# 84
84. To You, Whom I Tried to Forget But Could Not Erase (8)
"Master?"
"Yeah. That man, on the outside he acts all high and mighty, but on the inside he's a coward and quite timid. He's very guarded and cautious. He's always terrified someone will hurt him, and they say he never forgives anyone who stabs him in the back. He'll track them down and ruin them. But everyone else doesn't really know that. His specialty is just making his exterior look impressive."
I blinked at the sudden criticism. The fact that Vincent was cowardly and timid... I knew that very well too. He wasn't just a coward, he was a huge coward! Remembering the past when I had to endure his temper and make an effort to drag him out of his room, a deep sense of kinship sprang up. I want to nod.
"So you be careful too, Anne. If you mess with him the wrong way, you'll be in big trouble."
"Ah... Yes. I will be careful."
At her serious attitude, as if she were whispering a very grave secret, I nodded without realizing it. Joely chuckled. Her face was always beautiful, as if illuminated by a halo.
But was it my imagination? Somehow, I felt a strange sense of intimidation from her smiling face. Did Vincent badmouth me?
Then, a sudden question arose.
"But why do you find this fun?"
At my words, Joely threw her head back and laughed out loud.
"That man's behavior is amusing, isn't it?"
I had absolutely no idea what was so fun about it. But Joely didn't stop laughing. She looked like she was really enjoying herself. Suppressing the constantly bubbling curiosity, I awkwardly raised the corners of my mouth along with her. Haha.
After finishing attending to Joely, I returned to my room, but Robert, who should have been sleeping, was standing outside the door.
"Young Master? Why are you out here?"
Did he come out to meet me because he didn't see me? My steps, which had approached gladly, feeling proud of him, slowed down at a sudden thought. Was he trying to go to the iron horse statue?
Robert hadn't climbed the iron horse statue recently. Exactly since he received the reply to his letter. Before that, he would beg to go or attempt secret escapes, but for the past few days, he had stayed quietly in his room. He treasured the letter from his mother, reading it over and over again, looking happy.
However, contrary to expectations, Robert didn't send another letter. He just read and re-read his mother's letter, no longer getting depressed about wanting to see her more.
'Mother loves Robert. She misses me so, so much. She said she'll definitely come to see me, so she asked me to wait. Robert is a good son, so I'll endure it and wait. Robert loves Mother very, very much too.'
The child smiled brightly and waved his small arms in a circle. His face, saying he missed her this much, instead looked like it was comforting the worried adults. Hearing those words, the nanny felt relieved but also pulled a long face. She must have been thinking the same thing as me.
It would be nice if he could grow up a little more leisurely. The young master, whom I thought was just a bratty child, was making quite a mature expression. I looked at Robert and swallowed a bitter taste.
But hope sparkled in Robert's eyes as he fiddled with the letter. That was a welcome change.
The nanny put the letter in a small pouch and hung it around Robert's wrist, fearing he might lose it. Robert walked around with the pouch on one wrist and the wooden horse statue in his other hand. He also no longer threw things or threw unnecessary tantrums.
As I approached, Robert couldn't even make eye contact with me and hesitated. Was he really trying to go to the iron horse statue? Suspicion sprang up.
"You know..."
"Yes."
"Um, over there..."
Robert twisted his body and tapped the floor with his toes. His hesitant attitude was somewhat strange. His large eyes, which had been wandering the floor, suddenly locked onto me. He mumbled with his lips and flapped one hand. I took another step toward Robert, bent my waist, and met his eye level.
Then, a small hand grabbed my collar and pulled. Something soft touched my cheek.
*Smooch.*
"Thank you."
And then Robert immediately ran into his room.
Even after the door clicked shut, I couldn't straighten my awkwardly bent waist. My mind went blank. The suspicion that had been springing up until just a moment ago vanished far away.
I raised my hand and felt my cheek. The body temperature that had touched it was vivid.
"Haha."
The corners of my mouth kept going up. Then I blanked out again.
An unexpected memory was born.
* * *
It had been raining since late last night. The rain hitting the window grew gradually stronger, and by morning, thunder and lightning struck. At the noise that seemed to tear the sky apart, young Robert trembled. Afraid that the thunder would strike him, he hid tightly in his bed and cried that he was scared, so I exhausted myself trying to soothe him.
By the time Robert finally fell asleep, the darkness had already engulfed the sky again. The fierce wind and rain still struck the window mercilessly.
*Rattle— Hooo—* The sounds echoing in the room were eerie. They sounded just like screams. Robert whimpered, perhaps hearing them even in his sleep. I patted Robert's back and pulled the sheet up to his neck.
Taking over for the nanny who had struggled all day, I decided to stay by Robert's side tonight. The nanny said she was fine, but I was worried about her, as she probably hadn't been able to sleep properly last night while soothing Robert. I had barely persuaded her to rest and sent her back to her room.
The flames of the lamps placed here and there swayed precariously. The window rattled noisily, as if the hinges were about to break off.
The wind was too strong. Just as I was about to get up in worry, the window gave way to the wind before I could and burst open.
At the same time, the flames of all the lamps went out with a whoosh. Darkness rushed into the room. I pulled the sheet over Robert's head and stood up.
"Ugh."
Before I could even panic, the fierce wind and rain lashed my face. I couldn't open my eyes. I had to close the open window first. I raised one arm to cover my face and took a step forward. The curtain fluttered in the increasingly fierce wind, and my body kept getting pushed back. I struggled to take step after step and reached out with my remaining hand as hard as I could.
As I got closer to the window, I fumbled for a tactile sensation through the wind and rain. The strangely twisted window rattled and smacked against the wall in the wind. I grabbed it and tried to fit it into the window frame. The wind was so strong that I almost lost my balance several times.
By the time I finally managed to fit the window into the frame after wrestling with the wind, the room had already been turned upside down. It was a huge relief that the glass hadn't broken.
As expected, the hinge that fixed the window pane was broken. The window rattled as if it would open again from the blowing wind.
There was no way to fix it right away, so I tried wrapping it with the curtain, but it bounced back out. While looking around wondering what to do, a nearby dresser caught my eye. I dragged it over and placed it in front of the curtained window.
It only blocked the window halfway, but it was barely something. But I couldn't rest easy with just that, so I put all the heavy-looking items in the room into the drawers. Then I dragged other furniture in front of it as well. The window still rattled, but fortunately, it was blocked by the dresser and didn't open.
Only then did I catch my breath and survey the room. The interior, not even illuminated by moonlight, was too dark. The fact that all the lights were out was a problem, but the lamps knocked over by the wind had shattered. I found an intact one, but the matches were wet from the rainwater, so I couldn't light it.
I sighed and headed to Robert. I carefully picked up the small body covered in a sheet and left the room. I couldn't leave Robert in a room where the wind and rain could burst in again at any moment. Instead, I moved him to the room right next door and laid him on the sofa.
He must be tired since he hadn't slept well since last night, as he was sleeping soundly without a single frown despite the commotion. The sheet wrapped around the sleeping Robert was steadily serving as a protective barrier. But with no light illuminating the surroundings, he might wake up and cry in fear. I thought about asking the nanny for help, but changed my mind thinking about her rushing over here with her exhausted body.
Wait, will it be okay to leave him alone for a bit?
After hesitating for a moment, I got up from the sofa. Since all the lamps were broken, I needed to at least get a candle. Fumbling around, I stepped out of the room, and the hallway was dead silent. Fortunately, the hallway wasn't as dark as the room. The moonlight illuminated the path.
I calmly walked down the hallway. A humming sound echoed from afar. With every step I took, the sound grew louder, and now it could be heard from all directions. Perhaps because no one was around, I swallowed dryly in tension. The sound of my footsteps mixed in with the eerie noise. The shadows of tree branches swaying in the wind swept across the hallway.
'Sh-should I sing a song?'
I hummed a tune to shake off the fear, but it only made it scarier.
I was so scared my legs were trembling, but as I forced myself to ignore it and came down the stairs, I saw a hazy mass of light far down the hallway. At first, I thought I saw it wrong. There shouldn't be anyone wandering the hallway at this hour.
But the mass of light gradually became clearer. No, it was coming towards me.
I stopped in my tracks. At the same time, heavy footsteps were heard from the direction of the light. Swallowing dryly several times from the surging fear, I gripped the broken lamp I was holding even tighter. If it came down to it, I was ready to whack them with this and run away.
While I assumed a fully defensive posture, the mass of light that had come right up to my nose stopped. My eyes widened as I confirmed the face of the person beyond the bright beam of light.
"Master?"
Wait, why is Vincent here at this hour?
"You..."
He also had a surprised face, probably not expecting anyone to be here at this hour. Flustered, I lowered the hand that had been tightly gripping the lamp. As I stared at him blankly, his emerald eyes, which had been looking at me as well, followed the lamp in my hand downward and then frowned.
"What were you doing here."
"The window blew open and the wind rushed into the room, breaking all the lamps. The ones that were still intact had their lights blown out, and the matches got wet from the rainwater. I came down to light a fire and get some candles to replace the lamps."
When I showed him the lamp I was holding as I spoke, the space between his brows furrowed even more.
"The window? Is it Robert's room?"
"Yes. The hinge was broken, so I covered it with a curtain and dragged a nearby dresser to block it temporarily. But it was still dangerous, so I moved the Young Master to the next room. Perhaps because he couldn't sleep well all day due to the thunder and lightning, fortunately, he is sleeping soundly without waking up."
"What about the nanny."
"The nanny hasn't slept a wink since last night trying to soothe the Young Master. She is sleeping in her room now. I intentionally didn't tell her."
I added hastily in case he said something to the nanny. If he ordered me to wake the nanny right away, I would have no choice, but I hoped he wouldn't. Fortunately, he relaxed his expression without saying much.
But why was Vincent here? Rendering my worries about the previous ink incident meaningless, he hadn't shown his face at the mansion again.
As I was wondering at his sudden appearance, Vincent slightly tilted the lamp in his hand towards me.
"Here."
"Pardon?"
"The lamp, I mean."
The lamp? Ah, the lamp. I hurriedly lifted the glass chimney of the lamp. He also lifted the chimney of his lamp and brought the lit wick to the wick of my lamp. The fire transferred with a crackle. Another mass of light illuminating the surroundings was created.
I bowed my head.
"Thank you."
I carefully covered the glass chimney. I turned the side knob to adjust the intensity so the flame wouldn't go out.
"Where are the candles?"
"In the kitchen. Ah, wait."
As soon as I spoke, Vincent turned his body. Realizing where his steps were heading, I was startled and quickly followed behind him.