If it wasn’t for the dark atmosphere, the black veils that people put on their heads, and the drab black clothes they wore neatly, it would have been okay to call it a party. Yuria didn’t even know the Count, and he wasn’t friendly either. Nevertheless, she felt her mood subside as she watched the funeral procession of people.
‘… How sad is the family when their father dies?’
TL/N: I’ve translated it wrong, it’s not the Countess (Mother) who takes care of the teritorial, it was Count (Father).
The Countess died giving birth to her second child. After that, the Count did not take a woman to replace his wife and the seat next to him remained empty. The Count was the only parent to the Nigor siblings. He must accept the death of such a person and bury it in the ground. How painful will it be? how painful it is, sympathy stabbed Yuria’s chest. She looked at the coffin, covered with white flowers, and recalled the information about Count Nigor.
Count Nigor wasn’t a very good lord, but he wasn’t a bad guy either. He, like the kind-hearted lord in a fairy tale, did not give us tax cuts or, if the crops were not harvested, he would open a warehouse and distribute all the grain in it, but he adequately looked after the lives of the young inhabitants. He was just a moderately arrogant, moderately responsible aristocrat who could be seen everywhere.
He had one daughter and one son. The daughter took succession classes next to him, and his son graduated from the capital’s academy and was running his own business.
The Count’s son, James Nigor, left for the academy when Yuria was very young and had never returned to the estate, so children of her age had never seen James Nigor’s face. The Count’s funeral was therefore the place where Yuria first saw the face of James Nigor.
After the funeral procession was over, James Nigor and Natasha Nigor stood in front of the Count coffin to give wreaths. The man was very tall, and that’s how big he was. His legs and forearms were thick enough for the suit to look small, and his large belly bulged out. What about the face?
Compared to Natasha Nigor, the gentle and quiet successor of Count Nigor, there were many rumors surrounding the spirituality of Count Nigor wrapped in a veil. There were frequent stories about appearance, as well as rumors that he had not been able to come back because of a bad relationship with his father, or that he would not return until he succeeded in business. The old woman who was Count Nigor’s maid said that he was a very handsome man, and he flirted with the fruit shop clerk who heard the story when she was young.
According to tradition, the family of the person where the funeral was held did not wear a black veil. Therefore, the faces of the brother and sister Nigor, who were talking to each other, were exposed so that anyone could see them.
Count Nigor’s face was buried in the flesh, so it was difficult to judge what he looked like.
– He’s very handsome! Of course. I’ve never seen such a pretty boy. Blonde hair that looks like melted gold, deep blue eyes like the sea… His skin was so white and soft. He played a lot of mischievous jokes, but he was able to move on in a cute way.
His blond hair under the sun shimmered like gold, and his eyes were certainly bluer than the sky. Recalling the old woman’s words and looking closely at his face, Yuria realized her mistake and lowered her eyes.
‘What are you doing, Yuria Hanson? It’s not right to judge other people’s faces. Even on funeral days…. I am so ashamed of myself.’
Unable to bear the shame, Yuria lowered her head and covered her mouth with one hand. Layla, who was standing next to her, mistook her for crying. She held her hand tight as usual to comfort her Yuria.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine, Lala. Don’t worry. I am not crying.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not crying…”
“I know.”
Still, Layla did not let go of her hand.
I’m not really crying. The black veil was covering her face, so she looked more unbelievable. In the end, Yuria held her sister’s hand instead of explaining to her. She didn’t want to be treated like a crying child, but she had no choice. It was because of the warmth of her hand holding my hand.
After the funeral, a man wearing a black veil approached the young master.
Judging from his dress and behavior, he must have been a servant. He handed the young master a glass of water.
Yuria left her seat after hearing someone call the servant “Oberon”.
‘If it’s Oberon, they said he was doing business with him in the capital….’
After a grand funeral, another funeral was held. This time it was the funeral of Natasha Nigor. It was just two weeks after the funeral of the previous Count. When she became a count, she had an accident on the way back from visiting another estate. For some reason, the wheel of her carriage fell off and she ended up falling off a cliff. The cause was negligence in the maintenance of the carriage. The man in charge of the carriage was kicked out, and the driver could not be punished because he died along with the Count.
When the Count died, all that was left was James Nigor. Naturally, he became a Count.
With the continuing death of the Count, the atmosphere of the estate subsided.
People’s opinions on the incident were largely divided in two.
“This is a curse, a curse. Otherwise, how can two of them die at once? It seems that they were cursed by someone who is their great enemy.”
“It might be a curse. It doesn’t happen very often.”
“Oh, I’m afraid. I may have to move.”
The first was that Count Nigor was not cursed, and the second…
“What nonsense was she talking about earlier? What a curse! I mean, you shouldn’t even match your words with such nonsensical comments. It must have been the eldest son of the house… Nobles fight for place once or twice? He killed his sister to try to be the Count…. It’s like a blood battle… ”
“Oh! Grandma, what would you do if you were arrested for insulting an aristocrat while talking like that? We talk with a lower voice.”
“It seems to me that the death of the former Count is all his fault. Isn’t it strange when someone who was so healthy at that age suddenly died of a heart attack?”
“Well, it is.”
“My throat hurts from talking all the time. Haah, give me a glass of water and pick some clothes.”
“Yes, yes, yes”
Yuria listened to the stories of the landlord and the customers in her clothing store, as she put on the mannequins in the new arrivals.
It was an interesting story, but she did not pay much attention. Whether or not James Nigor killed his sister under the guise of the accidental death in order to become the Count is a story too far away for her. She only thinks of the sorrow of a man who has lost all of her family.
Until then, no one would have known what would happen to James Nigor’s ascension to the Count. Because we didn’t know, we were able to tremble in fear, laugh, and talk about the death that occurred in the realm.
At the unattended dawn of six in the morning, the people of the territory did not know that the screams from the mansion signaled the beginning of an endless nightmare.
In the morning, people discovered the identity of the screams. The girl who was working in the mansion was screaming when she noticed that the body had cooled down in the garden.
Her maid’s name is Mary. The girl with dark brown hair and gray eyes, with a pretty face and cheerful personality, earned a lot of cuteness from the servants of the mansion and the merchants of the village. Yuria, too, sometimes met a child who came to buy clothes.
Perhaps because she talked often, Yuria knew a little about the child’s circumstances. Her family was not too bad because she had worked as the Count’s servant from generation to generation, and her relationship with her family was not bad, and even if she had a fight, she will be able to reconcile the next day. But why did she die in that way? What happened to her? Yuria burst into tears and Layla patted her shoulder next to her.
People will soon find out the reason for the death.
James Nigor, the new Count, was a terrible reveler. It’s amazing how he’s been quiet for a month after being counted with two funerals.
He was a person who liked to have fun rather than caring for the estate, and was a person who used the taxes for luxury and debauchery instead of spending it to make the lives of the people of the territory pleasant. He molested the maids in the mansion, and if there was anything he didn’t like, he immediately resorted to violence.
An exclusive servant named Oberon, who was next to him, pretended to stop his actions and encouraged him, and after James Nigor became Count, Alexander, a newly hired assistant, quietly watched the Count’s actions.
All the servants who stopped the Count were expelled, and only those who he liked stayed.
The Count liked the woman. Especially pretty girls. He would occasionally come to the village, pick a woman he liked and call them into his mansion. It didn’t matter that much to him whether they were married women, hated him or liked him. They couldn’t refuse, because if they didn’t follow him, they would be severely punished. The women who were taken to the mansion either did not return or return in a ruined state.