No Evil Lady in the World (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 70

Coleman immediately withdrew with faithful deference. Sediloi slowly stepped toward Madame Celine’s house, which seemed sharply severed from the street’s clamor—as though entirely engulfed in profound silence.

Could Charles be away from home? Sediloi wondered. The boy had dug several holes beneath the fence and wandered the neighborhood at will, only returning when hungry or sleepy—so it was certainly possible. Madame Celine might be taking a nap.

He had to wring every thought from his mind just to make sense of the silence pressing uneasily upon his heart.

He knocked, but sensed no sign of life. Reaching beneath the gutter, Sediloi lifted a small stone wedged in the gap and retrieved an old key hidden underneath. Inserting the key into the doorknob and turning it, the lock clicked open.

He returned the key to its place and entered the house. The last time he had visited this place, he had met Meiana here. That night when the rain poured down in torrents….

Originally, Sediloi had planned to return to the duchy early that afternoon. Had King Elmerat not detained him for the evening banquet, he would never have stopped by Madame Celine’s house—and thus would never have met Meiana.

“Madam?”

Sediloi called softly into the quiet house. Since Madame Celine could not see, she was especially sensitive to sounds and other signs of presence. Under normal circumstances, she would have come to open the door merely upon hearing him fumble for the key.

“Madame Celine, are you not home?”

Silence again. Knowing well that Madame Celine rarely went far from home, Sediloi furrowed his brow and entered the parlor. A stale, musty odor rose from the tapestry hanging on the wall and the carpet spread across the floor.

“Madam….”

Madame Celine was in the parlor. She sat slumped in an old armchair, its cushion worn dark with age, her head tilted as she slept. Perhaps because the curtains remained drawn, the bright sunlight outside felt like nothing more than a fleeting dream. Sediloi carefully sat on one end of the sofa and gently took the sleeping elder’s hand.

“Madame Celine.”

The wrinkled corners of her eyes faintly twitched. The moment she opened them, Sediloi was suddenly overwhelmed by an impulse to flee the place.

A thin ray of sunlight, filtering through the dusty curtain gap, briefly illuminated Madame Celine’s face before slowly drifting away.

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