Chapter 41
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She wished to ask someone for help, but the corridors remained utterly devoid of human presence.
Surely if she kept walking, she would eventually find the main hall. Abandoning any attempt at navigation, Fiona moved aimlessly, hoping a familiar space would appear.
Endless hallways and staircases stretched on, the stone walls of the long corridors completely bare without a single painting. The bleak walls, adorned with nothing but thick tapestries, were so empty they made the viewer’s heart feel desolate.
She walked through these dreary corridors for a long while. Just as a foreboding feeling arose that if she continued like this, she might walk all night without finding her room, a strange sound came from somewhere.
“Huk, huk…”
Through the empty corridor, a sound like someone weeping plaintively echoed.
Her joy at finally sensing a human presence lasted but a moment—the ominous crying sent chills down her spine.
‘Who could be alone in a place like this…’
She was past the age of losing sleep over ghost stories, but given the circumstances, fear was unavoidable.
Legends of banshees foretelling death and vampires who drank human blood flashed quickly through her mind.
After a moment, however, Fiona decided to investigate the source of the sound. Once her fear subsided somewhat, curiosity raised its head.
The sound came from not far away. At the end of the corridor opposite the direction she had intended to go, a door stood half-open, submerged in darkness.
Carefully slipping through the gap in the thick walnut door, the sound of crying grew clearer.
At the same time, the smell of dry paper, like that found in old books, and the heavy scent of leather reached Fiona’s nose. This appeared to be the castle’s library.
“Huhuhu, huuhuk. It’s ruined… Everything has fallen to ruin…”
As Fiona hesitantly stepped inside, words now accompanied the crying.
Briefly relieved that the source of the eerie sound was at least human, Fiona fully entered the library—only to find before her, surprisingly, not a human at all.
“…What?”
In truth, she did not even notice the creature at first. It was a small being, perhaps the size of a rooster when fully stretched, but it had curled its entire body into a tight ball.
At the sound of Fiona’s bewildered voice, the ball-like mass, which had been crying “Aaaaaah,” suddenly lifted its head.
‘A doll?’
The impression struck her the moment she saw the creature’s face.
With light brown skin like freshly baked bread, a plump face, eyes black as grapes, and a nose round as a cotton ball, it resembled an adorable stuffed doll. Its rounded body and short limbs were all chubby and charmingly plump.
Upon its head sat a liripipe with a long trailing tail, and upon its feet were poulaines with curled, rounded toes. Its garments, a dizzying medley of red and green, gold and blue, resembled a jester’s costume, yet the overall impression was that of a fairy creature from a children’s tale.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? Who are you, then? Why have you come here? Have you come to rummage through this place too? You are too cruel!”
The creature suddenly grew angry at the dumbfounded Fiona, then flopped onto the floor and began wailing “Aaaaaah” once more.
Far from threatening, its body curled into a ball resembled a colourful sphere, nearly making her burst into laughter, but she barely pressed her lips together and held it in.
Whatever the circumstances, laughing aloud at someone weeping so piteously would be terribly rude.
Moreover, if she soothed its sorrow somewhat, might she not then receive some explanation?
With such calculations, Fiona addressed the creature, which had buried its face in its plump hands, in a kindly voice.
“Listen, I do not know what you mean by rummaging, but I have no such intention. If you do not wish it, I shall do nothing at all.”
At Fiona’s words, the round ears protruding beneath its cap twitched, and the creature timidly raised its head again.
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