Misfortune 96

Chapter 96

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Roan couldn't fall asleep even as the night grew late.

Lying awake in bed, killing time, he finally sat up. He sat at the edge of the bed and let out a low sigh.

Staying awake all night was nothing new to him.

But tonight was different from last night.

The eyes he had seen earlier lingered in his mind, floating aimlessly. The eyes, like the fragments of a dry leaf crumbling to pieces, were the color of a sunset.

Even though he knew it was an auditory hallucination, the sound of something cracking and shattering lingered in his ears.

The self-loathing that came from the fact that the eyes had turned against him and ultimately pushed her away was eating away at him like a predetermined sequence. Mixed in with that was a sense of doubt, like impurities.

He had kept his distance to avoid that, yet why couldn't he stop, even knowing it would render all those moments meaningless?

Whenever he was even slightly involved with that woman, he lost his composure. Knowing that, he couldn’t stop himself, which was maddening.

Why, every time he’s in front of that woman…

"Ha…"

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. His eyes, filled with deep regret, randomly pierced the cold night air.

It seemed he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. He couldn't shake off the image of those eyes.

Roan finally got up after staring into the void.

His steps aimlessly wandered through the bedroom. Unlike usual, his strides were slow, stopping intermittently.

Of course, he knew. He knew that his feet were taking these pointless steps because they wanted to go somewhere.

His gaze, which had been fixed on the shadow cast at his feet, naturally shifted toward the corridor at the end of the shadow.

The soft glow of the fireplace spread throughout the room, casting the wall-blocked corridor in even deeper darkness.

“…..”

After hesitating for a while, his footsteps were eventually drawn into the darkness.

It was a short passageway, barely a few steps by his stride. Yet the journey to its end felt agonizingly slow.

Despite feeling a resistance as if swimming against the current, he eventually reached the end of the passageway.

Roan carefully felt his way up the pitch-black, blocked-out view. It was where the doorknob should be. The one he had been unable to touch for the past few days.

It was late at night, so the woman was probably asleep. Deep enough that she wouldn't notice his presence.

‘Should I just watch her sleep and leave?’

Even if it didn't change anything, seeing her sleeping face might calm his turbulent heart a little.

Having made up his mind, he carefully grasped the doorknob and turned it.

First, a warm breeze hit his face.

The woman's room was so warm that his own bedroom felt like an icebox in comparison. Even in that moment of losing his senses, his body had remained oddly cold.

He stepped inside, pushing aside the satisfyingly warm air.

The crackling sound of burning logs gently caressed his ears.

But aside from that, there was no other sound. Not even the breath of a living being.

He knew she was usually a quiet sleeper. He had seen her sleeping in his arms countless times.

But even so, this was too quiet.

As if nothing was alive or breathing.

A foreboding sense of unease pierced his spine sharply.

The slow, cautious steps he had been taking just moments ago suddenly became disordered. He dashed through the short hallway in an instant.

Upon entering the room, he saw the bed bathed in yellow light. However, the woman who should have been lying there was nowhere to be seen.

He frantically looked around, but she was nowhere to be found.

Roan couldn't even think of shouting to find her; he clenched his teeth. He didn't even know what to call her, but he feared that if he made even the slightest sound, the anxiety gnawing at him would become a reality.

‘She couldn't have gone outside in that condition.’

Perhaps she had gone to the bathroom and collapsed.

He crossed the empty room calmly, breathing steadily, based on the most likely assumption.

Upon entering the hallway leading to the bathroom, he opened the closed bathroom door without hesitation.

The first thing to overwhelm his senses was the pungent smell.

A very familiar smell. The salty, briny scent of sea breeze that had repeatedly pierced through…

The smell of blood.

The ominous premonition that had been lingering since earlier completely overwhelmed him. He couldn't breathe and froze in place.

Following his instructions, the servants had kept the bathroom lights on at all times.

Thus, the soft glow illuminating the bathroom dyed his entire field of vision red. The moonlight streaming through the window, the towels piled on the side table, and the robe hanging on the wall.

And the small head tilted at an odd angle on the edge of the bathtub.

"Delnia!"

Roan rushed toward the bathtub like a madman, unaware that he was even calling her name.

The water in the bathtub where she was lying was dark red. He knew better than anyone that it couldn't be an optical illusion caused by the fireplace's glow.

He plunged his hand into the blood without hesitation. The bathroom was so warm, yet the water was shockingly cold, driving him even more mad.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he lifted her body into his arms. The smell of blood grew stronger as his clothes became soaked.

But he felt nothing. Nothing but the lifeless woman in his arms.

Perhaps she had already stopped breathing…

His vision spun for a moment. The woman in his arms sagged lifelessly.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stay conscious, then tightly embraced her and rushed into the bedroom.

As he laid Delnia on the bed, his hand instinctively touched her neck. In the moment he checked her pulse, his own breath caught.

A faint vibration, as if it might cease at any moment, was transmitted through the tips of his fingers.

She was still alive.

“Doctor! Call the doctor!”

Having managed to detect the faint pulse, he began to scream frantically like a madman. The mansion was filled with the sound of frenzied, desperate cries.

He knew it would be faster to go outside and call for help. But he couldn't bear to leave her behind.

His frantic gaze, which had been scanning her condition, soon fell on her wrist.

Her left wrist was torn to shreds, and he had no idea what had caused it. His face turned as white as a person being strangled as he looked at the gruesome sight.

He tore the blanket and applied pressure to the bleeding wrist to stop the blood flow. The emergency first aid he had learned was performed swiftly and accurately, without a single unnecessary movement.

But soon, his eyes began to dart uncontrollably as the cloth turned red.

Blood wouldn’t clot in water. So, when injured, the first priority was to get out of the water. Unless you wanted to die.

Then, suddenly, he realized.

This woman was trying to die.

She was cutting herself, trying to kill herself.

His hand, pressing down on her wrist, trembled slightly. As if the entire world were shaking.

No, that wasn't it. The world wasn't shaking.

His hands, his body, were trembling.

“Colonel!”

“What is this…………….!”

The servants who had rushed over, belatedly noticing the commotion, couldn't help but be horrified by the scene unfolding before them.

“Send someone to Camille immediately! Hurry!”

Among them, Leticia, who had been at the forefront, screamed out in horror.

At the thunderous shout, the others finally snapped out of their stupor and began moving frantically.

However, Roan, who had been shouting at them, remained frozen in place, unable to move. As if consumed by an endless terror.

***

In the middle of the night, the commotion caused Colonel Barthez's mansion to lock its doors.

“Really, it’s a miracle we discovered it so quickly. If we had been even a little late, who knows what would have happened…”

The doctor, who had been dragged there in her sleep, snapped to attention at the sight of the patient's horrific condition and immediately began treatment.

The only silver lining was that the wound had been staunched, allowing the necessary treatments to be administered swiftly.

“I’ve done everything I can for now. However, it’s difficult to say when the patient’s consciousness will return. We’ll only know about any potential complications once she regains consciousness.”

The doctor, who had been exhausted all night, spoke with a haggard expression. Her tone was stiffer than usual, but no one at the residence had the leisure to notice.

Two days later, the mansion was shrouded in a somber atmosphere akin to a funeral. Even though morning had come twice, it felt as though this place was still stuck in that terrible night.

Especially in Delnia's bedroom, the air was thick with suffocating silence. Everyone's nerves were on edge, listening for the faint breaths that might cease at any moment.

The servants did not speak unless absolutely necessary. Some even walked on tiptoes to avoid making any noise.

Leticia, who had always been cheerful, had no trace of a smile on her face, and Margaret occasionally bit her lip and secretly wiped away tears.

However, no one's appearance was as pitiful as Roan's.

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