Saintess - Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Translator: Yonnee
—
These days, Agnes has been learning how to embroider from a young maid, Berry.
Kindly teaching Agnes the craft, Berry was a cheerful young woman who had red freckles splashed across her face.
“My goodness. It looks like the butterfly is just about to dance! Your Eminence, it looks like you’re very talented in embroidery!”
As Berry made a delighted fuss, Agnes smiled softly.
It’s only been a few days since Berry started teaching Agnes, but the maid was already completely open to her.
It was undoubtedly due to Berry’s own kind nature of not doubting people right from the onset, but it also helped that Agnes had secretly set aside a few desserts here and there for the girl.
“You can just call me Agnes comfortably, Berry.”
“Ehh, it’s no bother. I think it’s more comfortable for me to call Your Eminence as it is?”
From the very start, the people of the mansion had pointed their fingers at Agnes and called her the obscene saintess.
However, Berry seemed to regard Agnes as a true saintess.
At first, whenever Berry called her with such a lofty title, Agnes felt a pang of guilt each time for no reason. But even this had become duller over time.
When Agnes completed the handkerchief—which had been embroidered with flowers and butterflies, she opened the table drawer again.
Threads, needles, soft-textured cloth and silk neatly lined the drawer.
Agnes took out a piece of white silk cloth and cut it with scissors.
It was such a precious material that she wouldn’t have dared touch it back then. But right now, she was cutting through the cloth without even blinking an eye.
While thinking about what pattern she should do this time, Berry sighed and soon spoke with a serious tone.
“Her Ladyship, may her soul rest in peace, was also quite good at embroidery.”
The hand holding the pair of scissors stopped at once.
Eyes going wide, Agnes asked back.
“Lady?”
“Ah, His Lordship’s younger sister.”
“T-Then…”
Only then did Berry realize what she was idly chatting about. She hurriedly closed her mouth.
Seeing how Berry seemed to be hiding something, Agnes thought through the situation sharply.
She might be able to find out what had been angering the count.
In this mansion, where she could trust absolutely no one at all, she would feel marginally more secure if she could know what might trigger the count.
Lifting the corners of her lips, Agnes spoke with a benevolent tone.
“Berry, if you tell me about it in detail, I’ll be sure to give you all the desserts for tonight’s dinner.”
“Your Eminence, then… Do you promise to keep it a secret?”
“Of course.”
Berry thought it over for a moment, but soon enough, she looked to the left and right, making sure that there was no one else near them.
Then, one by one, she confessed what she knew.
Berry’s parents had also been working as employees in the count’s manor for a very long time, so Berry herself knew relatively much about the count.
That day, Agnes listened to Raon’s story through Berry.
She found out how the count’s younger sister died, how the count loved his younger sister terribly.
Furthermore, she found out the fact that his younger sister’s name was Agnes—the same as her.
Indeed, what a dreadful trigger.
“That’s why he told me not to die.”
“Pardon? What did you say, Your Eminence…?”
“It’s nothing…”
Silently, Agnes shook her head.
* * *
The conflicted Raon slept for two whole days.
Feeling it amiss that the count had yet to come out from the prayer room for so long, Clovis was shocked to find Raon there, lying on the floor while bleeding out.
He hurriedly administered first aid and called the doctor, but let alone wake up, Raon hardly stirred.
Blue lips. Deathly pale face.
Clovis stood by the count’s sickbed day and night, not knowing what to do in the face of his master, who looked awfully much like a dead body.
“Agnes…”
In the midst of the butler’s confusion, he heard Raon uttering the name ‘Agnes’ numerous times.
Clovis doubted it for a moment. Was the count truly calling the saintess’s name with such desperation? However, Clovis shook his head quickly.
“That can’t be. Milord must still dearly miss the departed lady.”
As Clovis looked at Raon, his gaze was tinged with pity.
* * *
For the first time in a long time, Agnes had a dream.
They were quite far away from her in the dream, but there, she was reunited with her family, who she missed ever so much.
‘Honey! Mom! I missed you both so much!’
Their outward appearances mirrored how they looked back then, in the days when they were all happy.
Her husband smiled at her with a healthy face, and her mother-in-law was looking lovingly at her with her rationality intact.
But somehow, no matter how much Agnes tried to approach them, she could not narrow the distance between them.
Then, at that moment, the faces of her brightly smiling family members hardened in an instant, and tears started flowing down their eyes.
‘Ahhh!’
She had been running towards them until now, but her footsteps stopped abruptly as she let out a scream.
The tears running down their eyes was bright red blood.
They shed those bloody tears in such a bizarre manner, then soon, they rushed at Agnes as if they were about to strangle her at any given moment.
‘S-Save me…! Aaaaahhh!’
She struggled with the pain.
Her whole body was soaked in cold sweat, and her surroundings echoed with her own groans.
Meanwhile, there was another person in the room, watching Agnes as he was bathed with the shadows’ darkness.
It was none other than Raon.
Barely conscious and barely registering his own actions, he came straight to Agnes the moment he woke up.
Then, he just watched her sleep.
“What is it that torments you so?”
Raon asked, but he already knew the answer.
He did not wish to admit that the person making her suffer the most… was himself.
Leaning down, Raon placed a kiss upon Agnes’s lips.
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