Stone Thrown into the Lake - Chapter 4

Yvor Adela opened her eyes, she was alive. She stood up in bewilderment, thinking that Sidis might have saved her life, but she found something even more surprising. She was in Serium Castle, in her room. A familiar and nostalgic scene was in front of her.

Yvor Adela had another chance.

◇ ◆ ◇

As soon as she knew she was in the past, she put everything aside.

Dew.

Duran.

Isn’t there a young Dew? She wanted to go ahead and asked how he could not have loved her.

Then…! As she was about to get up and run, she suddenly came to her senses.

“…”

If so?

So what happens?

She grabbed her chest. It was hard for her to breathe.

Breathe?

How?

Yvor didn’t seem like she could possibly ask Dew a question about herself, face to face. She was afraid, she was afraid that she would see the loathing in his eyes. If she had never been blinded by her emotions, she would’ve probably seen his hatred.

She couldn’t even get up from her bed, and while she hesitated, her maid entered.

“My lady, are you awake?” Yvor saw the maid bowing and greeting her.

“Hey, how old am I this year?”

The maid answered with a strange expression on her face.

“Last month you turned 18,” she said.

That meant that her Dew was now 15 years old. If her birthday was two months ago, now is the season of spring.

She remembered Little Dew was sent to Serium Castle around this time. Their father had expelled Duran from the capital’s mansion so that he wouldn’t get in the way of an affair he was having with another woman.  Duran was sent to Serium Castle, just like she was as a child.

“Is Duran Craig in the castle now?”

When she asked, her maid answered in the affirmative, and said.

“Three days ago, he went to the separate building.”

It was only a year or so, but she spent it with him. Yvor felt confused again. Why is it this year?

At this time, she was waiting day by day for Duran to arrive at Seriam. Why did she return during this particular year… After a moment’s thought, her memories came back to her easily.

She ends up meeting the king a year later. She entered the castle and became the king’s mistress in earnest four years later, at the age of 22.

Based on the king’s excessive interest in her, she made a decision. She would present honor to Duran, and prosperity for Salzmia for the rest of her life.  She would go to the capital, while Duran remained in Serium.

Yvor didn’t know what to feel. Having died in the cold water, she still felt submerged in the lake.

She had never thought about the choices in her life, and had committed so many crimes. She had sacrificed so many people, but had no regrets at all in her life. That was until Duran, the person for whom she was willing to give everything, proved her wrong. He said she was mistaken.

“Miss, I have prepared water for washing,” said the maid.

She was about to ask the maid to leave, but she soon bit her tongue. She realized her maid’s face was very familiar. The very young maid stood quietly, waiting for Yvor to give her orders. Her attitude was also familiar.

As was the case with most of the things in Serium Castle, she was not the only memory of her days here. Obviously there were even more things in the kingdom that Yvor remembered. This was the maid who followed her and stayed with her until the very end.

Even in prison, she was there. That maid was the first to bring up the words, ‘The Queen has been so merciful to them, how dare they return the favor by plotting a rebellion?’ Then Yvor realized, she didn’t even know the maid’s name.

“…”

When their eyes met, the maid gently lowered her eyes. Yvor Adela looked at her while in an eccentric mood. She thought everything around her was meaningless, but realized very slowly what to do about that.

That maid was a living, breathing, moving person. The world would say she is really loyal to her too.

Duran’s love for her was not a matter of course, nor was it a guarantee for Sidis to hate her.  There was no assurance that a sister would remain loyal, that she would be more angry with her situation than her life.

At that loyal attitude, Yvor sighed quietly. Just as Duran’s love, or Sidis’ hatred, were not guaranteed, there was no expectation for the maid to remain loyal if she became angrier with her situation, more than the comforts of her own life. Nothing was usual anymore.

Why does this maid like to serve her master, a person who didn’t even know her name? It was something to be grateful for. Yvor vaguely realized, she was like a blind man who has regained their sight.

“What is your name?”

The maid widened her eyes. It was closer to excitement than disappointment, or embarrassment, that her master still didn’t know her own name. The maid replied with a trembling voice.

“Lu, my name is Lucy.”

“I see,” Yvor said in a quiet voice.

“Lucy.”

When Yvor called, her maid’s face turned red.

‘Yes, master!’ The maid was so happy that she couldn’t stand it. Yvor pulled up the edges of her mouth and forced herself to smile. She couldn’t bear to cry.

‘Do I have to apologize to her?’ She asked inwardly.

Surely she should. She had to apologize to Lucy and the maid who died with her, who still didn’t know their name. A long time ago, when she didn’t even know the name of her little maids, she caused them to die for her sins.

She should have apologized then. As she reminisced to herself, Yvor learned a lot of things she didn’t know before, and there were so many things she didn’t know. In the past she was so ignorant.

◇ ◆ ◇

Yvor sat at the head of the table. She was the lord of Serium Territory and the lord of Serium Castle. She had the right to sit at the head of the table even when her father and mother visited. The maids began to serve the food. She frowned at the sight of her favorite food on the table. Duran still hadn’t arrived.

Food wasn’t served until everyone was seated. Now that the food was placed, it meant that Duran wasn’t going to come. Yvor remembered that this happened in the past. They seldom ate meals together.

Why?

She had a dark, dark thought. She bit her lip. Maybe it didn’t happen because Duran already hated her. He might already hate seeing her face by this time…

It was a possibility since she still didn’t know when Duran began to hate her. Maybe he’d never loved her. It was also possible that she was delusional from the start. The truth she had blindly believed in and wanted as her own.

Her heart was pounding.

After she removed the reality that she believed to be the correct, she couldn’t understand why she didn’t find it strange in the past. How stupid was she? She always thought King Rand II was stupid. Now she could see, she was even stupider than him. Didn’t he have enough intelligence to call his son Sidis, or for her to call Duran, if they weren’t at the dining table?

12 years ago, what did an 18-year-old girl understand and what would she do?

“Why are we serving dinner now?”

When she asked, Lucy saw her staring at the served meal. She didn’t seem to understand the intent of the question, as Yvor had asked so suddenly. The table in Serium Castle was always meant for one person.

Yvor Adela seldom ate with others. Sometimes her tutor watched her, and would test her from time to time. Their eyes were bloodshot from assessing if any of her manners were wrong.

Looking at her maid’s confused face, Yvor asked more precisely.

“What about Dew? Why didn’t he come?”

The maid made an expression as if she had heard a really strange question this time. Even when she suddenly asked for him by name, she didn’t make that face.

“Why would he come here?”

Yvor even forgot to breathe.

He?

Did the maid call her brother ‘he’ just now?

In front of her?

After hearing the absurd remark, her anger soared this time. How can you look down on Duran so much in front of her? That’s nonsense!

Even if Duran didn’t love her at all, she cherished him. He was her beloved family. Her brother should not have been insulted by her.

“Never call my brother in such a manner again!”

When she became angry, Lucy was really flustered. When she saw her maid with an expression that she didn’t expect, and heard such a thing, Yvor felt like she was drenched in ice cold water.

She quickly glanced around.