The Darkness Saved You

Matilda’s bare shoulders glowed faintly in the dim light.

Beside her lay a man.

Ilisia’s throat tightened.

Her mouth fell open, but no sound escaped.

Matilda started, then rubbed her temples and waved a dismissive hand at the man beside her.

“You should go,” she said in a low voice.

The man nodded, quickly gathered his clothes, and hurried from the room, avoiding Ilisia’s gaze.

After the door clicked shut, Matilda sat on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands.

“Ah… I’m sorry,” she said.

“The pressure has just been too much lately.”

Her voice was laced with exhaustion and helplessness.

Ilisia took off her cloak and sat down on the bed beside her.

She gently rubbed her sister’s back.

“I understand,” she said softly.

Matilda’s shoulders trembled slightly.

She stared at the door, looking as if she were about to cry.

“If Father finds out… He’s just a knight’s squire…” Matilda’s voice was strained.

“I won’t say a word, sister,” Ilisia replied.

Matilda closed her eyes, seemingly breathing a sigh of relief.

Ilisia looked at her, thinking that her sister, who was always so calm and composed, seemed rather pitiful at this moment.

And yet… it was also a little amusing.

“I’ve spoken with Lady Delarose,” Ilisia said, changing the subject.

“She’ll be coming to the affairs office to help you for the next few days.”

“You can also give her some of the more difficult correspondence.”

“Really?”

Matilda’s face softened.

“That would be a tremendous help.”

It was the first piece of good news Matilda had heard all day.

Lady Delarose was famous in aristocratic circles for her competence.

She was well-connected, with an extensive network in the south.

With her help, managing the duchy’s affairs would be far more efficient.

Although their father would certainly disapprove of seeking outside help, he would have to understand given the current circumstances.

Matilda let out a small laugh, teasing, “Well, she is your future mother-in-law.”

“You’re the only one who could persuade her.”

“Oh, sister…” Ilisia drew out the word playfully, but a wave of anxiety washed over her as she thought of Adrian on the front lines.

Noticing the shift in her mood, Matilda reached out and took her sister’s hand.

“Ilisia, things are chaotic right now.”

“Our family must stand together,” Matilda said earnestly.

The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

“I know.”

Ilisia nodded.

She stood and walked to the door, then glanced back with a mischievous grin.

“Should I call that gentleman back for you?”

“Oh, just go.”

A faint blush colored Matilda’s cheeks as she feigned pushing Ilisia out.

“He needs his rest, too.”

“He was working quite hard…”

“Shameless,” Ilisia huffed, turning to leave.

****

The night was deep, a dark blue canopy blanketing the castle.

Ilisia lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, sleep eluding her.

Knock, knock…

A soft knock broke the silence of the night.

Ilisia hesitated before rising, her bare feet touching the cold floor.

‘Who could be visiting at this hour?’ she wondered.

‘Surely not my sister?’

The door swung open slowly.

Bathed in moonlight, a familiar yet strange figure stood in the doorway.

“Sherry?” Ilisia gasped.

But she was dead.

Sherry’s skin was so pale it was almost translucent.

She wore a red dress and black gloves.

“Mistress…”

Sherry stood perfectly still.

The whites of her eyes were completely black, making it seem as if she had no eyeballs at all in the dark.

Ilisia swallowed hard.

A single glance into those eyes filled Ilisia with an unbearable sense of gloom.

She was dead.

“Come with me.”

Sherry’s tone was soft, not at all menacing.

Ilisia’s mind went blank, but her body had already made its choice.

She nodded slowly and stepped out of the room.

Sherry led Ilisia through dark corridors and across the sleeping garden, into the embrace of the night.

Outside the castle, the moonlight was torn to shreds by the forest branches, scattering mottled patches of light on the ground.

Sherry’s pace quickened, her figure becoming ethereal in the darkness.

“Wait… wait!”

Ilisia reached for her but grasped only air, tumbling onto the earth and fallen leaves…

And then, she opened her eyes.

The familiar ceiling greeted her.

A dream?

Was it just a dream?

Ilisia was still in her room, still lying in her bed.

She looked down at her wrist; there was no mark.

Ilisia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but a persistent unease continued to spread through her heart.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Ilisia threw back the covers, draped a cloak over her shoulders, and opened the door.

‘I’ll go talk to my sister,’ she thought.

‘I can’t sleep anyway.’

Ilisia remembered she had left an item of clothing at Matilda’s, and inside was the letter she had secretly brought back from the Delarose estate.

At the very least, she had to get her clothes back.

Ilisia pushed the door open, only to find the room was already dark.

The bed inside was creaking rhythmically, accompanied by heavy panting and soft moans.

‘Good heavens…’

“I’m just here to grab something,” Ilisia muttered, pouting.

She left the room and hurried back to her own.

From her pocket, she pulled out a slip of paper.

It was the only letter bearing good news about Adrian, one that had arrived just a short while ago.

“…He has broken through with two hundred men…”

Ilisia read the short letter again and again under the lamplight, praying countless times in her heart.

She finally drifted into a heavy sleep.

****

The next morning, Ilisia opened her drowsy eyes.

She went to the castle gate to personally welcome Lady Delarose, who had arrived as requested.

The two ladies walked together to the affairs office.

A few people were already waiting there.

But her sister, Matilda, had not yet arrived.

Ilisia found this strange, and a little irritating.

She remembered the lewd sounds she had heard coming from her sister’s room the night before.

“My sister may have stayed up too late last night,” Ilisia said to Lady Delarose.

“Leave things here to me for now.”

“You go and get her,” Lady Delarose said.

“If there are any matters I’m not authorized to handle, I’ll have them wait.”

Ilisia nodded and went upstairs.

“Hasn’t she woken up yet?” Ilisia asked a servant.

“We don’t know,” the servant replied, shaking their head.

“Miss Matilda instructed us not to disturb her in her room yesterday.”

Ilisia pouted.

She figured her sister was still feeling awkward after being caught with a man in her bed.

“Sister?” Ilisia called as she pushed the door open.

The room was unnaturally dark for early morning.

There was no response.

Ilisia walked to the window and threw open the heavy curtains.

Morning light flooded in like a tidal wave, illuminating the entire room—

The bed was covered in blood.

Ilisia’s pupils contracted violently, and her breath caught in her throat.

Crimson stains soaked through the sheets, dripped from the bedding, and had even saturated the rug beneath the bed.

The blood had long since clotted into blackened pools.

Ilisia’s gaze traveled slowly upward…

There, on the bed, lay the sister who should have been presiding over the affairs office…

Matilda’s neck had been brutally torn open, her face clawed beyond recognition…

Her eyes—or what was left of them—were now just two hollow, black pits.

On the wall beside the bed, several large words were scrawled in blood:

“THE DARKNESS SAVED YOU!”

Ilisia’s heart stopped for a beat.

‘Could it be that when I entered her room last night, the murderer—’

‘—was right there in the room?’

An uncontrollable terror bloomed wildly in Ilisia’s chest.

She clutched her hair and collapsed to her knees…

****

A girl’s scream echoed throughout the castle…