Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

TL/Editor: Yana/Sarcasm

Ivan entered the church while Anastasia hesitated under the bench, not knowing what to do. Ivan, who had left the chapel, shouted when he saw the guest.

“Earl Lauderdale! How was your trip?”

Earl? Anastasia opened her eyes in surprise when she heard Ivan’s words. She was ignorant, but she knew that there were commoners in the world like herself, aristocrats who were higher up than her, and the Imperial family who were at the top. And the Earl, obviously, belonged to the class of the nobility.

“I thought it would be difficult for me to see him in real life.”

The lord of this area was considered a very low member of the aristocracy. But if this is the Earl… he is obviously a very powerful man.

Why would such a person come here? Does he know my father? But why did this man say my mom’s name?

While Anastasia wondered what had happened, the Earl shouted,

“Grab him!”

Hearing the Earl’s cry, Ivan immediately tried to run away. But the Earl’s men were much faster. They dragged the struggling Ivan to the aristocrat and knelt down on the floor. Anastasia found it difficult to believe in this situation.

Even the Headman of the village, the highest ranking man here, bowed his head to her father in the church and knelt down. Her father says he is a messenger who delivers human prayers to God and transmits God’s will to Earth. So, in this church, Ivan was like a god. A scene where the so-called god was kneeling on the floor shocked Anastasia the most.

At this time, the eyes of Ivan and Anastasia met. Then Ivan’s mouth twitched.

Shut up.

Anastasia stared blankly at the figure.

Anastasia was afraid of her father. Before and after her mother died.

He always imposed painful discipline on Anastasia, beating her every day for not following the will of God. But that was bearable. Because she’s a bad child. So her father was obligated to use force in her upbringing. But…

‘…Mum.’

Anastasia remembered her mother’s grave, which she had seen some time ago.

Everything else is bearable. But … she wanted to go to her mother’s grave when her father put too much force into the beating.

She was the only one who kissed her ever since she was born. Sometimes she was repulsed by Anastasia’s little body, as if she did not want to see her, but there were days when her mother gently held her hand.

However, the beautiful and slender mother could not overcome the cold from this frozen ground, and her health deteriorated greatly. Then she passed away. During the year before her death, she lay and said things that Anastasia could not understand or only mumbled prayers.

Anastasia remembered how she thought that the foreign language her mother had muttered whenever she met her eyes was the language of paradise. There must have been love in her words as she looked at Anastasia.

Whenever her mom fell asleep, Anastasia would lay down next to her and sleep beside her. The temperature felt through the rough blanket was the only warmth for Anastasia. Therefore, she wanted to go to her mother, but her father had not allowed this for five years.

‘But…’

Anastasia saw that the Count’s shoes were madly moving around Ivan. This man is more powerful than her father. Then, by chance, Earl… could he take her to her mother?

Meanwhile, the Earl of Lauderdale asked again in a harsh voice,

“Ivan, where is Chloe?”

“Do you think I’ll tell you?”

Ivan answered, grinning and giggling. Then the Earl’s servant grabbed Ivan by the collar and hit him with his fist. Poof! Blood spattered with a thud on the church floor. When the Earl’s servant tried to hit him again, Anastasia jumped out from under the chair and blocked Ivan.

“Don’t hit him! I’ll show you where my mom is!”

“Mom?”

The noble looked at Anastasia, who suddenly appeared from under the bench. Anastasia also looked at him. She saw the Earl’s face, which she had not seen when she was under the bench. Brown hair mixed with white strands and brown eyes. Although the color of his eyes resembled wood, his gaze was colder than the wind outside the window.

His gaze looked over Anastasia from head to toe. After a moment, his gaze became sharper.

“Ha… Ha…”

The Earl burst out laughing.

“Ha ha ha!”

The slow laughter grew louder and resonated in the church. The madly smiling aristocrat suddenly stopped laughing, walked up to Anastasia and grabbed her shoulder with his hands.

“This is Chloe’s daughter. She’s definitely Chloe’s daughter. Otherwise, it cannot be.”

Because of his strong grip, Anastasia groaned without realizing it. But the Earl did not let go of his grip. He asked questions, still holding onto Anastasia.

“What’s your name?’

Anastasia answered the Earl’s question in a trembling voice.

“Anastasia… Ivanovna Domanova…”

“Ivanovna Domanova?”

The earl frowned at Anastasia’s answer.

What’s wrong with my name? My name is Anastasia, daughter of Ivan from the Domanova family.

The earl turned and looked at Ivan, who was staring at him, pressed down by the hands of his people. For a moment, the eyes of the two men met. The Earl became the winner. Her father groaned and closed his eyes, and the Earl laughed.

“Thanks to the church ministry, a humble fisherman who barely had a name used the name of an aristocrat here. You haven’t seen anything in the countryside, have you? And Ivan’s daughter… Ivan’s daughter…”

The Earl thought for a moment and asked another question.

“Anastasia, how old are you this year?”

“Tw-twelve years…”

A smile appeared on the Earl’s face. On the contrary, the face of Ivan, who was lying face down, was terribly distorted.

“12 years. 12 years…”

The noble muttered as if it were a very important fact.

“It was 13 years ago when I met your mother.”

Not understanding what this meant, Anastasia was in complete confusion until Ivan suddenly turned abruptly and shouted.

“This is my daughter! Chloe gave birth to my daughter!”

“But your daughter is not at all like you!”

“She doesn’t look like you either!”

The earl, who frowned for a moment at Ivan’s words, raised Anastasia’s face and muttered,

“How funny. Whose seed was it really?”

He feigned a wistful melancholy, studying Anastasia’s red hair and green eyes. In his eyes, Anastasia understood that the Earl misses her mother.

“She’s not like anyone else. Only Chloe…”

The aristocrat seemed pleased with this fact, but also looked displeased. Anastasia could not understand. Children are like their parents. So it’s only natural that she looks like her mother, so what’s the matter?…

Until the situation itself was understood, Anastasia anxiously clutched at her old clothes. She just wanted to go to her mom. Therefore, she told the kind gentleman only the truth, as her father taught her not to lie. But why not take him to her mother?

“Um, my mom…”

“Oh, yeah. I need to see Chloe.”

The earl tried to pick up Anastasia, but when he saw dirt and straw on her clothes, he removed his hand.

“Yes, where is your mother?”

“Here.”

Anastasia pointed her finger at the hill outside the window.

“Mom is there.”

***

Anastasia looked at the ground she was stepping on. The hill was covered with white snow because it was still far from spring. The only land exposed in places were rocks mixed with ice. Her mother’s gravestone was between them.

Anastasia saw the Earl approaching the grave before her. She wanted to go up to the monument, hug it and call her mother, but the servant of the Earl held Anastasia tightly by the shoulder and did not let go.

She heard the Earl mutter in the wind of the barren frozen land.

“I just found you… but you ran away again, Chloe.”

Standing behind him, Anastasia could not tell what kind of face the Earl had. But she thought he had the same face that she saw when she pointed to the headstone.

The earl has stood for a long time in front of the tombstone. He soon turned away. Contrary to Anastasia’s opinion, no emotion was reflected on the Earl’s face. He glanced at Anastasia and ordered the subordinate who held her.

“When we leave, take her to the church. Don’t let her get out.”

The nobleman ended with these words and walked towards the church on the hill. Anastasia looked at his back, shook off the man’s hand that held her, and went up to her mother’s tombstone. In fact, it was just a small stone, which was embarrassing to call a tombstone. An inscription was carved on the monument, which Anastasia could not read, that was scraped on with iron nails, barely visible.

Anastasia hugged the monument and buried her face in it. The rough surface of the stone scraped mercilessly against the child’s fragile cheeks, frozen in the wind.

“Mum…”

Although the monument standing in the icy wind could not be warm, Anastasia desperately found the warmth she remembered. When Anastasia hugged the monument, the Earl and Ivan left the church in the distance.

Ivan staggered forward and sank to the ground. Then the Earl’s men, who were standing next to him, grabbed his hand and raised him. The Earl, Ivan and his men crossed the hill to the river. When they disappeared, the servant who was with Anastasia grabbed her by the hand and led her into the church, asking where her room was, and pushed her inside.

Click.

She heard the door lock from the outside.

Anastasia climbed onto her bed, thinking about the touch of the cold gravestone left on her hand, wrapped herself in a blanket and closed her eyes.

‘I’m going to get in trouble.’

Father and the Earl said they went to talk. There were no guests here who stayed forever. When the Earl returns, the church will again become her father’s territory. The point is that he will become a god again.

‘I’m scared.’

Anastasia squatted down. She disobeyed her father’s orders. She met strangers and talked to them. And on top of that, left the church.

She could already hear the whip cut through the wind. How many beats will there be this time? The traces of the whip, which still remained on the girl’s body, were innumerable. Anastasia, trembling with fear, prayed in her heart.

‘Let my father talk to the Earl for a very long time. So let them get back to the church very late. So late. Very late… Very, very late…’

It was a sincere prayer, more sincere than ever. It was a prayer with a desperate plea that those who heard it had no choice but to obey.

The next day, Anastasia was informed that her father had passed away.