Chapter 20
Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Witch's Arrangement
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Enoch asked, looking tense.
Rachel couldn’t figure out what part of the question warranted tension, but she answered calmly anyway.
“Sometimes there was, sometimes there wasn’t.”
Enoch’s hands started moving again upon hearing her reply. He peeled back the cloth once more, soaked it in medicine, and moved it to her waist.
“Did I fail to protect you, Rachel?”
“No. You protected me just fine. But my family died. If I’d been stronger, maybe that wouldn’t have happened.”
“Does that family include Lady Evelyn?”
“Yes. No matter how strong you are, you can’t swallow poison and come out unscathed.”
Enoch let out a faint sigh.
He had to stay in this mansion from now on and catch the Black Sorcerer targeting it.
Yet Rachel said she’d foreseen an ominous future where she’d have to pick up a sword herself.
If an enemy strong enough to take down Evelyn appeared, he wouldn’t be of any help.
That thought had been clouding his mind, but Rachel had pointed out something he hadn’t considered, clearing his head.
“I see. I’d only thought the enemy would attack with curses or brute force. I’ll prepare for that angle too!”
Enoch’s hands pressed harder as he massaged her. Rachel tilted her head.
“But that wasn’t what you originally meant to say, was it? You were talking about starting points.”
“You’re right. What I wanted to say was, don’t push yourself too hard. The Lord gives different talents to each person. Lady Evelyn received talent in swordsmanship, among others.”
“So you’re saying our starting points are different, so I shouldn’t strain myself trying to imitate my mother?”
Enoch blinked his golden eyes as he listened to Rachel.
“That was the intent, but hearing it back like that makes me sound like I said something awful.”
He fidgeted, worried that Rachel had taken his words the wrong way and gotten upset.
Rachel turned her head to watch Enoch squirm, then burst into laughter.
“I know you didn’t mean it badly.”
Enoch realized she’d been teasing him as he watched her chuckle.
“You were teasing me.”
“You started it, calling me frail and all that.”
“That wasn’t teasing.”
“If the listener takes it that way, it might as well be. What, are you sulking because I teased you?”
“No.”
As he said that, Enoch’s hands moved to her calf. He pressed firmly into the shin area.
“Ow! That hurts!”
“It’s supposed to hurt a little here.”
“Retaliating right after I teased you just a bit? That’s mean.”
“That’s how it loosens up.”
Rachel shook her leg from the pain. Enoch continued the massage undeterred.
A waiting maid watched the scene and murmured with a pleased expression.
“They get along so well.”
The two didn’t even notice the maid’s comment as they bickered.
“Stop shaking your foot. It’s hard to steam it like this.”
“But it hurts. You’re the one saying it shouldn’t hurt. You even said I’m frail and need to be handled gently.”
“Got it. I’ll be really gentle.”
Enoch raised both hands.
“For real?”
“Yes. But if the muscle pain lingers, it’s not my fault.”
“What do you mean, not your fault?”
“You’re the one who asked me to be gentle. Swelling has to be worked out even if it hurts a bit.”
“Fine then. I’m in your hands.”
Rachel sniffled reluctantly in agreement. Enoch gripped her ankle and pressed from bottom to top with his other hand.
“Nngh.”
“Truth be told, it doesn’t sit well with me either. Seeing you in pain makes me want to just heal you with Divine Power.”
“But you can’t.”
“Right. With anyone else, I’d just heal them, but not you, Rachel.”
Rachel didn’t understand Enoch’s words and twisted her upper body to look at him.
Thanks to his diligent massage, the pain was less than before, and moving felt easier.
“You’d heal others just like that?”
“Yes. If they asked while in pain, I’d infuse them with Divine Power right away.”
“Then why not me?”
Enoch froze mid-motion, realizing he’d let slip something unnecessary while focused on the massage.
His face flushed sunset-red. Rachel giggled, wondering what had turned his face persimmon-red this time.
“Could you not answer?”
“I can’t stand not knowing.”
“W-Well. I didn’t want to undermine your efforts.”
He blurted it out and turned his head to press into the sole of her foot.
Rachel’s eyes caught his scarlet ears peeking through his silver hair. But this time, even she couldn’t tease him.
Not wanting to invalidate her efforts struck deep in Rachel’s heart. All the more because she repeated death and regression. And because she’d lived a life where her efforts were always denied.
“Thank you.”
That was why the words comforted her so much—Rachel couldn’t say anything else to Enoch but thanks.
***
Lightning flashed outside the window. A vivid red magic circle was drawn on the floor. Candles burned around it.
In the center of the magic circle stood a deranged Henri and a monster slowly rising.
“Keheheh, Rachel! I’ve finally brought your mother back to life.”
Henri sobbed in a state where it was impossible to tell if he was laughing or crying. His eyes gleamed with madness.
Henri claimed he’d revived Evelyn, but behind him wasn’t Evelyn—it was a monster resembling her. Evelyn’s golden hair had been radiant. Not this rotten straw color.
Yet Henri, clad in a dark red robe, spread his arms toward the monster.
The monster pretended to embrace him and gaped its mouth impossibly wide. No normal person could open their mouth that far.
Still, Henri staggered toward it like a man entranced, and the monster devoured him with its mouth full of jagged teeth.
Crunch crunch!
A gruesome sound echoed. Tearing flesh, shattering bone—the monster erased the mad Henri from the world.
And then,
“Ra-che-l.”
It called my name. Its body, lowered while eating Henri, writhed grotesquely as it rose again. The form and movements were utterly bizarre.
“You’re not my mother!”
I backed away, then turned and ran.
“Rachel, let’s live together!”
The monster cried out in Evelyn’s voice. No way that thing was my mother. Henri was wrong to believe it.
I flung open the door and escaped the room thick with the stench of blood. The monster’s pursuing sounds didn’t stop.
I raced down the stairs, avoided the hole in the floor, passed through the long hallway, crossed the hall, and reached the entrance. The door wouldn’t budge easily.
Please! I grabbed the handle and shook it repeatedly until it finally opened. I burst through the front door into the weed-choked yard.
But the monster didn’t stop. I kept running. My breath grew ragged. My injured ankle throbbed again.
“Haa haa.”
The monster’s breathing drew closer. I felt it right behind me. In that instant, a red-haired man appeared in the yard.
“What the hell is that?”
The man gasped in shock. He raised his gun, aiming past me. Then he fired at the monster.
Bang bang!
Gunshots rang out. I glanced back. The monster slowed. The man grabbed my hand and ran toward the fence surrounding the house.
The front gate, left open when he entered, came into view.
“Rachel, don’t go!”
The monster cried in Evelyn’s voice. But I didn’t stop running.
The open gate began closing on its own. Pulled by the man’s hand, I threw myself toward it.
My body barely squeezed through the narrowing gap.
Clang!
The gate shut by itself. The monster couldn’t cross.
It was all over. Deyner was dead. Henri too.
I alone survived.
The scene shifted. A monitor appeared.
Rachel on the monitor turned to look at the mansion. Dawn was breaking behind it.
[Normal Ending - The Sole Survivor of the Cursed Mansion.]
The ending credits began rolling.
[Created by – Rachel]
I waved at the monitor, said goodbye, and hit the broadcast end button.
The short credits finished during that time. The screen showed the character I’d played, Rachel, sitting in a rocking chair by the fireplace.
I closed the game window. I relaxed my stiff body and leaned back in my chair.
The game that had gripped me for a week was finally over. Thinking I’d never play it again, I reached for the mouse to shut down the computer.
But the game window wouldn’t close. The pointer wasn’t responding properly. I tried closing it again.
That’s when Rachel in the game rose from the rocking chair.
Some games do that. After the credits, they show the protagonist’s epilogue or a developer’s message like a cookie video.
Others are programmed not to end until you’ve seen everything the creator intended.
Assuming it was one of those, I watched Rachel moving in the game window.
But it felt like Rachel was looking this way.
-First of all, thank you to you, who’s watching me.
The game character spoke. I knew it was pre-programmed dialogue, but I nodded anyway.
-My name is Rachel. I’ve been searching for someone to save me for a long time.
I thought this was foreshadowing for a second playthrough.
-And I finally found you.
Rachel’s face zoomed in. Her blue eyes sparkling on the monitor looked just like those of a living being.
-I sensed potential in you. Please, save me and my family...
A magic circle of circles and hexagrams appeared around Rachel on the monitor.
As the purple magic circle glowed brighter, the monitor’s colors darkened. Soon the screen turned pitch black, with only the magic circle vivid. Suddenly, a black hand burst out.
I screamed. The hand emerged from the monitor, groping across my desk.
Startled, I rolled my chair backward with my feet while seated. The wheels carried me to the wall.
But it must have sensed the sound—it stretched its hand out. The arm extended nearly 2 meters and grabbed my ankle.
The black hand gripping my ankle was ice-cold. I shook my foot, but it wouldn’t let go.
Instead, after seizing me, a massive eye appeared on the monitor, rolling its red pupil.
***
“Aaah!”
Rachel screamed as she opened her eyes. Clear birdsong filled the air.
No black hand or red eye from the monitor. Her upper body was under the bed, lower half draped over it.
“I had a nightmare.”
A nightmare. Of the moment just before she entered the game world.
Rachel pulled her upper body onto the bed and rubbed her arms. Her skin prickled with goosebumps from a mere nightmare.
“Why dream of that now? Bad luck.”
Muttering to herself, Rachel tried to push away the blue window flickering before her eyes.
“A blue window?”
Her eyes flew wide. Composing herself, she stopped her hand and checked the blue window.
“Huh?”
A startled sound escaped her lips as she read the contents.
[The Witch's Arrangement has activated.]
[Specific conditions met: Talent Retention System unlocked.]
[Abilities surpassing certain thresholds will be denoted by corresponding numerical values.]
[Upon death, abilities convert to Talent Points equal to their numerical value. These points carry over upon regression, allowing ability retention.]
[Stamina: 1]
In the 17th round, one week into starting stamina training, Rachel discovered the Witch's Arrangement system.