clasped my wrist with his hand.
Slowly, my vision brightened. Under the pitch-black sky, a sad-faced man dressed in black like a military uniform was kissing my hand, shedding tears incessantly. His sturdy body trembled as he was soaked in water.
"Edita...Edita..."
He didn't know that I had opened my eyes, so he muttered. A single tear dangling from his black eyelashes was pathetic. And at the same time, I felt a burning affection.
"...Brandt."
However, at the sound of my voice, he became silent like a lie. Brandt slowly rolled his eyes and looked at my face.
'Im sorry... I..."
"...If I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done this."
He said in a calm voice again. But strangely, a tear fell down his expressionless cheek.
Brandt, who didn't even know that he had shed tears, hesitated for a moment, then hugged me. My wet body was soaking even his arms. Two disparate fabrics were soaked and tangled like one.
I squeezed the hem of his clothes. It was because of my instinctive attachment to the person who saved me, and because of the afterglow of a fantasy that was like a dream I had seen in the pond.
In Brandt's arms, I heard my heart beating and his heart beating, swaying with every step he took.
I stared up at him. Is this also due to illusions? He no longer felt unfamiliar. A strange feeling of bitterness and shortness of breath swirled in my heart.
Brandt naturally took me to the bathroom of the villa as if it were his own home. When I saw the bathtub, I grabbed Brandt's collar hard.
"I'm scared..."
I had just drowned and came back to life, and I was afraid to go into a bathtub full of water and wash it.
After Brandt put me down, he boiled water over the small brazier in the bathroom.
"I'll moisten a towel with warm water, so use it to wipe yourself."
It was a stiff but strangely reassuring tone. But that was only for a short time. Brandt took off his shirt, squeezed out a lot of water, and soon took off his pants. As soon as I saw the muscles embedded in his limbs come to life, I let out a moan.
"Ah!"
Brandt, who was squeezing out the water from his pants, glanced at me, and without paying attention, he hung his clothes next to the brazier to dry.
'Did I overreact? But...'
Brandt was also soaked, so of course, he had to dry his clothes. I knew it in my head, but when I saw his naked body exposed unfiltered in front of me, it seemed like my cheeks, which had cooled in cold water, were heating up again. Rather than finding the identity of this emotion, I chose to turn around and erase Brandt from my field of vision.
For a while, only his spirit rang in the bathroom.
"Take it."
There was a sound of water splashing behind my back, and Brandt held out a large towel. It was a white steaming towel soaked in warm water.
However, as soon as I received the towel, I missed it. My hands were still shaking.
Brandt looked at me with a puzzled face and squeezed his eyes shut.
'What are you going to do?'
Brandt opened his eyes again and said in a low voice.
"I don't remember what happens now."
Then he suddenly pulled down my wet clothes. My mouth, which had been about to scream, closed again when I saw his serious eyes.
'...He's trying to wipe it off.'
Again, I can understand his intentions in my head. But he, he... He is a man who likes Edita. Can you take off the clothes of the girl you like and wipe them off without any impure feelings? It was impossible for me.
However, the hem of my robe had already fallen off his shoulders. He wiped my neck and shoulders with a warm towel and rolled his eyes to look at my frightened face. His gaze was tense in the air. He said nothing. No excuses, no justifications.
The towel was warm, so my body quickly got heated. Of course, it wasn't just about the towels. He had to wipe my body wet with pond water, so his hands were tenacious and damp.
"Hmm..."
As a result, a strange sound came out without me knowing. In an instant, Brandt's hand stiffened like a stone near my collarbone.
I wanted to die because I was ashamed.
In the end, he grabbed my wrist. I tried to remove it, but when he unconsciously caught a hard piece of skin under my palm, I was surprised and let go again.
Brandt grabbed my hand from his wrist.
"Now I have strength in my hands."
The end of my voice trembled a little. He gave me a towel and turned away.
He, dressed in quite dry clothes, said.
"I'll bring you a change of clothes."
As he disappeared from the bathroom as if to escape, my bare skin was chillingly cold.
When I had finished wiping my body, Brandt put my change of clothes in the bathroom basket and went outside to wait. I found a new outfit only after he left, and I thought about it as I rubbed my collar, which was as soft as yesterday.
'How could I have sneaked it out?'
He seemed to know this palace better than I did.
'Edita... We were very close.'
I couldn't help but think of the visions I had when I fell into the pond again. It could be a dream created by me, stressed by my and Edita's past, or a real memory that Edita showed me.
"Edita, you promised me. To leave together."
Brandt's voice, which I had heard in my vision, rang in my ears. It was so unfamiliar and mournful that I wondered if a low voice could sound like this.
'He tried to run away with her. But Edita betrayed him.'
Then Edita cried and hung on to the Emperor and became engaged to Orleans.
Edita could simply have been harassed by Orleans, or she had changed her mind when she had to flee. The question remained, but now I felt more sorry for Brandt than curious about what happened between them. Perhaps it is because the image of facing each other with your eyes is intense, rather than a question that is as hazy as fog.
However, on the other hand, fear arose at such a twisted relationship.
'When I fell into the pond, I wanted to live. I wanted to live here instead of going back.'
Edita threw herself to die, and I got out again to live. Suddenly, it seemed as if some fate was enveloping me and her.
As I changed my clothes and walked out of the bathroom, I couldn't help but have a strange thought.
Anyway, if I were the one who chose to stay here, I would be the one who had to untangle the threads in the end. As soon as I realized my life here, my soon-to-be husband came over me like a huge wave. I had to think more deeply about it. Will I have to live with him from now on...
"Ahh..."
Suddenly, my body floated into the air. Brandt, who had been waiting for me, picked me up without warning. He didn't give me time to speak, and he walked up to my room.
Brandt, who had stopped when he saw the wedding dress on one side of the room, immediately put me on the bed as if he didn't care. I was a little surprised when he found a brazier that I had never seen before in the room.
How much does this man know about the palace?
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