The closet door opened and the acrid smoke that filled the room rushed towards Blair.
In an instant, her vision blurred and the smoke was so dense that it almost took her breath away.
Opening her eyes, which she had kept tightly closed, she saw the room completely engulfed in flames.
“Ah…Strangely, although everything around her was a sea of fire, and although a dread invaded her that threatened to consume her, she felt strangely liberated, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
As if she had freed herself from the shackles that had held her for so long.
a very long time.
"...Let's get out of here." Blair, who was contemplating the voracious fire that seemed to want to devour everything, slowly closed his eyes and opened them taking a breath.
The fear that was gripping her throat again diminished a degree.
Just as Blair was getting up with difficulty to get out of the closet.
“Ugh… This time, she was attacked by a headache so intense that it couldn't compare to the one from a moment ago.
A pain so acute that her vision blurred for an instant.
At that moment, as Blair let out a moan of agony, memories of long ago began to overlap before her eyes.
A gigantic fire burning with a blinding glow, smoke filling the room, and...
A bloody candelabra in her hand.
"This is..." Just when Blair, surprised by the memory that suddenly returned, froze and trembling.—Blair!
The door to the room opened and Herdin burst into it.—…Herdin.
Blair watched dazedly as he strode toward her, passing through the flames.
In the midst of the chaos engulfed in fire, his eyes, cold as a frozen lake, resembled Esmeralda's in her memories.
«Let's play hide and seek.
You must not go out under any circumstances until I tell you to, Blair.
The memories burst in like a breaking dam.
The lost memories of that day.
Blair, unable to withstand the avalanche of memories that assaulted her, simply collapsed.
⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅
Blair, who had been sleeping, felt her body floating in the air and opened her eyes heavily.
The first thing he saw was Esmeralda.—Her Majesty the Empress?—…Blair.
Esmeralda, who had heard Blair's voice, was startled.
Her expression seemed scared to the naked eye, but I couldn't see her well because of what was obstructing her vision.
The girl, still half asleep, only realized a moment later that what was blocking her view were clothes, and that she herself was inside a closet.
Blair rubbed her heavy eyelids and asked:—Why did we go into the closet?—Blair, let's play hide-and-seek.—Hide-and-seek...?—Yes.
You must not go out under any circumstances until I tell you to.
Whatever happens, whatever you hear, whatever happens, don't go out.
Understood?
Esmeralda gave him that instruction while she kept looking outside the closet.
Blair found it strange that suddenly, when she woke up, he suggested playing hide-and-seek, and she also found Esmeralda's attitude strange, but, unable to resist the sleep that invaded her, she silently nodded her head.
Beyond her eyelids, which were closing heavily again, she saw the image of Esmeralda sketching a smile that, for some reason, She seemed sad.
"What has saddened Your Majesty?" If it were under normal circumstances, I would have asked her that and hugged her, like Esmeralda always did with her.
"When I wake up, I must ask her.
I have to hug her..." But Blair, overcome by the drowsiness that invaded her, fell asleep.
How long would it be like this?
Cling!
"Huh!" Blair, who had fallen asleep, was startled awake by the sharp crash of falling objects.
"What was that noise?" Then, several more similar noises were heard.
Sleep completely scared him away.
In the silence that followed, a chilling premonition invaded her like an instinct.
And also, the smell.
A burning smell penetrated through her nose to the depths of her lungs.
Her instinct warned her: death was near.
Blair held her breath silently and looked outside through the crack in the closet door.
There was someone in a maid's dress in the room.
Since he was in profile, his face couldn't be seen well.
And in front of her...
"Her Majesty the Empress?" Esmeralda was lying down.
But she didn't seem asleep.
The Esmeralda Blair knew was the most beautiful, elegant, and dignified person in the world.
She would never lie down on the ground anyway just because she was sleepy.
"What are you doing?" Her field of vision through the narrow slit was limited.
I couldn't see well what the maid was doing with Esmeralda, who seemed asleep.
Blair moved a little closer to the crack and rolled her eyes.
At that moment, Blair's eyes saw an incredible scene.
The maid was tying a cloth around Esmeralda's neck and hanging it from the ceiling.
Even the young princess, who had grown up without knowing the dark side of the world, realized what the maid intended to do to Esmeralda.
The maid was trying to kill Esmeralda.
It was not something learned, but the instinctive fear of death that she had possessed since birth.
Blair's pupils, who were witnessing the scene, trembled violently.
The tears came before she had time to be aware of the overwhelming fear.
Why?
She didn't know why this was happening, but one thing was clear: she had to save Esmeralda.
"But...
I'm afraid." What could she do if she went out now?
Could I beat that maid?
What if he couldn't save Her Majesty the Empress and she also died...?
The smoke accumulated little by little, making it difficult for her to breathe.
Blair, holding back the cough that was struggling to come out, was shaking from head to toe.
I wish all this were a dream.
I wish she woke up with a start, crying, and hugged Esmeralda, and everything would disappear with her warm embrace, like a night vision.
I wish someone would rescue her from this nightmare...But there was no turning back, I had to accept the cruel reality that did not go away no matter how much I shook my head or cried.
"No one can save me." Now, the only one who could save me was myself.
Blair squeezed her trembling hands.
She wiped away her tears abruptly and looked at the outside of the closet again.
The maid, standing on the coffee table, had not yet managed to hang Esmeralda and was struggling.
Blair, who instinctively looked away from that horrible scene, discovered a candelabra among the objects scattered near the closet.
The sharp chandelier shone with a reddish glow.
Blair's heart began to pound as she discovered it.
She only had one chance.
Blair carefully opened the closet door, stepped out, and approached the chandelier, which was nearby.
Luckily, the maid was so focused on tying up Esmeralda that she didn't seem to notice.
His heart hammered as if it were about to come out of his mouth.
Blair crept closer and managed to grab the candelabra.
From there, there was no hesitation and no time for her.
Blair gripped the candelabra tightly.
She ran and swung it at the maid's legs.
"Enough!" The girl's blow did not cause a serious injury.
But his mere appearance was enough to scare the maid.—Ugh!
The maid, who lost her balance due to Blair's attack, fell under the table.
At that moment, Blair could finally see the face of the criminal who had harmed Esmeralda.
Seeing that face, Blair's pupils shook violently.
“…Marina?” It was the maid from the Empress's Palace with whom they used to play cards, laugh and chat along with Esmeralda.
Why…?
Blair wanted to ask, but the maid, who had lost her balance, hit her head on the armrest of the sofa when she fell.
Red blood flowed from her head, embedded in the corner.
“Ah… Ah… Blair looked with trembling eyes at the candelabra in her hand and at Marina, who was bleeding.
The eleven-year-old princess was too young to know what death was.
Since he did not know the weight of death, he had only been taught that killing was bad, without knowing how serious that sin was.
But in that moment, he felt it with cruel clarity.
Which meant taking a life.
"But...
Marina was going to kill Her Majesty the Empress..." Blair, justifying herself, stepped back with her staggering body, on the verge of collapsing.
He wanted to escape from that hell right now, but his body didn't respond.
The acrid smoke obstructed her breathing.
Then, suddenly, she remembered that she had to save Esmeralda.
Blair stepped on the table to climb up and approached Esmeralda, who was hanging from the ceiling.
—…Her Majesty the Empress.
Although she called to her, Esmeralda did not move.
Tears fell from Blair's stunned eyes as she looked at her.
“It can't be.” No...
She wanted to immediately untie the cloth that was around Esmeralda's neck, but the ceiling was too high for a girl.
"Help...
please, someone...
Blair, in the middle of the fire, hugged Esmeralda's legs and cried her eyes out.
She had killed a person to save Esmeralda.
If she hugged her and told her that it was okay, that it wasn't her fault, everything would seem to be okay.
But Esmeralda was dead, and Blair was left alone, trapped in that hell.
"If I...
if only I had woken up a little earlier.
If I had come out of the closet a little quicker…” Wouldn't I have been able to save Her Majesty the Empress?
“My doubts, my fear… couldn't save Her Majesty the Empress.” Because I was weak.
Because I was a small, helpless girl.
Because I, Her Majesty… —Ah, ugh…Blair, who was crying, stopped.
I couldn't breathe anymore.
His lungs burned as if he had inhaled the flames, and every time he exhaled, he could not inhale again.
Little by little, his consciousness became clouded and the strength left his body.
Blair collapsed onto the table.
In the midst of the raging fire that seemed to want to devour everything, the girl blinked in a daze.
"I'm drowning..." In that instant, an instinct that prevailed over anything else made her move.
Blair, clinging to her fading consciousness, walked out into the hallway.
There, too, everything was already filled with dense smoke.
Squeezing the last breath that remained in his lungs, he walked down the hallway.
The hallway, already long and drawn out, seemed like an infinite orbit.
“Haa…” Finally, Blair breathed her last breath and collapsed in the hallway.
…To be continued