Chapter 53. The Observer
“Thank you! Please be careful!”
Bella bowed to the coachman and closed the carriage door. A cloud of dust rose briefly behind the departing carriage.
“I didn’t expect to come back here.”
Scratching her cheek with a slightly embarrassed expression, Bella looked around. The town was much quieter than before.
First and foremost, Bella needed to find her father.
She wasn’t sure why. Even though a gambling-addicted father couldn’t possibly give her any useful advice, he was the first person who came to mind in her moment of frustration.
“Hmph.”
The first place Bella went to was the tailor’s shop. Clearing her throat, she knocked on the door and called out.
“Sir, it’s Bella. Are you here?”
After a moment of clattering from inside, the tailor finally appeared.
“Bella! I wanted to send you a letter, but I didn’t know where to send it, and here you are right on time.”
“Hmm… was there something you needed from me?”
Seeing the tailor’s very awkward expression, Bella tilted her head in confusion.
Wiping the sweat from his temple with his sleeve, the tailor firmly grasped Bella’s hand.
“First of all, Bella… whatever decision you make, I support you, okay?”
“Yes. But… what is it?”
Blinking innocently a few times, Bella waited. The tailor, after hesitating and avoiding her gaze, finally spoke.
“Your father is in critical condition.”
“…Excuse me?”
When Bella repeated in disbelief, the tailor’s face darkened immediately.
“The doctor has been several times… and he says there isn’t much time left. That’s why I’ve been taking care of him.”
“….”
“If you don’t want to see him, that’s fine. I owe Osik a debt from long ago, so I was going to do this anyway.”
“Where… is he?”
Grasping the tailor’s hand urgently, Bella asked. Naturally, she had assumed her father would be lying somewhere despondent after the gambling house was gone, but never had she imagined him in a critical state.
After resolving the gambling house incident, she had thought she’d said everything she needed to say to her father. Hearing this news made her chest tighten as if her breath were caught in her throat.
Was it shock? Being imprisoned for so long in his old age? Could it be from the inability to gamble? Or… something else?
The tailor, silently watching Bella’s confusion, opened his door and led her inside.
Like a soul lost in the wind, Bella followed his hand up the stairs.
Stopping in front of the door,
“He’s in here.”
She was afraid to open it. It was so unexpected that her mind felt numb. Life and death are always full of surprises, yet facing it in reality made it hard to calm down.
After hesitating, touching the doorknob repeatedly, Bella finally turned it.
With a creak, the door opened, and Bella instinctively looked away. She was afraid to see her father lying in bed.
Whether he knew it or not, the tailor gently pushed her into the room.
Hesitantly, Bella stepped inside and finally gathered the courage to lift her head. Her father lay in bed, eyes closed, with deep wrinkles marking his face. He looked as if he had already passed from this world.
Suppressing the urge to flee, Bella turned her gaze to the tailor.
“You’ve been nursing him all this time?”
“There was no one else. Your father had no home or friends.”
“…I suppose having a home really is important.”
She muttered softly. That’s why she had clung to her home. At least if you have a home, you can close your eyes there. Without one, you have nowhere.
“Yes. It started when the baron abandoned me. That’s when your father began to decline rapidly.”
“Can I stay here until he passes? I don’t think my accommodations will allow it.”
“If you stay here, that would be my joy and my fortune. Go on, let him hear your voice. He’ll like that.”
The tailor stepped aside, and Bella brought a small chair to sit by her father’s bedside.
Baron Osik had wasted away to nothing but bones, unrecognizable from his days as a knight. His sunken eyes refused to open.
“…Father. The gambling house is gone, that bad noble is gone… why are you still sick?”
“….”
Of course, no answer came. Shaken, Bella repeatedly touched the tip of his nose to confirm he was still alive.
“I’ve already secured a home, and I only have good days ahead… so why are you leaving just as things are getting better?”
“….”
“I came to take care of you. I bought a mansion recently. It’s not as pretty as our old Osik mansion, but it’s much bigger.”
“….”
The Osik mansion had been small, cozy, and humble, but it held memories: playing ball with her father in the garden, practicing swordsmanship, lullabies from her nurse. They were distant, irretrievable childhood memories.
Tears finally welled in Bella’s eyes.
“I’ve already set up a factory there and hired staff. I’ll make a fortune soon. You know, the bourgeois thing? That’s what I’m doing.”
“….”
“All the happiness, leisure, and money you wanted, I’ve taken care of. You just have to come… so why can’t you get up? Everything you wanted from gambling, I’ve done for you. You should get up and praise me… and apologize to me, okay?”
Baron Osik did not open his eyes.
Bella, in despair, grabbed his hand and collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably. Even after all these years, she felt like a ten-year-old child before him again.
In the cold mansion, Sean patrolled carefully and looked into Bella’s room.
“Are you here?”
“….”
Bella had asked him to guard the ghost, but how could he protect something invisible?
More importantly, his knightly instincts told him something terrifying truly resided in the mansion. The more sensitive the instincts, the greater the fear. This was real.
“I was assigned by Lady Bella to protect the ghost… I’m Sean.”
Chey, who had been sitting by the window staring past the main gate, slowly turned to Sean.
Sean. That was the name Bella had given him.
“I hate you.”
His deep blue eyes gleamed, and a voice of resentment emerged. He seemed fragile like a falling flower, but his darkened gaze carried a chilling cold.
A century of solitude.
Better not to know. To know and be taken away is cruel.
“Hm? There’s a breeze…”
Feeling cold, Sean rubbed his shoulders and looked around. The windows were locked; outside, the leaves did not stir. Unease prickled him. Clearing his throat nervously, he stepped further inside, trying to appear brave.
Chey rose from the window and slowly positioned himself in front of Sean. His blue eyes were colder than ice, instinct overriding reason.
“I resent Bella for giving you a name.”
“It’s suddenly cold… are you here?”
“If I had lived, could I have dreamed differently?”
Sean shivered, feeling a chill. Northern winters aside, the room wasn’t cold enough to cause this. This was no ordinary cold—it was bone-chilling, an eerie presence.
Suddenly tense, Sean felt a slight headache and stepped back. Spotting his patrolling subordinates, he straightened, feigning courage.
“I can’t see ghosts. Keep a close watch around the mansion! Check for intruders thoroughly!”
“Yes!”
Oblivious subordinates redoubled their vigilance, and Sean hurried out, terrified.
Chey was left alone again.
He gazed silently at the empty room, then resignedly returned to the window, staring endlessly beyond the main gate.
“…I’m in the position of being unseen and unheard by anyone again.”
Today too, Bella did not return. No matter how much he wanted to meet her, Chey could not leave the mansion.
“From the start, you can leave me, but I cannot leave you… is that not too heavy a burden?”
Muttering to himself, Chey buried his face in his knees, yet his eyes remained fixed on the gate, hoping Bella might come back.
Two knights patrolling nearby noticed something unusual and lifted their heads. Their eyes met Chey’s.
