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TL: Dazzel.D
ED: Ether_ria
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Grace, under Sally’s guidance, arrived at the secret garden once she was ready to leave. Warily, Grace stepped into the thick, white ground which had half melted after last night’s falling snow. As the maid followed her, the snow left deep yet soft marks on the ground. Sally faintly smiled and marveled at the squeaky sound each step made.
“Is this your first time seeing so much snow?”
Grace responded with a nod, “Yes, Alberton Castle is close to the capital, so it’s warm even in winter.”
In the capital, a thin coat suffused in mid-winter, but here, thick coats, woolly mufflers and fur shoes were still not enough to save one from cold.
The air entering her lungs was so dry that Grace breathed heavily as she walked around.
Sally smiled to herself, thinking that Grace looked less like a new duchess and more like a puppy who’d seen snow for the first time.
And then Grace’s cheeks caught her eye,
“Oh, my God, your cheeks are red with cold.”
“Is that so?”
“If you stay like this, you might catch a cold. I think you should go inside.
“……oh, I’d like to take a walk a little longer. Can’t I?”
‘It’s never been this peaceful since I returned from death. It’s not worth calling it off because of a mere cold.’ With this in mind, Grace expressed her reluctance, and Sally sighed,
“Very well, I’ll bring you some warm tea then, Madam.”
“Oh, good.”
“Please sit on the bench and I’ll be back in a minute!” Sally said as she scuttled toward the mansion.
Grace, sitting on a clean-eyed bench, muttered, “.…you can take your time.”
Then, she reached over to the tree and picked up a handful of falling snow. When Sally came around, she put up with it to protect her dignity, but she actually wished to see it directly like this.
Grace was clumping the snow in her hand like a ball until,
Crunch.
A vaguely distinct sound came from behind.
She wondered if she heard it wrong, so she froze for a moment and concentrated all her nerves on her ears.
Crunch. Crunch.
This time, it was quicker but almost inaudible.
Hearing this, Grace slid up from the bench. Then on her tippy toes, she walked towards the sound. After all, she was certainly curious on finding out who made the sound.
Grace stopped in front of the slightly jiggling bushes and smiled strangely. She felt like a tagger. And then, she couldn’t wait any longer.
“……oh my.”
“……..!”
A few moments later, a toddler who seemed to between the age of four and five, sprang out of the bushes.
Grace gasped involuntarily as the child’s stare felt like penetrating through her eyes.
The child was robed in a luscious silk garment which had a black coat extending outward, and his face was covered with a black mask. Only his eyes could be seen.
That’s when she realized,
“……these eyes, I have seen them somewhere…”
The child had fringes covering one of his eyes but the other eye — crimson red — looked oddly familiar.
Grace muttered blankly at the sight of his burning red eyes, and the child shuddered. In horror, the child turned away and started running away as if he was being chased.
“Ah, wait a minute, hey! kid!”
Grace shouted in an attempt to stop him.
It seemed that the child had a misapprehension. Grace grabbed the hem of the long dress and in a haste tried to follow the child.
Crunch.
However, while chasing, something got stuck in Grace’s shoe while she was chasing the child. Grace, startled by the sound from under her feet, quickly withdrew her feet.
“……is it a necklace?”
As Grace lifted her foot, she saw a necklace trampled on her shoe.
Grace bowed and lifted the necklace from the snowy ground. Providentially, it was not mangled. She eyeballed at the necklace: it was a long silver chain with red, transparent jewels.
‘Why on earth has this thing fallen here?’
‘Who is the owner of this necklace?’
However, she did not contemplate much about it and soon founded the answer to her queries.
‘I think it’s that kid’s from a while ago.’
With the chain of the necklace wrapped around her hand tightly, Grace followed the trail of footsteps left by the child.
After some time, Grace halted in front of a winter rose bush when the footprints were cut off.
Grace found the child curled up over the rose bushes. She approached him quietly and then spoke cautiously.
“…….Hey, kid.”
“……..!”
The child, after hearing Grace’s voice, raised himself again, perturbed. As he tried to run away again, Grace hastily untied the necklace she was holding in her hand and showed it to the child.
“Wait, is this necklace yours?”
His left eye widened in shock when he saw the necklace in Grace’s hand.
Grace smiled involuntarily. She carefully approached the child who was staring at the necklace on her hand. Then, she sat eye-to-eye with the child.
“I just picked it up over there. It’s yours, right?”
Grace said, waving the necklace slightly before his eyes.
“……..”
“No? If it’s not yours, then, can I have it?”
Grace said that on purpose. The child then hastily reached out his small hands to retrieve the necklace.
His eyes were filled with tears, and the look on his face was frantic as he stretched his tiny arms, like the necklace was a precious possession of his.
Grace couldn’t help but laugh at the cute expression on his face.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was just kidding.”
She patted and said, disrupting the child’s hair.
“……just kidding?”
“Yeah. Just kidding.”
Grace smiled at the child who was imitating his words just like a bird.
“Just wear it like this. Don’t lose it.”
She said, after putting the necklace tightly around the neck of the child, who tilted his head with a naive look.
“……thank you.”
“Yeah, good boy.”
Grace reached her hand to stroke the head of the cute child, who bowed, saying thank you.
However, when she was about pat him, the child suddenly retreated with a horrendous expression on his face. Grace was startled by the child’s vigilance of her.
“What’s wrong? Are you upset that I was trying to stroke your head?”
The child shook his head at the question. Grace asked again, trying to make eye contact with the crying child.
“Then what’s wrong? Did I do something wrong? I apologize if I did. So don’t cry, please.”
“…..maybe.”
“Huh? What?”
The child answered Grace’s question in a weak voice.
The child’s answer was inaudible to Grace, so she asked again with an embarrassed look. Then the child wept and muttered, stretching out his short, skinny arms to stop Grace from touching his head.
“……I might be cursed. I mean….”
“Huh?”
Grace didn’t expect to hear such words from a child’s mouth. Grace asked once again thinking she might have heard wrong. Then the child pouted his lips as if he was about to burst into tears, and spoke in a winced tone.
“……I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.”
“What? Why? What are you sorry about? And what makes you think I’m going to hate you?”
“Well, before…..Lady Bianca did. She forbade me to touch anyone without their permission, nor should I dare beg you to stroke my head. However… just a moment ago…”
“……Why did Lady Bianca say that?
“She said I’m a cursed child who has killed his own mother when he was born, and if I touch anyone, the curse will spread. Other people too…..doesn’t come near me…..they think I will curse them…”
Having said that, the child then burst into tears.
Grace frowned at the sight of the child sobbing miserably and rubbing his eyes with his small hands.
‘How did she say such harsh words to a child who was hardly five years old?’
Her chest tightened at the sight of the sad child crying. Grace put her hand on the child’s head.
“You don’t have to listen to such a thing. No, forget it.”
She gently swept through the child’s long bangs and said that gently.
“…..what?”
“God is merciful and righteous. He couldn’t curse such a pretty child like you.”
Grace gritted her teeth as she swept down the child’s head with one hand and his wet eyes with one hand. With sympathy for the child, what came was anger at those who poured harsh words on the child.
‘How could they utter such harsh words to a child?’
‘If you don’t want to stroke it; if you don’t want to give affection, just say no gently. However, why are you hurting him with such harsh words?’
Grace was very upset and angry about it. She gasped wildly at the unbearably strong surge of anger.
‘You can’t even try a simple magic circle. Are you asking me to compliment you?’
‘You are a disgrace to our family, Grace.’
‘Just think about getting married. Well, you’ll only find a man far below the level of me who will become Crown Princess.’
‘Oh, that’s right.’
It was because of her homogeneity that she was so angry about the child she saw today.
The wounds that the child revealed a little while ago were surprisingly similar to those that were already in her heart.
Grace stared at the child in front of her eyes, and the verbal abuse in the past that she had forgotten vividly came to her mind.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
T/N: I just wanna go now and hug the child tightly. (´；ω；｀)
Stay safe and healthy along with your loved ones. And have a good day!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for more.
~Dazzel.D~