# 149
149. Perhaps It Was All For This Moment (2)
Once my heart settled a bit, I reached out and felt around the bed. Where did I put my clothes...? I thought I had left them nearby, but somehow nothing came to hand.
I turned my head and searched the vicinity of the bed, but no matter how much I looked, my clothes were nowhere to be seen. Wondering if they had fallen on the floor, I turned my head over the edge of the bed when suddenly the bed shook and Vincent hugged me tightly from behind. Startled me.
"I'm sleepy."
"I'm sleepy too."
"Should we just sleep a little more before going?"
"No."
"Pointlessly diligent."
What is he talking about. I decided to ignore that nonsense.
Trying to slip out of Vincent's embrace to find my clothes, Vincent grabbed my face and turned it toward him before I could. I paused at the face so close our noses nearly touched, but soon relaxed. Was it because of the morning sunlight? Vincent, whose face somehow looked bright, carefully examined my complexion.
"Is it not hard?"
"N... no. I'm fine."
"Your eyes don't look fine."
When his gaze landed on my swollen eyes, I felt awkward. I covered the corners of my eyes with my bangs and shook my head, and Vincent let out a soft chuckle. His large hand swept the bangs covering my face back behind my ear. At that careful touch, I felt unnecessarily embarrassed. I rolled my eyes around to avoid his gaze and pulled my body back.
"I think I should get ready to leave now."
As I looked around the floor again to find my clothes, the bed creaked. When I turned my head, I saw Vincent picking up my clothes that had been strewn on the floor. The softly spreading sunlight was illuminating him. I blankly scanned his half-naked body wearing only pants.
Feeling my gaze, Vincent wore a puzzled expression.
"Why?"
"You've become much... healthier than before."
Comparing to five years ago, he had gained an appropriate amount of weight and his physique had become sturdier, looking quite healthy. I repeatedly scanned his body up and down. Vincent, watching me do so, let the corners of his mouth drop and shook the clothes in his hand.
"This is nothing new. You saw it all night."
"I-I-I didn't see it in detail. It was dark too..."
The light from lamps placed here and there did shine, but it was difficult to completely brighten the room. Moreover, we didn't have the leisure to examine each other's bodies in detail.
"Then next time we'll do it somewhere bright."
"Tha... um..."
It was surprising that he so naturally mentioned 'next time,' but I also didn't know how to respond to those words. As Vincent watched me flustered, he seemed to ponder for a moment, then tilted his head slightly.
"Or should we do it again right now?"
"Uh..."
Once again I couldn't bring out an answer immediately. As I carefully chewed over his words in my head, Vincent dropped the clothes he was holding and climbed back onto the bed. I pulled the sheet over my head up to my eyes and slowly backed away. Soon my back hit the wall.
When I hunched my body and braced myself, Vincent placed his hand on the wall beside my face and narrowed the distance. My vision spun round and round. Ugh, uh, je— voice lost its way came out in broken fragments. As I sat rigid, unable to flee, Vincent, who had been bringing his face closer, suddenly dropped his head.
"Kuh."
His arm was trembling slightly. Only then did I realize he was teasing me. I looked down at him with a coldly frozen expression. Vincent, not noticing my demeanor, finally burst into laughter. My face hearing that laughter must have turned bright red.
I pounded his back repeatedly.
"Don't laugh! I said don't laugh!"
"Ah, alright. Alright."
Vincent turned away to dodge my hands but didn't stop laughing. I glared at him and tried to calm the heat in my face. Vincent, having let out a good laugh, approached me again. When I didn't back away this time and glared at him, Vincent caught my face and lightly bumped his lips against mine.
"Don't be mad."
Then he pushed my body backward.
After getting dressed, I gazed at the dazzling sunlight. The morning sun was quite warm. As I patted my sore body here and there, my disheveled hair got in the way. I was roughly combing my hair with my hands to tie it up when Vincent approached from behind.
"Should I tie it for you?"
Making the question pointless, he was already touching my hair. Did he want to tie it? I obediently handed him the hair tie.
Vincent carefully gathered my hair and smoothed it down with his fingertips. When his hand delved into my hair, my neck shrank back reflexively. My hair was curly and lacked luster, looking dry, so it would be difficult to tie neatly. Just as I thought, Vincent was struggling to tie my hair.
"You don't have to come with me to the forest mansion."
At those words, I felt the hands tying my hair pause momentarily, but soon they started moving again. But no proper answer came. Instead, only the strength pulling my hair grew stronger, to the point of pain.
When he finished tying my hair, I felt it with my hands. Unlike how tightly the hair was pulled together, the knot was somewhat loose. It'll come undone soon. Making that mild assessment, I turned around and saw Vincent wearing a disgruntled face. I lowered my hands and stared at him blankly.
"You're dissatisfied right now, aren't you?"
"Yes."
But it couldn't be helped. I gently rubbed his furrowed brow. Vincent let out a deep sigh and caught my hand, bringing it down. Instead, he familiarly swept my bangs aside. The morning sunlight shone dazzlingly on him.
"I'll take you up to the front of the mansion."
"That's..."
"That's not negotiable."
At his resolute words, I had no choice but to enter the forest with him. Unlike walking down this path alone in the middle of the night, this time I wasn't alone. That was the only thing that changed, yet it felt strange. It wasn't that our relationship had changed, and unsolved problems still floated in my mind. But the clasped hands were warm and felt good, and the clear air drifting around contained a strange sense of leisure.
The way in had felt long, but the way out felt short. Before I knew it, Vincent and I had reached the entrance of the forest. I took in the mansion visible through the bushes.
"Now you should go."
This far, I wouldn't be noticed. I firmly pushed his back as he tried to keep coming with me. Just as Vincent was about to turn around with a face full of reluctance, I saw someone approaching hurriedly from afar. It was Audrey.
"Lord Count!"
She called out to Vincent and ran precisely in our direction. Flustered at the thought of being caught together with him, Audrey didn't even give me a glance and stopped in front of Vincent to catch her breath. Somehow she looked disheveled even though it was morning.
"You need to come to the mansion quickly right now!"
A second murder occurred in the middle of the night. The person who died this time was the male servant in charge of cooking. The circumstances were identical to the first case. The man seemed to have slipped out of his room in the middle of the night and met his demise, and there were no witnesses. A maid who had come out to prepare for the morning discovered the dead man in the corridor.
According to the other servant sharing the same room, the man had said he was worried about the food he was to showcase today and would step down to the kitchen briefly before leaving the room—that was the last sight of him.
Along with Audrey, Vincent also headed to the crime scene. Jory, who had arrived first, was seen frowning and saying something to Vincent. Audrey ordered the gathered servants to return to their posts and do their work. But the people couldn't easily leave.
"What is going on again!"
"I'm scared to death! Aren't we going to be in big trouble too?"
The murmuring grew increasingly fierce. With two murder cases occurring, the anxiety inherent in the servants' hearts spread uncontrollably like wildfire. Through the gaps between such people, I observed Vincent. He stood motionless, seemingly lost in thought as he looked at the shape covered by cloth.
At Audrey's urging, the servants reluctantly turned their steps. I also returned to my room for now and took off my nightclothes. The buttons wouldn't fasten properly, so I changed clothes irritably and quickly returned to the corridor. But Vincent was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, I saw Vincent walking away in the distance. I hurriedly ran and grabbed him.
"Are you alright?"
Startled by someone suddenly grabbing him, Vincent recognized me and smiled.
"Your eyes have gotten even more swollen in just a short while."
"Don't say anything else. Is this really a big problem?"
This was already the second time. I couldn't hide my anxiety like the others. Vincent, looking at me like that, reached out and felt around my collar. Looking closely, a button had been fastened incorrectly in the middle.
As he properly fastened that button, Vincent whispered with a smiling face.
"It's okay."
As if to soothe me.
But my mind wasn't at ease. Seeing me like that, Vincent rummaged through his pants pocket, took something out, and placed it on my palm. It was the candy I had received last time.
"Eat this and wait quietly."
Vincent, who swept over my swollen eye area once, moved away. I fiddled with the candy in my hand. Would it really be okay? But even if it wasn't okay, there was nothing I could do. I could only hope this problem wouldn't grow any bigger.
And there was something else I needed to pay attention to.
A few days passed, and while going through my usual routine, a maid called me. After getting permission from the nanny, I followed her to a room where other servants and Audrey sitting in their midst were waiting.
"Where did you go in the middle of the night last time?"
"That's..."
Of all days, the day the second murder occurred was the day I went to meet Vincent. Only after receiving the sharp gazes of everyone in the room did I realize that I was the only one who hadn't been in the room that night. But I had been so preoccupied with my own matters that day that I hadn't seen anything. Nor could I say I was with Vincent. The situation was bad in many ways.
As I hesitated with my answer, Audrey asked again.
"I asked why you went outside."
"I went out to get some fresh air for a moment. I'm sorry."
"Did you see anyone?"
"No, I didn't see anything."
Since I wasn't supposed to leave the room in the middle of the night, punishment was already a given matter. I lowered my eyes. Audrey must have seen me with Vincent. It was too early in the morning to simply say we happened to be going the same way, and we were both lightly dressed. She would have found that strange, yet Audrey didn't ask about it and only repeated questions about whether anything was unusual that day.
The short interrogation ended, and I left the room. I felt bewildered. It was strange that she didn't bring up what happened with Vincent, but maybe Vincent had taken measures first. There also seemed to be no punishment for sneaking outside in the middle of the night.
When I raised my head, I saw people pacing in front of the room avert their gaze and pretend to look elsewhere. Word must have spread that I was outside on the night of the second murder. I tried hard to ignore the glances tinged with curiosity, but the situation only worsened.
Whatever rumor had spread, the whispering directed at me grew more severe, and gazes followed my back whenever I walked. The rumors about me had never been good to begin with, so they could have strangely distorted. I tried to ignore them, but with everyone staring at me, even that wasn't easy.
"Are you okay?"
When we were alone, the nanny offered me words filled with worry. I was grateful that she wasn't swayed by the strange rumors.
But the uneasy situation didn't easily subside. In the end, it happened.