# 49
49. The Secret Maid of the Count's House (2)
I left the mansion and went to where he had been standing just a moment ago. As I illuminated the surroundings with the lamp in my hand, a strong wind blew in. Dry leaves rolled across the ground, and the lamp creaked as it cast light this way and that.
Then something caught my eye. I saw what looked like traces of water drops on the ground. Moreover, it wasn't just a drop or two; they were connected like a path leading somewhere.
"What is this?"
Curious, I approached closer and examined it, but it wasn't water. The color was dark. It wasn't because of the darkness. When I bent down and touched it, it smeared on my fingertips. The moment I held it up to the light and confirmed what it was, I was horrified.
It was blood. These were bloodstains.
My horrified gaze turned to the bloodstains stretching before me. They were heading toward the corner behind the annex. I swallowed dryly and straightened up. I tried to calm my trembling heart. It felt ominous. Should I call someone?
Then Lucas, whom I had just parted with, came to mind. He was nowhere in the mansion. No way. After hesitating for a moment with confused thoughts, I made up my mind and slowly took a step forward.
I illuminated the floor where the bloodstains had fallen with the lamp. The closer I got to the corner, the more bloodstains there were.
The blowing wind sent my hair ribbon fluttering, hitting my face. After securing the hair ribbon shortly, I tensed my nerves toward the corner. An unfamiliar noise was mixed in with the sound of the wind. It sounded like a voice...
Around the time I had that thought, I reached the corner. I swallowed dryly and quietly took a step forward. I turned my body and shone the lamp's light.
At that moment, a strong gust of wind hit, forcing my eyes shut. My clothes fluttered in the wind, and the lamp shook so much I could barely keep my wits about me.
I raised my hand to block the wind and barely opened my eyes to a squint. In the darkness, the lamp's light swayed this way and that. The flickering light illuminated the floor, the wall, the figure standing before me, and the figure collapsed beneath it.
And then a strong force struck the lamp.
"Ahh!"
I instinctively screamed. As my body fell backward, the lamp I held dropped to the ground and shattered. Before my eyes, I was swallowed by darkness.
I quickly groped around looking for the lamp. But all that reached my hands were broken lamp fragments. Still, I grabbed even those. Even so, I didn't stop screaming. I screamed as hard as I could so that someone might hear my screams and come.
Then, someone suddenly grabbed my ankle. My body was laid flat. I kicked and struggled to shake off that hand. My frantic screams became tinged with crying. I wildly swung the fragments I held in the air.
"Agh! Agh! Get away!"
"...la, Pol..."
"Agh! Aaagh!"
Save me! Don't do this! Get away! I shouted while wildly shaking my legs. I struggled to survive. Then, as I tried to crawl the other way, a familiar voice reached my ears.
"Paula."
My mind snapped awake at that voice, spoken with great difficulty. I immediately turned my head. Tears filled with fear dropped downward.
When I stopped shouting, the sound of the wind buzzed in my ears. I also heard the faint call contained within it. I heard it clearly.
"Lord Lucas?"
"..."
As I gradually grew accustomed to the darkness, I could see a rounded shape. I called out the name, but no answer returned. Instead, the panting breaths came through more clearly. After listening intently to that, I slowly reached out and groped for the hand holding my ankle. Something wet soaked my hand.
"Lord Lucas? Is it really you, Lord Lucas?"
"Pa... Paula..."
"Oh my god. Lord Lucas!"
I crawled toward him. Lucas was collapsed on the ground. He had reached out with difficulty, curling his body, to grab me.
I tried to examine his face, but it was too dark to see well. In a panic, I fumbled over his face with trembling hands and then touched his body. Then when my hand reached a certain area, it was covered with something wet. I tried to confirm what it was, but because it was so dark, I couldn't tell what was what.
I tried to lift him up from where he had fallen, but his limp body was too heavy. Holding Lucas in my arms, I barely managed to lift his upper body. But his strengthless body couldn't keep its balance and slipped, so in the end I had to seat him leaning almost entirely against me.
During that time, my hands grew even wetter. And when I felt around the stomach area where his hand was pressing, I realized something was gushing and flowing.
I slowly raised my wet hand. I still couldn't see well. But instinctively, I felt like I knew what it was. The bloodstains that had fallen on the ground, the wetness that kept flowing down. Blood, it's blood. What was soaking my hand was his blood. Blood was flowing from his stomach area.
I was terrified and pressed that area with my hand. But the blood helplessly flowed through the gaps between my fingers.
"W-what in the world. What in the world is this."
"Pa... haa. Paula."
"Yes. Lord Lucas. It's me. I've come. What in the world happened."
"Haa. Haa."
Rough breaths reached my ear. With his face leaning against my shoulder, he exhaled with difficulty. But that breath was precarious and unstable, as if it could stop at any moment. His condition was very bad.
Who could have done this. Who in the world...
"L-Lord Lucas. Stay with me."
I shook his shoulder. Lucas slowly rolled his eyes as if responding. The eyes looking at me had no focus. Seeing that, I burst into tears.
"Hiccup. Stay with me. You mustn't sleep."
"Why... haa, why didn't you let... haa, let me go."
"Hiccup. Sob."
"I waited..."
He mumbled. It was a small voice that seemed like it could go out at any moment. I slapped his cheek. I shouted for him to please stay with me. I was afraid he would fall asleep.
"You mustn't sleep. Don't fall asleep."
"Every day... I waited... Instead of, instead of my brother... sending you off... haa... I waited... haa, ugh, I wai-, sob!"
He groaned and twisted his body. I tightly held onto him as he tried to slip out of my arms. The sound of his breathing reaching my ear was too rough. The blood didn't stop and kept flowing.
I looked around. I shouted asking if anyone was there, but since it was a place with few passersby even normally, there was no one around.
Tears kept blocking my view. I kept wiping my eyes and looked around in case someone who could save him might pass by.
"You mustn't sleep. You can't sleep. Please. Don't sleep."
"It was really... good... I really..."
"Lord Lucas. You mustn't sleep."
His voice mumbling something faded away weakly. I patted his cheeks to keep him from falling asleep. The body temperature I felt in my hands was cold. He was human, yet cold. That was scary.
I had to treat him quickly.
There was no time to stay like this.
I draped his arm over my shoulder and used all my strength to lift his body up. But dragging him when his body had lost all strength was not easy. He couldn't even take a single step properly and collapsed.
I carried him on my back and took a step forward. His limp body was still too heavy. In the end, I couldn't go more than a few steps before falling forward. I felt a stinging pain, but I jumped up, carried him on my back again, and dragged him. But this time too, I couldn't go far before falling again.
My heart was anxious. My heart pounded with anxiety. I could only think that I had to get to a place where someone could help him quickly. After trying to carry him on my back a few more times and giving up, instead I reached my arms from behind his back, grabbed his upper body, and dragged him. His body was dragged across the ground.
"You can't die. You can't die. Please. No."
I took steps while dragging him with all my might. Sweat dripped down my face, already a mess of tears. Still, I didn't give up. Like a crazy person, I muttered as I walked forward step by step. But he was too heavy, and I was too weak to drag a grown man. I resented myself for that.
Please, hurry!
"We have to go quickly. You can't die. You can't sleep. Have to. Go."
"...la."
"Have to go. Quickly. Quickly."
"La..."
He wrapped his hand around my trembling hand. Noticing that touch, I stopped walking.
We had emerged from the darkness and arrived under the moonlight, and along the path I had dragged him, his bloodstains continued.
I immediately checked his condition. I saw his pale face. It was so pale he looked like a dead person. I placed my trembling fingertips under his nose. I could feel breath, faint but present.
I stopped the sob that was about to burst out with both hands. Both my hands were covered in blood. It was an amount that could possibly kill someone.
"Lord Lucas. Lord Lucas."
I called him while crying. I prayed for him not to fall asleep. I wanted him to call me like he always did. But instead of calling me, he moved his lips slightly. As if trying to say something. Noticing that, I carefully laid him down and brought my ear close to his moving lips.
Between the heavy, murky breaths, struggling words came out in fragments.
"Run, run, go. Hurry. Run, from my brother. Pa, Paula."
"Lord Lucas. I'm right here."
I held his slightly raised hand. He also fumbled to grasp my hand. His eyes, blinking weakly, barely managed to focus and turned toward me. When our eyes met, he blinked once. At that response, I let out a sob of relief.
That was the moment. I sensed a presence in the darkness.
Footsteps. The moment I heard that sound, my face stiffened. When I turned my heavy head toward the sound, something glinted in the darkness. It flickered, gradually becoming clearer.
Lucas pressed my hand firmly. My gaze reached him again.
"Go. Run, hurry. Go."
"..."
He spoke desperately, but my body wouldn't move. My legs were heavy. My body had frozen, and I couldn't move a single finger. Fear crushed me. I'm scared. I'm so scared. Someone save me.
Lucas, who was looking at me like that, suddenly twisted his body. A groan burst from him. He looked in pain. Despite that, he placed one hand on the ground and grabbed his stomach with the other, struggling to lift his upper body.
He grabbed my hand tightly with his trembling hand. My dazed eyes met his shaking brown irises. The desperation contained within them poured into me.
A thin tear rolled down from the corner of his eye.
"Go."
"..."
"Hurry, go. Go. Go—"
The hand that had been holding me finally pushed me away.
"Run away!"
The moment I saw his face contorting as if about to cry, my body moved instinctively. I put strength into my heavy legs, stood up, and turned my body right around. Leaving the gradually approaching footsteps behind, just as he wanted, I ran with all my might, looking only forward.
'I will never forget this moment forever.'
The moment I was swallowed by the darkness that fell again, I recalled Lucas standing in front of the mansion, looking at me. Eyes that curved roundly holding warmth, and the corners of his mouth that rose along with them. A smile that considered the other person. He always smiled at me like that.
Did he smile like that then too? And is he smiling at me now as I grow distant?
Tears flowed down.
As I ran, I desperately prayed only that Lucas wouldn't fall asleep.