Ro froze in place, her stomach churning as she was unable to tear her eyes away from the body slumped against the stone. She took a step back and turned to face Geneva at her side.
The older woman had also gone rigid.
"La—Geneva?" Ro whispered, growing more alarmed at the older woman's reaction than at what had just happened.
A severe frown crossed her face, and she flinched, as if remembering Ro was beside her.
She swiftly turned to the servants. "Take her through the other entrance. Now."
Ro opened her mouth to ask another question when Geneva walked away from them and towards the broken door.
"My Lady. We have to go," Ester spoke up, gently holding Ro by the arm and escorting her back out the way they came.
They went back out into the cold of the stone courtyard.
"What was that?" Ro questioned, her heart hammering in her chest.
The servants looked at each other, and one of them responded, speaking softly, "He rarely is in a bad mood. Something serious must have happened."
Ro fought the urge to look back at the main entrance. Geneva had been caught off guard, but the servants hadn't seemed so surprised.
This must not have been a rare occurrence.
Ro murmured, clutching her chest, "That person…"
"He's not dead. Please, do not worry."
A light frown formed on Ro's forehead. Were they telling her someone could have possibly survived that? He had hit the wall with such force that it had been stained with blood.
'Come to think of it, how did the wall not crack?'
Ro suppressed a shudder. That should be the least of her worries.
It was clear.
She was marrying a dangerous man. She needed to avoid him and find a way out of this place if possible.
They had walked a considerable distance when they came across a set of stone doors. This time, they merged well with the walls to the extent that Ro had not noticed it at first.
"This way."
One of the servants pushed open a door, ushering them within.
Ro walked into a dark hallway, and the light disappeared just as the servant closed the door shut. She was gently guided through the dark corridor to another set of doors that led the way to a large verandah.
A sprawling garden spread out before them. Cobbled stone pathways intersected through low bushes of varying colours, some with peculiar leaves. There were no flowers, but some of the bushes had been neatly cut to take on various shapes.
The grey sky cast a flat light over the upper balconies and surrounding stone walls.
They took one of the stone paths to another wing of the castle and eventually arrived at Ro's quarters. There was a strange, welcoming parlour, branching hallways and finally, her sleeping chambers. Out of breath and exhausted, Ro sauntered into the chamber, immediately spotting her boxes lined up near the entrance.
How it had arrived ahead of her this fast, she did not know. Neither did she want to ask. The servants parted the curtains open and led Ro to the bathing chambers, where their gentle hands nearly made her doze off as she was bathed.
There, she learned the name of the other servant, Laire. Along with the fact that they were not servants, but attendants. Servants were of lower rank and most noble Houses in Lispa did not keep a lot of them. Ro found it strange, but it more or less explained how they didn't come across anyone else since they had entered the castle.
This added another layer of wrongness Ro felt. Back in Erzi, even smaller estates had tens to hundreds of servants.
She did not understand this place at all.
Ro thanked the attendants as they left her chambers. Ester promised to return with dinner, but Ro refused it, not having any appetite. She further let them know she would not like to be disturbed till the following morning.
Most importantly, she did not want to meet that man.
Ro made her way to the bed and sat down, alone with her thoughts, along with the heavy decision she had made upon seeing the garden.
She wasn't going to sleep. She could not even if she wanted to. Thoroughly assessing the state of her body came first, and she would act on it in the dead of night.