Chapter 6
Four days had passed. In that time, she'd scoured every corner of the house for traces of her mother, but it was like searching for a needle in a desert. True to its nature as an ancient mansion, the building was riddled with hidden spaces. Push aside a bookshelf or a bed, and a dust-caked wooden door would appear as if waiting. The bottom of an old well hid a manhole secured with a padlock, and the garden floor was covered in indecipherable, ominous runes.
Without that encounter with the man, she might have brushed it all off. The previous owner's hobbies sure are unique, she would've thought. But after the magic circle in the basement and facing that monster alongside him...
"Hm."
Honestly, even after meeting him, she hadn't thought much of it.
"This is delicious."
"Right? Cooking's the one thing I'm best at. Everything else gets me chewed out somewhere, but cooking? Not once in my life!"
Roze puffed out her chest proudly, her short black hair swaying just below her ears.
"Have more. I made tons."
"There's only the two of us here anyway, Roze."
"Don't worry. It'll all get eaten up."
Roze was the first maid Catherine had ever hired for the mansion. Of course, she hadn't used the 1,000 rilders the man had tossed her "take it and scram" money to hire her.
I scraped together every last coin I didn't have to bring her on.
Thanks to that, she was basically penniless now. At least she still owned the house, so she wouldn't be sleeping on the streets.
"Miss, today's the east wing on the fourth floor, right?"
"Yeah, uh-huh."
"Phew! The end's finally in sight. Just grit through today, and we'll be living easy."
With a groan, Roze thumped her back and plopped down at the end of the dining table.
Eating at the same table as the maid. In Orleans, that would've been unthinkable, but Catherine didn't mind much.
"Family-style living for two months only. Maid wanted."
She'd posted it that way on the plaza job board from the start. With just Catherine handling interviews, and only for two months, there was no need to be picky. Besides, Roze had found all those secret spots around the house. Catherine wasn't the meticulous type, so she'd overlooked a few areas.
"What's your schedule like today, Miss?"
"Starting today..."
Catherine, mid-spread of jam on a piece of toasted bread, replied solemnly.
"I'm planning to tackle the garden."
The garden! The crown jewel of mansion upkeep—and its own personal hell. Roze's eyes turned serious to match.
"Oh no, I'm such an idiot. I got excited thinking it was the last one, but something worse is waiting."
She laughed lightly and polished off her plate in record time.
Come to think of it, there was no time for leisurely meals. Starting on the garden today—who knew how long that would take? Just imagining it made her knees and back ache already.
But the heavens were indifferent. By midday, the sky darkened, and rain began pouring down in sheets.
Shwaaa...
Ah, damn it. The weeds, already overgrown, would probably reach her waist now. Still, better that it rained before she started. Otherwise, she'd have tossed and turned all night from frustration.
She ended up glued to her books all day. She even told Roze to pause work and rest, but Roze rolled up her sleeves anyway, claiming cleaning was all she had to do.
Knock knock.
Time dragged on until nearly midnight. Startled from dozing by the fireplace, Catherine sat up at the sudden knock. The visitor to her bedroom...
Obviously, it was Roze.
"Roze?"
Her foggy mind cleared the instant she saw her.
"I... Miss, I know it's rude, but can I come in for a bit?"
Roze's face was etched with fear, her small shoulders trembling.
"Of course."
Catherine sat her down beside her. From her nightclothes, it looked like she'd been about to sleep.
"What's wrong at this hour?"
"Well..."
Her voice quavered like she was teetering on a log bridge over a chasm. Catherine waited patiently without pressing.
After gnawing her nails for ages, Roze finally spoke haltingly.
"I didn't want to say anything because I thought I was just being sensitive, but... ever since my first day, I've been hearing weird noises."
"Weird noises?"
Roze had been hired three days ago. That meant the sounds had started then.
"It's just you and me in this mansion, right?"
"Who else would it be?"
Roze's gloomy eyes dropped to the floor. She fidgeted endlessly with her hands, radiating anxiety.
"But around midnight, every night... I hear a woman's laughter from the hall. Am I imagining it?"
That broke the dam. Half-sobbing, she threw her arms around Catherine in a vise grip, squeezing so tight Catherine could barely move her shoulders.
"Miss... I'm really scared!"
"Calm down and tell me everything."
"Th-there's too much to explain in detail. Woman's laughter, kids running around, a string quartet... sometimes the ground shakes. My head spins. It torments me every night when I try to sleep."
Peeling away, Roze still darted terrified glances around the room, as if something lurked.
"Maybe I haven't slept right because of it, but tonight I even had nightmares. I couldn't take it and ran here. Th-that's everything."
Pfft, must be your imagination, Roze.
...If only she could say that. But Catherine couldn't dismiss it as a joke. The broker had asked something similar, and so had that man. She remembered clearly.
"Do you hear strange or frightening noises at night?"
"Unexplained shaking or hallucinations in the mansion?"
"Nightmares?"
"...For now, Roze, sleep in my room tonight."
Catherine rose from her chair and grabbed her outer coat. Even sniffling, Roze's eyes stayed glued to her.
With the basement magic circle and the mansion overflowing with suspicious oddities, the only culprit she could pinpoint was that circle.
"Wh-where are you going?"
"Just checking something. Don't worry—go to sleep."
As she grabbed a lantern and headed for the hall...
"Miss!"
Turning at Roze's call...
"It, it might be nothing, a ghost or whatever."
She swallowed hard—the gulp was audible. Tears aside, she was on the verge of bawling.
"I don't want you going out. I-I think I saw a tall man at the end of the corridor..."
Her choked voice tugged at Catherine's ankles. But...
She said it only happens before bed, so it might be gone by dawn.
This wasn't a place to live just a day or two. She had to hold on until she uncovered her mother's secrets. More than that, Catherine couldn't stand unexplained phenomena happening in her house.
"Roze, this is my home. No one comes in without my permission."
Though that man waltzed in like he owned the place...
Catherine draped her cardigan over Roze's shoulders and stepped out. Contrary to Roze's account, there was no presence at either end of the corridor.
She descended cautiously to the first floor. Standing in the hall's center, eyes closed, ears strained—only the rain pounding the ground. No woman's laughter, no child's footsteps, no earth tremors. Just Catherine amid utter silence.
Guess I have to check the basement after all.
She headed to the kitchen for the basement key. Rifling cabinets by lantern light, she set it down to catch her breath when the window caught her eye—a pitch-black silhouette outside.
That's...
Human-shaped. To confirm, she opened the window and leaned out.
Tall stature, lean but solid build. Hair so pale it gleamed like white, ramrod-straight posture. Definitely that man.
What the hell is he doing out there?
He stood utterly still. Back to her, no face visible.
Shwaaa...
The downpour showed no mercy. Standing out there so long in this torrent...
No time for second thoughts. Catherine snatched the lantern and bolted outside.
No umbrella in this rundown old pile. Head covered, she dashed over and grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around.
It felt like déjà vu from four days ago...
"Hey."
Oddly, no reaction. He stood rigid like a wax doll, staring blankly.
Sensing something wrong, Catherine raised the lantern to his face. Rain-slick nose and lashes gleamed in the yellow light. His eyes were closed.
As if dead.
"Hey! Snap out of it. Why are you at someone else's—"
Before she finished, he vanished from sight.
Stunned, Catherine stumbled back a step. No—not vanished. He'd collapsed unconscious on the ground.
Regaining her wits, she set the lantern aside and shook him. Despite rough handling, he remained limp, eyes shut like the dead.
How she dragged him inside was a blur. Probably some superhuman strength kicked in without her noticing.
Hauling him across the muddy ground dirtied the freshly cleaned hall. His body was ice-cold.
She laid him at the base of the stairs and raced upstairs.
Bang.
"Roze...!"
Drip, drip. Water from her skirt hem soaked the floor.
The bedroom was deathly quiet, empty-feeling. Roze had conked out in the chair. No wonder, after nights of poor sleep from the noises.
Catherine quietly shut the door. Summoning superhuman strength once more, she dragged him to the first-floor parlor sofa.
"Hah, hah... Way too big for his own good..."
She fetched clean, dried blankets from the laundry and piled them over him. The damp air was a hassle, but once she lit the fireplace, warmth filled the room quickly.
And soon enough, they appeared.
"Hand it over, child."
Those things that parasitized every shadow in the world. Blacker than darkness, revolting as sludge, reeking of rotten water. They'd plagued Catherine since childhood, popping up whenever she forgot them, turning her stomach.
She didn't know their exact nature. But she knew they were kin to the fallen man—far inferior kin, despite that.
"Hand that noble one over to us."
"Hand it over—we'll trade for your wish."
"Trade for your wish, child. That noble one for your..."
"Shut up. Close your mouths."
No talking to those things. They just repeated themselves endlessly. Her mother had found them annoying too.
Catherine scowled at them.
"If you're done talking, get lost."