"Good children are home by five o'clock."
An eerie song continued to ring out. No, it couldn't even be called a song. It was merely a woman's voice, devoid of any variation in pitch, repeating the same lyrics.
"Good children are by five o'clock..."
"...Home by 5 o'clock..."
It wandered around the tower, creating an echo, as if trying to find out where I was.
I didn't know whether it reacted to the sound of breathing or to light. That is why I had to try my best to hide my presence.
The only thing I could lean on right now was a small candle. A faint, tiny light that allowed me to see barely a step ahead. Relying on that, I walked down the stairs, holding onto the wall with one hand.
'It's cold.'
The wall I touched with my fingertips was like ice.
'Still, there is something I can point out.'
My gaze turned toward the opposite side, where there was no railing. Darkness stretched out so nonchalantly, as if ready to swallow everything. One wrong step and it would be a fall.
I walked with force, as if pressing down firmly on the stairs. Otherwise, I felt like I would stumble.
It was then.
'Huh?'
Something got entangled between my fingers. A squishy sensation traveled through my hand. Thanks to it, my hand felt less cold, but the sudden change felt rather terrifying. It was even more so now, as I was escaping from the Tower of Murderers.
'...Let's just go'
It would be better not to check. Yeah, I should just walk past as if I hadn't touched anything.
But even that did not go as I pleased. Growing like the roots of a living organism, it dug between my fingers and held me captive. To move, I had to break free from it, and to do so, I had to identify its true nature.
I had no choice but to move the hand holding the candle. Slowly, slowly. Just as the moon waxes day by day, I erased the darkness, handful by handful, with the small light. The unidentified entity wouldn't disappear just by doing this, but I needed to prepare myself.
The second finger was revealed, followed by the third finger coming into view. And what was entangled in the fingers was...
'Hair!'
It was brown hair. There was enough hair to easily fill dozens of people, climbing the wall like ivy and wrapping around my hand.
'You mustn't make a sound!'
Even in the midst of that, the last shred of reason covered my mouth. Inhaling a scream, I reflexively set my hair on fire.
“Hiiik.”
My hair, which was burning, burned up at a rapid pace.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
At the same time, a scream rang out. It was a deafening sound that rendered my efforts futile.
"It's hot! It's on fire!!"
I couldn't tell where the sound was coming from or who was shouting. I didn't want to know either.
I started running fast.
I didn't want to see what the end of that flame would be. I didn't want to come face to face with things illuminated by the light burning with hair as fuel.
"A good child does not speak of the one who has disappeared."
"...The good child... regarding the one who disappeared..."
"...Don't say anything."
Before I knew it, the changed lyrics were chasing after me from behind. I kept running down.
My clothes were soaked with sweat. My overworked legs could not keep up with my hurried mind. As if reaching my limit, I was only slowing down.
'Just how far do these stairs go?'
No matter how fast I ran, there was no end in sight. It felt hopeless. A sudden surge of fear welled up inside me, wondering if I was going to die at this rate.
Suddenly, I saw a palm like a maple leaf in front of me. The gesture of clenching and unclenching the hand was calling to me.
“Here! Here!”
It was a way to escape the endless stairs. Before I could think rationally, my body moved first and grabbed that small hand. No, I tried to grab it.
"Do not enter the forbidden room!"
The singing voice, which had turned sharp, pushed me from behind.
“Don’t go in!”
“Don’t go in!”
I flailed my arms, but there was nothing to grasp. Once I lost my balance, my weary legs could no longer support my body. My feet stepped on empty air. My heart sank. In the end, I fell into the abyss.
'If I fall from here, my whole body will shatter into pieces, right?'
'Will it hurt? The shock must be huge, right?'
All sorts of thoughts swirled in my head.
'So why did I even enter this Tower of Murderers in the first place...'
The tower was so high that it was a long time, enough to make me blame myself the entire time.
Woo-.
Finally, my body touched the ground. However, I felt neither the crushing pain nor any suffering. Thanks to something warm, I was able to land safely instead of crashing.
I didn't feel a sense of relief that I had survived. The burning smell that had filled the place still lingered at the tip of my nose. No matter how low I had fallen, it was still his stronghold.
I looked around, but only darkness filled the air. I wanted to get up, but I couldn't move my body. I tried to move my limbs, but they wouldn't budge. It was as if I were prey caught in a spiderweb.
Step, step.
Footsteps with a steady rhythm were heard. It was a very familiar beat, and therefore a goosebump-inducing one.
Step, step.
The sound grew louder. He was approaching me. I struggled several times, but it was no use. The sound of footsteps grew closer, and I was helpless. My breath quickened.
When no sound could be heard anymore, I clearly saw purple eyes emitting a brilliant light. My heart stopped for a moment. Death had found me.
"Surely you didn't try to run away from me?"
A breath as cold as the north wind of midwinter clung to my cheek.
"I think I would have told you."
The gaze of a beast eyeing its prey ensnared my eyes.
"You must be with me forever."
His hand touched my neck.
***
"Oh, my god."
I opened my eyes wide.
"It's a dream... It's a dream, right?"
After confirming that the hands and feet were moving, I fumbled around the neck. The cool sensation of the touch on my neck was still vivid.
It was a dream that had been going on for a month already.
The doctor gave me some advice along with completely useless medicine. He said there was no need to be so nervous since it was just a dream anyway.
'That's nonsense.'
It was something that could be said because they did not know that this could become reality, not a dream.
'What would a doctor who isn't brown-haired or green-eyed know?'
I lifted my heavy body and shook my head once. It was to get rid of the singing that seemed to still be lingering in my ears. After doing so, I felt as though my pajamas smelled of burning wood, so I took them off.
I drank the water I had drawn under the bed. The cold liquid swirled around in my mouth once before going down my throat. I could feel it pass through my esophagus and flow into my empty stomach. It finally hit me that I was fully awake.
"Four thirty o'clock."
Dawn would break soon. Bainan's day began with the rising sun. It did not matter whether it was a noble's mansion or a commoner's house. In other words, it meant that now was an awkward time to go back to sleep.
'Besides, if I close my eyes, it feels like that murderer will appear again.'
I threw a cardigan over my indoor clothes. It was an outfit true to the essence of clothing: to ward off the cold.
'The Count would probably nag me if he saw this.'
I won't be seeing the Count today either.
I shuffled out of the room in my slippers. My destination was a workshop converted from a warehouse.
"Oops, I was startled. I thought it was a ghost."
A hoarse voice came from somewhere. It was the old gardener. He held a rake in his hand. I stomped on a half-frozen clod of earth. The gardener seemed to have plenty of work to do even in winter, when the plants were asleep.
'How diligent. Or maybe they've lost their morning sleep because they're old.'
I glanced at the gardener and then moved my feet again for reference.
The door to the studio was heavy. It felt as heavy as the iron gate of a royal palace. That weight gave me a strange sense of relief. I managed to create just enough space to squeeze my body in.
It's different.
As the door closed, the sound of the wind and the birds vanished. The scent of wet grass and the clear dawn sunlight also vanished. Instead, I was greeted by the bitter smell of the medicine I had left unfinished from yesterday and acrid smoke.
My own fortress, completely cut off from the outside world. Here, as long as I stay holed up like this, even that murderer will never be able to find me. I finally feel a sense of relief.
"Miss, I brought breakfast."
Mary knocked on the door.
'Breakfast!'
I hurriedly opened the door.
"Did you sleep well? For breakfast, warm potato soup and..."
I didn't even glance at Mary and examined what she was holding. Of course, it wasn't to check the breakfast menu or anything like that.
“What about the newspaper?”
Mary pulled the newspaper out from under the tray as if she had expected it.
"The Count hasn't seen it yet, so we have to put it back."
I nodded and quickly scanned the newspaper. The articles I was looking for were always the same. They were articles featuring words like "woman with brown hair and green eyes," "unidentified disappearance," or "murderer."
[The Great Writer Pardien's New Work]
[I wonder how much snow there will be this winter...]
The one-page morning edition was full of useless articles. I neatly folded the newspaper and handed it back to Mary, asking
“What about the rumors?”
Rumors in the village were faster than reporters' pens. For me, unable to go outside, the rumors Mary brought were very important.
"Miss..."
I urged Mary.
"Go ahead and tell me. Wasn't there a rumor that a woman with brown hair and green eyes died?"
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