## Chapter 214 – Clara’s Melancholy (1)
Returning to the mansion without a single word exchanged, they headed to their respective rooms as if by prior arrangement. Charlotte checked on the conditions of Acer and Ryu, who were lying on the bed, as soon as she returned. Ryu, who initially had a feverish body as if he were about to breathe his last, seemed to have stabilized quite a bit. Acer, perhaps because he was naturally sturdy, was already breathing evenly and deeply, sound asleep.
“What a night to go through this trouble.”
Even as she said that, Charlotte wore a benevolent expression as she brushed Acer’s sweat-soaked hair back and placed her hand on Ryu’s forehead to check if there was still any heat, staying by their side until morning came.
●
When Ryu woke up in the morning, Charlotte was the first thing he saw. She was slumped over the side of the bed, only her upper body on the mattress, sleeping uncomfortably while Acer was fast asleep, hugging him from the side.
He couldn’t even remember when he had come here. His throbbing head made it difficult to immediately recall what had happened yesterday. Still, as time passed, Ryu was gradually able to piece together the events that had befallen him. He clearly remembered eating, meeting another executive introduced by Clara, and then his body gradually heating up before he lost consciousness.
Had Charlotte been nursing him all night? Ryu felt a little sorry for having worried her. As he carefully raised his upper body, Charlotte opened her eyes and groggily sat up. Seeing Ryu looking fine, Charlotte let out a sigh of relief and asked,
“Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Charlotte reached out and stroked Ryu’s cheek. She playfully pinched his cheeks and tweaked his nose from time to time, but the affection contained within her touch reassured Ryu.
“That’s a relief.”
As the two were conversing in hushed voices, Acer also woke up. The first thing she did upon opening her eyes was to abruptly get up and check on Ryu’s condition.
“Ryu!?”
Acer was relieved to see Ryu playing with Charlotte beside her and hugged him tightly. Tears welled up in her eyes, and Ryu felt Acer’s body trembling as she held him. After holding Ryu for a while, Acer slowly opened her mouth.
“I thought something might happen to you…”
Acer didn’t know that the poison Spade had used on Ryu wasn’t lethal, so she felt the fear that Ryu might really disappear, which was different from the anxiety of being taken away by another woman.
“I would never leave Acer-nim behind.”
There had been a precedent once before, but the circumstances were different from now. Ryu embraced Acer’s shoulders, who had not yet escaped the lingering feelings of loss. Only then did Acer gradually calm down, wiping her eyes as she got up from her seat.
“Can you get up? Shall we get something to eat?”
“Okay.”
They got out of bed completely and headed to the first floor with Charlotte. Ryu was thinking that he had caused the others to worry because of his sudden collapse yesterday, so he was ready to apologize as soon as he met them.
And when they came down to the first floor, they were able to meet Heart, who was preparing breakfast. He tried to strike up a conversation, but Ryu couldn’t easily approach him because of the different atmosphere than usual.
“Heart-nim? Did something happen yesterday?”
Heart trembled as if startled, then looked relieved after confirming Ryu’s face.
“Nothing really happened. Are you feeling better now?”
“Yes. It seems Charlotte-nim nursed me all night.”
“That’s a relief. Charlotte-nim was so worried… Ah, breakfast is ready, so you can go and eat.”
He said that nothing had happened, but Ryu could sense a subtle change. He was able to confirm it when he went to the dining room and saw Clara, who always had a bright expression, eating her food listlessly with red-rimmed eyes and a gloomy expression. Acer, who arrived late, also seemed to notice the awkward atmosphere flowing over the table and carefully sat down.
In particular, Charlotte couldn’t even make proper eye contact with Clara. Clara looked at Charlotte, who was sitting far away from her, and forced a smile.
“Charlotte, you don’t have to worry so much. I heard from Heart that there were more victims of Spade than I thought. If we had left him alone, there would have been a mass slaughter. You did the right thing.”
Acer could roughly guess what had happened while she was passed out yesterday from that short conversation. Seeing that the bright smile she had when introducing Spade yesterday had disappeared, she didn’t feel very comfortable. Only the sound of silverware clattering could be heard on the table, where conversation had disappeared.
In this atmosphere, she couldn’t tell where the food was going. Acer barely opened her mouth to ease the atmosphere even a little.
“Well, yeah. If you’re okay with it today, shall we all go out to play somewhere Clara recommends?”
She said it expecting to be rejected, but Clara seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before readily accepting Acer’s suggestion.
“Then shall we go to the valley? There’s a villa near there, so it’ll be good to rest.”
“Ah, then you can leave me behind. I still have some work left.”
The story progressed quickly, and after finishing their meal, they were packing their bags and heading to the valley in the blink of an eye. At the place they arrived at with Clara’s guidance, Charlotte stopped walking and stood there blankly.
“This is…”
It was the entrance to the forest where she had fought Spade yesterday. Charlotte remembered the forest being full of bloodstains, broken ground, and shattered trees, but seeing the forest where the traces of yesterday’s battle had been completely erased, she once again thought that the cleanup ability of District 5 was amazing.
“The valley is in the middle of the mountain. Shall we go?”
Acer and Ryu were impressed as they climbed the mountain.
Was this really the forest managed by Spade, who had such impure intentions? The forest, full of vitality to the point where they wondered if it was, was showing off the beautiful majesty of nature. Whenever they got tired, Clara personally carried the luggage of the others.
Clara moved forward, hacking through the mountain path where the road could not be seen properly with familiar steps, and soon opened her mouth.
“Here it is.”
The wooden two-story building that appeared between the dense bushes was in harmony with nature and had a quite mysterious atmosphere. Perhaps reflecting Spade’s personality of liking to be alone, it was much smaller than the mansion where Heart was staying, but it had everything it needed.
When they entered the villa, the first thing that greeted them was Clara’s photos and paintings hanging all over the walls. Everyone was momentarily speechless at the sight of the surroundings being decorated so frantically. Clara suppressed the feeling of her heart being stuffy for no reason and unpacked her luggage.
Clara seemed to notice the gazes of the people around her and said with a smile that seemed somehow sad.
“Ah, you don’t have to worry about me.”
Comforting her at this ambiguous time would only be poison. Acer, knowing this fact, kept her words to herself. She understood her feelings of losing a beloved subordinate to some extent.
Perhaps to relieve Clara’s depressed mood, they enjoyed their time with a brighter atmosphere than usual. Of course, they couldn’t fully enjoy it, but as time passed, Clara seemed to be regaining her smile little by little, so she thought that her efforts were not in vain.
As such, the night deepened, and Charlotte fell asleep faster than she thought because she was quite tired from yesterday’s events.
Ryu, who had been playing all day and was tired, woke up in the middle of the night while sleeping next to Acer and got out of bed. He had woken up simply because he wanted to go to the bathroom, but his steps did not head to the room even after he was done with his business.
A simple whim? Or did he want to feel the outside air? Ryu, who came out in his pajamas, fully enjoyed the rather chilly dawn air of the forest. In the feeling that his mind was clearing, Ryu heard a strange sound.
A sound like sobbing and the sound of water splashing. Did someone fall into the water? Ryu quickly headed to where the sound was coming from. The sound gradually got closer, and Ryu was soon able to see the source of the sound with his own eyes.
Clara was standing there. She was in the valley that came up to her waist, washing her body with trembling hands. It wasn’t just simply washing her body, she was wearing the work clothes she always wore, and her expression looked like she was about to cry at any moment. Ryu watched the situation from behind a tree rather than talking to her right away.
As he quietly watched her, a sobbing sound soon came from Clara’s mouth.
“It won’t wash off… the blood of those children…”
As soon as she finished speaking, Clara’s eyebrows contorted and tears streamed down her face. Clara’s appearance of roughly scratching her body with her fingernails as if she were peeling off her skin was pitiful to the point where it was heartbreaking. She was trying to pretend to be okay, but her insides were already rotting and festering.
Ryu felt as if he had faced the weaknesses that Clara had barely been hiding in front of others, and ran away from that spot. Ryu, who had come into the blanket in an instant and snuggled into Acer’s arms, couldn’t erase Clara’s expression from his head until the moment he fell asleep again.
