“Oh my god!!!”

I opened my eyes with utter mortification.

“Dream…..It’s a dream, right?”

After vividly feeling my hands and feet which were moving normally, I touched around my neck and felt it.

I was still alive. It was just a dream. I kept consoling myself.

The cool feeling that touched my neck was still vivid as if it was ingrained in my mind.

It was a dream that I kept dreaming on for a month already.

My doctor even gave me an advice as well as medication that was completely useless.

It’s just a dream anyway, so you don’t have to be that nervous. That’s all my doctor said but I knew it very clearly…

‘That’s nonsense.’

I was only able to say this because I know that this could be a reality rather than just a mere dream.

‘What would a doctor with neither brown hair nor green eyes know?’

She raised her heavy body and shook her head once. It was to get rid of the song that still seemed to be ringing in her ears.

After that, she felt like her pajamas smelled of a burning wood, so she took them off and drank the water that had been left on the side of her bed.

The cold liquid swirled around her mouth and then down her throat.

She could feel it flowing down her esophagus and into her empty stomach.

It finally felt like she had woken up properly.

“Four thirty.”

Dawn will come soon. Bainan’s day begins with the sun rise.

It didn’t matter whether it was a nobleman’s mansion or a commoner’s house. In other words, now was an awkward time for me to go back to sleep again.

‘Besides, if I close my eyes, that killer will appear in my dream again.’

I wore a cardigan over my dressing gown. It was an outfit that was faithful to the essence of clothing, which was to protect against the cold.

‘If the Count sees it, he’ll nag me.’

I probably won’t be seeing the Count today anyway.

She left the room, dragging her slippers. The destination was a workshop converted from a warehouse.

“Oh my! I was so surprised… I thought you were a ghost.”

A phlegmatic voice came from somewhere.

He was a gardener. In his hand was a pitchfork.

I crushed the half-frozen lump of dirt with my foot. The gardener seemed to have a lot of work to do even during winters when the plants were asleep.

‘He’s also diligent. Or is it because I got old and lost my morning sleep?’

I glanced at the gardener and walked back to the shed.

The door to the studio was heavy. I thought it would be like the iron gate of the royal castle. The weight gave me a strange sense of relief.

I barely made enough space for myself to fit in and squeezed in.

Sweet.

When the door closed, the sound of the wind and birds disappeared. The smell of wet grass and the early morning sunlight disappeared.

Instead, the bitter smell and acrid smoke of the drugs I mixed up yesterday greeted me.

My own fortress, which was completely cut off from the outside world.

If it were here, if I was stuck here like this, that killer would never find me. I finally feel a little relieved.

“Miss, I brought you breakfast,”

Mary knocked on the door.

‘breakfast!’

I opened the door in a hurry.

“Good morning? Today’s breakfast is warm potato soup…..”

I looked at what she was holding without even looking at Mary. Of course, it wasn’t to look at the breakfast menu or anything.

“What about the newspaper?”

Mary pulled the newspaper out from under the tray as if she knew I would be asking her about it.

She said,

“The Count hasn’t seen it yet, so I have to take it back.”

I nodded and quickly looked at the newspaper. The article I was looking for was the same every time.

A woman with her brown hair and green eyes. Or, it was an article containing words such as an unidentified missing person case or about a murderer.

[A new work by the great writer Fardien…..]

[How much snow will there be this winter?…..]

The one-page morning paper contained only useless articles. I asked, folding the newspaper neatly and handing it back to Mary.

“What about the rumors?”

The town’s rumors spread faster than reporters’ pens. The rumors which was told my Mary were very important to me as I couldn’t go out.

“Miss…..”

I urged Mary.

“Go ahead and tell me. Wasn’t there any rumor about the brown-haired, green-eyed woman being dead?”