MHHC Chapter 10

"A way to escape."

"It's an escape route that the Young Lord has prepared."

Greta whispered nervously as if afraid someone might hear. She hunched up to her neck, and occasionally startled and craned her head at sounds of people from far away. Adelheid looked at her with incredulous eyes.

"Young Lord...Do you mean Lord Oskar right now?"

"That's right. He agreed to help us. A week from now, at night, he said he'd secretly prepare a carriage for us."

"Greta!"

At Adelheid's sharpened voice, Greta turned pale. She brought her hand close to Adelheid's lips, making shushing sounds repeatedly. Adelheid barely suppressed her bewilderment.

"Knowing how much I dislike him... How could you think to join hands with that man?"

"That doesn't matter. Please, My Lady. Getting away from this place even a day sooner is more urgent."

"....."

"I can use anyone if it means I can get you out of this quagmire. We won't see him again once we leave Ansgar anyway."

"......"

"The supply wagon he's prepared will take us to the border of Bitzleben. I have some travel money saved up, so from there we can take a hired carriage."

"A hired carriage..."

Adelheid barely exhaled her suppressed breath. Greta was acting hastily without being able to calm down, but if she thought about it calmly, the plan itself was also flimsy.

Two women from the inner quarters traveling without escorts? With bandits and monsters teeming everywhere? This was like running toward a cliff to avoid a carriage.

However, Greta's desperation had an irresistible force. Adelheid asked with some resignation.

"Fine. Let's say we leave. Even if we succeed, where exactly do we intend to stay?"

"Go to the grand cathedral in Pragma or Falkenhaim. That's the only place. Even 'that thing' wouldn't be able to follow there."

"...Surely, Greta. You can't still be thinking the Grand Duke is Bitzleben's drag—"

"Shh, shh!"

Adelheid was roughly gagged once more. She could fully taste the saltiness from the old maid's thick palm. Greta wrinkled her nose bridge and urged,

"If you speak that name, it will definitely awaken. Right now it's preoccupied with recovering so it won't wake easily... But you must always be careful. Don't let that word leave your mouth even when you're alone."

"......"

"Do you understand?"

Adelheid barely nodded. As soon as Greta released her mouth, she finally voiced her complaint.

"But suddenly the grand cathedral?"

"Please try contacting the High Priest, Father Padre, in the Falkenhaim diocese. No matter how I think about it, Bitzleben is dangerous. It's best to leave the region entirely. Besides, he's L— I mean, Your Grace's godfather... His Excellency will take us in."

When flustered, Greta called her 'Your Grace' instead of the usual title, or 'Laura.' Adelheid could only guess that this was probably her mother's name.

As much as Greta knew her, Adelheid also knew Greta. Habits, small mannerisms, actions and speech patterns, ways of thinking...

It had been a long relationship and such a bond. The sense of debt for the arduous sacrifices Greta had endured was deep enough to make her listen even to such absurd stories.

"I understand your worry, but I can't leave without any preparation."

"My Lady, please."

"Rather, find another escape route. Then I'll consider it. You know too that Lord Oskar isn't someone who would readily help us, don't you, Nanny?"

"......"

"Rather, if there's really a certain safe path..."

That's when it happened. They heard the sound of someone nearby. Not from the distant corridor, or below the stairs where knights were standing guard, or outside the window, but from right beyond the door where they were standing. The faces of the two women looking at each other instantly turned pale as a ghost.

"......"

"......"

After a brief silence, Adelheid was the first to come to her senses. She urgently pushed Greta's arm toward the stairs.

"Go, Greta. Let's talk more later."

Greta exhaled an anxious breath. It was a night when her worries had grown especially deep. The days when she seemed invincible and thought she would never age were long gone, now she only had days of decay ahead so perhaps that was why...

She tossed and turned while lying on the hard bed. Perhaps because her head was complicated, sleep wouldn't come easily. As she stared at the ceiling in the darkness, she was thrown into memories of that day, as always.

That day. The night when it was drizzling, when they first fled the temple as if running away.

Adelheit. Greta's innocent young lady wouldn't know. What kind of woman her mother was, where she lived in her childhood, how she drifted south, and how she eventually rolled into the dirty hands of Count Reichenau...

Only three people now knew the truth of that day. Count Reichenau and Greta, and the priest who had helped in their escape.

'What more should I do here, Laura?'

The content of the oracle that she had once heard directly from those beautiful lips grew fainter and dimmer with each passing year. Now Greta could only remember one sentence.

'Though the wicked covet it, in the end it shall perfect itself.'

Count Reichenau's inability to let go of Adelheit until she was fifteen was also because of that oracle. There was a vain belief that if Reichenau's bloodline became 'perfect,' she would become the world's most powerful healer.

Greta let out a deep sigh.

'Would it have been better if there had been no oracle?'

To protect Adelheid, Greta had given up many things and lived enduring them. Only for that child. However, disasters like this one were not easy even after a lifetime of preparation. Perhaps it was because the past few years had been too peaceful.

'First, let me sleep and wake up, then go straight to the temple. Draw holy water and receive blessings...'

Greta squeezed her eyes shut and urged herself to sleep. Time was suddenly approached dawn. If she didn't close her eyes now, she would suffer from fatigue all day tomorrow. Her initially irregular breathing was just beginning to settle into a regular rhythm when...

At that moment, when the roosters, crowing without regard for the hour, briefly fell silent—

Click.

Greta's eyes snapped open. Even before her mind could understand, a chillingly cold shiver ran down her spine. That was the sound of a firmly locked latch turning. And there was only one key to the latch, which Greta always carried on her person.

'Then who on earth could it be?'

The moment she had that thought, ripples arose in her chest, as if mocking her: Are you really asking because you don't know? Doesn't your instinct already know...?

Clank.

Eventually, the latch unlocked completely and the door slowly opened. Her heart raced. Her breathing became rapid in an instant. Greta barely swallowed the scream that was about to burst out. She rolled over as if tossing and turning in her sleep, pressing her mouth against the pillow.

Creak. Creeak.

She could hear the sound of stepping on old boards, getting closer. The shadow she confirmed with half-open eyes looked like a large man. It wasn't in the form of a dragon as rumored, nor did it seem to move as if it were alive by itself.

As if there was still a reason to remain human for now.

When 'that thing' stopped by her bedside, Greta squeezed her eyes shut.

"......"

Even without opening her eyes, she could feel 'that thing' looking down at her, piercing her with its gaze. She tried tossing and turning, pretending to sleep, but she couldn't stop her breathing from becoming rapid.

She could feel 'that thing' bending at the waist. Even though it came close enough to almost make contact, strangely not even the sound of breathing could be heard. The gasping breath belonged to Greta alone.

"......"

'That thing's' gentle laughter seemed to flow across Greta's wrinkled cheek. Like the voices of thousands of people layered together, like a single wail, or like a fierce north wind whooshing and rushing past...

'That thing' seemed to already know. Their crude plan, Greta's fear, and that she wasn't yet asleep.

She was going to die. Her lips and fingertips trembled at the sudden premonition.

Unable to bear it any longer, when she slightly opened her eyes,

"...!"

Greta faced glowing golden eyes directly in the darkness. They were eyes that emitted light by themselves even without any light source.

Looking down at a writhing bug from an extremely high place, that eeriness that was utterly inhuman. That coldness...

"Heu, heuk... S-save..."

Greta couldn't help but sob quietly. 'That thing' was disaster itself. Greta's teeth chattered in extreme fear.

It just watched quietly as if amused, or as if her reaction was funny. As if her plea for mercy couldn't be heard.

"...Please, please..."

Suddenly, that thing's shadow moved. She gasped and trembled all over at the icy cold sensation of shadows climbing up her throat. She soon realized that they weren't simple shadows, but hundreds of hands.

Those hands were like metal. Like snake scales, and sharpened blades combined.

They covered Greta's mouth and enveloped her short, thick neck densely. Elegantly as if playing an instrument, they constricted like a spider stealing breath.

"...Heup..."

Greta's agonized groans couldn't even flow outward, blocked by the hands. Saliva, tears, and snot poured out in a mess. It wasn't exaggeration—she really felt like she might die.

The problem was that no matter how much she writhed, 'that thing' didn't even show interest. It even seemed indifferent, as if looking at a crushed larva.

"Eu... hup..."

Actually, if it wanted to kill her, it would have done so long ago. However, there was only one reason it was playing with her like this, gradually instilling deep-seated fear from the very core.

Because she had suggested escape to Adelheit.