Chapter 19
19
Squeak-
The door slowly revealed the interior, creaking as if it hadn't been opened in a long time.
"Heuh... Ugh..."
Simone approached Lise and tightly grasped her arm.
Lise, her face drenched in cold sweat and tears as if her body wouldn't move as she willed, only rolled her eyes to look at Simone.
What on earth is going on?
To break the curse, its true nature must be known.
To do so, she had deliberately come down to the basement to confront the curse head-on, but she never expected Lise to be swept up in the curse as well.
She was very confused by the sudden situation, but she could instinctively sense one thing.
Going inside would be a disaster.
"M-My body..."
Simone held Lise tightly to prevent her from entering the open door, while also scanning the room.
The room was strangely dark. Even though they were so close, and Lise's lantern was shining brightly, she had to squint with all her might to barely make out the silhouette of the room.
"No, what the heck is going on!"
Her voice naturally rose. No matter how much she pulled, Lise wouldn't budge, and it was obvious that the inside of that door was dangerous.
But she couldn't just drag the resisting Lise away by force.
She had planned to save Anna, but she hadn't planned to face such a crisis so suddenly!
"Heok!"
At that moment, Lise, who had been standing still and trembling, gasped.
Lise's pupils trembled endlessly, and the young servant desperately tried to look behind her with a head that wouldn't turn.
"Lise?"
"Heueu..."
Simone's movements also stopped as she found Lise's change strange and examined her.
A small hand reached out from behind Lise, who was silently shedding tears as if she was buried in fear and couldn't even make a sound, wrapping around her body as if to embrace her.
The pale arm hugged Lise tightly and pulled her inside.
Simone couldn't help but be taken aback. Although the hand was bloodless, it belonged to someone familiar.
The hand that always kindly poured tea for Simone. She remembered saying that the particularly small hand had many scars.
"Anna."
The black shadow that had been burying its face in Lise's back raised its head the moment Simone called her name.
Simone's eyes quietly widened.
That was not Anna. Disheveled orange hair, small hands, and freckles.
Something incomplete.
It was the spitting image of Anna's features, but the eyes that stared at Simone were not human.
More like a reptile-
It grinned with a torn mouth when it met Simone's eyes and hugged Lise tighter.
"Aaaaaaack!!!!!!"
"...Ah."
Simone barely came to her senses after hearing Lise's scream.
Lise was desperately looking at Simone as if begging to be saved quickly.
Simone hurriedly channeled Mana into her hand and brought it to the pale hand that was tightly holding Lise.
At that moment, a scream was heard.
Darkness deeper than darkness wrapped around the pale hand and covered it.
'This is...'
Lise's pupils trembled with another fear.
Death Mana. The Death Mana that Necromancer use.
Simone's hair fluttered along with the vibrations, unable to withstand the power of the Mana.
Just a little stronger. Just a little more.
Knock the hand away, but just enough so that Lise doesn't get hurt.
The pale hand trembled as if in pain as the massive Death Mana gradually intensified, but then it let go of Lise and disappeared inside.
Then, the door that had been wide open creaked shut again.
"Heok... Heok..."
"Keueok... Ugh!"
Lise, who had barely escaped from it, collapsed to the floor and coughed painfully.
Her stuffy breath was released, and her body, which had not been moving, finally began to move.
Her complexion, which had been pale as if she was about to faint, gradually returned to its original color.
"Heueu... Thank you, Simone..."
She thought she was going to die like this.
Lise looked at Simone with tearful eyes and clung to her tightly.
If Simone hadn't been here, she would have been dragged away and killed by it.
"S-Suddenly, I heard Anna's voice... and after that, I-I don't remember... When I came to my senses, I was here... Heueuk..."
Simone headed for the door, paying no attention to her words.
"Can you go back alone?"
Lise, who had been crying endlessly at her question, was startled and grabbed Simone's arm.
"A-Are you going in? No! It's dangerous... Simone, let's go back together..."
Of course, she was also afraid of going alone, but more than that, she was more worried about Simone, who looked like she was about to open that door right away.
Simone looked at the trembling hand that was tightly clutching her arm.
Then, she smiled, pulled her hand away, and looked at Lise.
"I'm staying in this mansion to do that dangerous thing."
Because she was doing dangerous things, she could stay in this mansion with luxurious treatment and dignity.
"If you're scared, I'll take you, or go back quickly."
Lise's dissuasion had no effect on Simone at all. Eventually, Lise bit her lip and let go of Simone's arm. Judging by her resolute attitude that didn't even look at her, it seemed that persuasion and dissuasion would not work.
"I-I'll go back. Simone, be careful."
Simone nodded, and Lise glanced at Simone repeatedly, but quickly left the place.
Simone opened the door wide when she could no longer hear Lise's footsteps.
As expected, the inside was not visible at all, even though they were so close.
But Simone wasn't particularly scared. Of course, she was surprised when someone's hand wrapped around Lise's body, but it wasn't as grotesque as the Tree Monster.
Simone stepped into the room without hesitation.
"...Heum."
There's nothing here.
Simone stretched out her hands and waved them around. It was dark inside the room, so she couldn't see well, but she couldn't feel anything.
Anna and the owner of the arm she saw earlier were not here. All that was there was a rat living in the deserted room.
Nothing happened, and no voices were heard. However, she could hear a small sound of something hard being chewed from somewhere.
Simone groped around the wall and sighed.
"Hiding."
Judging by the sound, it's definitely here. It seems like it's not planning to show itself today.
Simone stayed in the room for a while, but eventually gave up and returned to her room.
And the next morning, Simone was able to meet Anna, who greeted her casually.
Anna poured tea into a teacup.
Simone drank the tea that Anna poured and looked around the quiet room.
Only a stillness that was so quiet that it was even chilly flowed.
The servants avoided Anna with stiff faces and did their own work, and Simone also didn't bother to look at Anna and ask where she had been.
Unless they were completely oblivious, they couldn't have not known that the Anna in front of them was not real.
Crunch- Crunch- Simone recalled the sound that she couldn't forget in her head.
The sound of chewing on something hard.
A folktale that comes to mind because of that sound.
Knock- Knock-
While drinking the tea that the fake Anna was pouring and listlessly flipping through the manual, someone knocked on the door.
A butler, whose face she was not yet familiar with, came in and informed her that Ren, a swordsman from the Adventurer's Guild, and Crown Prince Louisby had come to see Simone.
"It's been a while, Simone."
Louisby greeted her and looked around.
Her room was usually quiet except for Simone, but today it was so quiet that it was beyond quiet, to the point where it was uncomfortable to open her mouth.
'What's going on?'
Simone, realizing Louisby's thoughts, silently raised her hand and sent all the servants in the room out.
Louisby asked as soon as all the servants left.
"What's wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"The atmosphere is strange today. Is there a new curse or something?"
Louisby's gaze turned to the manual on the table. Simone closed the manual and asked him.
"Do you know what a Shapeshifting Rat is?"
"Pardon? Shapeshifting Rat? I've never heard of it."
"It's a folktale that circulates in the village where I lived..."
It's a story about a rat that eats human fingernails for a long time and pretends to be the owner.
While the owner is away from home, the transformed rat acts as the owner, and the family believes that the rat that has turned into a human is real, driving the real one out as a fake.
"There's a story like that too. It seems really scary if that's real."
Louisby said seriously.
"From the owner's point of view, and from the family's point of view. The owner will see a fake pretending to be himself, and the family will live with someone without even knowing that the person next to them is fake."
Simone stared intently at Louisby. This story would have resonated with him too.
Louisby suddenly came to his senses at her gaze and asked.
"But why are you suddenly talking about folktales?"
"Well, I just suddenly thought of it."
Crunch- Crunch-
Because the sound she heard in that room last night kept lingering in her ears.
"Anyway. Let's move on from that, what brings you here? You must be busy looking for the jewel."
"We're still looking for the jewel. There's no progress yet, though. More than that, I came today to answer the proposal you mentioned last time."
"Oh."
Simone smiled. Louisby's expression looked very solemn.
