# 129
129. The Maid Stands Before the Secret (8)
As I went down to the first floor, people were huddled together in the hallway. Sensing an unusual atmosphere, I tensed up and approached them.
The first thing that caught my eye was a woman slumped in a corner. Dressed in a nightgown with disheveled hair, she was trembling in the arms of what appeared to be a colleague, staring at something. Her terrified face was clearly visible even in the faint darkness.
On the floor, illuminated by the restless flickering of numerous lamps, a piece of cloth was spread out. It was bulged upward as if covering something. Stepping closer, I realized the cloth was actually a curtain. I carefully examined the rounded bulge of the curtain over the shoulders of the crowd. Then, in an instant, something sticking out from beneath the curtain caught my eye.
A hand. A human hand.
Only then did the murmurs of the crowd pierce through to my ears.
"What on earth is going on? Are they really dead?"
"Looks like it. I don't know what happened. Why would someone who was perfectly fine just this evening suddenly drop dead?"
"They were murdered, right? Look at that blood."
Isn't that those two? You know, the ones who were crazy about each other."
"Yeah, that's them! Sneaking out of their rooms in the middle of the night to see each other, and look at the mess they're in now."
Just as I thought, the shapes hidden beneath the curtain were indeed people. Two of them, in fact. As the murmurs rippled outward like waves on a lake, a man standing nearby couldn't contain his curiosity and lifted a corner of the curtain. Startled, he stumbled backward and let go, completely revealing the gruesome sight hidden beneath.
Gasp! The sound of someone sharply inhaling reached my ears.
A man and a woman lay dead, drenched in blood. The woman was lying on her back with her eyes wide open, while the man was sprawled over her. Both were dressed in nightgowns, and the man's back was stained with a dark red circle of blood, as if pierced by something. Their hands, completely motionless, signaled their death.
It was undeniably a murder. Moreover, discovering a colleague—who had been working and socializing with them just hours earlier—reduced to a cold corpse in the dead of night left everyone stunned. An oppressive tension, as thick as the pitch-black darkness, loomed over the servants.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from the dead couple. The hand gripping my lamp trembled violently. A memory from long ago grabbed me by the back of the neck. A man dying alone in a darkness devoid of a single speck of light. The words he had spewed like a wail from his blood-soaked face echoed in my ears.
Run, run, you have to run... Mulling over the words etched into my mind, a chilling sensation washed over my entire body, as if I had been doused in cold water. The woman's wide, staring eyes seemed to send a warning: *You shouldn't be here.*
Someone hastily covered the woman's face with the curtain. But it remained as an afterimage, continuously flickering before my eyes.
Come to think of it, nothing had ever been truly stable.
Five years ago, Lucas was nearly murdered, and as the sole witness to the scene, my life had been threatened. Vincent tried to send me to a safe place, but even that process was interrupted by someone else. Though I had barely escaped with my life, the memories of that day lingered in my mind for a long time, tormenting me.
After experiencing such a thing, I still returned—so what on earth was I being so complacent about? This hollow peace condemns me.
The day after the incident, the dead couple appeared in my dreams. The man lying there with his hands clasped together was Lucas. His entire body was drenched in blood, and blood poured relentlessly from his stomach. I pressed both hands against the flowing wound, shaking him awake. *Lord Lucas, Lord Lucas.* But no matter how much I called, he didn't stir. His tightly shut eyelids would never reveal those gentle eyes again.
Shedding tears, I looked at the woman. The woman collapsed on the floor was Alicia. Her beautiful hair—which she used to complain about getting ruined from lack of proper care—was tangled messily all around her, and she lay dead with her eyes wide open. Her complexion was dreadfully pale, and the burst blood vessels in her eyes were terrifying. A circular pool of red blood was spreading across Alicia's chest.
Why are you there? Why even you... My vision blurred with tears.
Then, I sensed a presence. Turning around, I found someone standing right behind me. A man dressed neatly in a suit, a gun in one hand. His golden hair scattered brilliantly in the light, and his emerald eyes looked down indifferently at my crying form.
He raised his hand and aimed the muzzle at me. The clicking sound of the hammer being pulled back scratched at my eardrums.
At that moment, I jolted awake. As soon as I sat up, I threw up everything in my stomach. Even then, my mind was still so hazy that I felt like I was wandering in a dream. Wiping my sweat-drenched face, I frantically patted down my body, searching for a gunshot wound. After that, I couldn't get back to sleep.
The sudden murder case was brought under control when Audrey appeared. She first ordered the gathered servants to return to their rooms, then took away the woman who had been clinging to her colleague. I heard she was the first to discover the bodies and the one who had screamed.
The woman had woken up in the middle of the night feeling thirsty. Her water pitcher happened to be empty, so she left her room to get a refill. As she headed down the stairs, she sensed a presence coming from the first-floor hallway. Looking closer, she saw a lamp sitting all alone on the floor. Feeling puzzled, she approached the lamp and soon discovered the dead couple lying there, prompting her to scream.
Word of the incident spread like wildfire and was on everyone's lips. The day after the murder, Vincent visited the mansion. He inspected the crime scene and discussed matters with Joelly, while Audrey summoned the servants who had been close to the deceased couple and interrogated them about anything suspicious.
Both victims had been stabbed in the chest by a sharp object. The reason they were drenched in blood was due to the sheer number of stab wounds. Who on earth could have done this to them? Everyone was desperate to identify the culprit, but with no witnesses to the midnight attack, deducing the killer's identity proved difficult.
With the culprit still at large, time simply dragged on, and the atmosphere inside the mansion grew increasingly oppressive. The servants were consumed by fear. They couldn't help but tremble at the thought that they might be the next victims.
Eventually, more and more people declared their intention to quit, leading to a chaotic situation. However, instead of letting them go, Audrey coaxed them into staying at the mansion.
However, the uproar that had erupted wasn't so easily quelled. The servants raised their voices in protest, accusing the management of keeping them confined to prevent rumors from leaking to the outside.
I could no longer endure the steadily growing anxiety. My nerves were constantly on edge, and there were many nights I stayed awake. I was terrified of having nightmares. That murder had instilled a profound fear in me. Seeing their lifeless forms felt like looking at my own future, and the emotions I had desperately bottled up finally exploded.
It was evening, just as the sun began to set. I finished attending to Robert's dinner a little early, returned to my room, and packed the necessities into my bag. Since I hadn't brought much with me to begin with, I didn't have much luggage. After finishing my simple preparations, I sat on the bed, and soon Alicia entered the room.
"What are you doing?"
"There's somewhere I need you to go with me."
"Now? Don't you know we're not allowed out at night?"
Alicia sat on the bed and looked out the window at the sky.
Ever since the mysterious murders, leaving the mansion at night had been strictly forbidden. Even though the mansion sat isolated in the middle of a forest, the management of the servants was rigid. The official reason was "to not tarnish the family's prestige," but it was so excessive that the servants felt suffocated. In the end, they could only find solace in colleagues who understood their plight.
The deceased couple had also met here and become lovers; they had met their end while secretly trysting in the middle of the night. As a result, going out had become even more difficult, and on late nights, they were forbidden from even leaving their rooms.
However, the security was a bit more lax during the evening. It was the end of the workday, and with everyone busy eating dinner, there weren't many people in the hallways. Furthermore, given the circumstances, it seemed most servants were holed up in their rooms. It wasn't completely dark outside yet, so navigating the way shouldn't be a problem.
"The sun hasn't set yet. Get up."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll know when we get there. Hurry up."
"No. It's too much effort."
Alicia waved her hand, clearly displaying her annoyance. I had anticipated this reaction, so I offered something that would pique her interest.
"If you come with me, I'll do whatever you say."
"What?"
"I said I'll do whatever you say. I'll even lie if that's what you want."
Alicia immediately caught on to what I was implying. She looked up at me with a startled expression. Meeting her questioning gaze—asking if I was serious—I gave a firm nod.
"But if you don't come with me right now, I will absolutely never do what you want."
"Ugh, fine. I'll go, let's go."
Alicia reluctantly got to her feet. Grabbing my bag, I led the way out of the room. I could feel Alicia's gaze on the bag in my hand as she followed behind, but I simply kept walking, pretending not to notice.
I expected to run into at least one or two people on my way out of the mansion, but fortunately, the coast was clear. I was lucky. Keeping an eye on my surroundings, I led Alicia out the back door and headed straight into the forest. Since there was no proper path, the underbrush was thick, making the walk difficult.
"There's a path right there, why are we going through here?"
"Because this is the way we need to go."
Taking the path meant a higher chance of being spotted, which was too dangerous.
"Where on earth are we going?"
"……"
I didn't answer that. After asking a few more times and still getting no response, Alicia muttered complaints under her breath. I paid her no mind.
People had been murdered—two of them, no less. Yet strangely enough, no active investigation was being conducted. They merely collected the bodies and tried to soothe the people's anxiety; they hadn't found the culprit, nor was there any progress. It was as if they were hiding something.
That was more than enough to arouse the servants' suspicions. Because of that, everyone wanted to leave this place. But with security tightened, it wasn't going to be easy.
However, it wasn't entirely impossible. There was a place I had visited exactly once, five years ago. By taking the secret path hidden within the forest, we could reach the village.
Trying to recall the way I had taken five years ago, I felt my way along the tree trunks. But it wasn't as easy as I had thought. Finding the tree marked with the seal that guided the way to the secret path was difficult, and the forest was so vast that I couldn't get my bearings.
I couldn't afford to get lost like this. Growing anxious, I frantically felt my way along the trunks of the trees ahead, until Alicia, who had been following behind me for a while, asked again.
"Where are we going?"
"……"
"I asked you where we're going!"
When I didn't answer this time either, Alicia strode forward and grabbed my shoulder. Only then did I stop and look at her.
"Why won't you say anything? I'm asking you where we're going."
I looked past Alicia's shoulder in the direction we had come from. We must have walked quite a distance, as the mansion was no longer in sight. This should be far enough.
I grabbed Alicia's arm, looked her straight in the eye, and finally spoke the reason I had brought her all the way out here.
"Let's leave this place together."
"What?"
"Let's run away."
At my words, Alicia wore an expression of sheer disbelief.