The Devil Who Breaks My Neck

‘No, it won’t be the same.’

Ezekiel, who was drawing the last image of his father, shook his head. His father sent his mother away first, but he will stay with her forever. To live, to die.

Ezekiel covered the child with the blanket again and moved. But as soon as he came out of the door, he crumpled his face. A child who looked just like him, a little taller than the child lying on the bed in the room, was smiling and running around, was caught by a middle-aged woman who didn’t know what to do. ‘It’ said, peeping through the crevice of the slightly open door behind Ezekiel.

“I’m here to see my brother, Father.”

At Miguel’s words, Ezekiel closed the door and stood in front of him. Miguel smiled at his determined face and took a step closer to Ezekiel. Ezekiel, however, pushed Miguel away without hesitation. The child stumbled and managed to stand somehow.

“Young Master!”

Miguel’s nanny took a big breath as if surprised by the Duke’s harsh behavior. But Ezekiel, who looked down at Miguel, spoke in a cold voice without hiding his disgust.

“I warn you, don’t even step in here.”

****

Although she said she would endure it, but it wasn’t easy. Herace was drying up day by day like a river being dried in the scorching sun. Because of the longing for her son, the closed space, and the man in front of him.

“I used to do this for you. Just like your slave.”

Herace was kneeling at the feet of Ezekiel, who was leaning against the couch, and rubbing his legs. In recent days, Ezekiel didn’t treat her as a mistress and had made her act like a servant.

“Do it right.”

It was a solid man’s body, so she had to do her best with her small and soft hands, but even though he scolded her, Herace did not complain a word. As she moved her hands silently, Ezekiel, who was buried in the couch, raised his upper body and bent down right in front of Herace’s face.

“But I like the feeling of your body next to me. Roaming your hands everywhere.”

With a slow word, he picked up Herace’s wet hair and breathed in. Maybe it was because she only wore a thin dress after washing up, but his wife’s body odour was subtle through the smell of the perfume. Herace stiffened for a moment at his blatant behavior, but soon moved her hand again with her head down as if she didn’t care.

Ezekiel, who was looking down at Herace, stood up suddenly and went to the table on one side of the room. The meal for the day was delicious and moderately warm, although there were not many kinds.

“……sit down, here.

Herace, who wiped her hands with a clean cloth, sat opposite Ezekiel as if she had been waiting. Although she was uncomfortable inside, Herace waited for dinner with Ezekiel. She didn’t know why, maybe because he would tell her about Erzen only at this time.

“Your son still remains the same.”

Ezekiel frowned and said as Harace picked up her fork. Harace, holding back from wanting to rush the answer, cut the well-cooked vegetables into small pieces and put them in her mouth. Ezekiel, who confirmed she was chewing and swallowing the food, continued.

“He doesn’t complain much, and he doesn’t seem to care. Maybe because he grew up outside. However, he cries several times a day because he wants to see you. So the castle is noisy these days.”

Herace’s hands began to tremble when she heard Erzen had been crying. The child who was crying looking for her was pictured in her mind. Ezekiel raised the corners of his mouth as he watched his wife’s trembling.

“But don’t worry. I’ve got him an etiquette teacher. So that I won’t hear him crying loudly. If he is taught carefully, he will get better.”

Clank!

At the same time as the loud crashing of the tableware was heard, the resentful eyes turned to Ezekiel. Ezekiel looked into his wife’s eyes and cut the meat with a knife and stuck it out in front of her face. The moderate sauce was mixed with the gravy and looked quite appetizing, but it just felt disgusting to Herace.

“Eat. If you don’t eat, I won’t tell you about your son the next time.”

Herace twitched her lips and opened her mouth. However, as soon as she put it in her mouth, she could not chew or swallow the meat that was as soft as it would melt. She didn’t want to cry, but when she drew Erzen’s face in front of her eyes, who was searching for her, tears naturally fell.

“The same goes for crying. Don’t cry. I don’t want to see my mistress dragging her feet in front of me. You’re here for my pleasure. So such a face at the table is unpleasant.”

“Hmmm…… hah.”

“Do I have to say it twice? Or should I tell them to stop sending his meal now?”

Herace shook her head roughly and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Ezekiel watched without blinking as she struggled to chew the meat while gagging. And finally, when Harace swallowed the meat, he opened his mouth again.

“………He has to start studying other things, but the doctor said the child’s body is not very healthy. I heard that his body lacks a lot of nutrition as well as his physical strength….”

Like you, the words that he couldn’t say went around in his mouth and disappeared. Ezekiel cut the meat into smaller pieces and held it out again in front of Herace. Herace ate the meat obediently while her lips were trembling.

“I guess it wasn’t easy to feed a child even if you worked so hard, right?”

Unlike the diligent touch of a mother bird feeding a baby bird, Ezekiel’s mouth was still vicious. He looked at Herace’s body and spouted irritably.

“But you’re a woman who’s never done anything hard before. Considering that you didn’t take anything while escaping, you rather endured it well for a long time.”

When he thought of the jewels and the pieces of gems that remained in the room, he felt angry again. Did you want to leave me even though knowing you would be living so pathetically?

Ezekiel, who was looking at his wife’s thin neck, looked at her hand with thin arms along her round shoulders and protruding wrist bones, and eventually looked at her hands. Herace’s hands had been softened with precious perfume, but it seemed that it would take a long time to become the same as before.

Clank.

Ezekiel put the knife and fork he was holding on the table and stood up. There was a sound of the chair being dragged as he went behind Herace and bent down. The man’s firm arms and hands passed Herace’s shoulder and soon grabbed her hand like a tight knot and clasped her fingers.

“……Do you know how I found you, Herace?”

Herace lowered her eyes to the sound of the man’s breathing on her neck. No matter how he found her, what’s the use of it now? Herace tried to loosen his grip and rebelled feebly. Ezekiel whispered, clasping her fingers harder.

“Your skill is still the same. I could tell just by looking at the end of the embroidered lilies. Whose skill is it?”

****

At the same time as her eyes opened, the unique cold air entered her lungs. Herace realised that the warmth next to her had disappeared and looked everywhere.

‘…he’s gone.’

After confirming that Ezekiel had left, she rose carefully and approached the window. The long curtains stretched from the ceiling to the floor were quite thick and almost covered all the light.

Herace pulled the curtains with all her might. Then, with the bluish dawn light, she could see a glass greenhouse full of all kinds of plants.

‘…there’s still time.’

Herace, who was staring blankly at the greenhouse with her hand on the window, looked stiff. She returned to bed, shoved her feet into the fluffy bedroom shoes, and stood at the door connected to the glass greenhouse. Judging by the color outside, it was clear that there was still more than an hour left before the maid brought breakfast.

‘Even if I can’t think of a way, I have to move. I have to do anything to find a way to save Erzen.’

As per Ezekiel’s request, Herace said she would stay here as long as she had run away, but she did not intend to stay still and cry. Tears flowed for days. Now, it was her turn to do something.

‘He said he’d accept Erzen as a member of Serpence, but…… He also told me he doesn’t think of him as his child. Then Erzen’s safety…….’

She didn’t know what would happen to a child who wouldn’t get attention or protection. Herace shivered as she remembered Charlotte’s eyes, which looked as if she were going to kill her.

She wouldn’t do anything to her, but if those hostile eyes touched Erzen……. The sacrifice of young blood in the fight for succession of the aristocratic family occurs frequently even now. Herace’s back cooled after imagining the worst.

‘I have to find a way out of here in advance just in case. If the castle is dangerous for Erzen, I have to sneak him out.’

From her experience, outside the castle was as dangerous as the castle. However, at least outside the castle, wouldn’t there be a chance to save Erzen without sacrificing his life? Herace pushed the door as hard as she could, thinking of Erzen, who would be scared after losing her mother.

Screech.

The door to the glass greenhouse opened easily. Herace crossed the low threshold and looked at the strange place with nervous eyes.

The beautiful glass greenhouse, which was once filled with beautiful flowers and plants is now covered with wild plants, moss, and vines. It was not enough to block the way, but anyone who values beauty would have hated such management.

Herace’s gaze touched the high ceiling of the garden. The dawn light was blocked to some extent because the ivy vine stretched high and covered the roof of the glass ceiling. However, even so, there was no difficulty in identifying objects because it was brighter than the room where Herace was lying a while ago.

‘Considering that no one is here, it wasn’t well managed.’

Although Herace lived in Serpence Castle as a Duchess, she did not visit the room and the glass greenhouse here.

Although it was located in a remote area, it was the place where the mother of Ezekiel, the mistress of the former Duke of the War, stayed. And it was an unlucky place where she, who was called a witch, died. Even in his friendly days, Ezekiel did not hide his unpleasant face with his mouth hardening when it came to his mother’s story, so Herace deliberately forgot about this place.

‘Ezekiel’s mother…….’

She had never seen her before, but she got goosebumps whenever she thought of the dead. After being dragged here, she was busy saving Anna and didn’t even think about it because of knowing what happened to Erzen. But it wasn’t a good feeling knowing that she was living in the place where the deceased stayed.

‘I wasn’t scared when I was young. Rather, I wanted to come here.’

Herace rubbed her thin shoulders and looked bitter. Charles’s mother, who was kind to her, the former Duchess Ulysses, reacted very sensitively whenever Charles and Herace turned to this annex. It was not easy for Charles and Herace to get out of the main house because of how great the nervousness was.

Of course, it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that  Herace and Charles never came here. She and Charles used to visit the annex without the knowledge of the Duchess Ulysses. There was only one reason. To see Ezekiel.

However, even then, she hid in the annex only for a few minutes, and came into the glass greenhouse once. This was because the father of Ezekiel, the Duke at the time, did not allow anyone to enter here except him.

“Oh my God.”

Herace, who was walking with faint memories of her childhood, let out a sigh in front of the fountain without realizing it. She didn’t notice it in her childhood because she was innocent and naive, but the use of this place was clear from the eyes of adults.

Imprisonment.

The entrance to the glass greenhouse was connected to the locked room, and the exit on the other side of the entrance was a small outdoor garden surrounded by a high fence. Herace’s face turned pale seeing the fence with no gap from where she could never escape, let alone the door beyond the glass greenhouse.