Chapter 152: Taffy (2)

The wheels of the carriage rolled along, shaped like a person with their arms spread wide. Degul degul. We crossed the dilapidated wasteland, carried along by a flow supported by four wooden pillars. The dim sunlight peeked out from between the mountain ranges, blurring the movement of the reeds, and Sophia exclaimed at the sight of the grass dancing like waves.

“Master! Look! It’s amazing!”

She was looking out the window, her tail wagging, but I couldn’t agree with Sophia. I stared at the letter in my hand, my expression a strange mix of not crying and not laughing.

[Evan]

[Evan]

[Evan]

[Me, No. 13]

A short message and the address written below it. The friendly invitation to come see her felt strange. Even when I first came to the facility and was learning to read and write, she hadn’t learned properly. She was so clumsy at reading and writing, and her handwriting looked like a worm crawling, all crooked and messy.

Her hands trembled violently from gripping the pencil too tightly, and her finished sentences were always riddled with spelling errors. No. 13 would always pester me to read books to her, saying she didn’t understand writing well. The fairy tale book she brought always ended with a handsome prince saving a princess trapped in a castle.

Sometimes the castle was guarded by a dragon, other times by a terrifying Demon King. After I finished reading, we’d often have rather silly conversations. No. 13 always said she wanted to be a princess. The reason was simple. Princesses didn’t have to work, and they could eat lots of delicious food.

“Master, look over there! It’s a castle! A castle!”

I heard Sophia’s shout and poked my head out the window. Sure enough, a shadowy castle was visible. The dark windows, which didn’t let any light through, made the entire castle look like it was made of shadows. I said to Sophia.

“Sophia. Do you know the story about the princess trapped in a castle? Those fairy tales used to come out a lot, remember? The one where the princess is locked in a castle and the hero comes to save her.”

Sophia, who had been looking out the window with her butt sticking out, sat back down on the carriage seat and said.

“Yeah. I know. All those stories have the same plot, right? I liked them when I was little, but as I got older, they got boring, so I stopped watching. But why that story?”

“I don’t know, just looking at that castle suddenly reminded me of it.”

Hearing that, Sophia nodded with a laugh.

“Right? It looks just like a castle where demons live. It’s in such a remote place, why would that woman, No. 13, live here?”

I flinched when she mentioned demons, but shook my head. No matter how you look at it, there couldn’t possibly be two former demons in one group, right? The castle was definitely creepy, and the letter was suspicious, but there was no way she was a demon. Even if she were a demon, she wouldn’t harm me.

Because we were really close in the past. They say you shouldn’t project past feelings onto present people, but I believed our bond was strong enough to defy ten years of time. No, I wanted our friendship with No. 13 to continue just as it was. Because I parted ways with No. 5 without even properly exchanging names.

Because I don’t think we’ll be able to meet with smiles on our faces when we meet No. 5 again.

“Welcome.”

The heavy iron gate was painted jet black to match the castle’s appearance. It was spotless, without a trace of rust, but the excessive cleanliness felt unsettling. Sophia also touched the iron gate and said.

“It’s painted so cleanly. It looks like it was painted with magic. There must be a skilled magician here.”

“Did No. 13 become a magician?”

Whatever she had become, I felt relieved knowing she wasn’t a slave anymore. Circumstances change, and so do relationships. I hoped she had escaped her life as a slave and was living a reasonably happy life, and I hoped the reason she was looking for me wasn’t for salvation or begging. Although the mansion was in a strange place, no owner would have a ‘slave’ living here send a personal letter. I felt good thinking No. 13 seemed to be doing alright. As my lips curled up slightly, Sophia playfully poked my cheek.

“Master. You’re smiling. Did you suddenly feel better?”

“Yeah. I feel better.”

I nodded with a smile. Where the carriage stopped, a distinguished gentleman in a fedora bowed his head.

“Welcome. We’ve been expecting you. Mr. Evan. Is that correct?”

I nodded. The old gentleman’s eyes scanned my entire body, then shifted to Sophia. The corners of his eyes twitched slightly, and he asked me a question.

“And who might the lady beside you be…? I understood your wife to be Ms. Flancia Isabel.”

“She’s my personal attendant. My wife couldn’t make the journey; it’s too far.”

Driving all the way through rough roads to this remote eastern wasteland to meet her husband’s former lover wouldn’t likely be an enjoyable trip for Isabel. That’s why I only brought Sophia, who had begged to come along on this trip. The old gentleman nodded and said.

“Understood. You must be quite tired from the journey here. Sophia-yang will be shown to her room immediately.”

“And me?”

The old gentleman looked at me and said.

“Mr. Evan, would you mind waiting in the reception room for a moment? The young lady wishes to meet you as soon as you arrive…”

“Not at all.”

“Very well. Sophia-yang, please come this way.”

“Yes-!”

Sophia answered in a cheerful voice, then turned her head to look at me. She whispered to me.

“He seems very well-educated. That woman, No. 13, must be rich.”

“If she’s rich, even better. She must be living happily. After seeing so many screwed-up lives, it feels good to finally meet a friend who’s doing alright.”

“Master. Are you going to screw No. 13 too?”

“Screw her? Me? My friend?”

I shook my head. No. 13 was my friend. She was a child I spent my youth with, someone I shared my most beautiful years with. There’s no way I’d screw a woman like that. Sophia looked at me with a puzzled expression, and I said.

“In those situations, there’s a nice expression: ‘making love’.”

If it’s consensual, it’s not screwing. It’s purely making love. I wanted to meet the adult No. 13. She was younger than me, but she was an adult. She was called pretty like a doll even as a child, so I was sure she’d be even more beautiful now.

We would probably have quite heartwarming conversations in bed. We might touch each other’s chests, rub our genitals together, and pour out our terrible memories. And after holding each other tight while counting the fancy patterns on the ceiling, we might even become more than friends – perhaps ‘family’.

“This way.”

Sophia got out first and followed the old gentleman, and I got out of the carriage right after her. Another servant appeared and said to me.

“I will guide you to the reception room.”

I nodded and followed him.

The reception room had the atmosphere of a furniture store that had never been prepared for guests. The furniture seemed rebellious against the interior design, and dust coated the ceiling. Cobwebs in the corner and dust piled on the window frames indicated that this room had never been used to receive guests.

“I apologize. Since we started living in this mansion, we’ve never had guests before…”

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, the servant apologized with a laugh. It wasn’t something he needed to apologize for, so I just nodded vaguely and looked around. The house, which looked strange from the outside, was equally strange on the inside. A damp, clammy aura permeated the entire house, and the servants were all muscular, as if drafted from a military camp, with strangely pale skin like plaster.

A faint smell of blood lingered in the mansion’s air. Whether it was from butchering indoors or from actual murder, I couldn’t tell, but the smell of blood was faint, like holding rusted metal right under your nose. The servant standing before me was short and had a large head, like a frog. His arms and legs were so tightly packed with muscle, they looked like they could deflect arrows. As I brushed the dust off the sofa and sat down, he said.

“You just need to wait a little bit. Hehehe…!”

He rubbed his palms together and spoke in a merchant-like tone. I always felt strange seeing things like this. It felt as if the entire mansion was some kind of trick or trap. The reason I didn’t bother investigating if it was a trap was because I was confident I could escape whatever happened in this mansion, and because I believed No. 13, who summoned me, would be just like she used to be. The current me, having grown quite strong, would be hard to capture unless someone like a northern Bison Beastman or a branch chief-level demon appeared. I sat on the sofa, waiting for the next encounter. Just as the servant’s sly laughter and the sound of his rubbing palms became bothersome, someone knocked on the door and said.

“Mr. Evan. The young lady is waiting.”

Young lady.

I thought it was an interesting expression. I walked, reveling in the feeling of being a prince. The fairy tale decorated its first page with the image of a prince walking towards the castle. It must have started like this.

[Once upon a time, there lived a princess trapped in a castle. A brave prince rushed towards the castle to save her.]

And the door opened, revealing silver hair shimmering in the dim lighting. Red eyes glinted from the gloomy shadows, staring at me. A white dress and silver hair.

Her face was exactly as I remembered it.

“Evan.”

And her eyes.

They were a little redder than I remembered.