episode_0018

I instinctively lowered my gaze.

An outfit of a knit top over a white shirt. Underneath, he wore smooth black cotton pants.

It was a typical Korean high school student’s spring and fall uniform.

I had forgotten about it.

Before I was dragged to another world, I was just a seventeen-year-old high school student. Until last year, I was just an ordinary kid who had been learning the basics of trigonometry in middle school.

“… That’s right. I was a student.”

Now that so many years have passed, even if I try to relive the innocence of my teenage years, my mood only sinks. My soul, which has become an incurable adult, has been forced to calm its agitation and understand the phenomenon.

I stopped a passerby and asked him.

“Excuse me. What is the date today?”

“Huh? Ah…”

The man who was caught with such a trivial question let out an unpleasant groan. Did he mistake it for a hookup by a cult member?

Still, I got an answer.

“It’s November 1st.”

“What year is it?”

“It’s 2024. You’re asking all sorts of questions…”

November 1, 2024. It was the same day as the last time I set foot in Korea.

Was it all a dream?

Was all that memory of being locked in a strange mansion and spending an unknown amount of time just a momentary delusion?

If all that I did to help that girl who knew how to throw a tantrum was… in vain, then I…

“Ha, that can’t be true.”

I became certain of one thing.

To prove my belief, I went into a nearby building and looked for a mirror.

Then, a well-cleaned glass window caught my eye. Instead of a mirror, I got closer to the glass window and looked at myself.

“Then that’s right.”

The appearance is not reflected.

The pedestrians behind me are lost in the well-lit glass window, leaving only me behind.

It was the same in the mansion. My image was not reflected in the windows and mirrors. So I still don’t know my face.

Because I am a ghost.

Because it is a spiritual being that has substance only inside the mansion.

I am rejected from this world. I am deprived of the right to even know my true self…

“Is this… a world of conversation?”

Little by little, my last memories from the mansion are coming back to me.

When Asher was sucked into the painting, I gave them an order.

[You have to take me there.]

So the people in the picture silently pulled me in, and this is the result.

“Even so, I wonder why the scenery of the world of painting is Korea…”

The people in the picture probably didn’t do this on purpose to get drunk. They are so ignorant of modern civilization that they couldn’t possibly realize such a fantasy.

It would be more reasonable to assume that the world of painting is created by certain rules.

“… Perhaps the escape from the world of painting depends on Ashe’s actions.”

I sat on the steps and leisurely looked up at the sky.

Above the dusky blue sky, a pale moon was surrounded by a dim halo.

The scenery of my hometown that I had left behind in my memories was much more beautiful than the faint remnants of my memories.

◇

Mirelda’s dedicated maid job was easy. Honestly, it was so simple that it was overwhelming.

Becoming a friend to my boss and comforting him, or running simple errands for him. It was so peaceful that I felt completely relaxed.

Our intimacy has also increased considerably, so now instead of calling her Madam, I call her Lady Mirelda.

“It was much harder to chase the hunting dogs on the first floor.”

Even now, when I recall my first death, my side aches. And when I was engaged in a life-threatening chase, a chilling sensation seemed to churn my stomach.

On the other hand, these days, when people are leisurely serving others…

“It’s comfortable, it’s comfortable. Actually, only the first floor is difficult, and the rest of the floors can be eaten raw, right?”

Asher looks forward to the future with great confidence. It seems that he has overlooked the truth that convenient desires become more distant the more they are spoken of.

“Lady Mirelda, how long do you plan to stay at the palace?”

“Well, he won’t tell me the exact date.”

“Really? That’s weird…”

“They all have meaning.”

“Hmm.”

Asher groaned in embarrassment.

Even though Mirelda’s husband was the captain of the Imperial Guard, the rules he had to follow were strict. Unless he was an internal employee of the palace, entry into the palace was strictly controlled.

Flights that extend beyond the specified dates are not permitted.

Therefore, it would have been strange for the Holy See himself to have allowed Mirelda, an outsider, to stay indefinitely.

“Mirelda trusts you very much.”

“That’s how it should be.”

It was an answer with a really strange nuance.

It is natural to trust your husband. That is the universal perception.

However, Asher felt that Mirelda’s answer was mechanical. It was as if it had been ingrained into her through spoon-fed education that it had to be that way.

“Can I ask how you two met?”

“Well… Just like everyone else. When he got the title, he got a political marriage proposal from me, the daughter of a baron.”

“You’ve been married for a long time, surprisingly? You’re so beautiful, I thought you were newlyweds.”

“Oh, so that’s it? Haha… That’s a relief.”

Well, she’s young for her age, but she’s not a great beauty to be praised.

Asher sneered inwardly.

Since ancient times, only those like yourself or the Duchess of Arkaden can be called beauties!

… or maybe Maid B?

As Asher grew more confident, Mirelda smiled gently.

“Oh, it’s already late at night. Sally, you should hurry up and go to bed too.”

“Then excuse me, Mirelda. Good night.”

Asher quietly left Mirelda’s room. Then he went into the next room and stretched out on the spacious bed.

This was the result of Mirelda asking her personal maid for a nearby room. Thanks to this, Ashe was able to enjoy a spacious single room instead of the shabby maid’s quarters.

“Ugh… This is life. I didn’t even want to go into Maid A’s room.”

After a long time, I was able to fully experience the atmosphere of the palace, and my condition was improving.

If I hadn’t had the goal of taking revenge on my older brother in reality, I might have lived a satisfying life in the painting world.

Soon, Asher put out all the lights and prepared to go to bed.

The starlight pouring in from the window was splendid. As I admired that beautiful sight, the image that came to mind was the gloomy mansion of Arkaden.

To be a little more specific, it was a butler crouching in the darkness.

‘It seemed like that guy couldn’t leave the mansion as he pleased…’

It was obvious that the butler had no particular affection for the mansion. He had silently accepted Ashe’s somewhat excessive whining.

‘He doesn’t know how soft this bed is, and he doesn’t know how wide the night sky is. If I think about it that way, it’s a little pitiful…’

He said that he had to open all the doors to the mansion to enter. If that was true, then the butler would always be sleeping in the hallway like a homeless person, exposed to the cold wind!

… In this way, Asher secretly arrived at an accurate deduction.

Once I get lost in thought, sleep disappears.

I felt like I was going to stay up all night.

Still, lack of sleep is the enemy of beautiful skin, so I tried to keep my eyes tightly shut.

─Druk.

Until an annoying noise from the window started tickling my ears.

“Ugh?!”

Trusting his fleeting sense of crisis, Asher quickly rolled to the side.

Kwak!

At that moment, there was a sound of something hitting the bed and goose feathers fluttered.

Asher straightened his posture and identified the intruder.

“This…!”

He lamented in a low voice.

He was a man who covered his entire body in pitch-black clothing. From the black hood pulled tightly down to the black cloth covering his lower body, to the black robe that tried to conceal his body in the darkness.

Anyone who saw it would be amazed at how he was dressed, advertising himself to the world as an assassin.

“No regrets. Die…!”

“Ugh, eww!?”

Shit, shit, shit, shit, fuck, damn, fucking shit!

If it were my original body, I would have fought back.

But this kind of maid’s wretched body has no chance of defeating a trained adult male.

…I had expected it to be like that.

Thud!

I instinctively grab the man’s wrist. That was it…

The other person’s reaction was somehow strange.

“Oh, ugh…! What kind of woman has this much strength…!”

“Huh?”

The man’s hand was held by Asher and did not move.

“What is this… so weak?”

“Don’t make me laugh…!”

Suddenly, the man whose pride was hurt raised his voice in protest. But nothing changed.

Still, Asher tightened his wrists, so tightly that the blood flow was cut off and he was on the verge of necrosis.

“Yep.”

puck!

Asher slammed down on the arm he was holding with the edge of his hand. Then, with a “crack,” the man rolled across the floor.

“Keuheup…!”

Even while desperately holding back a scream…

Asher leisurely snatched the sword that the man had owned.

‘Hmm… I guess I’m strong since the assassin isn’t weak. But even if I get my original body back, it won’t be like this…’

Let’s put the question aside for now.

The important thing is that I have gained a convenient power.

Kwak!

Asher placed the knife near the man’s neck and began to tilt it diagonally, like a lever.

“Okay, can you tell me quickly? The sword is heavy, so I feel like my hand is going to get weak.”

A refreshing smile naturally formed on my face at the sudden feeling of omnipotence.

“Obey me, monkey.”

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[Item: Hound’s Ashes]

[An urn containing the ashes of the hunting dog Hailey. It grants its owner the physical abilities of the spirit Hailey.]

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