A Snake Hole v1c27

? Views,

The man approached.

With his large, firm hands, he lifted Leira from the floor, placed him back on the bed, and examined his ankle. After assuring him there was no visible injury and telling him not to worry, he tucked the blankets around him before leaving the room.

That night, neither of them slept.

The next morning, the Earl’s head butler, Emma, delivered a polite but firm order for Leira to leave. Her expression betrayed her confusion—this was an unusual command from her young master, who had always doted on Leira. But without protest, Leira followed the order and left the Earl’s estate.

Upon returning to the Duke’s estate, he locked himself in his room for days. When asked why Edwin hadn’t come with him, he gave no answer. After several days of barely eating or sleeping, he suddenly burst out of his room.

“Emma! Emma!”

He rushed around the estate, searching for the head butler. “She’s likely in the parlor,” a passing servant informed him. By the time Leira reached the parlor, he was slightly out of breath.

“Emma.”

“Yes, young master? What’s the matter?”

She turned at the sound of his voice. Tall enough to rival most men, her composed demeanor betrayed none of the chaos in her mind. Emma, who had served the Duke’s household since before Leira was born, remembered every detail of the estate’s history—no matter how trivial or how long ago.

“Emma… I need to ask you something.”

He hesitated, lips parting slightly as if weighing his words.

“When I was little… do you remember the snake I kept?”

“The snake?”

“Mhm. The one I had when I was little…”

“I do.”

Her answer was casual, as if she were remarking on last night’s dinner. Leira felt his fingertips grow cold. He hadn’t been sure what to expect—whether he’d wanted a clear answer or not.

“Grace was so terrified of it, I couldn’t forget even if I tried. Oh, you might not remember Grace. She was a maid who looked after you when you were very young. Devout woman, she was. Hated snakes something fierce.”

“You remember? Even what it looked like?”

“Grace, you mean? Well, Grace was—”

“No, the snake! What did it look like? Do you remember?”

Leira cut her off, his voice urgent, almost desperate. Emma blinked, taken aback by his intensity.

“Of course. It was rather unusual… Black body, green eyes. Grace used to go on about how green was an omen, but…” She chuckled softly, her gaze drifting as if recalling the memory. “I always thought those eyes were quite striking.”

Such a pretty green. Emma smiled faintly, lost in thought for a moment.

Leira clapped a hand over his mouth, staggering. When Emma rushed to steady him, he recoiled, his face deathly pale.

“I’m fine. Just dizzy for a second…” He swallowed hard. “But—what happened to that snake?”

“What happened…?”

Emma frowned slightly, as if the question puzzled her.

“You might not remember, but it vanished one day. We searched for days, but it never turned up. How it disappeared without a trace, I’ll never know… Animals have minds of their own, I suppose.” She paused. “I believe you were at Baroness So-and-so’s residence at the time. When you returned, we were all so worried you’d be heartbroken, but fortunately, Master Edwin appeared just then. Of course, it was a shame about his injuries at the time…”

Emma remembered perfectly: the snake had disappeared, and then Edwin had arrived. But she would never realize the true connection between the two.

Leira let out a small, disbelieving gasp.

“Why… did no one ever tell me?”

“Pardon?”

“The snake… I don’t remember anything about it…”

Emma studied him silently, her confusion evident. In all her years of service, the young master had never once asked about this. She wondered why it mattered now.

“Is something the matter? Is this important?”

Her tone was gentle, almost dismissive. Leira had no answer. Why hadn’t anyone told him? Of course they hadn’t. There had been no reason to.

The Duke’s estate had four sons—all boys. The three eldest, true to their lineage of knights, were bold and reckless, always causing some kind of trouble. Knights frequently visited the estate, and hunting was a common pastime, so the house was always filled with animals—harmless creatures the boys played with, songbirds, and sometimes even lizards or beetles the brothers caught themselves.

According to Emma’s memories, the glass tank the snake had lived in had once belonged to the second eldest brother’s pet lizard. It wasn’t as if a tank had been prepared specifically for a snake—it had simply been repurposed.

The older brothers had all grown into handsome, capable knights. For the youngest son of such a family to keep a small snake as a child was hardly noteworthy. Leira himself had likely forgotten all about it—after the snake disappeared, there had been no shortage of other small, adorable creatures to fill its place. The Duke’s youngest had never known want.

Leira sank onto the sofa, covering his face with his hands. He looked utterly exhausted.

“Why… did I forget? Emma remembers, but I don’t… Why?”

He looked genuinely distressed, almost heartbroken. Emma instinctively sensed that something was deeply wrong—though she couldn’t fathom how a mere snake, a trivial creature, could have such an effect. Still, she decided to comfort him. Her voice was kind but dismissive, as if humoring a child.

“I remember because it’s my duty to remember everything that happens in this household.”

“……”

“And it was just a childhood memory, wasn’t it?”

“……”

“I can barely recall what foolish things I did at that age, no matter how hard I try.”

She smiled, patting his shoulder before asking if she should call for a physician. When Leira weakly shook his head, she hesitated, then offered to bring him something to drink before slipping out of the parlor.

Leira sat alone in the opulent room.

He remembered nothing.

A single snake—a creature too insignificant to leave any lasting impression on a pampered, carefree boy.