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Traveling across the ocean on the passenger ship was even more delightful than expected. I sawwhales and dolphins for the first time.
The towering white icebergs rising from the deep blue seawere both awe-inspiring and terrifying. The endless expanse of the ocean was also strikinglydifferent.Everything was new and fascinating, not just for a three-year-old, but for a thirty-year-old adult aswell.
Ellie spent each day without a moment of boredom. She ran around the deck, watchedperformances, and ate delicious food until she was stuffed. When the tired child went to bed early, Grace was led by Martha and Joe to the nightly parties.
She enjoyed the drinks, music, and conversations but did not dance. There was no partner to dancewith. Men occasionally asked her to dance, noticing the absence of a ring on her left hand, but sheturned them all down.
It wasn't until the second day that Grace realized something.Her partner wasn't there. The man had never been her dance partner.Moreover, he was neither her husband, fiancé, nor lover.
Nothing legally or socially bound her tohim.
Grace looked at her empty left hand, puzzled. The absence of an engagement ring seemed strange.
It hit her more clearly now. That man had changed a lot.This realization came not only from the emptiness of her left hand.
He must have known that sending Grace alone to a party full of unmarried men would lead tovarious situations. Instead of preventing it, he had packed several cocktail dresses in her trunk,seemingly encouraging her to enjoy the parties as much as she liked.Feeling strange, Grace decided to adjust her perspective.
If the Leon Winston she knew were here, he would likely have planted someone to keep an eye onher. He might have even given orders to push any man who approached her overboard.If that were the case, it would be far from the usual definition of 'change,' but compared to the past,he had changed.
Grace chuckled at the absurd thought.On the fifth morning of the voyage, the ship arrived in Columbia.It was full of surprises. The people of Columbia spoke her native language with a different accent.
The bustling city, with its skyscrapers like those in Winsford, had a distinctly different atmosphere.Grace, who had always admired the lively city life, wished she could live in a penthouse here.
However, she couldn't because the waiting staff at the immigration area handed her a train ticket.It was for a train heading to a coastal city in the southeast.Assuming the man had something planned, Grace boarded the train.
After about six hours traveling along the coast, they arrived at a peaceful resort area. Their newhome was situated on a secluded beach away from the city center.
The house, built in an exotic tropical style, had numerous rooms, a swimming pool, a tennis court stables, and even a movie theater.
The beach behind the house was theirs. As Grace walked out onto the beach and gazed at theturquoise sea, she noticed familiar music faintly coming from somewhere.At the far end of the beach was a pier stretching out to the sea.
The cheerful music was comingfrom a carousel on top of it.When her gaze reached the Ferris wheel, towering high and slowly turning in the sky at the end ofthe pier, Grace realized something.
On the way to the house, there had been rows of orange treeslining the fence.
"It's reminiscent of Avington Beach."
That evening, Grace called the man across the sea to tease him.
"Daisy arrived safely at Avington Beach."
Of course, he wasn't embarrassed at all.
[Is the boy Daisy fell for at first sight there?]
"No, the boy is busy preparing for the upcoming wedding."
The man just chuckled and then asked to speak to Ellie.
"Her name is Marshmallow. She's really pretty, loving, and cute."
Ellie chattered on for over five minutes about the white pony that her father had prepared as abirthday gift.
[I'm preparing your gift too.]
When Grace took the phone back, the man said to her:
[It's something you've always wished for.]
What could that possibly be?
Grace mumbled without thinking too deeply.
"I hope it's a radio."
Why is there not a single radio in a house that even has a movie theater?
Now that the pleasantries were over, there was no more business to attend to. Grace asked to choosea farewell that matched the time at his place.
"What time is it there?"
[It's 2 a.m.]
"Why are you still awake?"
[To hear your voice.]
At that moment, Grace flinched as if she had been ambushed. She pressed her chest, which feltticklish as if it had feathers, and asked.
"...Have you been drinking?"
A soft laugh came through the receiver.
[It's surprising to hear such a common expression of love. It's unexpected.]
"Because you're not ordinary."
[I appreciate the acknowledgment.]
It was only after he had hung up, talking about such trivial things, that Grace realized something.
Call again. I'll come soon.Such ordinary promises were completely absent.However, she did not think deeply about it. Grace vaguely believed that the phone would ring againand that he would suddenly appear at her door one day.
In just a few days, Grace's voice had brightened as if it belonged to someone else.Leon was curious.
What did a delighted Grace look like now?
In his memory, the delighted Gracehad only ever been a child.He put down the receiver and opened the desk drawer. From the drawer, which now held only oddsand ends and no important items, he took out a cigar case.
It was an item he had carried with him as a military officer, now a mere piece of junk.Although it was no longer needed, it had once symbolized him. Leon put it in the inner pocket ofhis officer's jacket and stood up.
It was time for farewell.
He slowly looked around the quiet and dark annex. His past here paraded in front of his eyes.
Finally, he went downstairs. Standing idly in the corridor in front of the torture room, he heard a faint echo.
"Come in."
Grace never revealed how she had escaped from here.
She had a knack for keeping people on edge.Leon smiled briefly, then opened the black iron door. The dimly lit torture room still faintly smelledof blood.
He decided to bury all the past from his time as a cruel torturer and the years consumed by a thirstfor revenge here.But the past with Sally Bristol and the past with Grace Lee were ones he would carry with him forlife.
In the early dawn when everyone was asleep, Leon hummed a funeral march softly as he steppedoutside the annex.
Thud.
The door of the mausoleum, where the past of Camden's vampire, Leon Winston, was buried,closed forever.Campbell saluted the superior who emerged from the sedan. In his last salute, his superiorresponded with a brief nod and stood beside him.
The two men silently watched the sedan. As the black tie fluttered in the night breeze, Campbellturned his gaze back to his superior.
Even without his officer's jacket or uniform cap, just in a white shirt, tie, and black trousers, themajor still looked like a military officer.
The dignity and authority ingrained in him could not beeasily shed.
"Major."
When offered a cigar, the major shook his head.
"You must know I've quit."
"They say smoking and love aren't things you quit but things you endure."
The major looked at Campbell with unexpected eyes and, with a faint smile, accepted the cigar.
"Keep it a secret."
As Campbell watched his superior savoring the cigar, he reflected on the past.When he first joined as an officer and took on the role of assisting Major Winston, he could neverhave imagined a day like this would come.
A man who was immensely proud of being born nobleand being a soldier had chosen a path that was neither the most noble nor the most military, fallingin love with a commoner and an enemy.
Campbell, too, had found himself engaged in an uncharacteristic role.Campbell worked for the Winston family. Thus, he had believed he was serving a family with thename Winston, but upon reflection, he had been devoted to actions that harmed the family.
It was time to acknowledge it. He had been loyal not to the Winston family but to the man, LeonWinston.
"It has been an honor to serve you."
As Campbell made his farewell with a sense of nostalgia, the major exhaled cigar smoke andchuckled softly.
"A farewell as if we will never meet again. It's quite disheartening."
"I felt this might be my only chance."
The major looked at him with a smile lingering in his eyes and asked,
"Have you thought about what you'll do once you leave the military?"
"I'll consider it in due time."
"How about a company president's position?"
The major suddenly made the suggestion, mentioning his company in Columbia.
"If I'm destined to suffer under a strict superior, I'd rather be a president than a lieutenant."
Instead of answering, Campbell smiled awkwardly and moved his hand to his waist. As the holsteropened and a pistol emerged, a grin escaped through the gap in the major's lips.
"Quite a rough way to refuse."
Bang.
A single gunshot echoed through the quiet night sky.
On the first night in heaven, Grace had a dream.
A massive circus tent was burning fiercely.
Bright red and pitch black.
It roared with thunder.
Itshook the earth.
And then, it collapsed in the end.
At that moment, Grace saw it.A man walking out gracefully alone from the drifting ashes.
And the next morning, Grace read the obituary.
[7th Earl of Winston, Major Leon Winston, 32, passed away suddenly]