SALOME Ch 21

When he grabbed the handle of the stopped tram’s door and pushed it to the side, the stiff door slid open with a clatter. Yuri stepped down the small steps, hesitated for a moment, and looked back. There was Cedric, flashing his white teeth as he waved. He looked remarkably like an obedient puppy welcoming him. In truth, the only dogs Yuri ever saw were military working dogs, but they were similar nonetheless.

“I’ll be waiting. See you next time.”

Closing its doors, the stopped tram passed by quickly, and…

“….”

Why did I take my hand out?

Yuri’s hand had come out of the pocket it had been buried in for so long, as if to wave back at Cedric. Yuri stared at the tracks laid out on the road, then finally turned around and walked along the middle of the empty tram line. It was because he had gotten off two stops early.

Boots left deep prints in the thickly accumulated snow. Walking a little along the designated path, he wanted to clear his mind. Since coming to Berlin, he had never entertained such doubts. Doubts were unnecessary in a life that had always been the way it was.

And yet, Cedric.

“….”

Was it because he was an entity that had to be guarded against and monitored? Question-marked tags incessantly began to attach themselves to every single one of his actions inside his head. And he still didn’t know—

About the cause and effect.

And the moment a lion has doubts about its prey, the hunt cannot begin.

∞ ∞ ∞

The same evening, Intelligence Department of the Russian Embassy in Brandenburg, Berlin

Yuri stared wordlessly at the listening device coming to life. The red light blinked at a steady, rhythmic pace, appealing to Yuri.

“….”

In the end, Yuri picked up the headphones connected to the listening device and put them over his ears.

[…He got hurt.]

At Cedric’s upset voice, Elizabeth made a sound that Ann would always describe as unladylike.

[Huh?]

[He doesn’t seem to be in a good mood either…. Was the meal no good? Or maybe he didn’t like the music much.]

Elizabeth was unusually quiet before letting out an “Ugh” as Cedric reflected on the date, then finally gave an answer:

[Next time, tell him you’ll blow on it to make it better, and just kiss him.]

Listening to Cedric for the past two weeks, young Elizabeth had picked up a few things and now seemed like someone fully versed in all matters of romance. And her answer served as a great treasure trove of ideas for constructing Cedric’s dates.

[Mmm…. He probably won’t like that very much. Beth, if you want my cheek to remain intact, that is.]

[Ah, you caught me. I only said that because I thought that lady would give your cheek a harsh slap.]

At Cedric’s serious reaction, Yuri—who was clearly just listening with his ears—felt his intraocular pressure rise and pressed hard on the bridge of his nose between his eyes.

“What kind of nonsense is this again….”

Unable to keep up with the mental leaps of these two siblings anymore, Yuri resignedly continued to listen to their conversation.

[No, but come to think of it, I think the meal was fine. He didn’t leave anything behind. Yeah, that’s right.]

[Hmm. You said he’s Polish, right?]

[Yeah.]

Elizabeth let out a “Mmm…” groan. At that, Yuri’s relaxed expression hardened. What? To this gorilla-like guy, could he possibly…?

[I heard Polish people are rough. Could it be that he has some violent pimp-like guy around?]

“….”

What in the…?

[Beth!]

Cedric’s stunned voice cut in quickly.

[Where on earth did you learn words like that?]

[Oh come on, my ears hurt! Where else? I read it in the newspaper gossip column. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is…]

Elizabeth complained back at Cedric, her voice growing distant as if she were leaving the room.

[When on earth do I get to see my pretty sister-in-law? Bring him home already…]

[I’ll try.]

“….”

Try what?

Left speechless, Yuri’s report remained a blank sheet of paper.

∞ ∞ ∞

If one were to express a Berlin winter in colors, pitch-black darkness would be the choice. It didn’t stem from people’s clothing becoming thick and dark. It was likely because winter days were unusually short, and evenings began early, spreading a thick curtain it didn’t know how to raise. So when full-fledged winter arrived, people would lose track of time and head home early.

Of course, the harsh cold also played a part in driving people off the streets and back inside their homes. Dim orange streetlights and the light spilling between uncurtained windows faintly illuminated Berlin’s spotless, black streets.

Having finished wiretapping during the late evening hours when everyone was asleep, Yuri left the Russian Embassy in Brandenburg, carefully stepping down the snow-covered stairs.

“Haah….”

As if the season itself knew the year was coming to an end, the cold was all the more fierce. As he huffed out his breath, white clouds bloomed in front of his face. Fighting against the warm breath Yuri exhaled, the cold rushed straight into his body. Pressing down on his fur hat that covered his ears, Yuri walked along the streetlights.

The avenue, devoid of Christmas trees and markets, was quite desolate. Even the falling snow was lightly accumulating, making the ground completely white and creating a peculiar atmosphere that seemed to stretch the already broad sense of space to infinity.

And Yuri loved this time the most. Walking alone on the road that resembled a blank canvas, leaving footprints behind, he stopped beneath a streetlight that seemed defective, flickered its light on and off. He quietly looked up as the softly falling snow descended silently along the light of the streetlight.

Why is that?

Yuri suddenly asked himself. He was born on a southern island where snow didn’t fall and the season of winter didn’t exist.

Why do I feel drawn to the complete opposite?

“Phew….”

He blinked once and stepped forward into the darkness unfolding beyond. Despite the bone-chilling cold, his gloved hand inside his coat pocket was brimming with warmth, as if sitting in front of a brazier.

Perhaps that was why.

Though he was a person as clear and pure as snow, he was, at the same time, warm.

∞ ∞ ∞

Colonel Raskolnikov’s mansion was built in the Steglitz district, right next to the Dahlem district where the Primrose family lived. Unlike the Primrose family’s home, built with warm orange tiles and chick-yellow walls, the colonel’s mansion—despite being commissioned to an architect named Adolf Loos brought in from Austria—boasted plain, smooth white walls devoid of any ornamentation.

Among the houses where decorative styles were all the rage, its appearance was somewhat unusual. The only ordinary, house-like decoration was the ivy vines that had been climbing the mansion for a long time, and even those were reduced to desolate stems due to winter.

When Yuri opened the front gate and entered, drops of snow stained the carpet in the foyer. The foyer was quite dark, as no lights were turned on. However, accustomed to the darkness, Yuri brushed off the snow resting on his coat and hat and walked toward the foyer hallway, which was so dark that the sense of sight was useless.

Perhaps because he had just come inside, the air brushing through the foyer was cold with the outside atmosphere. In the central hall reached through the hallway connecting room to room, a central staircase led to the upper floor. Since the first floor was where the colonel and Yuri’s older half-brother, Aleksandr, stayed, he grabbed the stair railing and stepped onto the risers to climb one floor higher. Walking down the long hallway on the second floor, the moonlight that had managed to rise seeped through the windows, casting shadows in the shape of window frames.

Yuri’s room was at the very end of the hallway where shadows reigned—the smallest room the mansion possessed. Yuri used the room, which was practically abandoned and hardly received any light, without much complaint. Even if he had complaints, they were the type who wouldn’t fix it anyway, but more than that, a room to Yuri was merely a place to sleep, nothing more and nothing less.