Chapter 4 – Sometimes It Stops

“Sasha! Oh my goodness, Sasha!”

Mr. Vinoche rushed over and lifted Sasha high in his arms.

“What happened? I heard gunshots. Do you know how frightened I was when I heard you were out there?”

“There was a hunting dog in the forest. The dog tried to bite me.”

“These damned dogs!”

Mr. Vinoche cursed the illegal hunters in outrage. Sasha buried her face in his arms. Had she gone deaf from the gunshots? All sounds still felt distant.

“Mr. Vinoche, check her hand! Was she bitten by the dog?”

Alarmed, Mr. Vinoche hurriedly opened Sasha’s palm, which he’d been holding tightly. The chocolate inside the gold wrapper had already melted in Sasha’s hand long ago.

“No, I’m fine. I’m not hurt at all.”

Sasha knew. The one who bled was not her, but the boy. The dog had lunged at Sasha, hiding behind the boy, but he had protected her.

“Who fired the gun? You should thank whoever saved you.”

But when Sasha turned to point out the boy, he was already gone. It seemed he didn’t want to be noticed by anyone.

Sasha returned home on Mr. Vinoche’s back. She received concern from Mrs. Vinoche and the grandmothers, and a scolding from Enzo. The villagers went into the forest, collected the dog’s corpse, picked up the scattered shell casings, and chased the hunters out of Manolie. Even after everything was settled, there was still no news of the outsider visiting the doctor.

<He’s a guest of the Lafayette family. He must have returned to the castle and received treatment. It’s not something for you to worry about.>

Sasha nodded, reassured by Enzo’s words. A few days later, Enzo entered Sasha’s room and found something drying in the sunlight on the windowsill. The clean, washed gold wrapper gave off a sweet scent. It was the scent of the chocolate Sasha had gripped tightly all the way home, holding back tears on that summer afternoon.

* * *

After the hunters fled the village, Sasha returned to the Manolie forest every day. The Vinoche couple worried she might encounter someone strange in the woods, but Grandma Rollo said to let her do as she pleased.

On the tenth day, the spot where he usually sat was empty. Sasha stood alone, holding a box of chestnuts preserved in sugar. It was a special gift she’d bought at Deni’s shop to thank him for saving her. She had to spend all her remaining pocket money, but it didn’t feel wasteful.

‘Where did he go? Did he already return to where he lived?’

She searched the entire forest, but not even a shadow of him could be found. He had disappeared as magically as he had appeared. Sasha sat on a tree stump by the stream and untied the pink ribbon on the blue box. Eating chestnuts alone was so sweet it made her tongue sting.

“Graduates usually get their assignment orders sooner. He has to go to his post before summer ends.”

Returning home, Sasha heard from Enzo that the Earl Lafayette’s son had gone back to school.

“He must have known in advance, right?”

“Of course. Are you sad he left without saying goodbye?”

Sasha felt the sadness that Enzo mentioned. She wished he’d at least said goodbye on the last day. But maybe this was the natural outcome. He hadn’t been interested from the start. To him, she was probably just an annoying, troublesome girl. Thinking that, Sasha spent a couple of days sulking in her room.

Fortunately, Sasha’s mood soon recovered. The mail coach brought Enzo’s academy acceptance letter. Since Manolie was such a remote village, in order to send Enzo’s belongings to the academy in Yelwae, they had to take him as far as Illemang, the midway point.

“It’s vacation, so why don’t you come along, Sasha?”

Mr. Vinoche suggested Sasha join the journey to Illemang. Overexcited, Sasha forgot all about the events at Hawthorn Mansion and the boy she’d met in the Manolie forest, and focused on packing her luggage.

* * *

The long-awaited departure day was as blue as she’d hoped. Sasha, sent off by Mrs. Vinoche and the grandmothers, took a deep breath when she arrived at the station. She held Mr. Vinoche’s hand tightly in one hand, a train ticket in the other, as she headed toward the platform.

After waiting a while on a yellow-painted bench, a train approached in the distance. The huge, black iron monster moved on its own, blowing smoke overhead. The whistle was so loud it nearly tore her ears, and Sasha hurriedly covered them. Only then did Enzo remember that their father had brought Sasha by ship from Laurent, and that this was Sasha’s first train journey.

“It’s okay. It’ll be safe.”

Enzo reassured frightened Sasha. While waiting passengers began boarding, Sasha hesitated to step into the carriage.

“But what if it stops halfway?”

“Never. The Brissen Department of Transportation has never had a derailment or overturn accident. Sasha, you’re riding the fastest and safest means of transport in the world right now.”

Those words relaxed her stiff shoulders a little. Out of curiosity, Sasha asked Mr. Vinoche,

“Why can’t we go by carriage?”

“If we go by carriage, the horses have to rest along the way. But the train can run even at night without stopping.”

Mr. Vinoche didn’t know much about this huge, groundbreaking invention recently created by science and technology, but he explained as best he could. Luckily, Sasha accepted it easily, and they managed to board the third-class train to Illemang without being late.

The train to Illemang stopped with a loud noise. Even if there were never derailments or overturns, it seemed that stopping midway happened sometimes. Sasha, glued to the third-class carriage window, quickly got up to help Mr. Vinoche unload their luggage.

“They say there’s a problem with the boiler room. It looks like we’ll have to stay here for a few days until the next train comes.”

Enzo, who’d gone to check the situation, rushed back with the news. Mr. Vinoche, guarding the luggage, looked disappointed. Sasha sat quietly next to him, holding her own suitcase by the handle tied with a pink ribbon inherited from Grandma Elodie.

“We’ll have to find somewhere to stay until the next train comes. I’ll send a telegram to Manolie first, so you two wait here.”

With a troubled face, Mr. Vinoche left, and Sasha had to wait with Enzo on the bench piled with luggage. Unexpected problems arose early in her first train journey, but it wasn’t so bad. Sasha always tried to think positively—and she was good at it.

‘This place is huge and there are so many people. I guess Manolie station just didn’t have many passengers.’

The platform where the train had stopped was much bigger and more developed than the one in Manolie. The clothes of the people passing by were much more stylish, making it fun to watch. Sasha wanted to tell Enzo, who was trying to comfort her, that she was actually very happy.

At that moment, an elegant four-wheeled carriage drawn by two magnificent black horses stopped in front of them.

“Sasha. Are you saying you have nowhere to stay?”

A young lady in a silk cape asked kindly. When Sasha didn’t recognize her, the lady lifted her large feathered hat slightly in greeting. She was Madame Bell, the Marchioness, a first-class passenger.

“If you have nowhere to go, come with me. My cousin lives nearby.”

Sasha glanced at Enzo, who was frozen in surprise at the unexpected situation. Sasha nodded quickly, adding that it depended on her father’s permission. The Marchioness agreed readily and had her coachman load their luggage.

By the time Mr. Vinoche returned from sending the telegram, the Marchioness’s coachman had already loaded all their luggage onto the carriage. Mr. Vinoche, startled, asked Sasha,

“Sasha, how does the Marchioness know you and why would she offer to take us?”

“I ran an errand for Mr. Martin in first class last time. But I didn’t know she was the Marchioness.”

At Sasha’s words, both Mr. Vinoche and Enzo opened their mouths in surprise. Sasha, who easily befriended anyone, had also quickly made friends with the train staff, sometimes running errands between train cars in exchange for coins or snacks.

But they’d only heard there was a lady in first class who adored Sasha, never imagined who she was. Mr. Vinoche, being from Manolie, was ignorant of Laurent’s social circles, but even he knew the Marchioness was a high-ranking noble and a distant relative of Duke Eugène, the Queen’s husband.

“Aren’t you coming? As soon as the train stopped, I sent the telegram, so the Duchess must be waiting anxiously by now.”

The coachman, holding the reins, urged them impatiently, implying they’d be foolish to refuse. Without time to hesitate, Sasha’s party hurried onto the carriage. The pale yellow open four-wheeled coach carrying the three families started running, leaving the bustling station behind.