episode_0023

A night when deep darkness is coming.

Candles lighting the paths throughout the mansion light up on their own. From what I’ve observed, they start burning around 10pm and are extinguished around 6am.

The butler described the mansion to Arsent in as much detail as possible.

Arsent was terrified by the advice that monsters could appear anywhere and at any time. He tried not to let Ashe know his feelings, but it was difficult to fool the eyes of an experienced person.

Ashe openly treated Arsent coldly and suppressed him.

In fact, it was a rational choice. The rewards available were limited, while the number of people who wanted to get them was two.

Arsent’s visit turned the mansion into a competitive market.

‘It might be different if we cooperate with each other…’

The butler concludes that their cooperation is impossible.

They were sisters who had no trust in the first place. Even two close friends tend to be suspicious when their lives are in danger, so if their relationship was already ruined, the outcome was obvious.

‘Even so, it’s not a bad situation for me.’

I got one more spare.

Even if one of the sisters dies, the exploration of the mansion can continue. From the butler’s perspective, it’s like getting a coin in hand.

Of course, the best pattern remains the same.

“I wonder what will happen…”

The butler shook off his thoughts and stopped in front of a door with a luxuriously engraved pattern.

dripping.

A quiet knock on the door. He revealed his identity.

“It’s me.”

Soon, a sound is detected from inside. After a while, Asher’s face appears through the slowly expanding crack in the door.

“Butler…”

She bit her lips for a moment and then poured out her innermost feelings.

“I hate sharing a room!”

“Me too?!”

Arsent’s rebuttal immediately pierces my ears.

As the butler who had decided the whereabouts of the two people, I was at a loss for words.

That was the best decision. It would be easier to manage if we crammed them into one room.

“I’m sorry, but this is the only room that will satisfy you both.”

The room where Ashe and Arsent were staying was the Duchess’s private bedroom, that is, the room that Bernatienne used herself.

Of course, the bed is wide, and the interior of the room is luxurious. As soon as Ashe entered, she said that it was no less than the palace, so there is no need to say more.

“Or is one of you willing to give up the room?”

At the butler’s question, Ashe and Arsent locked eyes.

“You give in.”

“Why me? My sister, who is an uninvited guest, is leaving.”

“Wouldn’t it be proper etiquette for me, the eldest, to stay?”

“Do I know less manners than my sister? What about manners? Do you know how to do arithmetic? What is 1024+12480?”

“That, uh, three thousand four hundred…”

As soon as she made a mistake in her calculations of the hundredth place, Asher gave her a spirited rebuke.

“Huh, the attitude of a stupid person who is not even good at math discussing etiquette is ridiculous!”

“Your attitude is inappropriate for my sister!?”

“I’m proud to be a swindler.”

“What, what did you say?”

Oh, this got scratched hard.

The butler predicted the winner of the childish contest.

Asher had an invincible cheat key: the overwhelming status of Age.

“Why, aren’t you a lady? You’re a married woman, so should I call you a virgin?”

“Virgin…! That’s right…!”

At that moment, Arsent realized that the butler, a stranger, was listening and gritted his teeth.

But Asher ended up hitting the counter head-on while she was hesitating.

“Oh, of course you would. Old maid.”

“You…!!!”

“Hey, I didn’t know because I’m not educated enough? How could the concepts of a married woman and an old maid coexist? I’m starting to doubt the plausibility of this world.”

Asher’s speaking skills were amazingly eloquent.

Asher, who used to be a bossy and sullen person to the butler, was incredibly strong in a verbal fight between women.

“Whew… Why am I having such a wasteful argument? I guess I should just listen to that foolish nonsense.”

“Madam.”

“Anyway, I heard that arguing with a kid is detrimental to the adult?”

“Madam.”

“I’m really dirty…”

“Madam.”

“…… Haaa…!!!!”

Just now, that damned brat, he muttered plainly. It was a tone that was filled with the hatred that had clung to the abyss.

“Yeah, just a room. Just leave. Instead, I’ll have to take this guy.”

Arsent informed the butler, scolding him.

“Butler? Who cares?”

“Who is it that’s in control? It must be this guy’s will.”

Arsent tapped the butler on the shoulder.

“I’d rather be here taking care of a brat than me?”

“The older sister who abandoned many servants in the palace?”

“That was then, and this is now. And don’t you know, butler? If you take care of the house diligently, one day you might even be able to take care of the night.”

Arsent blinked his eyes haughtily like a cat. A vulgar gaze that was trying to seduce a man was staring right at him.

Of course, I didn’t mean it.

Even though he had fallen, Arsent was a marquis of the empire and had royal blood flowing through his veins. He had no intention of losing his purity to a lowly foreign race.

“Um…”

The butler exhaled deeply as if he was tired.

“I will refuse because it does not arouse even the slightest sexual desire.”

“… Huh?”

A ringing sound rang in Arsent’s ears, as if he was trying to delete words he didn’t want to hear as a defense mechanism.

“Also, I am not so foolish as to take a woman who already has a husband.”

Only after hearing the following words did the first statement I had ignored come to mind.

Even though she was a beauty that all men praised, her sexual desire… what?

Arsent unconsciously looked into Ashe’s eyes and asked for confirmation. Ashe nodded her head, tugging at the corners of her lips in an annoyed manner.

Arsent was sinking quietly. Ashe, who was confident, stepped on her even more.

“Puhahahahahahaha! My sister was a princess, so who would dare to disparage her by saying she was ugly? I can’t be objective about this topic, right?”

It was like Asher, a frog who had forgotten his tadpole days.

Arsent, indignant and resentful, turned his arrows toward the butler.

“You…! You’re such a shallow foreigner! You like that little kid better than me? Are you a pervert?”

Even though he heard an insult that was enough to make him jump, the butler still showed his displeasure. Instead, he fired indiscriminate shots.

“I’ve said this many times, but even if the world were to turn upside down, I would never be aroused by you two.”

“… Butler?”

“To be sure, I confess that Ashe is like… a young nephew who doesn’t listen. It’s difficult to even call him a voyeur.”

“Hey!!!”

“And, again… No, no. This is uncertain… so I guess I’ll have to reserve judgment.”

The butler became aware of some of his tastes after his last trip to the world of painting.

I hate westerners.

That is the true intention he chose.

Yes, it was because of the trauma that was engraved in me when I smelled the body odor and perfume of a Westerner who was working out hard at the gym and felt nauseous.

I don’t know if the humans in this world are the same. At least when I was helping Asher take a bath, there wasn’t any particular smell.

It is still a time when observation is necessary.

“…”

“…”

Ashe and Arsent were sitting on the wide bed, their strength drained.

Arsent was rejected unilaterally despite being seduced, and Ashe was rejected without even confessing.

Either way, the psychological trauma was severe.

“How about searching the Duchess’s room before going to bed?”

At the plain-spoken butler’s proposal, both men simultaneously expressed their intention to refuse.

“… I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“I’m tired…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The butler leisurely left the Duchess’s room. And as soon as he closed the door, a series of shouts echoed through the hallway.

“Because my sister said something like that…!”

“You first…!”

He was a butler who couldn’t see even an inch ahead of him.

◇

The next morning.

Warm sunlight poured down from the clear sky that spread after the rain. The sunlight streaming into the Duchess’ bedroom woke Ashe from her deep sleep.

Asher, who had developed the habit of going to bed early and waking up early, stretched.

On the other hand, Arsent, who used to wake up only when the sun was high in the sky, still instinctively rolled around in search of shade.

“How pathetic…”

Asher secretly mocked my sister.

Since he hasn’t experienced the mansion’s malice yet, he’s either being lazy or he’s just thinking that if he closes his eyes, someone will take care of it.

‘Let’s do a little research before calling the butler.’

I don’t want to show my sister’s disheveled skin to the butler.

Let’s just hold out until the blood relatives wake up from their deep sleep.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s a really luxurious room. I didn’t get to see it properly yesterday because I was fighting with my sister…’

The first thing you notice is the gold leaf on the wall. Yesterday, I thought it was just the dim orange lighting that colored the wall.

Even a single table was made of a huge amount of jewels. The handcuffs were made of rubies, and each surface was decorated with flowers using thin melted silver.

It was a room that contained the height of luxury, even in just one table.

In such rooms, Asher felt the vanity of the nouveau riche rather than the grandeur of the aristocracy.

‘It feels quite different from the impression you got of Bernacien?’

The description of Maid B in the maids’ diary, and the character of Maid B that Hayley experienced in her memories, were contradictory to the Duchess’ room.

It was not like Bernacien, who would empty his salary into giving a luxury scarf to a dog.

Druk.

Ashe, who opens the alliance empirically.

Sure enough, a diary was sleeping in the first compartment.

[The Duchess’s Diary]

Asher checked the title of the diary and carefully turned the first page.