Chapter 154
Of course, Melissa grew fond of Maid Cynthia and ended up helping her escape, coming to treasure her dearly. After that, once Segleninde assigned her a new role, she left her beloved axe abandoned in the atelier and never killed Sia again.
However.
“…I can’t forgive you either, Melissa.”
Sia closed the laptop once more.
After that, every day, at least once, creatures would appear on her laptop screen.
After Melissa, the next to appear were the three maids who had served Sia in the mansion. Instead of flower buds atop their necks, they now had human heads, and they were waving their hands and sobbing on the screen.
[Master hasn’t eaten anything at all!] [We miss you so much, Madam Consort!]
“You know your master doesn’t need to eat to survive, right? If he’s starving because he won’t hunt humans, wonderful.”
Even as she said that, Sia’s heart ached.
She knew all too well what it meant for him to starve. It meant he was no longer inviting anyone to his banquets or absorbing any life force at all.
While Sia had stayed in the mansion, he’d only taken as much life force as necessary to sustain himself by sleeping together, so by now, unable to take in anything, he must have been quite famished. Would he start hunting people again?
The thought was horrifying, but Sia forced herself to dismiss any feelings of sympathy toward Segleninde.
After that, new creatures continued to appear.
[We even created new dishes just for you… but there’s no one to eat them.]
It was the Butcher Cook brothers. This time, instead of gaping holes in their faces, they had proper facial features and appeared in neat chef’s uniforms, looking gloomy.
Sia managed to turn them away as well. But the next ones who appeared were truly hard to ignore.
[Squeak-squeak-squeak, squeak-squeak! Squeak!]
All the Ghost Rats she had trained were now gathered on the screen.
The mice chattered and worked hard to build a tower with their bodies, and at the very top, they formed the shape of a star. The tricks she’d taught them had developed to a dazzling degree.
Tears shone in the eyes of the mice as they stood firm, showing off their balance and skill to her.
It was as if they were saying, Master, we miss you.
Sia struggled to turn even them away. It was the same with everyone else who appeared. No matter how many creatures she had grown close to during her stay in the mansion, no matter how tearfully they begged her to return, she never once replied and simply closed her laptop.
Eventually, even the old merchant woman, Clara, appeared.
With her four skinny, gnarled hands, she waved a crooked piece of paper that said, ‘Come back’.
They all genuinely missed her.
Knowing she was weak to affection, they appealed to her emotions, while a few—who seemed to think even that was a form of deception—just briefly shared updates.
With the Count of Obel’s existence erased from the world, a woman of a branch family was now the family head. At the Wincastle Manor, there had been another banquet recently, but this time, no one died and everyone left safely, while Segleninde had locked himself away in his room.
In addition, new flowers had been planted in the mansion’s front garden. Apparently, the seasons had already turned to winter in that world, so they had even found shrubs that would stay lively in the cold.
The one who delivered this news was Segleninde.
[I wanted to show you the new flowers, but this place is like a spiritual space connecting your world and mine, so I can’t bring physical things here.] [Planting flowers is harder than I thought. Even though they’re my own creations, the gardeners look at me like I’m pathetic.] […You can laugh at me for doing something so out of character if you want.]
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.