Chapter 81: Interlude – Smile

Rosa woke up skin clammy with sweat, breath caught in her throat. The air was pressing down on her chest, as if the room itself was closing in around her. The shadows lurking on the ceiling crawled out from beneath the beams, drawing her gaze to—

She shot up from the bed and sucked in a mouthful of air, palm pressed against her chest.

…Stupid.

Why had she fallen asleep?

Placing herself on the bed’s brim, she stared at the empty floorboards next to her feet as she breathed. The terror she’d felt in the dream lingered in her mind, but the details were already fading. Counting down from eleven, she lifted her hand to brush away some of the hair stuck to her temple. She would have to change clothes. The thin white shirt she’d worn earlier in the day was drenched.

Slowly, she turned her eyes up and out the window next to the bed. The sun was still fighting strong up in the sky, illuminating the beautiful garden as the wind blew away the fallen leaves on the ground. The plain sight looked almost idyllic with how pure it was. A completely unsoiled picture. A false promise.

Tears started running down the inside of the windowpanes. The smog started inching closer at the corner of her eyes. Everything was pushing in, smothering the world.

Today was a worse day than usual.

She stood up and walked over to the tall wardrobe at the edge of the room, gaze locked straight ahead. It stood open a crack, the slit of darkness staring back at her as she reached for the handle. The eyes of a hundred tiny creatures hid in that blackness, glaring. Her hand hesitated at the clattering of a thousand legs, tearing at the back of her head, singing the songs of a horde of wailing souls, crying out at her, judging her, condemning her. She threw the door open and pulled out the first thing she found. A blood-red dress with bones lining the collar. The bones were cold to the touch as her fingers traced the cut along its neck.

Looking away, she moved over to the dressing table and laid the dress over the back of a chair before picking up a white towel. She removed her damp shirt but paused as she was about to put the towel into the water basin on the table. The thick, dark-red liquid in the basin reflected her eyes, catching the light of the nearby lamp on the wall. She regarded them for a moment, then dipped the towel in. It returned wet and still as white as before. She let out a small, relieved sigh as she began cleaning herself off, then put on the dress. It looked different now. A deep lavender, with gold trimmings along the neck. It went well with the purple bead necklace and silver-ringed earrings she put on as well.

She looked up at the mirror above the dresser, where violet eyes met her own, standing amidst a black void.

All she had to do was smile.

She grabbed a comb to rein back her disarrayed locks, eyes stuck on the reflection. The tips of its mouth were curved upward as it smiled back at her. Her hands stilled as the smile turned into a sneer, the edges of its mouth continuing up into a macabre facsimile of a smile as the reflection started cackling, surrounded by darkness with dozens of staring eyeballs that wanted to—

Rosa shut her eyes.

She bent over and splashed her face with the liquid in the water basin. The cold water ran down her cheeks, sticking to her skin as it dribbled down. She counted down from eleven. Everything was fine. She was fine. It wanted her pain, but it couldn’t do anything as long as she smiled. She was fine.

She took a deep breath, then looked up. The reflection had turned back to normal.

Smile.

The likeness smiled back. It stood in front of a completely normal room, just like her. Everything was fine.

She glanced over at her klert that was leaning against the wall by the exit. They had returned in the morning, so there had been nothing special planned for the day. But the whole evening remained. She could do with something to take her mind off things. Maybe the courtyard?

She froze as something caressed her shoulder, a nauseating odor reaching her nose. She spun around, but there was nothing there. A creeping sensation traveled up her back, and the shadows near the dresser started growing outwards, taking the shapes of hands and limbs. Fingers latched onto the edges, crawling towards her. Heavy breaths touched the nape of her neck. Rosa closed her eyes.

Peace. She just needed some peace. Just for today. Then it’d all be fine.

She walked towards the door and hurried outside.

There, she found a young woman cleaning the hallway.

“Oh, Miss Rosa!” The woman jerked back the bloodstained leg she’d been sweeping the floor with.

Rosa smiled, ignoring the pool of blood under the woman.

“Why, if it isn’t Harriet? Teaching all that dust a lesson it won’t forget, I hope?”

The woman laughed, raising the leg in her hands. “As always, Miss Rosa. I won’t rest until all the dust on this floor has drawn its last breath!”

Soul-crushing howls rang out from under the woman’s dark dress, yet Harriet’s cheerful expression stayed the same.

“I’m sure the dust rats sleep with one eye open when you’re around.”

“Of course. I was born for this.” The charming little servant gave a sagacious nod. “How are you, Miss Rosa? You all just got back from that trip, so you must have been tired. You’ve been in your room all afternoon.”

“Got me in one.” Rosa pulled at her dress. “I ended up taking a quick nap and changing into something a bit more snazzy. Now I feel fit as a fiddle.”

“I’m glad. Where are you heading?”

“Hmm.” Rosa swayed her neck as she peered down the hallway. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll go explore some. See where my feet take me. It’ll be a nice little eventide adventure.”

“Sounds lovely.” Harriet smiled. “Then I wish you the best on your trip, Miss Rosa.”

“And I you, oh mighty vanquisher of dust.”

With a quick goodbye, Rosa left, fleeing the tortured screams that chased her down the hallway.

She let her feet carry her through the mansion, passing by endless displays of blood-filled vases, paintings depicting horror-filled vistas, and windows staring out at the luring illusion that was the sunny outside.

It didn’t matter where she fled to, though. There was no escaping it. All she could do was bear—

Rosa blinked, staring at the dark mahogany door before her. Darkness drifted around it, clamoring to its rim like thousands of tiny feelers.

When had she gotten here? This wasn’t where she’d wanted to go, right?

…Or was it?

She stared forward, eyes fixed on the shadows. They weren’t writhing toward her, or inviting her to peer into and get lost in their depths. Instead, it was as if they were screaming at her. As if they didn’t want her here. As if they didn’t want her inside this room. Her gaze went to the elaborate silver handle.

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No, maybe she did want to go here. Maybe her own weakness had brought her. And she couldn’t resist the temptation.

She pulled at the handle, and the door drifted open. A large office opened up before her. A completely normal office, with completely normal bookcases and paintings. And a completely abnormal woman, sitting behind a desk at the end of the room. Scarlett looked up from a pile of papers, a small frown on her face. “Miss Hale? Was there something you wanted?”

Rosa’s eyes stayed on her. The normality of the space around the red-haired noblewoman was almost breathtaking. No hair-raising apparitions or shrieking horrors. No severed limbs or sobbing heads. No blood-soaked dresses or open eye sockets. Just the world as it was. As it always was around Scarlett, ever since Rosa had woken up in that cave back then.

“Miss Hale?”

Rosa refocused her gaze. “Oh, I was just dawdling around. Thought I’d drop by and say hi.”

Scarlett studied her for a second, with that typical glint in her eyes. The one that said the woman was reading deeper into Rosa’s words than she wanted.

“...Is that so?” the Baroness eventually said. “I believe we spoke just earlier this day. Nonetheless, the gesture is appreciated.”

“You know what they say.” Rosa smiled. “Greetings are like the feathers in your cap. You can never have enough of them.”

“I cannot say I have heard that expression before.”

“Well, now you have.”

Rosa glanced around her, stepping deeper into the room. A painting hanging above a small table next to the entrance caught her attention. It depicted a picturesque summer valley, with a tall stag drinking from a tranquil river at its center. The sun’s rays glittered off the stag’s silver antlers, drawing the onlooker's eye.

“Was there something else you wanted?” Scarlett’s voice brought her thoughts back to the present.

She turned back to the baroness. “…I don’t really have much to do right now, so maybe I’ll stay here and keep you company, if you don’t mind. Haven’t read a book in ages either, so that could be fun.” She pressed her finger towards her mouth. “I’ll be as quiet as a mouse, so you can keep doing whatever you’re doing. And whenever you feel like taking a break, you can just look up at this pretty face. I’m sure that’ll give you some motivation.”

Scarlett arched an eyebrow, giving her what she was pretty sure was the woman’s equivalent to a look of incredulity.

“If you want, I can go and get my klert as well.” Rosa grinned. “What’s the point of having a personal bard if they don’t give you a show now and then?”

The baroness held up her hand. “No, that will not be necessary.” She signaled to a chair in the room's corner. “If you absolutely must stay, you may sit there. Expect little conversation from me, however.”

Rosa tried to push down the relief that welled up from inside. “Such a grouch,” she said, walking over to the first bookcase with a smile.

She really was pathetic.

“Mind if I borrow one?” She pointed at the books.

“Feel free.”

She ran her hand over the spines. “Imperial Codes & Statutes. Heirs of the People. The Unresting Steppes: A Delineation of the Undead Council.” She counted off some titles. “I can practically smell the dreariness spilling out of these. Isn’t there anything with a bit more oomph to it?”

Scarlett looked at her for a moment, then gestured to another section of the bookcase. “There might be something more closely aligned to your tastes there,” she said, then turned back to her papers.

Rosa moved over to where the woman pointed. “Hmm. What have we got here? Sights of Zovivios. Maybe if there are illustrations,” she murmured. “Women of Magic. That’s something. Ah, and what’s this? The Red Witch of Destruction: Catastrophe Incarnate. How dramatic.” Her finger paused when she noticed the other woman’s eyes turn up at the last one. “Oh? That one caught your attention. Sounds lively. Should I pick it?”

Scarlett shook her head. “I was simply unaware it was there. You do not recognize the name?”

“Can’t say I know of any witch like that. Might be an interesting read, though. Don’t you think?”

The woman gave her that curious look that she got sometimes.

“…I would not recommend it. Those events would have taken place generations back, and no longer bear any importance. In addition, the contents are unlikely to be particularly pleasant.”

“If you say so,” Rosa hummed, before continuing to browse through the titles. Eventually, she settled on a book titled Tales of the Realm of Wanderers and sat down in her seat.

Before she’d even made it more than a few pages in, she noticed Scarlett glancing at her.

“Oh, you’re already feeling like taking a break?”

The woman arrested her work for a moment, then returned to writing something on the papers in front of her. “No. I simply meant to ask how you are,” she answered coolly.

Rosa paused. She opened her mouth, and for just a brief moment, she caught herself almost giving in to the false promise behind those words.

She shook her head and smiled. “Fine, as always. I’m glad to be off that boat. What about you?”

She was letting the uniqueness of the woman in front of her trick her. But she’d been down that road before. ‘How are you’ was a courtesy, not a question.

“I am well,” Scarlett said, then motioned her pen towards the book in Rosa’s hands. “But will that truly be enough to satisfy you?”

Rosa batted her eyelashes. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re implying?”

“You mean to say you came here merely to read?”

She smirked. “I’m starting to think you do want me to get my klert. Wasn’t it you who said not to expect much conversation?”

The woman gave her a long look, before turning back to her papers one last time. “Very well. You may read as you wish. I will not hinder you.”

Rosa’s smile disappeared as she watched Scarlett focus on her work, any interest she’d had in her book vanished. Instead, she leaned back in her chair and let her gaze move upward. For now, she just wanted to enjoy this peace, temporary as it might be. But tomorrow would eventually come, and so would the day after that. As long as she kept smiling, she was sure of it.

She just wished the day would come when that was enough.

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