Wandering Wolf

The name of the black-haired man was Berkne Mellent.

He was an aide to Duke Richton Ingord for a long time. Berkne was a very humane man compared to the duke, although he shows less facial expressions and talks less.

I still remembered him in a chilling conversation with the duke around the burning Triviache mansion.

How did Berkne and the Duke of Richton know that I was about to quit my maid job at Triviache?

Did they plant any spies?

‘It’s a surprisingly plausible assumption.’

The Ingord family was in many ways quaint.

In the late afternoon weekend when the rain was pouring, Berkne called me back.

While keeping a quiet eye on him, he left me a lamp and went down to the basement warehouse of the mansion. I couldn’t resist the curiosity and asked.

“Did the master entrust me with the job?”

“Work? I don’t know what you’re talking about right now.”

“That’s true, too.”

Perhaps because of the pouring rain, the basement has a musty smell.

Passing through a maze of intricate corridors, Berkne led me into a steel cage with a human doll lying on a stone slab. My face was distorted with displeasure.

“It’s not a real body, is it?”

“You can tell by touching it.”

“The youngest son from Triviache.”

“If you’re wondering, check the face yourself.”

Checking it out, I had no such courage.

Berkne, who approached the stone plate and bent over, called me. I just swallowed my saliva and couldn’t move.

I didn’t know how many bodies I have been looking at in the last fifteen days. If I kept doing this, I felt like I would be numb to death.

“Susan, I don’t have the patience nor the time to spare for you. So come here before I drag you.”

“Tell me what you’re going to do.”

“Do you think you know what to do? At best it’s a great thing for you to have laundry or cleaning done. Come on.”

Apart from being a little more agreeable, it was a coercive tone like what the Duke of Richton uses.

I glanced at the doll, no- the body, at his words. Judging from the color of his hair and the height, he was definitely not the youngest son of Triviache.

As I got closer, I became more disgusted by the rotten smell that stimulated the tip of my nose. Berkne took the dagger out of his arms and forced it into my hand.

“Killing people is much easier than you think. Especially in front of a stupid woman like you.”

What are you saying?

“You don’t need any special skills or training. You have to take aim when your opponent is off guard.”

“You want me to learn to kill people?”

“It’s the only way you can survive.”

I felt both my eyelids tremble.

Dozens of reasons stirred complexity in my head while facing Berkne’s blunt face. It’s not that I didn’t expect it, but it’s still so sudden…

The lamp I was holding was placed on the basement floor.

Berkne pulled me closer, who could not even stare at the blood-hardened, blue-cooled corpse as it was.

“The useless shall not remain with you.”

“I guess my use is killing people.”

“No.”

For the first time with denial, his expression, which was consistent like a marble sculpture, was weakly distorted. Berkne carefully scanned my face with a glaring look.

“You are a little different. No matter how much I think about it, it’s hard to understand, why did sir bring something like you…”

It wasn’t him who really questioned the reason.

As Berkne said, all I can do is clean the room and help the house owner’s lady while doing house chores.

As if he didn’t need to worry anymore, Berkne, who turned his head, looked down at the body on the slate.

“He has entrusted you to me, so I’m just doing what I can. Even taking your life.”

“I am a maid, will the moment come when I have to kill someone?”

“Did you expect the Triviache to disappear without a trace?”

At the moment, I was confused about what answers to his words should be answered.

I expected it, but I didn’t think it would happen? Or was it something I didn’t expect at all?

In fact, a model answer for me had already been established. I hesitated for a very short answer, but Berkne, who caught the moment, spit out a short laugh.

“Alas, yes. I forgot for a second, you expected it.”

“I’ve never done that. A maid like me knows nothing.”

I burst into admiration for my stupidity. I shouldn’t have shown that I was embarrassed.

Berkne didn’t respond to my excuse as such. He opened his mouth with a dry voice, raising his finger near the neck of an unknown body.

“From now on, I’m going to teach you how to stab the vital point. Remember, there won’t be a second time.”

With his declaration, I had to work hard on my brain that I hadn’t used for nearly three years.

What I was given was a tedious repetition of the same act in the queried and humid.

underground.

According to my memory, i threw up several times. Later, there was nothing left inside, so only bitter gastric juice flowed out. The sense of smell, which was painful from the irritating odor, gradually became dull.

***

The sunset evening came, and as soon as she got out of the ground, I emptied the bucket full of vomit. This kind of thing was gradually getting used to just a few hours later.

“Agra… No, Susan? You don’t have a good complexion today.”

“I can’t eat because my stomach hurts.”

“Oh, come on. Go home early and rest today. I’d rather take a good rest than suffer from a few days of illness.”

The sweet maid wiped my forehead with a pitiful face. She thought I was breaking out in a cold sweat because I didn’t know him.

The advice was appreciated, but as soon as I was allowed to rest, my action was to jump into the stream behind the mansion.

It was my wish that I wanted myself to be washed away with water, which a rotten corpse left like an afterimage near my nose.

However, no matter how much I wiped my face and limbs, the disgusting smell was still there.

Rattling, rattling!

I straightened my back as I was bending at the sudden sound. I could see a dark tail swinging from side to side. Inside the wandering dog, or wolf’s snout, my headband was bitten.

The wolf, wandering near the stream, turned his back and ran into the forest.

What a disaster.

‘Is the smell of the kitchen so you mistook it for meat?’

I ran behind the wolf, forgetting to wear shoes.

Why was it?

It was a really strange thing, I seemed to have forgotten how dangerous the wolf is. I forced my legs after the wolf as if I was possessed with a determination to find a headband. The grass penetrating between the toes was soft.

When I chased the wolf’s backside and stopped gasping for air, the stench of blood and rotten flesh that was bothering me disappeared without a trace.

“Huck, Huck.”

Red sky and surrounding green broadleaf trees.

If I go deeper into this forest…Can I get out of Ingord?

The heartbeat, which had been intensified by running, began to accelerate. Before I knew it, I was moving my legs like crazy again.

Strangely, my head felt clear. The narrow and stuffy view opened like magic. Like, unless I don’t stop running like this, I’ll be able to go far away.

Taang!

Then, a wild shot broke out. I hardened myself and looked around. I was so surprised that my legs didn’t move.

“Susan.”

And the moment I recognized the voice of the man who blew like a breeze, my heart fell to the floor. No, I stepped back in fear and shock to the point of such an illusion.

The man behind the tree threw something he was holding onto the soil. It was the body of a wolf who ran away with my headband.

“You couldn’t help but run around like crazy….”

A man who bent over his body picks up my headdress from the wolf’s open teeth. The white lace was spoiled by blood and saliva.

“I thought you were running away.”

Duke Richton, who slowly walked aside, showed me the headband.

The pure white face colored red in the sunset could not be so enchanted. I took the object with both hands, leaving behind the sound of a heart that seemed to burst at any moment.

Escape?

Yes, I thought that for a moment while I was out of her mind.

I was glad the wolf bit the headband and ran away. At least there’s an excuse.

“I’m sorry, master, I was looking for my stuff.”

Fortunately, the voice that came out between my lips was pretty fine.

“Is there anything you would be sorry for finding the lost item?”

My argument was true, and his answer was not wrong, but the tension that wrapped around my whole body did not go away.

Before long, the duke’s cold fingertips touched my forehead, wet with the water and sweat.

The serene gaze toward me made her want to avoid somewhere. Towards somewhere in front of me, the duke turned his head. He wiped the damp palm of his hand with his clothes while his eyes fell.

“If you go further, you’ll see a swamp. The forest is thick and the sun doesn’t rise well during the day, and hungry wolves are always searching for food. If you walk there for three days without a break, you’ll see the Giorta Plains. Beyond that is Count Giorta.”

“Is that so? It’s a place I can’t go to anyway.”

What is the reason for such a kind reminder? It’s as if he is trying to make it clear that I can’t get out of here.

That’s why I suddenly felt anxious.

How do I look right now?

Isn’t my voice shaking?

Does it sound like I’m saying something I don’t want to?

Wouldn’t my voice, which I tried to say in my own way, feel pathetic to him?

Duke Richton turned his head and looked down at me. There was a drop of sweat that was cooling down under the half-turned platinum hair.

“Are you hunting here?”

Seeing that the hunting gun was not visible, it seems that he had dragged a horse nearby.

I pretended to be crazy, pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped his forehead. Fingers extending near the distant face were shaking slightly.

Contrary to what I expected him to be cruel, the Duke just stared at me calmly with his sunken eyes.

“The sun is setting and I think we should go now. If it gets a little darker, it’ll be hard to tell an inch ahead.”

I had to find all the shoes on the side of the stream, but most of all, I wanted to get out of this situation early.

With the Duke, all my nerves are directed at him. So I quickly got tired, and my mental strength fell at once.

But why is he not responding? I looked around and grabbed the handkerchief. It was then that he hugged me, who was silently closing his lips.

“Ah.”

I closed my mouth with both hands, which almost screamed.

The duke, who strode while I could not hide my embarrassment, sat her on a black horse.

The glossy mane shakes with a rustling sound. I could see my feet covered with grass and dirt beneath it.

Don’t tell me you were considerate of me.

“It’s not going, it’s going back, Susan.”

(T/N: above Susan says “we should go..” here he is correcting her saying, “it’s going back..“)

With a low voice, the duke climbed behind my back. My shoulders were stiffened by the tension in my body.

Two solid arms locked her up and grabbed the reins of the horse. I could feel him burying his nose through my loose hair. The sense wouldn’t be just my illusion.

As if to announce that, a slow breath fell to the nape of my neck.

“You are not a wandering wolf without a master.”