Chapter73. Out of the Wardrobe
2023.11.12.
The woman yanked the cigar from her mouth and exploded in anger.
"Damn it……. Where did the princess go?"
"Whoa……."
"What are you marveling at like an idiot? It's your fault, you moron!"
"Ah, we just need to find her. How far could that tiny woman go? She even hit her head."
"Don't say such carefree things until we've found her!"
The woman tossed her cigar aside randomly, slapped the man on the back, and dashed out of the room. The man followed behind, spewing curses.
In the space where the two had noisily disappeared, the eerie wind of the forest drifted in through the panoramic window.
The wind reached the ember of the cigar the woman had carelessly thrown near the ashtray on the table. The wind-fanned ember transferred to the tablecloth.
The small ember quickly grew in size, burning the tablecloth, and now began to blaze fiercely, devouring the table and the sofa beside it.
As if mocking the voices of the man and woman echoing from the nearby forest.
The rapidly growing fire demon burned the wooden furniture and produced smoke.
The smoke filled the room with a hazy gray and seeped into the wardrobe placed in the corner.
And of course, it reached Blair, who was hiding inside.
'……Smoke?'
Blair frowned at the acrid smell characteristic of something burning.
At first, she wondered if it was just her imagination since she was in a wardrobe just like the day of the fire accident…….
"Cough, cough……"
Her lungs, having inhaled the smoke, instinctively expelled a cough. Her eyes and throat quickly began to sting. Moreover, she could now feel the heat as well.
It wasn't her imagination.
'Outside, there's a fire……'
Just the thought of a massive fire nearby brought an extreme sense of terror rushing in, making her heart race and her breath quicken.
'I need to get out, quickly.'
Blair twisted her body to get out of the wardrobe.
At that moment, along with a throbbing headache, a hazy memory surfaced.
The scene inside the wardrobe that she had seen during the hypnosis she attempted multiple times across her past and present lives, but could never escape from.
'No, stay focused. Please……'
Blair tried not to be dominated by fear, but her body and mind wouldn't obey. Her increasingly rapid breathing—she could no longer tell if it was from the smoke or the trauma.
It was then, as her consciousness gradually blurred from difficulty breathing.
'Blink your eyes.'
Herdin's voice, heard at some point, rang in her ears like an auditory hallucination.
In her hazy consciousness, Blair instinctively followed that voice and slowly blinked.
'Breathe slowly too.'
Led by the next voice that came, she slowly inhaled and exhaled.
Just as she had practiced with him every night.
'It's okay.'
True to those words, the terror gradually subsided and her breathing returned.
Her hands still trembled at the thought of the fire waiting outside the door, but she couldn't stay trapped here like this.
Now, it was time to leave the wardrobe.
Blair barely steadied her breathing in the acrid smoke and straightened her posture. Then she kicked the wardrobe door with her foot.
Bang!
The wardrobe door opened, and the acrid smoke filling the room rushed over Blair. It was so thick that her vision blurred instantly and her breath was completely cut off.
When she opened her tightly shut eyes, she saw the full view of the room engulfed in flames.
"Ah……."
Strangely, even though her surroundings were a sea of fire, even though the terror that seemed ready to consume her was still rushing in, her chest felt as clear as if a hole had been punched through it.
As if she had broken the shackles she had been dragging around for a very long time.
'……Let's get out of here.'
Blair, who had been watching the fire demon blazing fiercely as if to swallow everything, slowly closed her eyes, then opened them as she inhaled.
The terror that had been rising again as if to choke her receded significantly.
It was when Blair tried to rise from the wardrobe with her heavy body.
"Ugh……"
This time, a headache far stronger than the previous one, beyond comparison, struck her. It was pain severe enough to momentarily blur her vision.
At that moment, as Blair exhaled a agonized breath, a memory from some time ago began to overlap in her vision.
A massive fire blazing fiercely enough to blind her, the smoke filling the room, and…….
The blood-stained candelabra clutched in her hand.
'This is……'
Just as Blair froze in shock at the suddenly returning memory, trembling.
"Blair!"
The door burst open and Herdin rushed in.
"……Herdin."
Blair blankly watched him stride toward her through the flames.
His ice-lake eyes, encountered in the hellscape engulfed in flames, resembled Esmeralda's from her memories.
'Let's play hide-and-seek. You must never come out until I tell you to, Blair.'
The memories flooded in like a burst dam.
The memories of that day she had lost.
Unable to withstand the flood of memories crashing over her, Blair collapsed just like that.
* * *
The sleeping Blair felt her body floating in the air and opened her heavy eyes. The first thing she saw was Esmeralda.
"Your Majesty the Empress?"
"……Blair."
Esmeralda flinched at Blair's voice. Her expression seemed frightened at first glance, but it was hard to see clearly because of the things blocking her vision.
The half-asleep child realized a moment later that the things blocking her vision were clothes, and that she was inside a wardrobe.
Blair rubbed her heavy eyelids and asked.
"Why are you going into the wardrobe?"
"Blair, let's play hide-and-seek."
"Hide-and-seek……?"
"Yes. You must never come out until I tell you to. No matter what sounds you hear, no matter what happens, absolutely never. Understand?"
Esmeralda gave this instruction while continually glancing back outside the wardrobe.
Blair found it strange that Esmeralda was suddenly suggesting hide-and-seek after waking her up, and the odd atmosphere about her was puzzling as well, but unable to resist the overwhelming drowsiness, she quietly nodded.
Beyond her heavily drooping eyelids, she caught a glimpse of Esmeralda wearing a smile that looked somehow sad.
'What made Your Majesty sad?'
Normally, she would have asked that and hugged her. Just as Esmeralda had always done for her.
'When I wake up, I must ask. I must hold her……'
But Blair, unable to overcome the rushing sleep demon, fell asleep.
How much time had passed like that?
Crash—!
'Hah.'
At the sharp noise of objects falling and hitting the floor, the sleeping Blair's eyes snapped wide open.
'What was that sound?'
Similar noises followed several more times. Sleep completely evaporated. In the silence that followed, a chilling premonition washed over her like instinct.
And the smell.
The smell of something burning penetrated her nose and dug deep into her lungs.
Instinct was warning her. Death was close.
Blair quietly held her breath and observed outside through the crack of the wardrobe door.
There was someone in a maid's dress in the room. It was a side profile so her face wasn't clearly visible. And in front of her…….
'Your Majesty the Empress?'
Esmeralda was lying down. But she didn't seem to be asleep.
The Esmeralda that Blair knew was the most beautiful, elegant, and dignified person in the world. Such a person would never lie down on the floor haphazardly just because she was sleepy.
'What is she doing?'
The view through the narrow door crack was limited. She couldn't see clearly what the maid was doing with the sleeping Esmeralda. Blair moved a little closer to the door crack and rolled her eyes.
At that moment, Blair saw an unbelievable sight.
The maid was wrapping a cloth around Esmeralda's neck and tying it to the ceiling.
Even the young princess who had grown up knowing nothing of the dark side of the world could understand what the maid was trying to do to Esmeralda.
The maid was trying to kill Esmeralda.
It was not something learned, but a fear of death that was instinctive from birth.
Blair's pupils shook violently at witnessing that scene. Tears flowed without even a moment to become aware of the overwhelming terror.
Why?
She didn't understand why this situation had occurred, but one thing was certain.
She had to save Esmeralda.
'But…… I'm scared.'
What can I do if I go out now? Can I beat that maid? What if I can't save Her Majesty the Empress and I die too……?
Gradually, smoke filled the room and her breath caught in her throat. Blair suppressed the cough threatening to burst out and trembled all over.
She wished all of this was a dream.
If only this were a night phantom that would disappear when she opened her frightened eyes, cried in Esmeralda's arms, and felt her warm embrace. If only someone would save her from this nightmare…….
But now she had to accept the cruel reality that wouldn't disappear no matter how much she shook her head or cried.
'No one can save me.'
Right now, the only person who can save me is me.
Blair tightly clenched her trembling hands. She roughly wiped away the flowing tears and surveyed outside the wardrobe again.
The maid, standing on top of the coffee table, was still struggling, unable to hang Esmeralda.
Blair instinctively turned her gaze away from that horrific scene, then discovered a candelabra among the objects scattered near the wardrobe. The pointed candelabra glittered, reflecting a red light.
Upon discovering it, Blair's heart began to pound wildly.
There was only one chance.
Blair slightly opened the wardrobe and crept toward the nearby candelabra.
Fortunately, the maid seemed too preoccupied with tying Esmeralda to notice. Her thumping heart felt like it would leap out of her mouth.
Blair quietly approached and successfully grabbed the candelabra. From then on, there was no hesitation, no room for hesitation.
Blair gripped the candelabra tightly. Then she ran and swung it toward the maid's legs.
"Stop!"
The child's strike didn't inflict a major wound. But her appearance alone was enough to startle the maid.
"Argh!"
The maid, having lost her balance from Blair's attack, fell below the table. At that moment, Blair could finally see.
The face of the culprit who had harmed Esmeralda.