try begging
"Oh, is our daughter upset?"
Grace held Ellie in her arms. Unlike the crying child, the mother had a smiling face.
The child especially hated elevators. He seemed to be afraid of the room making loud noises and shaking. The feeling of being lifted up and then suddenly sinking down was also strange.
But, it would be impossible to walk up the stairs from the F floor where the entrance is to the C floor with a stroller. So, when I got on the elevator, Ellie burst into tears as expected, and even after getting off, she continued to whine all the way to her room in the hallway.
"Woah-. Abu-."
Grace held back a laugh as she patted the baby, who was whining in frustration that the mother she had trusted had taken her away from the jaws of that scary monster.
"Yeah, were you scared? The elevator was bad."
Mom is not bad.
Anyway, Ellie didn't seem to be feeling well, so she didn't lighten up easily. I thought showing her the outside might make her feel better, but there were no windows in the room.
"Ellie, should we go and wave to the people?"
Thinking about it, I suddenly remembered my childhood. I used to play near the railroad bridge over the river next to the village, and when a train passed by, I would wave to the people leaving. I was amazed and envious of those who went out into the bigger world.
My nose started to sting again. After going on a long journey, Grace had become the adult I envied.
"let's go."
I took the blanket out of the stroller and wrapped Ellie in my arms. I put the scone I had dropped on the pillow back into the baby's hands. While I was distracted, I put the bonnet back on her, which she had taken off in the elevator while getting irritated. It must be windy outside.
I came out into the hallway with Ellie in my arms and my handbag slung diagonally over my shoulder.
Where should I go?
When I went to the central hall of the corridor, there was a guide posted on the wall. The inside of the passenger ship was strictly divided into rooms, not only the rooms and the dining room, but also the promenade deck.
Grace, who had decided to go to the S-floor, the highest of the second-class decks, started climbing the stairs. As she did so, she asked herself a question in her head.
'Where should I stay when I get to Columbia?'
Having safely passed one hurdle, it was time to think about the next one. While I was thinking about various options, an address suddenly flashed through my mind.
The last night I spent in the annex, the address written on the penthouse catalog the man gave me. The address that ended in the United States of Columbia.
"Ha... You did a good job..."
Grace tried to laugh heartily, but the sarcasm quickly wore off, and she gritted her teeth.
What do you know? I will never set foot in that area.
At first, I had no choice but to stay at a hotel. That man would definitely be watching Aunt Florence, so I couldn't go to her.
I'll need to find a place to live within at least a month.
Will I have to flip through countless newspapers again? Grace's eyes sharpened as she circled the stairwell, hoping that she would never have to go all over that large piece of land.
'Why is that person here?'
A young man who had been reading a newspaper in an armchair in the central hall a moment ago was coming up the stairs from downstairs. The moment my eyes met with his, the hairs on my body stood on end.
Are you following me?
The man didn't avoid eye contact. Instead, he gave her a quick nod and continued up the stairs. Grace's guard grew sharp, so she stopped in place and put her right hand in her coat pocket.
"Good morning, ma'am."
But, to her shame for trusting her instincts, the man lifted the brim of his hat slightly as a greeting, then passed her by and went up the stairs. Grace let out a tired laugh as she watched the back of the man in the slate-gray suit.
Was it unfounded caution?
I've been living a life of doubting everything for the past year, so doubt has become a natural habit. It's probably going to take a long time to get rid of this habit.
"Haa... It's heavy."
Grace stumbled as she reached the next floor, holding onto the railing. Her breath was puffy, her thighs and stomach were tense, and the child felt unspeakably heavy.
"Ellie, I'm sorry, but I can't."
She looked around, but there was no elevator in sight. Grace sighed after checking the map on the wall. Why was the nearest elevator in a place that she couldn't go?
She cast her gaze behind her. The corridor to the left of the stairs was blocked by an old-fashioned door. If you pass through that door leading to the first-class area, there was an elevator. Grace glanced at the sailor standing guard in front of it and approached with the most pitiful expression she could muster.
"excuse me...."
"Yes, ma'am."
The sailor raised his hat politely.
"I want to take the elevator to the S floor deck...."
The sailor, who was about to point with his hand to the end of the corridor opposite where the second-class elevators were located, stopped when he saw Grace's troubled expression.
"The baby is too heavy, haa, I can't possibly go that far."
The sailor, who had been pondering for a moment, kindly opened the door and whispered.
"You must not go anywhere else and only take the elevator."
"Yes, thank you very much."
Grace, who had entered, stopped in front of the elevator a few steps away. The first-class area was already so dazzling that it was hard to take her eyes off it. She suppressed her curiosity and turned her gaze to the elevator.
There was a thud from below. Ellie, who had been absorbed in her scones, poked her head out of the blanket, recognized the elevator grate, and began to babble. It was as if she was asking why she had been brought here again.
"Sorry. Let me just ride it once."
The elevator started to rise from the lower floor. I was trying to comfort a toddler who was complaining endlessly, wishing there was a seat.
There was a strange sense of foreboding about the man standing in the middle of the halfway-up elevator. His face was half-hidden by the wide brim of his fedora and his sunglasses, but he was barely visible because he was at waist level.
Again, my broken sixth sense sounds the alarm to any man. It was a moment when I smiled awkwardly and let down my groundless guard.
The man's face rose to her eye level. Her eyes met his through the latticework. At that moment, Grace's heart sank.
"...Fuck."
The man also recognized her. Clank. As soon as his hand grabbed the lattice door, Grace came to her senses and lifted her frozen feet.
As I was running towards the second-class door while holding the child in my arms, the sound of the elevator door being forced open behind me rang out loud... .
"Grace!"
Winston called her. Grace didn't stop and threw open the door, practically shoving the bewildered sailor, and rushed into the second-class area. Just as she was about to run forward, Grace stopped. The man in the slate-gray suit who had just gone up the stairs was looking around the hallway as if searching for something.
"Fuck... ."
I should have trusted my instincts.
Grace turned toward the stairs instead of going down the hallway.
"What were you doing instead of following me!"
Leon shouted at his flustered subordinate, unable to grasp the situation. He took off his annoying sunglasses and fedora, threw them into the hallway, and ran down the stairs after Grace, ordering Campbell to follow him.
"Order all doors leading to the docks to be closed immediately!"
At those words, Grace began to run down the stairs two steps at a time.
Damn it. Why was I so stupid?
I was constantly blaming myself while quickly looking for a way to escape.
Yeah, it can't be easy. Yeah, there's no way you'd give up on me.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
There had never been a single instance of her escaping the encirclement these days. So I even thought that perhaps the Count, who was so well-off, had given up on pursuing her, perhaps because he had grown accustomed to a comfortable life with a rebel government and no illegitimate children. It was a naive thought.
As she was hurriedly running up the stairs, clutching the railing tightly and wrapping her other arm around the child, Winston's shout was heard from the top of the stairs.
"Why on earth do you have to run away from me?"
"그걸 내가 말해 줘야 해, 이 개새끼야?"
"I won't do that anymore!"
"haha!"
Grace smiled brightly, looking up as if to tell me to listen carefully. But her feet did not stop running down the stairs.
"Your sense of humor has improved since we last met! Why don't you try being a comedian after you're discharged from the military?"
The sound of two people running down the stairs, making the thick carpet look pale, resonated loudly in the stairwell. The dull sound of footsteps gradually came closer to Grace. A familiar voice, too, could be heard clearly, even though it was no longer shouting at the top of its lungs.
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Distributed by Ajit Novel (formerly Ajitoon Novel).