Red Tape

After all the guests who had visited the ball left, Glassdale returned to its daily routine.

It is the time when the servants gather in the private dining room for dinner after a hard day. The table is filled with dishes left by the Duke family as well as dishes prepared by Mrs. Wellesley, the head chef.

Thud-.

The meal stopped for a moment at the sound of something falling from the ceiling. It is coming from the duke’s office on the second floor.

“Oh my… I want this more.”

The meal began again with Ralph’s pitiful voice, but Liam had completely lost his appetite.

At the dining table on the second floor, a maid delivered a letter on a silver platter to the duke.

As soon as he finished reading it, the Duke crumpled the paper in his hand and glared at Erwin as if he was going to kill him.

Erwin put down the fork he was holding with a calm face as if he knew it was coming.

Then a single letter turned the house upside down.

The maids, who are busy moving their hands on the table, start talking.

“So the young master did not come on vacation, but instead quit the school?”

“I guess so.”

Liam had been a servant of the duke’s family for five years, and he had come to know a little about the circumstances of this family.

The duke is like a volcano. Even when it is calm, it would explode once or twice a year. One day, Liam, who had gone to the office to run an errand, had accidentally seen the duke throwing the objects in front of him as if he were having a seizure.

Watching him like that, he naturally figured out who was the culprit who had hit the young master a few years ago.

“Still, the duke is a nobleman. “At the baron’s house, I worked at before, they used whips and canes to discipline their children.”

“Not servants, but children?”

“Yes, these kinds of people are quite common.”

One good thing, though, is that the maids who clean the duke’s office have never found such a tool of punishment.

“When he got angry, he would just throw something and occasionally slap. My father also did that when he was drunk.”

“That’s not normal, Lucy.”

Julia, who was talking to Lucy with a bitter expression, looked at Liam absentmindedly and quickly lowered her eyelids when their eyes met.

Liam rejected her feelings a few days ago when she said she liked him. Julia tried to smile, but could not. It seemed that the wounds in her heart had not yet healed.

Fortunately, the upstairs quickly becomes quiet, and a new topic of conversation begins among the servants.

Mary leaned her upper body against the table as if trying to have a secret conversation and spoke to Liam, who was sitting across from her.

“Liam, you know? There’s a ghost in this mansion.

“Ghost?”

“It’s true. Julia, you tell him! You said you saw it too!”

Julia nodded. Unlike Mary, who is talkative, she is serious and virtuous, and she is not the type to make up a story just for fun.

“Yeah. There is a woman in a white dress walking around the garden.”

It was walking around.”

“Eek… .”

Mary wraps her arms around herself as if she is feeling chills. Julia continued.

When people walk, you can tell by their movement, but that ghost moves as if it were gliding.

“Ugh, it’s scary.”

“I thought I was just seeing things, but Niki, the garden assistant, said she saw something similar…

Mary shivered despite hearing it so many times. But Liam didn’t seem to care.

“Liam, aren’t you scared?”

“What?”

“Ghosts!”

“Well, not really.”

Liam learned from his own experience since childhood. It is not ghosts that cause people harm.

The truly scary things are deep grudges that drive people to swing a knife at someone, a fast-moving carriage, or a landslide on a rainy day.

So their fears are absurd.

After dinner, Liam deliberately stayed late in the servants’ hall before coming out and wandered around the front yard of the mansion, and hid in the maze garden.

Hiding in a place with a good view of the mansion and watching the lights in the master’s room go out has become Liam’s new hobby and habit.

When he sees the lights in Erwin’s room go out, he thinks he is asleep and goes back to the cabin to sleep too, as if they had promised to meet in a dream.

But today, the lights in his room did not turn off. Instead, Erwin’s pale face appeared at the mansion’s entrance.

He walks slowly down the stairs that connect the mansion to the garden as if he is pouring his heart and soul into every step.

As usual, he has a straight posture and a statuesque expressionless face.

But Liam can see it. Even though it isn’t that cold, his fingertips are trembling slightly in a thin shirt.

Liam left the garden and ran to Erwin’s side as if rolling.

“Master?”

Erwin’s unfocused gaze shifted to Liam, who stood in front of him. He is still standing in perfect posture, but strangely, to Liam’s eyes, he looks as if he is about to collapse at any moment.

Liam cautiously reached out his hand as if reaching out to a ferocious beast and placed his palm on his lower back to support him.

“Huh…?”

Erwin flinched and looked at Liam with a shocked expression. His bloodless lips trembled.

Liam quickly took his hand off his back. Only then did Erwin catch his breath that had been building up in his lungs.

“Master, what on earth is going on… .”

Only then did Liam realize Erwin was frozen in pain.

His hair is wet and stuck to his forehead. He thought he had washed his face, but upon closer inspection, it was sweat.

Beads of sweat are dripping down his nose and philtrum.

Just in case, Liam tilted his head and looked at his back where I had briefly touched him. There is a red stain on his white shirt. My hand is fine, so the blood that is fresh and bright red must be Erwin’s.

Liam’s voice lowered significantly.

“Should I call a doctor?”

Only then did Erwin seem to relax, staggering slightly and grabbing Liam’s arm. Then he shook his head.

His face showed determination, despite his downcast eyes and parted lips as he gasped in pain.

He didn’t want anyone to find out about this situation.

I wanted to hug him like this, but I didn’t think I could put my hand on his back.

Liam went in front of Erwin and knelt on one knee.

“Please get on.”

“…What?”

Erwin’s voice is faint, barely audible.

“I’ll take you to a quiet place.”

“… .”

After a moment of hesitation, Erwin put his body on Liam’s back.

The large back began to run lightly as if it didn’t feel any weight. Erwin looked helplessly at the trees that passed by him.

He doesn’t have time now to feel ashamed of the shabby cabin. Liam kicked the door open and sat Erwin on his bed.

Erwin’s body completely loses its strength as soon as he realizes he is now in a safe situation and no longer under the gaze of others. Liam supported his shoulders, which had lost their straightness, with both hands and spoke to Erwin.

“I’ll take off your clothes.”

He thought he had to see how he was hurt. Erwin raised his blank gaze at Liam’s words.

Who are you? Where am I? His eyes were filled with confusion and innocence like a child.

Liam’s hand went to the ribbon knot at the neck of Erwin’s shirt.

Erwin pushed Liam’s hand away, perhap because he doesn’t believe a servant would take off his master’s clothes without permission, even though he was in a daze and untied the knot on his shirt collar himself.

Erwin hesitated, holding the top button of his shirt to show his shame.

Liam spoke to Erwin.

“I’m a lowly man.”

Erwin looked up at Liam. There was not a single impurity in Liam’s eyes. It was different from the eyes of people who tried to take advantage of his weakness.

Even his blood-related father looked at him in that way, so why did you?

“So it’s okay.”

Liam reaches out to Erwin’s shirt button, who is looking at him with eyes that look like he is going to cry. Pop, Pop. The delicately crafted buttons came off one by one in his rough hands.

Unbuttoning and carefully throwing his shirt over his shoulder, Liam continued to reassure Erwin.

“I’m just a piece of furniture in your room, a rock you kick along the street….It doesn’t matter what you show me.”

The shirt fell onto the bed, revealing a pale body. Liam immediately leaned over and looked over his back.

“Ah…”

A painful moan escaped from Liam’s lips.

Erwin’s back is covered in multiple red cracks. Some have burst and are bleeding.

Liam had seen this kind of wound before.

When he was a day laborer, one of his workers had been mercilessly whipped for stealing money from his employer.

His back had been just like this. Untreated, his back slowly rotted away, and he died with a high fever.

At a moment, a terrible fear flashed through Liam’s eyes. He immediately laid Erwin down on his bed by the side of his face.

“Now, wait for a moment…Just rest for a moment.”

Liam pulled out a glass bottle from his desk drawer. It was the bottle that contained orange marmalade.

He turned the bottle upside down, which now contained the money he was saving. He then stuffs all the coins that have spilled out into his pocket.

The last thing he saw before leaving the cabin was Erwin sprawled out on the bed.

He is anxious. Liam, who stumbled several times, finally put his feet on the pedals and started paddling crazy.

When he arrives at Bartholomew Avenue, the street is dark and all the shops are closed.

Liam threw his bike down on the ground, ran straight to Brody’s General Store, and started knocking on the dark door.

His desperate voice echoed through the empty street.