Chapter 002: She Will Run Away
* * *
“Kyaaaaaah!”
A maid shrieked. Below her, a shattered teacup and kettle lay in a messy sprawl.
The newly hired maid stared at the Young Master before her, tears streaming down her face.
He had a pallid complexion, a slender frame, and a gaunt face. His hair, as black as the midnight sky, contrasted with ashen eyes that were as distinct as the full moon.
The man, who had just reached adulthood, was a magnificent creation, delicately sculpted by God.
With fine lines, sharp features, cat-like slanted eyes, and a prominent nose and lips—there was not a single flaw to be found.
“I told you. Do not touch my body.”
“I—I didn’t. I was just trying to pour the tea for you…”
“Damn it.”
But what did it matter? The man stepped down from the bed and slowly approached the maid collapsed on the floor.
“Get out.”
“But the Madam said… Kyaa! Y-Young Master!”
The maid gasped in horror as the Young Master stepped firmly onto the broken glass with his bare feet.
Sharp shards dug into his skin, and blood began to seep out. Without showing a hint of pain, the Young Master stared intently at the maid.
“You… you must think I’m a joke.”
“N-no! I was simply following orders. The Madam told me to pour you tea and speak about the marriage—!”
“Do not utter that cursed word in front of me.”
“Y-Young Master.”
Leaning his face close to the maid, Ryan snatched up a fragment of the kettle from the floor. The sharp-edged piece was perfectly suited for cutting or slashing.
“N-no! Please don’t do that!”
Realizing his intention, the maid fell to her knees.
“It’s the same whether you die now or later, isn’t it?”
“No! Butler! Head Maid!”
“Why? Didn’t you want me to die too?”
“N-no! Truly, that’s not it!”
Just then, the butler and mercenaries outside noticed the commotion and hurried over.
“Young Master! Please, calm down!”
“…….”
Observing them with hollow eyes, Ryan squeezed the shard tightly in his fist.
The fragment dug deep into his palm, causing blood to pour out like water. It was a fishy scent and a vivid crimson.
Unlike the maid, who was trembling like a drenched rat, the butler approached him slowly, as if this were a common occurrence.
“Young Master, we must treat that immediately!”
“Forget it. Just get rid of the maid.”
As Ryan threw the shard back onto the floor, the maid, her legs giving out, couldn’t even stand; she crawled backward, bracing herself with her hands.
Helped up by a mercenary, she sobbed, pouring out her heart: “I can’t do this anymore, I really can’t.”
The butler signaled to escort the maid out at once and then ordered for a doctor to be summoned.
In the meantime, Ryan, who had naturally laid back down on the bed, stared out the window with a vacant expression.
“The doctor will be here soon.”
“That maid will quit. How many does that make?”
“…….”
“It’s going to be difficult to find a new maid now. Butler.”
Despite Ryan’s sarcastic tone, the butler simply bowed his head.
“There are plenty of maids who wish to apply to the House of Saltier, Young Master.”
“What a pity.”
“Your bride will be arriving shortly.”
Bride. At those words, Ryan’s face shattered like ice.
“She is a virtuous lady from the House of Winterlet, which holds the rank of Count. She has beautiful blonde hair—”
“Shut up.”
The butler flinched at the look Ryan gave him, but then opened his mouth again.
“I am certain you will like her.”
“Since maids won’t do, you intend to bring that ‘virtuous lady’ and tether her to my side.”
“It is for the sake of the Saltier family, Young Master.”
“To be precise, it’s for the Duchess of Saltier.”
Ryan ground his teeth.
Ryan’s mother, who had given birth to the eldest son and himself, had passed away early from the same illness. The woman who came in after her was the current Madam Saltier—a young woman who had born the third son.
She was young and intelligent, but also greedy. It was her doing that the eldest son was captivated by faith and became a priest.
The Madam had tried to push Ryan toward the priesthood as well, but unfortunately, the fields he was interested in were military science and politics.
But God was on the young Madam’s side. In the year Ryan turned seventeen, he contracted the same chronic illness as the former Duchess.
Thus, the heir to Duke Saltier naturally became the third son, and Ryan lost everything.
And now what?
A wife? Marriage?
“You should have just found a ghost bride to be buried with me when I die.”
“Young Master.”
Looking down through the window, Ryan spotted the crown of a blonde-haired woman just entering the annex.
Is that it? The foolish woman sold off in an arranged marriage.
“One month.”
“Pardon?”
“That lady will flee this mansion within a month.”
* * *
“It seems there was a minor accident.”
The Head Maid spoke in a flat voice, looking at the glass shards on the floor. An accident, she called it.
Anasta had broken a few glass windows herself, so she knew that Ryan had shattered it on purpose.
Most of all, she remembered that gaze of his as he perched on the windowsill and looked down at her.
“The room is here.”
While she was thinking of Ryan, the Head Maid guided her to the room next to the large door. Anasta could instinctively tell that the room next door was Ryan’s.
“The interior has been well-organized. If you need anything else, please let me know.”
“It’s a lovely room.”
She spoke while looking at the interior, which was much more spacious and better equipped than the room she had occupied at the Count’s estate.
“But what is this door?”
She discovered a door on the wall. It looked as if it connected to the next room…
“The Young Master sometimes locks his bedroom door. At those times, you can enter through this door.”
The Head Maid handed a key to Anasta.
“Do you mean I am to enter by force?”
“Not usually. However, we use this door when the Young Master refuses to take his medicine or rejects his meals.”
Anasta immediately realized that this would be her job.
“Get some rest today. I will inform you of your duties tomorrow.”
Thud.
The door closed.
Although it was an unfamiliar environment, Anasta did not tremble with fear. She had heard many rumors about the Saltier Young Master long before coming here.
Above all, she had dealt with parents who were anything but parents for twenty years. She had seen enough tears to be sick of them. Anger, desire, luxury, greed, arrogance, and so on—had she not already experienced the very bottom of human nature?
Therefore, this place was no different from heaven to Anasta. A very peaceful heaven.
She took off her outer clothes and lay on the bed.
‘It’s soft.’
It was a much better place than the cold floor she usually slept on. Perhaps because of that, she fell into a very deep, sweet sleep the moment she lay down.
While she was lost in a sleep so comfortable she couldn’t even dream, someone gripped her hand tightly.
‘Again.’
It was something her mother often did after drinking—coming into Anasta’s bedroom to wake her up on purpose and vent her own angry emotions.
She always had to listen, enduring those insults and criticisms.
Anasta, opening her eyes calmly as usual, winced at the unfamiliar scenery. This was not the Count’s estate.
The person above her was not her aging mother, but a breathtakingly beautiful man.
“You.”
“……!”
“Why did you come to the room next to mine?”
The man glared at her, knitting his brows.
His expression was filled with rage.
Rather than being blindly startled, Anasta assessed the situation.
The man before her was Ryan Saltier.
And the door connecting to the next room was open.
‘It wasn’t locked.’
Or Ryan had opened it.
“The Lady who was sold.”
Ryan spoke with a deliberate sneer.
“This is no time to be idly using your head.”
“It wasn’t a room of my choice.”
A voice came from her lips. Ryan flinched for a moment at her tone, which was calmer and higher-pitched than he expected.
He stopped speaking and looked down at Anasta pinned beneath him. Despite having just woken up, she was not only unruffled but also composed.
That twisted Ryan’s nerves.
“Ask them to change your room.”
“I have no choice in the matter, Young Master.”
“No choice? I am a man, and you are a woman. Do you want to be subjected to this?”
As he spoke, Ryan slowly touched her stomach over her clothes. Anasta furrowed her brows slightly at the strange, suggestive sensation.
