novelraw Chapter 345: The Traitor's Fate
Chapter 345: The Traitor's Fate
[Chapter Nine: The Traitor's Fate]
[The maid, Eileen, entered the room to attend to Sara. In the hallway, the other servants stood waiting, whispering about David, the footman who had run away the previous night. The Viscount was furious, but thankfully, the man hadn't stolen anything from the estate.]
Lu Li and the others listened in silence, learning the fate the Shadow Puppeteer had in store for David.
At 5:40 in the morning, the body of David Alexander was discovered on the beach. A fatal wound on the back of his neck, after a full day in the rain, had become a ghastly, gaping hole. Since David was dressed in the livery of a servant from Baroness Joseph's estate, the Agate Lake district police arrived to make inquiries, and soon everyone knew his fate.
Aileen had to pay a considerable sum when she hired a retired member of the Night's Watch—a survivor of the Shadow Puppeteer's ritual—to investigate instead of the police.
Members of the Night's Watch who lived to see retirement were rarer than factory owners who willingly paid their workers a bonus.
[The old servant, Vincent, replaced David as Sara's attendant. Vincent had served the Viscount and his family for over a decade, and everyone, including Sara, knew him well. But to Sara, the old servant was like a pair of eyes her father had posted to watch her—especially since you could read a story in those old, clouded eyes.]
Vincent's situation was hardly better than that of Lu Li and the others. The moment he appeared, he was put on the same level as them. The final sentence implied that Vincent had encountered the Shadow Puppeteer's ritual before.
The Shadow Puppeteer remembered him.
[The maid, Eileen, removed the bandages from Sara’s hand and replaced them with fresh ones, asking tenderly, "Are you feeling better, miss?" The touch of the new dressing on the wound on the back of her hand was painful, but Sara seemed to feel nothing. With a smile, she replied, "I'm fine, thank you, Eileen."][Sara pretended everything was normal.]
The Baroness, playing her part, calmly awaited her next line, delivered by the obscure ancient shadow.
[— Eileen, could you ask for a few more days' leave for me? I don't feel much like going out lately, — said Sara.]
Outside, beyond the rain-lashed window, thunder suddenly cracked. The Baroness’s hand trembled, and she nearly tore off the freshly applied bandages.
She was about to be left alone.
The Baroness remembered clearly: she was the one who was supposed to accompany Sara to the gazebo yesterday. But perhaps the Shadow Puppeteer, for the sake of dramatic tension and a more spectacular revenge for its protagonist, had decided to postpone her death, saving it for the "traitor who deceived her kind miss."
That was what Vincent, the survivor of the Shadow Puppeteer's ritual, had said.
The Shadow Puppeteer was an evil spirit with a deep reverence for ritual.
[— But if I miss my lessons for too long, my tutor will be angry... — the maid Eileen said hesitantly. — Father will agree. He'll probably be happy to have me stay in my room until that stranger from the Count's family marries me, — Sara replied.]
[The maid Eileen carefully tied the bandages, trying not to cause her mistress any pain. Sensing Sara's aversion to Fran Francis, she looked up and said earnestly, — This Mr. Francis is truly a wonderful man, miss. You should be happy.]
[— ... — After a long silence, one that stretched until a black mist began to creep down from the ceiling, the Baroness was forced to speak the words that could plunge her into the abyss: — This Mr. Francis is truly a wonderful man, miss. You should be happy.]
Lu Li and the others were outside, so "Sara" shouldn't be able to do anything to her in the bedroom... the Baroness thought.
The chapter title made it painfully clear that today, Sara would kill another "traitor" for her resurrection ritual.
They knew the truth.
But "they" knew nothing.
[Sara simply shook her head and said nothing. — Very well, — the maid Eileen said, confident the young miss would change her mind. She stood and went to ask for Sara's leave of absence.]
Under the watchful eyes of Lu Li and the others, the Baroness left the bedroom, with the butler Lulu trailing her, never more than a step behind. They disappeared around the corner.
[After the maid Eileen had gone, Sara slowly unclenched her right hand from the blanket, suppressing a sudden urge. She knew this wasn't part of her plan. If she acted now, the frequent disappearances of servants would inevitably draw her father's attention.]
[She wasn't afraid of being exposed. Foolish people, mired in false splendor and fabricated truths—who would believe the Viscount's fragile daughter was a murderer? But she was afraid of being locked away, for then she would be unable to resurrect Adam.]
[Sara had to hurry. She had to stick to the plan.]
Lu Li and the others didn't know what the plan was, but it was clearly nothing good.
Until the story's end, they would all have to be exceptionally careful.
After that, Sara made no attempt to communicate with them. Lu Li and the others entered the bedroom to clean, just as they did every day.
[Sara leaned against the wall, her long legs bent slightly beneath the blanket as she read a book.]
After some time, the Baroness returned. Once the cleaning was finished, everyone left the bedroom, leaving her alone once more.
[Seeing that Sara was reading, the maid Eileen didn't disturb her and went out onto the balcony to water the flowers. She noticed something was amiss today: the beautiful birdsong that usually filled the air each morning was absent.]
Lu Li and the others were sitting on a couch in the hallway. The newest member of their group, Vincent, stood a short distance away by the window, a pipe in his hand.
A distant roll of thunder made the windows vibrate faintly.
Since his arrival, Vincent had truly acted the part of a Night's Watch member and a survivor of the Shadow Puppeteer's ritual: he was perceptive and cautious, avoiding the mistakes common to overconfident old men.
Careless exorcists don't tend to live very long.
Taking advantage of the lull in the story, Lu Li pulled a palm-sized, folded newspaper from his pocket and spread it open.
It was Monday. The Trader had delivered the Deep Sea Stone to the warehouse on Elm Street and brought the latest issue of the Investigator Weekly.
Petra, who was sitting nearby talking with Rola, glanced over at him before turning away again.
[The Awful Giant Has Left the Port of Zenster].
The illustration beneath the headline depicted an empty sea. A second image showed a group photograph of the exorcists who had participated in the "Awful Giant" incident.
An account of the entire incident was printed alongside it.
[The Awful Giant vanished as suddenly as it appeared. All attempts to investigate and resolve the situation proved futile. Due to the terrifying aura of the In-Between, the Spirit Hunters couldn't even approach the beach. We know very little about it. Fortunately, the Awful Giant did not reappear, and as of last Sunday, it seems to have departed from this world].
[But we must not let our guard down. It is foreseeable that similar incidents will become more frequent in the near future. The construction of Doomsday Shelters has already begun in various districts].