episode_0022

“… Are you kidding me?”

“Does it look like that?”

Asher’s red eyes were cold.

Arsent felt a sense of crisis at the change in her brother, who had always been easygoing. And that sense of crisis immediately rang an alarm in her consciousness, causing her to kick open the door and run out.

Asher, who followed her sister slowly, soon witnessed a typical reaction.

“What, what is this…! Why won’t it open? Did you lock the door?”

“Where is the outdoor locking door?”

“Well, then…!”

Arsent ran straight to the room where he had changed his clothes. Then he lifted up an iron chair and threw it with all his might toward the glass window that reflected the outside of the mansion.

bang!

The chair fell limply to the ground, leaving a loud thud. Arsent didn’t stop there, but picked up the chair again and slammed it hard against the glass window several times.

Boom! Boom! Kwaang!

The behavior, which had been going on in fits and starts, finally came to a halt after she had slammed the glass window twenty times.

Arsent had no choice but to admit that this mansion was unusual.

“Ma, that’s ridiculous…”

“Okay.”

“You…?”

“Still, you’re lucky, sister.”

At least my younger brother has already taken care of the pain of having his flesh chewed by that giant jaw.

Asher mumbled quietly.

“Arshela… You, do you know something…!?”

“I know.”

“Tell me right now. What the hell is this place!”

Arsent grabbed Ashe by the shoulders and shook her.

“I…”

Bam!

Asher shook Arsent off with extraordinary force and spoke emotionlessly.

“Is there any reason to explain it to my sister so kindly?”

“That’s what you call it!”

“Of course.”

The ill-fated relationship between Asher and her older brother began when she was born.

The former emperor had four wives, including the empress and empress dowager, and Ashe’s mother was a dancer of low birth. As a result, Ashe was often looked down upon as the child of low birth.

However, it seems that there is no law that says you have to die.

The Emperor did not openly seek out the empress who was of low birth, but he favored Ashe, perhaps due to a combination of guilt and the fact that she was the youngest.

Acting in a way that would please his father was Ashe’s own survival strategy.

‘…Because of that, I was kicked out in first place.’

As he monopolized the favor, he became the object of bitter jealousy from his older brothers.

It was no different with Arsent.

She spread rumors about Ashe in the society, degrading her to the point of being nothing more than a pet. At one point, she even enjoyed gossiping about Ashe, saying that she was a backstabber to the emperor and that she was indulging in luxury and vanity.

Ashe didn’t want to be swayed by such nonsense, so she devoted herself to her studies.

As a result, he became the only member of the imperial family to graduate from the academy through the official route at the time. The former emperor was also pleased with this, which led to a vicious cycle of jealousy.

“Phew… tsk.”

Bad memories that were buried are sprouting up again and making me click my tongue.

I also remember being there for my mother as she rapidly became weaker. After that, I remember my blood relatives who, during the funeral, just threw flowers and left as if they were annoyed.

Ashe was a princess who lived such a life.

The palace was a gilded box, and the seemingly arrogant personality was the ribbon that decorated the box.

But in reality, it is just an old pair of shoes packed in a precious box.

He was just that kind of person.

“Don’t expect my help. I never once believed we were family.”

“Are you really going to do this?!”

“Oh, it’s going to be like this.”

Asher climbed the stairs, leaving Arsent screaming.

A portrait of Bernacien, still boasting her ageless beauty, looked down on the petty squabble between sisters.

Asher paused in front of a large portrait.

“… Why.”

Asher, who had been biting her lips tightly, let out a boiling voice.

“I’m stuck in a mansion like this.”

The reality of venting my grievances to a woman who had been dead for hundreds of years was just plain funny.

“You, the mistress of this horrible mansion, are the worst. You probably don’t even know what the gentleman outside is doing. There must be a reason why this kind of family fell into ruin.”

Bad thoughts keep creeping into my head.

On the subject of maids, you must have seduced Herreis and taken in the Duchess. Life must have been easy.

That’s why we can so indifferently observe other people’s misfortune.

Express your negative feelings to the portrait of the deceased. This way, you won’t accidentally take your anger out on the butler.

Asher bowed his head like a ripened rice seed.

“… Huh?”

At that moment, I doubted my eyes.

Because there was something there that shouldn’t be there.

Asher slowly bent down and picked it up.

“… Coin? Why is this lying here?”

Asher recalled the past as he put the coins in his leather pouch.

If there was a coin when you first went up to the second floor with the butler, you couldn’t have missed it.

If I had just looked at the portrait and passed by, the butler’s condition suddenly worsened and he sat on the nearby stairs for a long time.

Even if Asher had missed it, the butler would have found it.

‘… Well, it’s a good thing, so don’t worry too much about it.’

Considering the hardships they’ve been through, even giving them 100 coins each wouldn’t be enough.

I decided to consider it as a reward for at least some of my hard work.

◇

Step, step.

Two people walk in step.

It was the gait of Asher and the butler.

Crack, crack.

But then, irregular steps follow.

‘I have to be careful…!’

It was Arsent’s gait that kept his distance.

The atmosphere in Ashe was quite different from when he lived in the palace. Arsent was not stupid enough to make such a judgment.

Besides, this mansion is extremely creepy.

The same goes for the portrait of the Duchess I saw while climbing the stairs. The smiling face was strangely eerie, so I immediately turned around.

‘But… I’m pretty tired.’

We had a long chase in pouring rain. To be honest, I felt like I needed to take a nap to recover from my fatigue.

‘No, this is not the time to just sleep leisurely.’

I pinch my thighs to drive away the hazy energy.

If you think about it calmly, the most suspicious person in the current situation is the butler walking next to Ashe. It’s crazy to call yourself a servant in such a haunted house.

But even if you’re not in your right mind, there’s a lot of information to be gained…

Arsent steeled his resolve and followed the footsteps of the two men ahead of him.

“Hey, you. You said you were the butler of this mansion? ”

“Yes.”

It was when they exchanged only one question and answer.

Ashe, who had been watching this with displeasure, gently tugged on the butler’s sleeve.

“Butler.”

“Yes, Asher.”

“You know what you promised me, right?”

“… I know.”

Don’t betray.

She was referring to a verbal agreement they had made in the break room on the first floor.

The reason for reconfirming it now is unclear. That was the butler’s intention.

An awkward atmosphere sets in.

But Arsent did not give up and spoke.

“Hey, what is this mansion that you’re locking us in?”

“Didn’t Asher teach you?”

“I didn’t teach you.”

The butler turned his head and stared at Ashe. Then Ashe puffed out her cheeks slightly and slowly averted her gaze.

“Sigh…”

The butler realizes at that point that the sisters’ friendship is a mess.

I had assumed that it would be fortunate for a person I could rely on to appear, but it seems like it would be an eventful relationship.

“If you want to escape this place, you must solve the mansion’s secrets.”

“Secret?”

“Yes, it’s a secret.”

The butler gave Arsent a general account of the situation, detailing everything from the general relationships he had discovered in the maids’ diaries to the chases he had had with the hounds.

As the story progressed, Arsent’s face turned pale.

“Wow, that’s ridiculous! It wasn’t just the atmosphere that was creepy, it was a real monster mansion?”

“That’s it.”

“That’s not even funny…!”

Arsent, indignant, recalled Ashe’s notice.

[Here. This is not a place where my sister can maintain her noble dignity.]

[Sister, I’m trapped.]

I thought it was just the nonsense of my brother who got kicked out and became mentally ill. But it turns out that nonsense is reality.

Arsent pinched my thigh again, wondering if I was dreaming.

‘Ugh!’

The vivid sensation brought her back to the harsh reality.

‘First of all… I need to recruit this butler. He must have the know-how to be a servant in a mansion like this.’

Arsent, who is a solid common sense person. She spoke to the butler.

“How long have you been working here?”

“I didn’t know it until now, but it seems like it’s been working for about 500 years.”

Ashe and Arsent were both shocked by the butler’s answer.

“What?!”

“… Are you kidding?”

No matter how the sister reacted, the butler did not correct himself. He simply maintained a consistent expression as if he had forgotten how to smile.

Surprisingly, his silence guaranteed trust.

“Ha… haha.”

Arsent laughed faintly.

I can tell by intuition that the thickest thread in this mansion is clearly the butler.

So… whether his words are true or false, we should first build intimacy through everyday conversation.

“Oh, by the way, you call Arcela by the nickname the late emperor used?”

“That’s how it happened.”

“They seem to be closer than I thought…”

Meanwhile, a flash of lightning struck Ashe’s mind as she was eavesdropping on Arsent’s conversation.

‘… Really? At some point I forgot to ask. How did the butler know my nickname…?’

He looked up at the butler with a questioning look. However, the butler seemed to have little intention of answering.

“I never thought there would be a servant who would call the royal family by a nickname. Are they not on good terms?”

“Because I didn’t know Asher’s real name.”

“Oh my, I guess I gave you a fake name.”

“… No, that’s not it.”

Asher retorted in a low voice.

“It’s good that you know the name now. That child is at an age where he or she should be looking for a marriage partner.”

It was a signal to call him by his real name, at least for Asher’s sake.

That’s a valid opinion.

So, the butler politely advised the frowning Asher.

“I apologize if this made you uncomfortable. I am ashamed, but if you allow me, I will call you by your proper name from now on.”

“No!!!”

Asher immediately denied it.

“… You can call me Ash. I think it’ll be confusing if you call me that much and then change my name.”

“Okay, I will.”

As soon as the butler answered, Ashe pulled the butler’s sleeve even more tightly and brought him closer to her.

Next she gave Arsent a stinging, piercing look.

There is such a thing as power in words.

The two royals, who knew this well, continued a clever war of nerves.