Helpless in This Body
Only the faint sounds of my breathing and footsteps drifted through the dark, silent corridor.
Because the hallway was so vast, whenever I encountered a new intersection, I dug my fingernails into the wallpaper, scratching a mark to track my path.
There are so many doors in sight, yet not a single one opens. Did she really lock every single room?
Every time I tried a handle in this new section, it refused to budge. It was starting to make me suspicious.
It seemed highly unlikely that the woman would have gone around locking all these doors one by one herself.
Still, the further I walked, the more corridors appeared. As long as I kept moving, there would be plenty of opportunities to find a clue.
I continued down the hall, calmly testing handle after handle, when a sudden heaviness pooled in my lower abdomen.
"Ah... haah... ♡ W-what is this... all of a sudden... ? ♡"
An intense, burning heat flared between my thighs, accompanied by a maddening itch.
It was a sensation all too similar to what I had experienced just moments ago.
"H-how...? I literally just did those things... twice... ♡"
I had lost my mind and resorted to such bizarre, vulgar acts just to find relief. If this feeling was going to return so soon, what on earth was I supposed to do?
"Ha-hsaaah... ♥"
A sharp moan escaped my lips. Without realizing it, my hand clamped tightly around the sash of my nightgown.
Get a grip... I have to stay focused. I must find a clue. Something to help me kill that crazy woman and return to my original body...!
I bit down hard on my lip to suppress the urge. A sharp sting flared, followed by the metallic taste of blood.
I had bitten it so hard that dark red blood began to trickle down. The sharp pain snapped my fraying sanity back into place, allowing me to stop my hand from untying the sash.
"Haaah... haa... ♡ I did it... I held it back..."
Though a feverish heat still ravaged my body, my vision cleared. I stared straight ahead and forced my legs to move.
It seemed this body was designed to go into heat at regular intervals. A bitter smile touched my lips.
If anything, this only gave me a much clearer reason to kill her.
"Tch."
Every door in this new corridor was locked as well. No matter how much force I applied, my slender, fragile wrists couldn't break the cold metal. I only succeeded in turning my palms red.
Thud!
I threw all my weight against the wood, but it only resulted in a dull ache that made me grimace. I gave up on using brute force.
"This one will be locked too, no doubt."
I reached for the handle at the very end of the hallway and turned it.
Creeeeak!
To my surprise, the heavy oak door swung open with a low, grating groan.
Relief washed over me at finally finding an unlocked room. I stepped inside with cautious steps.
The musty smell of dust mingled with the heavy scent of old paper, filling the air.
So many books... Is this a library?
Shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, packed tightly with volumes.
In the center of the room sat a massive desk crafted from premium mahogany. Scattered across its surface were quills, sheets of parchment, and thick ledgers.
"This is... the Rosenberg family crest."
Examining the parchment, the symbol of the Rosenberg family—a red rose—immediately caught my eye.
Upon closer inspection, the numerous books and ledgers in the library detailed the Rosenberg family's wealth, the transaction records of their merchant coalition spanning the continent, and the history of the house itself.
Relying on the faint light filtering through the window, I quickly flipped through the pages.
However, records of the family's history after the witch's attack five years ago were virtually nonexistent.
So she wasn't lying.
As if to prove her claims weren't mere boasts, another ledger contained detailed records of illicit transactions and corruption involving nobles and royalty from various nations.
"With such trash serving as the pillars of their nations, it's no wonder everything is rotting from the inside out."
I continued scanning the repulsive contents until something caught my eye.
"...What is the meaning of this?"
I stared in disbelief as I realized the ledger also listed prominent noble families from the Holy Kingdom of Eos.
The heads of these families are all in direct contact with the Pope.
This was absolutely unacceptable.
To think so many traitors were defiling my homeland.
The Pope surely had no idea. Once I killed that woman and reclaimed my original body, it would be my duty to expose this corruption.
I could only lament my current helplessness, unable to fly to Eos and execute these wretched nobles this very instant.
I slipped one of the ledgers—crucial evidence—under my arm and searched the rest of the library. Unfortunately, I found nothing that could help me kill the witch.
There was only family history and financial records.
"I'll have to look elsewhere."
I quickly returned the books to their original spots to hide any trace of my intrusion, then slipped out of the room.
Once again, I navigated the pitch-black corridor.
Tap, tap... Thud.
Wait... That sound...
The sensation beneath my foot didn't match the sound I heard. I stopped, took a cautious step back, and pressed down on the same spot.
Thud.
Unlike the solid, muffled sound of the surrounding floorboards, this spot produced a hollow, resonant ring.
Is it hollow underneath?
If this section was hollow, there was a high chance it concealed a trapdoor or a secret passage. A hidden entrance in a place like this had to lead to somewhere she wanted kept secret from everyone.
Convinced I would find definitive clues about her, I immediately dropped to my knees and began feeling around the edge of the thick carpet with my bare hands.
I wedged my fingers into the gap between the carpet and the wall, preparing to pull back the rug and lift the hollow floorboard. But just as I braced myself, I felt a heavy presence materialize behind me.
"Who's there?!"
I scrambled to my feet and spun around. Standing there, staring straight at me, was a woman dressed in a neat maid's uniform.
Her hair was pitch-black, making it difficult to discern her features in the dim corridor.
Is she a servant who manages the Rosenberg Mansion? No, her aura is far too bizarre for a simple maid.
The woman walked slowly toward me. Yet, I couldn't hear a single footstep. Even on a carpeted floor, there should have been some sound.
As she drew closer, her face finally came into focus.
Her complexion was as pale as a corpse freshly dragged from a coffin.
A shiver ran down my spine as I looked closer.
There was no life, no emotion in her eyes. It was like staring into an endless, empty abyss—she was looking at me, yet not looking at me at all.
An unsettling sense of wrongness washed over me, making me wonder if she was even human.
"Are you... a maid of this mansion?"
I asked cautiously, planting my feet shoulder-width apart to brace myself. There was no reply.
Her hollow eyes merely drifted down from my face to the carpet I had been trying to lift.
Then, her tightly closed, pale lips parted.
"Eliminating intruder."
Her voice sounded like grinding metal, completely devoid of emotion. In the next instant, her figure blurred.
She's fast...!
Before my eyes could even widen in shock, the maid had closed the distance, appearing right in front of my nose. Her speed was comparable to what I could achieve in my original body.
Her fist tore through the darkness, hurtling straight toward my face.
The sharp whistle of wind whipping past my ear carried a destructive force and speed that no ordinary human body could produce.
In that split second, my brain read the trajectory of the incoming punch. I tried to tilt my head to dodge and transition into a counterattack.
But my mind and body were completely out of sync.
Unlike my brain, which commanded an instant reaction, this weak, cursed body refused to move with the agility I demanded.
I managed to jerk my head aside at the very last second. The maid's fist grazed my cheek.
The sheer wind pressure from the punch stung my skin as if it were tearing. Off-balance, I stumbled backward, flailing.
I managed to dodge it, but...
There was no time to feel relieved.
Without losing her balance, the maid used the momentum of her missed punch to twist her hips, driving her knee upward.
I desperately wanted to evade the seamless follow-up, but this time, my body failed to react entirely.
Crack!
"Kgh...!"
Her knee struck my solar plexus with the precision of a blade.
A bone-shattering pain surged through me. My body was lifted a span into the air before crashing miserably onto the carpet.
"Cough...! *Wheeze*... Ah...!"
Every bit of air in my lungs was instantly squeezed out.
I couldn't breathe. My vision went white, and the agonizing pain radiating from my solar plexus paralyzed my nerves all the way down my spine.
Stomach acid surged up my throat, and thick saliva dribbled pathetically from my mouth.
Clutching my stomach, I curled inward like a shrimp. I could only gasp uselessly for air, twitching like a fish out of water.
To think... a single blow like this... would keep me down...
In my former body, this would have been nothing more than a minor bruise. But this fragile shell created by that crazy woman lost all ability to resist after just one hit.
Through a blur of tears, the maid with the hollow eyes cast a cold shadow over me as she approached.
She looked down at my struggling form with emotionless eyes, then bent down without hesitation and clamped her pale hands around my slender throat.
"K-kgh...! Urgh...!"
Her grip, cold and unyielding as iron bars, began to squeeze the life out of me.
My ragged gasps were cut off entirely.
I thrashed, grabbing her wrists and pulling with everything I had, but her stone-like arms didn't budge in the slightest.
"Eliminating intruder."
As her chilling voice echoed in my ears, the oxygen in my brain rapidly depleted.
My consciousness began to fade before I could even fight back.
A heavy shadow of death loomed over my slipping mind.
If I close my eyes now, it's over. I won't be able to kill her, and I'll never get my body back.
The humiliations I had suffered in this place flashed before my eyes like a passing panorama. A raging fury erupted from the depths of my mind.
A fierce malice and determination to survive and decapitate that madwoman forced my fading life force to hold on.
My blurred vision cleared as if by magic, bringing the maid's empty eyes back into sharp focus.
Suppressing my gasps, I struck her arms with all my might.
Thud! Bam!
The sensation of bone hitting flesh felt strangely off.
Her frame was slender, and her skin was delicate. This was not a body capable of such absurd speed and monstrous strength.
It was as if something unseen was driving this maid's body far beyond its natural limits.
If I kept trying to match her in raw strength, I stood absolutely no chance.
Clinging to my sanity, I waited for a gap. I clasped my hands together and drove them down into the crook of her elbow.
The impact forced her arm to bend, loosening her grip on my throat. The moment my feet touched the floor, I spread my index finger and thumb, striking sharply at her windpipe.
It was a blow that should have left her choking and coughing on the floor. I was certain she would be writhing, unable to breathe.
Taking advantage of her backing away while clutching her throat, I scrambled up and spun around to flee.
Thwack!
"Ghah...!"
But my calculations were completely wrong. Just as I turned my back, a brutal, heavy kick slammed directly into my abdomen.
My fragile body flew through the air like a scrap of paper. The agonizing pain of my organs twisting prevented me from even screaming.
Before I could hit the ground, the maid lunged forward, catching my neck mid-air like a beast. She slammed me onto the carpet and squeezed.
Crash!
"K-kgh...!"
This defied all common sense.
How could she counterattack without showing a hint of pain after being struck so cleanly in a vital spot? Was this creature even human?
Torn between panic and terror, I thrashed against the overwhelming grip crushing my throat. But my exhausted, frail body could yield no more miracles.
Deprived of oxygen, my mind began to flicker white.
Just as my consciousness was about to be sucked into the encroaching darkness and my eyes began to close...
"What do you think you are doing?"
A cold, familiar voice cut through the silent corridor, piercing my ears.