I Loved You In Order To Survive - Chapter 13

***

Anyway, Lily only felt that she should never be caught near them. She tried to grasp the situation. Were they intruders? But this wasn’t anywhere else. This was Count Bismar’s mansion.

Nothing like this had ever happened in all these years. But no matter how much she listened, it was clear that they were threatening the family and plundering the mansion.

‘Perhaps… Did my wish come true?’

‘Did the enemy finally come this far?’

Lily covered her mouth with both hands. It was difficult to tell whether she was happy or shocked.

Finally, it happened.

Everything became clear when a burst of something hit her ears.

‘We lost the war.’

‘The enemies are here!’

But she soon thought they might not be enemies. The strange men were shouting in a language she knew.

“Quiet!”

“Don’t rebel!”

“Shut up and follow me!”

“Get everything out of here!”

The voices were so loud that she covered her ears. It was the first time in her life that she had experienced this kind of confusion and noise. She had been too accustomed to stillness.

It took about half a day for the noise to subside. Only silence remained when the storm had passed. When Lily finally heard nothing, she pushed the plank over her head.

The nail was loose because so many people had trampled on it. She pushed the plank with all her might and got out.

The sun was already setting. It had been a long time since she had seen a sunset in its entirety. Lily carefully got up and looked around the mansion. It had been a long time since she had been able to walk freely like this.

She looked through the rooms. The banquet hall, the reception room, the rooms where the servants lived, and even the bathroom… There were no people anywhere. Lily soon realized she was the only one left in this spacious mansion!

At that moment, she was so excited that she couldn’t control herself. She ran through the halls laughing like a witch from an old fairy tale.

‘Have I ever been this happy in my life? The mansion is mine!’

‘Everyone who tried to kill me is gone. Even if I laugh out loud like this, even if I run from place to place like a vulgar child, no one can hurt me.’

She lay on the floor and looked out at the sky that was gradually setting. The scarlet sky seemed to represent her state of mind.

She had pleasant thoughts. Now, she was free.

‘What should I do?’

The intruders, whether they were enemies or not, cleaned out the property in a matter of hours. Unfortunately, the things she could do were limited.

At that moment, something flashed through her mind.

‘Piano! Did they take the piano?’

She ran towards the music room where the piano was. Fortunately, the piano was safely in place.

Lily sat in front of the grand piano and started playing to her heart’s content before it got darker. Among the songs she knew, she only chose the most lively and exciting songs. Piano ballads bouncing like water droplets filled the empty mansion.

It was a night when even the stars listened to my playing.

***

The morning was bright, and after Lily’s excitement had calmed down, she finished reading the newspapers she had collected. Articles that were not visible when reading through the thinly leaking light came into view at a glance.

After reading the newspaper for several hours, she found out several things.

It was true that they had lost the war. It was a war, but it seemed to be on a larger scale than she thought. Beldam, their home country, was on the verge of ruin.

And… taking advantage of that gap, another fire began to spread.

It was a revolution. As Beldam showed signs of ruin, the oppressed people of Ipswin took out guns and swords and fought. Judging by context, the people who broke into the mansion were revolutionaries. If it were them, they would tremble in anger at nobles like her father.

‘Then what will happen to me?’

It didn’t seem like the Revolutionary Army was unaware of her existence. She was a daughter of the Bismar family, who had an official meeting with Duke Meyer. Lily was worried. It seemed that they would come back to this place to find her.

‘Should I run away?’

But where?

She couldn’t get very far on her own. Besides, her body was weakened by starvation and abuse. It was obvious that she would not be able to reach the nearest village. After thinking about it, she decided that she needed to find a corpse to fake her death.

It reminded her of a maid who had died not too long ago. It was a story inadvertently leaked by the young maid who used to help with her in secret.

-Everyone thinks Maria got sick and died, but I know the truth. She was not sick. Maria was murdered.

-She was murdered? By whom?

-The Countess.

Roxy kept her voice as low as possible and whispered.

-They said that Maria was beaten to death by the Countess. But she couldn’t kill someone without reason, right? Maria did something that the Countess would never forgive. I’m sure.

-What, did she steal silverware?

-Are you stupid?

It was a small whisper, but Lily could hear it clearly.

-She slept with the Count!

‘That son of a b!tch. He couldn’t fix his habit and did it again.’

Anyway, they found out that the Countess had killed Maria and, in order to cover up the murder, had invented a lie that Maria had contracted the plague and had her body removed in haste.

So where did the body go?

Lily didn’t think she would have gotten a funeral. A minister had to be called for a funeral.

Unless he was blind, he would immediately notice that Maria had not died from illness. But would the Count have taken such a risk?

Lily went down to the basement just in case. In the basement, there was an ossuary where the ancestors of the Bismar family were enshrined. Having an ossuary was a tradition passed down from generation to generation by high-ranking Beldam nobles.

Sure enough, there was a woman’s corpse that could not be buried for fear of disrespecting Bismar elders. Naturally, the body was in a state of decay. Even as Lily vomited, she desperately dragged the corpse up.

She had persevered so far. She could not die from being shot by the Revolutionary Army. Better to carry a disgusting rotting corpse.

As Lily had expected, soldiers, who noticed that they had left her behind, paid another visit to the mansion. Upon discovering the body she had moved, they took the dead maid and left.

Everything was really over now. Lily was worried about what to eat, but at least she didn’t have to worry about encountering the Revolutionary Army again.

At least that was what she thought.

She was trying to sleep then. Sleeping might seem lazy, but it was the best way to conserve energy. It was better to lay low until she found a suitable way to escape.

Feeling upset that she couldn’t sleep in a bed because of the revolution, Lily curled up in an instrument bag and closed her eyes. Lying in it was more comfortable than she thought. The lining was soft.

Then, she heard the sound of the studio door opening.

Click.

Lily opened her eyes at the sound of a doorknob turning.

‘Who came now?’

‘Who is it?’ 

Slow, dull footsteps echoed across the floor. The uninvited guest started pressing piano keys at random. The disorganized scale sounded rather gloomy.

It was too late to find a place to hide. There was nowhere to retreat. Lily knew that he was a revolutionary soldier without even seeing him. If not them, who the hell would come here? They must have found out she had manipulated the body.

‘You’re here to catch me…’

The sounds he made were eerie. Lily gave up and closed her eyes. The footsteps were getting closer. And they finally stopped in front of her.

The lid of the case opened. A young man in a military uniform was looking down at her in a low stance.

He had short black hair that was neatly combed back. Lily met his pitch-black eyes, unable to see his emotions.

He looked over her body and asked in a cold voice.

“Who are you?”

It was a question that could not be readily answered. More than anything, Lily was terrified. The sound of screams that had swept through the mansion not too long ago rang in her ears. He could do the same thing to her.

When she didn’t answer, he hurried her on.

“What is your name?”

What should she do?

Making him suspicious could put her life in danger. She had to do something. She made up lies. She couldn’t tell the truth. There wasn’t even enough time to think.

“It’s Lily.”

‘D*mn it. That’s a really lousy fake name.’

“What are you doing here?”

The soldier asked. Before she could come up with a suitable lie, he asked another question.

“Did you used to live here?”

She realized something.

This man did not know that she was Heloise Bismar. It occurred to her that maybe they didn’t come to the mansion to catch her.

Clinging to that thread of hope, Lily told random lies.

***