novelraw Chapter 349: Sara's Two Attempts
Chapter 349: Sara's Two Attempts
Feeling Anna's aura gradually fade, Lu Li delivered his line.
Petra approached Lu Li and, casting a meaningful glance at the wooden cellar door, spoke:
[“Doing it yourself is a completely different matter,” Sara smiled. Just then, she noticed Petra looking doubtfully at the cellar door.]
[“Petra!” Sara called out anxiously.]
“What is it?” The servant Petra shifted his gaze.
“What is it?” Petra looked at ‘Sara’.
[“Be a dear and go find the gardener. Ask him for some fertilizer,” Sara said nonchalantly. “Bring it to the garden.”]
[“I’ll see to it at once,” replied the servant Petra, puffing out his chest before hurrying out of the shed.]
“I’ll see to it at once.”
Petra gave Lu Li a knowing look and stepped out into the rain.[“We have the shovel, let’s go back,” Sara said cheerfully. The servant Lu Li, naturally suspecting nothing, took the shovel and left the shed with Sara.]
Perhaps because she had no further plans, or maybe because the shovel was in Lu Li’s hands, ‘Sara’ made no attempt to attack him on the way back.
[“Isn’t it beautiful?” Sara gazed dreamily at the flowerbed, where in her mind’s eye, vibrant flowers bloomed, butterflies fluttered, and a warm breeze carried a faint, sweet scent.]
Lu Li, looking at the muddy, rain-drenched yard without a single blade of grass, replied, “Yes.”
The story continued to unfold.
Soon, the servant Petra returned with the fertilizer, dissuaded Sara from helping, and, together with the servant Lu Li, began to fertilize and till the soil of the nonexistent flowerbed.
The shovel that had nearly killed Lu Li had found its use after all.
For about fifteen minutes, Lu Li and Petra worked under the pouring rain, engaging in their make-believe tasks like children playing a game.
[“Thank you for your help,” Sara said, addressing the perspiring servants, Lu Li and Petra. “I’d like to be alone for a while, if you don’t mind.”]
[“Of course,” replied the servant Petra, puffing out his chest and wiping the sweat from his brow.]
“Of course,” Petra wiped the raindrops from his face, a futile gesture as the rain was pouring down in sheets.
[“Wait,” Sara called out suddenly, stopping Petra just as he was about to leave with Lu Li. “Do you know Rola well? I’d like to ask you something.”]
“Of course, we’re good friends,” Petra answered loudly. “What did you want to know, miss?”
[Sara said nothing, her gaze shifting to the servant Lu Li. Understanding the hint, Lu Li left the garden.]
Lu Li gave Petra, who looked quite composed, a calm glance and turned away.
...
From the second-floor balcony, the baroness watched as ‘Sara’ and Petra stood in the ‘garden’ for a while before crossing the courtyard and disappearing around a bend that led to the backyard.
The baroness averted her gaze and looked at Lu Li, who had just entered the room, soaked to the bone.
“Lulu,” the baroness called.
The butler, Lulu, nodded and instructed the head maid to prepare a change of clothes.
Soon, the maid returned with a fresh set of servant’s attire.
“Please, follow me,” she said, leading Lu Li to an adjacent room to change.
A short while later, Lu Li returned to the room, now in dry clothes. He walked to the window, but through the rain-streaked glass, there was no sign of ‘Sara’ or Petra.
“What happened after I left?” Lu Li asked the baroness, his voice slightly hoarse.
“She asked Petra to help her move some things, and they went to the treehouse together. The Petra in the story seems to be in love...” The baroness suddenly fell silent, her brow furrowing as she looked at Lu Li. “Are you ill?”
“I think so.”
After getting soaked in the rain during the ‘dinner’ two days ago, Lu Li had started to feel unwell and developed a cough. Today’s half-hour downpour had only worsened his condition.
The baroness turned to the head maid. “Bring the best medicine and prepare some hot soup.”
The maid left the room.
“Thank you,” Lu Li said.
He didn’t have much faith in the local medicine.
Coming from Earth, Lu Li’s body was more resistant to medication, and crudely processed herbs were unlikely to have any effect. A large dose might have helped, but medicine was extremely expensive.
Until the basic problems of water, food, and shelter were solved, Lu Li hadn't given medicine much thought.
Soon, the maid returned and gave Lu Li a gray-brown herbal powder, dried and ground.
A bitter taste is the universal language of medicine.
Bang!
Lu Li had just taken a glass to rinse the bitterness from his mouth when the door suddenly burst open and a bloodied figure stumbled inside.
It was Petra.
His face was covered in scratches, and one of his arms was twisted back at an unnatural angle.
The butler Lulu’s pupils contracted, and he shouted to the head maid, “Fetch Miss Midri! We have a broken bone here!”
The doctor arrived quickly, examined Petra’s injury, and after treating him, offered some reassurance. “It’s just a dislocation, but a rather severe one. You won’t be able to use your right arm for several months.”
Having finished her examination, she looked curiously at Lu Li and the others, then asked the baroness and the butler, “Something strange is happening in this estate. What’s going on, and who are all these people?”
“They are merely guests, Miss Midri. Thank you for your help,” the butler replied, then instructed a maid to escort the doctor out.
Once they were gone, the butler said to Lu Li and the others, “Only a few people in the baroness’s estate know the truth.”
All eyes turned to the injured Petra. Without waiting for questions, he began to explain, “It was Sa—”
“She led me to the lakeshore and pushed me into the water. I was on my guard, but I still got injured,” Petra said with a bitter smile, showing everyone his bandaged arm.
“There’s a lake here?” the baroness asked in surprise.
“It was the treehouse. In the story, she pushed me from it.”
“Where did she go?”
“To the cellar, probably,” Petra answered.
After a long wait, as evening approached, ‘Sara’ returned to her room.
She asked the baroness to bring her dinner, ate, and then went to bed, as if nothing that had happened during the day concerned her.
Everyone waited a little longer, made sure the ancient voice had fallen silent, and then left the room, ending their performance for the day.
Tossing and turning, Sara couldn’t fall asleep. She sat up in bed.
This happened long after they had left.
In the dark room, filled only with the rumble of thunder, the howling of wind, and the drumming of rain, the ancient voice spoke once more.
[She recalled the two failed attempts from earlier in the day. Fortunately, the servants suspected nothing.]
[But if she kept failing, they would notice something sooner or later.]
[The last rays of the setting sun faded on the horizon. Sara threw a robe over her nightgown and left the house. She headed for the flowerbed beneath the balcony.]
[The bright, beautiful flowers made Sara remember that night. Pain filled her heart. Just then, she saw the servant Lu Li walking along the path behind the flowerbed. He wasn’t in his uniform; it seemed he was heading out somewhere.]
[“Lu Li,” Sara called out to the servant.]