LIGHTNOVELSTORY A Fairy Tales For The Villains
Vol. 1 Chapter 19 - A Bluebird In A Thorn Cage(3)
Estelle was sickly by nature, but since she had started living here, I thought it was fortunate that she unexpectedly looked healthier. However, it seemed it was just an illusion. The fever, which came without warning, took away all vitality in an instant and turned every day into hell.
“Mom, Mom…”Throughout the moaning and pain from the high fever, Estelle constantly alternated her calls to ‘mother’ and ‘mom.’ Sometimes she looked for me. Then, in the end, her consciousness wavered in and out.[tl/n: Estelle used formal and informal speech while calling for her mother]“What do you think?”“…I can’t see any improvement at all.”The terrifying high fever lasted for several days and showed no sign of going down, and with neither a doctor nor a first aid kit, all I could do was try to cool her fireball-like body with a towel soaked in cold water. There was nothing to feed her, so I barely managed to pass her some heated water little by little.“Sasha, take a break for a bit. What if you get sick from this, too?”“…Go away. If you and your older brother get infected, we’ll be in trouble.”“Then you’ll just remain here and test your luck against getting infected?” I couldn’t leave Estelle’s side even for a moment because of the fear of what would happen if something went wrong in the blink of an eye. The three of us stayed by Estelle’s side all day, taking turns at napping. I wondered what would happen if everyone got infected, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.I collected the leftover chicken, salad greens, and biscuit crumbs from Lettis’ birthday, put it in a kettle, and made a stew. It wasn’t something to call stew, let alone food, but I had to feed her something.“Estelle, Estelle, try to swallow a little. You have to eat to get better. Mh?”Although I had placed a note in the cart stating that Estelle was in critical condition, there was no news. I tried everything for three days, including pouring a few sips of stew and warm water into her parched mouth, hanging wet clothes nearby to retain humidity, and applying cold compresses all day, but there was no difference.We just sat, holding each other’s hands, and watched Estelle. No one spoke, and the same light of fear flickered on the boys’ faces. The fear that their sister might die like this; the vivid and terrifying fear that we could all die at any time inside here was pricking at our skin. Left unattended, even if we all die one by one, no one would ever know. His niece is dying so painfully, what the hell is Viscount Ipolit doing? Harris couldn’t have missed the note I had left every day. Did he fail to deliver it? Did he intentionally ignore it? Or was it ignored even though it was delivered? If Estelle were to die like this… Just imagining it was terrible. The fact that Estelle’s death would trigger Lettis and Venya’s blackening was irrelevant now. She was my milk-sister, and she was a dear friend I had been with since childhood. At the same time, she was the object of all my admiration and envy as a child. I couldn’t let her die so helplessly and so miserably in a place like this.[tl/n: The word she uses to refer to Estelle as her sister is a word used for babies nursed by the same woman. It was quite common back in the day that mothers (rich mothers) didn’t feed their babies themselves. Usually, a nanny or nurse who had children herself did it.]Three more days passed and then another day. I couldn’t wait any longer for Harris or Jerome. Whatever the reason, I was convinced neither of them would show up.The moonlight was pouring in from the ceiling. The sound of even breathing echoed throughout the place. Finally, everyone was asleep. I approached the bedside, checked that Estelle was breathing properly, and quietly left the bedroom without being heard. The stairs leading down to the lower floor were pitch black, so I barely managed to go down with my hands on the wall to avoid falling.If Lettis and Venya knew my intention, they would surely freak out and try to stop me. Then, they will say they will do it for me. But that was impossible. The three-tiered tray cart that we faced every single day was quite large, but it wasn’t big enough for the boys, who had already grown, to hide. I don’t know about me, but… Trying to make as little noise as possible, I rolled up the fabric and removed all the trays from the bottom and middle compartments of the cart. It was to reduce the weight as much as possible. Then I tucked myself into the empty space below. While lying down like a ball bug with my arms wrapped around my legs, I thought I would barely succeed. I came out, put the cloth back on the cart, and crawled back inside.Then I waited. Waited for our catering attendant to come in without anyone noticing as always and pull the cart out. Even though I hadn’t been able to properly close my eyes all day, I was so nervous I didn’t feel sleepy at all.It was indeed a risky adventure–no, it was a gamble. Even if I succeeded and went out, I was at a loss as to exactly what to do. As Harris might have deliberately ignored my note, the best option was to meet Jerome, but the question was whether Jerome was presently in the Duke’s estate, and if so, how would I find him? It was a situation where I could be killed as soon as I was discovered. Even if it was Lettis or Venya who sneaked out in this way, there was a good chance that they would be subjected to terrible things, but what about a lowly maid like me? No matter how many people were accomplices and didn’t know anything, there was no way they would blindly believe my story.Nevertheless… Estelle would really die if I just crossed my hands and waited like this. The original Sasha did not know what to do in this situation, but I had to gamble my life at any rate.How long had passed since I had been waiting while creating all kinds of simulations in my head? Just when my arms and legs, which were tightly wrapped to prevent them from slipping out of the compartment, started to ache from numbness, I finally heard a sound. It was the sound of the mirror door opening. The sound of the door opening was barely audible, but I knew it was open because of the sound of footsteps standing right next to me.It felt like my heart was about to pop out of my mouth. The sound of my heart was so loud that I worried that it would pierce throughout the fabric into Harris’ ears.After a while, the cart started moving. I could vividly feel the vibrations of the wheels rolling softly and smoothly right under my body. I gave all my strength to my crouched body and bit my lips.The cart carrying me left our cage and thought it was going straight for a while, but soon it turned to one side and stopped. I heard a sigh. At the same time Harris exhaled, I felt like I was slowly falling. I felt like I was on a lift. I already knew that there was something similar to a pulley elevator in this world, but I didn’t know there would be a lift inside this bell tower. After trying hard not to breathe, the cart moved again when I wondered if I was going to suffocate. A familiar yet nostalgic smell, the night breeze, and the smell of soil in the garden mixed and touched me. Are we heading toward the mansion?Only after entering the bright lights did the cart stop again. Finally,“Phew, doing this much work is too cumbersome.”“The same for me.”Harris’ voice and the voice of an unfamiliar middle-aged woman alternately rang. Who? I held my breath as much as I could and listened intently.“They keep asking me why workers are working down there.”“That’s something you have to deal with on your own, and clean up.”“There’s no time for that right now. It’s so chaotic I’ll go crazy. So let’s hurry up and go.”As the sound of their footsteps moved away from me, I barely pulled the cloth up and peeked out. I saw Harris and a woman in a head maid’s attire moving toward a door. It was my first time seeing that woman. She wasn’t Arin, the head-maid I knew. It wasn’t just the butler but also the head-maid that changed? Did Auntie Arin also suffer from the plague like Mr. Karon? Or both… Shaking off my terrible thoughts, I sneaked out of the cart. My limbs were numb and I felt numb all over, but I didn’t know when someone would enter. Looking around, I immediately got a sense of where this place was. It was an anteroom used by kitchen assistants. When I opened the nearest cabinets one by one, various cutlery, bowls, and spares were found.The clothes I was wearing (the ones I received last fall) were very old and in ragged condition with different fabric in various places. It would be easy to spot me immediately if I walked around like this. I chose the smallest-looking maid’s uniform and changed. After putting on a headband, I went back to the cart and headed toward the door with an empty juice bottle in my hand. Not through the door where Harris and the head-maid left earlier, but through the small door on the other side. Would the other servants have remained? If my guess was right, the great majority had been replaced. Still, worried if anyone would recognize me, I bowed my head and pushed the door.Beyond the door was utter chaos. Please leave a review and rate this series on NU here!Join our Discord Server for updates pings, novels discussions or mistakes reports! Thank you as always!
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