Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Louise doubted her ears.

“…Yes?”

“I don’t have time to tell you twice, so just listen. We have to get out of this place.”

As Edit uttered, she spat blood on the floor. Her lips and even his teeth were stained with blood, probably because she chewed the inside of her cheek at the moment of the explosion.

“Wa-wait a minute! Where are you going when there’s a person lying on the ground like this?!”

“She’s not lying down, she’s dead.”

“That can’t be! Miss Irene—”

“Either she was caught in an explosion, crashed into a wall and had her organs ruptured, or she died from excessive blood loss. Rather than that, do you have time to care about such a person right now when your master is lying over there?”

Only then did Louise finally raise her head and glance in the direction of Ahibalt.

It seemed that Ahibalt’s condition wasn’t much different than Irene’s. No, he was actually worse. Being in the center of the explosion, not only was his skin scorched red but his limbs were broken and deformed.

Death was inevitable.

Louise was a person who had always been told that she was ignorant, but she could smell death very well.

“…Doesn’t it make sense to hold on to someone who’s still breathing even a little bit rather than someone who’s already dead?”

Ahibalt was dead. It was also the reason Louise didn’t run to him.

Edith nodded, not bothering to disagree with Louise’s conclusion.

“I guess you’re right… this experiment will fail.”

“…Experiment? This is an experiment?”

“It was an unexpected experiment, but yes, that’s right. Still, it was an experiment that cost me two of my feet and two human lives, and I’m afraid I lost more than I gained.”

At her calm words, Louise involuntarily doubted her ears. Was what she was hearing right now really what this person said? Even though people died and she herself was seriously injured… could there really be someone who could say something like this right now?

However, Louise’s five senses remained the same.

…And this unrealistic situation still existed.

Her hand trembled.

‘I’ve been told that she’s crazy before…’

Nevertheless, she didn’t expect Edith to be this crazy. When she worked at Lichfen, Louise often overcame the danger of losing her job with Edith’s help, and she also had memories of getting snacks from her. Naturally, she assumed that Edith wasn’t as strange or dangerous as she was rumored to be.

‘Of course, I thought she was a bit of a geek.’

She thought the single-minded tendencies had been blown out of proportion and misrepresented, as rumors tend to do. Though she now knew when she faced this situation.

“…Crazy. Madam Edith… is crazy.”

“I’m honored.”

Louise was even more puzzled that she wasn’t crying. As if she couldn’t understand it, she held on to Irene and shouted.

“How can you experiment with human life? Besides, you got yourself hurt as well!”

“Of course, it’s very unfortunate that they lost their lives, though finishing my research is far more important to me. If I had to cut off one of my arms to finish the research, I’d gladly do it because it’s more valuable.”

“What the hell is that…”

She didn’t understand what that meant.

…What the hell was the research?

Louise hugged Irene in shock. It wasn’t just an act of fear.

It was because she could still feel the throbbing pulse in Irene’s chest. The pulsations became more pronounced as she picked up the fallen Irene and pressed her against her chest. Louise’s heart, thumping from the shock, overlapped with her faintly beating heart.

Irene was alive.

They say that being overly shocked would make you more rational. Louise’s mind was spinning tighter than ever. Soon, cold reason took over her mind, and she was unable to recall how she used to burst into tears whenever something like this happened.

‘Madam Edith believes Miss Irene is dead…’

In addition, judging from her talks about experiments and all, there was a high probability that Irene’s life couldn’t be guaranteed if Edith was informed of this fact.

A complicated mix of emotions seeped into Louise’s gaze as she looked down at Irene, whose eyes were closed tightly as if she were asleep.

She has been avoiding Irene for the past few days.

It all started the day Rodion fell… or, to be more precise, the day after Irene’s collapse. She woke up earlier than usual that day. Her eyes were swollen from crying herself to sleep last night, worried about Rodion, but when she woke up, something else was on Louise’s mind instead.

“Miss Irene…?”

It was the fact that the bed next to hers was empty. In fact, Irene often didn’t come back until late on some days.

But while she was gone, Louise would enjoy the solitude she had somehow acquired, fall asleep late, and wake up the next morning to find Irene lying next to her as usual. It would be before the morning chickens crow, and the only people moving around were the kitchen maids who needed to prepare breakfast or a few footmen who needed to check the fireplace that went out overnight.

She would get up and dig into the seat next to Irene.

“When did you come in? I don’t think you were here until I went to bed last night.”

“I was a little late because I had something to do, but good morning, Miss Louise…”

Saying that, Irene would pat Louise while mumbling in her sleep.

In the meantime, rumors circulated within the mansion that Irene was having a tryst with the Second Master, but for whatever reason. Knowing that Otis had feelings for Irene, Louise was determined to protect their privacy despite the rumors.

‘Looks like the Second Master succeeded after all…!’

And she quietly congratulated him.

In any case, the important thing was that Irene didn’t come back until the morning. As the sun hadn’t even risen yet, and it was a bluish-dark morning, Louise woke up with a sense of foreboding.

‘…Is she still in the Young Master’s room?’

Still, Irene was thorough with her work, so she’d be here by the time they made my morning rounds. Louise thought so, easing her foreboding. However, Irene didn’t show up for the morning rounds, and she soon realized why.

While wandering around organizing the bedrooms, she met Lavrenti’s doctor.

“Ah, Louise. It’s good to see you. I think you’d better go to the ward.”

“Good morning, Doctor. What’s going on in the ward?”

“I heard that Irene collapsed last night.”

“Yes? Miss Irene…?”

“Yes. She’s got a bad fever and hasn’t regained her senses yet, which is understandable after all the running around she’s been doing. I even told her to be careful.”

Finishing his words, the doctor clicked his tongue and gave a few words about the uncooperative patient before returning to the conversation again.

“Anyway. It happened early in the morning, and I don’t think she hasn’t even changed her clothes yet so you could help her. At times like this, a colleague who lives in the same room should help a little. Besides, haven’t you always received a lot of help from Irene? Go—”

“Yes, I will! I’ll take care of her! Thanks for letting me know, doctor!”

Louise quickly turned and ran toward the ward before the doctor could finish speaking, partly out of urgency and partly because she knew that once my doctor started nagging her, there would be no end to it. It wasn’t hard to find Irene after that. She only had to look in a few rooms.

Irene was lying in the innermost room. It was the same room where she’d been lying when she was struck by the paralyzing incense before.

And it was the best room in the ward.

Even when Louise stepped in, Irene was still unconscious. Only a slight frown and a feverish reddening of her face proved that she was still alive. In addition, she hadn’t even taken off the uniforms given to the servants, so her appearance looked very frustrating.

‘I need to make her feel comfortable.’

Thinking so, Louise hurriedly took off Irene’s uniform and dressed her in chemise. Even though it would be nice if she could put pajamas on for her, it seemed like it would be difficult right now.

‘I’ll have to put the uniform in the laundry room and bring the pajamas.’

Louise thought so and brushed off her uniform to tidy it up. However, something fell out of the pocket the next moment.

It was a piece of paper folded in half.

__

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know via our discord so we can fix it as soon as possible.