Chapter 143
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 143
“Canna, don’t tease him too much. You might get hurt.”
“Yes, My Lady. I will.”
Canna replied with a soft smile. Why? Why did our sweet, flower-like Canna’s smile suddenly feel so chilling? She hadn’t evolved into some obsessive female lead like Gabriel, had she?
“My Lady?”
When I stared at her with suspicion, Canna simply tilted her head. Seeing her innocent face, all my worries melted away. I pushed thoughts of Canna aside; I had a more immediate problem to solve. What on earth was I supposed to do about the real rats?
Rat traps? We’d set those up ages ago. And letting any cat other than Pudding loose was absolutely out of the question. Pudding was only effective because he was a special cat. If I unleashed a pack of ordinary cats, they would just get infected, and the difficulty would skyrocket.
Was arson really the only answer? Should I casually suggest the Duke burn down the mansion and spend his retirement in his fiefdom?
As I agonized over my options, Pudding, who had disappeared for a moment, rushed back inside.
“Lady Evangeline.”
“Yes?” Pudding called out, his ears twitching.
“The rats are gone. It feels like their scattered energy has merged into one.”
Merged into one? Had they banded together like a school of fish to form the illusion of a giant rat? Or had they literally fused together like clay and evolved into some kind of massive rat monster? If that was the case, I’d prefer a cute electric mouse, please…
It was nice not having to worry about tracking down individual rats, but the sudden leap from normal difficulty straight to a boss battle made me incredibly anxious. Was this some kind of dress rehearsal for dealing with Bishop Marik?
Still, I had Pudding by my side, and he had a track record of defeating even Azazel. For my own peace of mind, I hugged him tightly.
“Shall we go see what happened?”
“Yes, My Lady.”
We might as well go see what it looks like. At least then I’ll know how to deal with it. Is it a giant rat? Or maybe that red lump it formed when it was first summoned…
Just as I was about to leave the room, I heard the sound of hurried footsteps pounding toward us. Was the rat already invading? Without any warning? I panicked for a moment but relaxed when I saw Pudding’s perfectly calm expression. It must just be someone running down the hall. Right as I had that thought, the door burst open. My heart leaped into my throat.
“M-My Lady…”
It was Hazel. Her usual strict, distant demeanor was gone. She had thrown the door open without even knocking, but seeing me standing right in front of her seemed to terrify her even more. Her legs must have given out from the shock, because Hazel collapsed right where she stood, her hand still clutching the doorknob.
* * *
Hazel fled. Had the hallway always been this long? No matter how fast she ran, no matter how hard she sprinted, the corridor seemed to stretch on forever.
She ran until her lungs burned, but she couldn't escape the vicinity of the dining hall. Even when she scrambled up the stairs, she somehow ended up on the exact same floor. It felt as though the Hosaquin Mansion itself had become warped.
Gasping for air, Hazel leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Was her heart pounding like it would explode from the exertion, or from the paralyzing fear?
She never should have gone to check on Rico. She should have listened when the other maids mocked her for sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Hazel shuddered, horrified by the consequences of her own good intentions. Stupid Hazel. As she wallowed in self-loathing, the clicking of heels began to echo from the far end of the hall.
It was a calm, steady pace. The sound made the fine hairs on her arms stand on end. Goosebumps prickled down her spine. Had it… had it already caught up to her?
Hazel started running again. But the hallway remained endless. She couldn't seem to move forward at all, yet the clicking of the heels drew closer and closer. She felt like she was going to lose her mind.
Frantically looking around, she threw open the nearest door and slipped inside. A moment ago, she had been near the dining hall on the second floor, but she now found herself in a servant’s quarters on the third.
It was a room where the servants slept, but there was no sign of life. It was incredibly strange for it to be empty at this hour, when everyone should have been in their rooms. But she had no time to ponder that.
She quickly crawled under the bed before anyone could see her. They won’t find me here. It’ll be fine, Hazel desperately told herself.
Creak.
Soon, the door opened. Was it the servant who used this room? Hidden under the bed, all Hazel could see was a pair of shoes. She clamped a hand over her mouth and held her breath.
“Ah, I’m so tired…”
The voice from above wasn’t the butler’s. It must be the owner of the room. Just as Hazel was about to let out a sigh of relief, the feet strode further inside. Tears welled in her eyes. Her brief moment of relief shattered.
It wasn’t someone else.
The footsteps were the same. It was the exact same sound she had heard in the hallway. She didn't know how someone with the butler’s gait could speak in a different voice, but if it was a demon, anything was possible.
The shoes approached the bed where she was hiding, circling the area at a leisurely pace. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Please, don’t let him find me.
Her breath hitched, and her body trembled violently. At this rate, she was going to suffocate. Then, the footsteps stopped. Had he left? No. She hadn’t heard them retreat. Then why had they stopped? Was he… looking under the bed? Hazel slowly opened her eyes.
…Gasp.
A small gasp escaped her lips. For a split second, she thought their eyes had met. No, it’s just an illusion. A hallucination born of fear. Fortunately, when she opened her eyes, she wasn't staring into the face of someone peering under the bed.
Instead, the mattress creaked above her.
“Hey, you’re Hazel, right?”
Hazel flinched at the voice from overhead. This time, it was definitely Rico’s. The demon possessing his body asked, “You saw what I ate, didn’t you?”
The butler cackled.
Hazel had tried to leave the dining hall after splashing Rico with holy water, but a sense of loyalty had kept her from truly abandoning him. She had started to flee, but then crept back, holding her breath to peer through the crack in the door.
It had been sheer arrogance. Because she’d thrown the holy water and seen the demon writhe in agony, she had assumed it would die soon. Once the demon dies, I’ll save Rico. That’s what she had thought.
But then, rats began to pour from the ceiling and the cracks in the floor. The rats devoured each other, and they devoured Rico. And Rico, in turn, ate the rats. The sounds of crushing bones, tearing flesh, and lapping blood had filled the dining hall. She could never forget that horrific sight. It was a grotesque feast.
“Rico wanted me to tell you… ‘I told you to run, so why did you keep watching?’”
Overwhelmed with despair, Hazel wept silently.
She should have run away when he told her to. If she had, she wouldn't have been forced to witness such a nightmare.
“I can’t let anyone find out that Rico is me. That’s why I can’t let you live.”
Hazel felt this was truly her end. How would she die? Would her body be gnawed away by rats?
The bed creaked as the demon climbed off. Suddenly, a hand shot under the bed, and a tight grip clamped around her ankle. He pulled. Hazel thrashed, digging her fingernails into the floorboards as she struggled.
“I’m not even hurting her! If anything, I’m the one being bullied! You got hit by her holy water too! We both suffered, so why are you acting like this?!”
Kicked by Hazel, the demon grumbled to himself.
“Ah, seriously! You said you’d help me! If you keep being so insolent, I’ll kill Mavka too!”
No, it wasn’t a monologue; he was conversing with a voice only he could hear. Hazel guessed the other party was Rico. The butler hadn’t completely vanished yet.
After arguing with Rico for a while longer, the demon released her foot.
“Hey. Rico told me not to kill you,” the demon said.
Hazel recalled how Rico, even while being consumed by the demon, had maintained enough of his sanity to tell her to throw the holy water. Tears of gratitude streamed down her face.
“Yeah. You’re too stupid to be any help with being loved, anyway. So, I’ll let you live.”
Was it true? Hazel gasped, her face lighting up, unable to believe she had been spared a second time. Despite her lingering fear, the demon truly left the room, leaving her behind.
Is he really letting me live…?
He had clearly said he couldn’t let her live because she saw what he was. Terrified that the demon might return at any moment, Hazel remained trembling under the bed for a long time.
But he never came back.
Her heart sank when the door opened again, but this time, several people entered. They were her fellow servants who shared the room.
“Hazel? What are you doing in my room?”
She hesitated, fearing the demon might be mimicking their voices to trick her.
“Ah… Sorry, I was tired and fell asleep.”
Even though Hazel hadn't spoken, a voice answered from elsewhere. It was unmistakably her own. Then, the bed directly above her creaked. There was another presence she hadn’t noticed until now.
“Still, you shouldn’t come into someone else’s room to sleep.”
“But it was too far to make it all the way to my room…”
“Really? You do look pretty sick. Should I walk you back?”
“Yeah. I’d appreciate that.”
Someone—someone with her exact voice—was carrying on a conversation. All Hazel could do was tremble as goosebumps erupted across her skin.
Who was up there? Who was mimicking her? No, this was a trick to lure her out. Hazel peeked out from under the bed.
The other Hazel climbed down and left the room, supported by her colleague. From her clothes to her shoes, she was identical to the real Hazel in every way.
It was the demon’s doing. Instead of killing her, he had played a trick to ensure she could never reveal his secret.
Only after all her roommates had fallen asleep did Hazel finally crawl out from under the bed. The ordeal had drained all the strength from her body. She started to head back to her own room to rest but stopped dead in her tracks.
Not her room. She couldn’t go there. The fake Hazel would be there. Then where could she go? A wave of dizziness washed over her, as if she were adrift in the middle of a vast ocean. Then, a certain person came to mind.
A pure white, fluttering figure rose in her thoughts. For a castaway lost in pitch-black darkness, a guiding light had appeared.
It didn't matter that the light wasn't whole, that it resembled an ominous solar eclipse blocking out the sun. The image of the moon obscuring the sun soon transformed into the statuesque girl holding a parasol.
Under the blazing sun, she had seemed to monopolize all the light in the world, a beacon of pure white. Yet she wielded her parasol to hide in the shade, her back turned to the sun—the noble Lady Rohanson.
Looking into the elegant eyes of that pure, white figure had made Hazel acutely aware of how worthless and inferior she was. Fearing she would tear herself apart with self-loathing, Hazel had fled from Lady Rohanson's side.
But the young lady she had tried to keep her distance from had given her holy water. Thinking back, Lady Rohanson must have known that some hardship would befall her.
She knew that Lady Rohanson’s personal maid had been saved and allowed to live. Surely, Lady Rohanson would help her, too. Hazel pinned all her hopes on Evangeline. The hope she harbored was no different from a prayer offered to God.
Evangeline Rohanson exists to be worshipped. You will submit. The words of the red-haired prophet now resonated with vivid clarity from the depths of her despair.
Having found her direction, the castaway had to start rowing. A faint light rose above the dark sea.
Hazel forced her feet to move.
The clicking of heels seemed to follow her. Hazel ran. The clicking grew faster.
The frantic sound of running footsteps echoed through the hallway. The noise reverberated, sounding as though a crowd was chasing her. The footsteps were her own, but in her terror, Hazel did not realize this.