59. Results of selection (1)

So-hee was closing her eyes while holding her belly which was approaching maturity. Then, she lifted her toes to the melody that came. For prenatal care, Deon appeared with a flute one day. He practiced quietly by himself and his posture was quite like a performer but his music wasn’t good to listen to. A day passed.  The week had turned into months. A plausible melody accompanied Deon’s performance.  Sometimes, on days when he wasn’t in good condition, the pitch would be off, but So-hee held back her laughter and continued to listen. It wasn’t bad to witness a huge man struggling with prenatal education. However, he was out-of-pitch this time and it was impossible to fix. She couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore so she opened her eyes. Deon’s face was flushed with laughter, too. He removed the flute from his lips and ruffled his gray hair with one hand.

“This is a mess. I’ll go practice again.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Then why are you laughing at me, Ari?” He asked sullenly.

So-hee suppressed her smile and replied calmly. “No. I’m laughing because I’m happy. It’s fun to watch and hear you play it.”

The corners of the simple man’s eyes crinkled when he smiled as he scratched the back of his head in chagrin. When Deon grabbed the flute and started playing again, a sudden loud cry was heard outside the mansion. Just in time, one of the servants knocked and came in.

“Master, everyone outside is looking for you. You should check it out. They’re making a fuss to keep the gates wide open.”

“Really? Ari, wait here a moment.”

That’s how Deon left. Sohee got out of bed and looked out the window. A crowd had surrounded the mansion’s front gates, making her nervous. So-hee, who was observing the scene, turned her head to the sound of someone calling her. It was the new servant who came in recently, handing a glass over.

“The lord made this apple juice, my lady.”

“Deon?”

“Perhaps, he had forgotten to give it to you during the day so I brought it to you when I found it still in the kitchen.”

“Oh, thank you.”

After taking the glass and sitting on a wing chair, Sohee gulped down the sweet-smelling drink.  After drinking it through, she put the empty glass down on the table. At that moment, she tasted something acrid at the tip of her tongue as the scent of apples hovered in her nostrils. When the back of her head started feeling numb, So-hee remembered what had happened in the past and asked the servants.

“By any chance, you didn’t put pineapple in it, did you?”

“No, it’s just apple juice, My Lady.”

So-hee clutched her forehead with one hand as her mind spun. Her throat felt blocked so she covered her mouth and coughed violently. Something red came out of her mouth and popped unto her palms. It was blood. A burning sensation had spread throughout her body more than it had ever been before. So-hee wrapped her neck with her hands when it felt like it had been ripped into pieces. His consciousness winked in and out as her body reeled on her wing chair.

“Lady Ariad!”

The servants’ shouts buzzed in her ears. Soon, her view became blurred and Ariad’s body tilted. So-hee tried to stay as alert as she could until that moment when she lost her life he collapsed like this, she usually stepped onto the threshold of death. If she let go of herself and return to reality, the child’s life——- When she bit her lower lip, she bit it so hard that blood had gathered there. However, she felt that such efforts were overshadowed by the loss of her vitality. So-hee held her round stomach and held it until the darkness swallowed her eyes. It was a complete blackout.

* * *

Sohee jumped out of bed. Strangely enough, it was her small room in South Korea. It felt a little strange to be here. When she woke up, her hands were wrapped around her stomach, just like the moment when she closed her eyes. After removing her hand from her flat stomach, Sohee hurriedly sat in front of the computer. Her back trickled with cold sweat due to anxiety. The mouse, which she was moving in a hurry, found its exact destination. She pressed the last one from the countless unopened episodes and scanned what she wanted to find out.

[Ariad was holding onto her stomach until the darkness swallowed her eyes. It was a complete blackout.]

This damn novel didn’t have the information she wanted. Everything was written down according to So-hee’s experience.

“What happened to the child? Don’t tell me. Please don’t tell me! No!”

So-hee bit her nails in a whirlwind of anxiety. Who is responsible for this? Calming down, So-hee tried to find out the criminal in the article. It turned out that just before Ariad collapsed, the story was being told from the servant’s point of view.

+++