Invitation of the Crescent Moon - Chapter 79

The Maiheller mansion in the capital was an elegant, old-fashioned building. It had been built when the Maiheller family received their marquis title and had stood its ground for hundreds of years. However, with the marquis having secluded himself for so long, hardly anyone came and went from the mansion. Only Erwin and Shafri had visited occasionally when they came to the capital.

This closed-off place began to change when Marquis Maiheller moved from his estate to the capital. For generations, the Maiheller marquises had holed up in their estate and never came out, so this was truly the first time in decades.

The servants of the capital mansion saw their master’s face for the first time then. Even so, no one had ever seen the face of the marquis’s wife, who was said to be back at the estate.

What a strange marquis family, all the workers would say in unison. Perhaps because of this, all the servants were cautious when dealing with the master’s family.

The maid glanced nervously at Shafri, who seemed particularly cold today, as she spoke to her.

“Miss, the young master has returned.”

Shafri, who had been staring blankly at the bedroom, rose from her seat without a reply. As she left the bedroom and climbed the stairs, she didn’t even notice the maids greeting her.

Her bedroom was on the second floor, Erwin’s on the third. The gap between them made Shafri’s heart sink coldly anew.

“Brother.”

She opened Erwin’s door abruptly without knocking. A servant who had been kneeling to remove Erwin’s boots stopped mid-action and turned around. The servant who had been waiting to attend to his clothes also looked surprised at Shafri’s sudden intrusion.

“Brother, I have something to discuss with you.”

Erwin frowned and gestured to the servants. It meant for them to leave.

“How is it that you become less careful as you get older?”

The trivial rebuke pierced Shafri’s heart. Perhaps because of this, she didn’t apologize as she usually would.

“Wouldn’t I have reason to be?”

“What did you just say?”

Erwin, who had been removing his coat after sending out the servants, raised his eyes sharply. Shafri lowered the corners of her eyes and smiled forlornly.

“You knew, didn’t you? Why I was summoned to Empress Dowager’s palace today.”

“Ah, so that was today. Father must have been too busy to give advance notice.”

Marquis Maiheller hadn’t even bothered to personally inform Shafri of her marriage. By going through the Empress Dowager, he had only created inescapable rumors.

“They’re in a hurry over there, so it won’t take long. It seems they’ve taken quite a liking to you.”

“Brother.”

“You know that the Granati estate is adjacent to our territory, don’t you? Now that the marriage with Talion has fallen through, how fortunate that you can help the family in this way.”

Erwin’s attitude was indifferent. Though there was some regret, he considered it not his matter to interfere with. Seeing this thought clearly made Shafri’s stomach churn.

“Brother, please… stop this marriage.”

Erwin, who had been undoing his cufflinks, stopped his movements abruptly. He turned around with a somewhat incredulous expression, wondering if he had misheard.

“What are you…”

“Brother, you can at least voice that much of an opinion. If it’s not marriage, I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. Please.”

Her blue-green eyes grew moist. Erwin, who had been about to say harsh words, felt his heart waver at her pitiful appearance.

“Shafri. You’re making my heart heavy too.”

“Please, brother.”

Knowing she wouldn’t be refused, Shafri approached him and grasped his collar. Her tear-stained cheeks were both pitiful and beautiful.

When he spoke again, Erwin’s voice was softer than before.

“Do you think it would be possible for me to defy Father?”

The hand that gently stroked her cheek was tender. However, his coldly shining eyes were no different from those of Marquis Maiheller. From his lips flowed words completely different from what Shafri had hoped for.

“Lady Hennessy, you did that, didn’t you?”

Shafri’s eyes widened greatly.

“What… do you mean?”

“That Lady Hennessy happened to go to the poorhouse that day, that she happened to doze off in that particular building of all places. Are you going to say you don’t know?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

Her round blue-green eyes looked innocent. Erwin examined Shafri with narrowed eyes.

Only two people knew what would happen that day: Marquis Maiheller and Erwin. Yet at that very time and place, Lady Hennessy, whom Shafri had terribly hated, got swept up and died.

Marquis Maiheller seemed to know something, but he hadn’t shared the details. As always.

“I knew you could be cunning, but it would be troublesome if you kept secrets from me.”

“Don’t say such things. There’s nothing about me that you don’t know, brother.”

It was a passive complaint asking why he wouldn’t trust her. Watching Shafri’s face harden, Erwin tilted his head and fell into thought.

“That’s true.”

A strangely satisfied smile. His long fingers passed over Shafri’s cheek, brushed her earlobe, and slid down to her neck. The slow touch across her skin made her fine hairs stand on end.

Eyes of different colors and a mysterious, ice-cold gaze. Shafri felt as if her breath had stopped. Her eyelids trembled with tension she couldn’t hide even if she tried.

The hand that had been caressing her smooth skin stopped abruptly and finally withdrew.

“Behave yourself. Don’t fall out of Father’s favor again.”

Erwin spoke casually and gestured for her to leave. It was a firm dismissal.

‘In the end, nothing changes.’

Shafri knew this too. However, even if it were just a thread of hope, Erwin was the only person she could cling to.

‘Not a bit different from what I expected, brother.’

She had failed to win Drushia’s heart. That was all the two Maiheller men had wanted.

A consumable whose usefulness had run out. That was her situation. It was a foreseen future, yet why had she hoped?

Her steps leaving Erwin’s room were heavy. His action of personally closing the door after confirming Shafri had left showed not the slightest hesitation.

With a thud, the door closed behind Shafri. As the door shut, it felt as if the last thread of her heart that had been precariously holding on was cut away with it.

****

Long after most of the lights illuminating the mansion had been extinguished, Shafri opened her eyes.

Though it was deep night, her eyes held no trace of sleepiness as they surveyed the space where she lay. Even though she was alone, being cautious as if someone were watching was a habit.

Shafri slipped out of her blankets like flowing water and stepped onto the floor in her nightgown. She left her room barefoot to avoid even the sound of footsteps.

The place she sought was the library located in the deepest part of the main building. The library, which was always locked, opened easily with a single key that Shafri possessed.

The moment she stepped inside, Shafri’s body stiffened. It was because of the large portrait hanging in the center of the wall directly in front of her.

A blonde woman with deep green eyes. The woman wearing a sword so heavy it would be burdensome to lift with both hands was the first head of the Maiheller family.

The founder of the Maiheller family was a knight—and a woman at that. It was said she came from a distant foreign land and established the family on barren soil. Though she had settled in this land as a knight, the foreign woman who had abandoned the path of knighthood looked down upon the intruder who had secretly entered.

“Huh…”

She exhaled the breath that had momentarily tensed. Though this was a space not permitted to Shafri, she felt no hesitation or fear. The large door closed soundlessly, and Shafri walked confidently through the darkness, finding her way with familiarity.

Bookshelves packed densely around the central table. The spacious library was divided into sections by large pillars.

When she was young, after being beaten by Lady Hennessy, she had once fled by chance into the library that had been left open. This place was the private space of Marquis Maiheller and Erwin alone, so even the servants didn’t casually come and go.

Lady Hennessy, knowing that Shafri was in the library, had locked the door from outside. She intended to teach Shafri a lesson for running away from punishment.

As Lady Hennessy expected, Shafri shivered in the library, which had no fireplace even in the middle of winter. Unable to bear it any longer, she wandered every corner searching for warmth and discovered something strange.

She realized that due to the bent structure of the study, the space that should exist was actually smaller than it appeared. That’s how Shafri found the secret passage running narrowly between the walls.

However, the iron door beyond the passage was firmly closed. Only two people in this mansion possessed the key: Marquis Maiheller and Erwin. It took quite a while longer for her to steal the key from Erwin and make a copy.

It was more than a year after discovering the secret passage that Shafri could finally set foot in the secret library. A completely sealed space without a single window. Shafri took out a luminous stone wrapped in black velvet cloth and held it in her hand.

“You think I know nothing.”

However, from the moment she set foot in the marquis’s house at age seven, Shafri had never let her guard down for even a moment. From the instant she took Marquis Maiheller’s hand, she knew she had been thrown into the maw of a beast.

In the center, surrounded by cool marble walls, stood a pale altar made of alabaster.

Before the altar, Shafri looked back at the entrance she had come through. Even knowing no one was there, she felt her heart contract with fear.

Her hesitation was brief; Shafri reached her hand toward the altar. Onto the parchment that had turned black with age. It was a pale white hand, beautiful but cold like a carved alabaster sculpture.