The Uninvited Guest Of The Haunted Mansion (42)

Flinch.

Serenity’s body trembled.

These Anomalous beings all had such grotesque faces that it was impossible to read their expressions. It was a different kind of blankness than Blake’s, whose thoughts were unreadable.

“It seems it’s possible.”

Blake added on his behalf.

“…It’s suddenly a relief that the Duke is here.“

I wondered if this felt like having a dedicated interpreter.

“You only realized that now?”

She forced herself to ignore Blake’s grinning and fixed her gaze on the blacksmith. He clicked the lock on the box, stared at a corner for a long moment, flipped the box over, tapped it, then put it back on the table.

Then he fetched a sheet of paper and began writing something with his rough hands.

「Materials for the key:

-Pieces of the Mirror Room

-Three blood-red roses

-A sculptor’s carving knife

-■■■■’s ■■ ■■“

‘Hmm…?’

She could make out everything else, but the last item was the problem. No matter how Serenity tilted her head, the characters remained unreadable. They were indeed characters, but her mind could not interpret them.

‘What is it? It feels familiar, though…’

Serenity tilted her head as far as she could. Seeing that, the blacksmith again tugged up the corner of his mouth on the intact side and snickered.

…That had to be a smile. Probably.

“Can’t you read it?”

“No, not really…”

“Hmm.”

Blake propped his chin and, following suit, peered at the paper. After a long moment of concentration, Serenity looked up and stared at him.

“Can you read this?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“That’s something you’d better know after you’ve gathered the remaining materials.”

“Can’t I ask now?”

“Well… it’s not that you can’t, but it won’t leave you with a pleasant impression.”

It looked like something terrible again.

Serenity knew well that sometimes giving up quickly was better for her well-being.

‘Whatever it is, with conditions this finicky, whatever’s inside this box must be something I need.’

After all, the manor’s urban legends always went like this.

“Alright.”

Serenity nodded.

“So I just have to collect all of these myself, right?”

The blacksmith stared at Serenity instead of answering, then rose from his seat. From where he stood at the workbench came the clang, clang, clang of metal being struck.

It was both confirmation and an omen of sorts.

—

“Now the question is where to get these materials.”

Stepping out of the forge, Serenity muttered in a troubled tone. She could get the blood-red roses from the Primdellrose flower beds, but sadly it was winter and all the roses were gone. It would take at least three months for them to bloom.

“It’ll be hard to get a sculptor’s carving knife right away, won’t it?”

“Before we even obtain it, there’s a high chance you and I will be stabbed to death together, I think.”

“Oh dear…”

And she couldn’t very well go get that unknown ■■■■’s ■■ ■■ first either.

Serenity, who had been staring holes through the writing, snapped the paper shut and stuffed it into her pocket.

“Then the destination is already decided.”

The Mirror Room.

On the fifth floor of the manor’s Main Building there was a place called the ‘Mirror Room.’ It had no windows; instead the floor and ceiling were entirely mirrors. The Mirror Room could reflect and observe not only the person inside it but, if desired, various spots throughout the manor, and it was currently under the Countess’s jurisdiction.

“Fortunately, the Countess is away at the moment…”

“Will that be okay?”

“It’s safer than on days when she’s at home, definitely.”

Serenity felt oddly satisfied that, since this man had revealed himself, she no longer had to call the Countess ‘mother’ or ‘ma’ or the like.

The Mirror Room…

Honestly, it made her uneasy, but there was a reason people said to strike while the iron’s hot.

The problem was the process of getting in.

“Let’s stop by a few places on the way.”

“Now you even know how to step up and solve problems.”

…What was with that tone of admiration?

“I know I’m less than the Duke, but I haven’t been wasting my time here either.”

“Indeed.”

Why does it feel so irritating?

They stopped by the kitchen, where the cook, busy with cleaning up, greeted them. Serenity waved at the cook, whose mouth stretched to his ears to reveal black teeth, and said,

“I came to ask a favor.”

The cook tilted his head to the side.

“I was thinking of delivering some food to the fifth floor.”

The cook tilted his head nearly ninety degrees.

“I know, it’s a servant’s job. The thing is…”

Serenity beckoned the cook closer.

“I left something on the fifth floor. I’ll be back soon, could you keep it a secret from my mother just this once?”

Snik*.*

The cook’s mouth split down below his temples. He disappeared to the back of the kitchen for a moment and returned carrying a huge metal pot heaped with meat soaked in blood. He showed sharp black teeth and let out a chittering laugh that seemed to amuse him.

“…Thank you, I’ll be sure to repay you next time.“

Blake took the pot from Serenity’s hands.

“So you extract servants’ cooperation so easily now.”

“Thanks to the Duke. If it weren’t for the last incident, I’d probably have been the ingredient before I even got to ask.”

“Come to think of it, I think I heard that the servant who made a mistake at the last banquet had his leg found behind the kitchen.”

“…Look at that.“

Serenity shivered, the hairs on her arms rising.

“Shall we go now?”

“There’s one more place to go.”

This time they headed toward the back of the Main Building. A laundry maid carrying a basket of cloth and a trainee maid were in sight.

“Oh my, miss! Lovely miss! What brings you all the way here? What brings you here?”

The laundry maid and the trainee maid, spotting them, fluttered over with their bluish skin rippling.

“Have you been well?”

“Of course! I’m doing fine every single day! Doing fine, I am!”

“All thanks to you, miss!”

Serenity smiled mechanically and looked from one maid to the other. The trainee maid had been entirely stitched back together in the meantime. Apart from the sewing marks left across her skin, she looked like a healthy child.

“What brings you this far? What brings you here?”

“Perhaps there’s a garment your mother left for mending?”

“The mistress’s dress? You mean the mistress’s dress?”

“Anything will do. I have some use for it.”

“Just a moment, just a moment!”

The lively laundry maid dug through the fabrics and pulled out a thin slip. It was a garment the Countess often wore as sleepwear.

‘…Of all things, sleepwear?’

Serenity’s expression turned ambiguous.

“Any other dresses? For going out, perhaps?”

“We don’t have any right now! We don’t have any right now!”

Oh dear, this is problematic.

The laundry maid, watching Serenity’s disappointed face, lowered her eyebrows and looked around furtively.

“Miss, lovely miss. Would this be insufficient? Would this be insufficient?”

“Hm, no. This will do. Thank you.”

“That’s a relief, that’s a relief! But why the clothes? Why is that? Should I tell the mistress? Shall I inform her?”

“No, could you keep it secret from my mother?”

“A secret? A secret?”

“Yes, it’s a secret between the two of us. Can you keep it?”

Serenity whispered playfully, and the laundry maid’s cloth eyes showed a flicker of interest.

“Ah, kind miss! Kind miss! I’ll follow anything you say! I will!”

The laundry maid mockingly pretended to sew up her own and the trainee maid’s mouths and declared proudly she would never tell. Serenity hurriedly stopped her before she actually pulled out a needle to stitch her mouth shut.

“A promise is enough.”

“Is that alright? Is that alright with you?”

“Yes, anyway, thank you. See you later.”

Leaving the fussy laundry maid behind, Serenity returned to her room and sank into deep thought.

The thing was, the only thing Serenity could wear to access the third floor was the Countess’s clothing. But wearing that and parading through the manor would be far too humiliating. Serenity knew shame.

“What are you worrying about so much?”

Blake, watching Serenity’s serious expression from the sofa, asked.

“It’s the clothes…”

“I like them.”

Blake laughed rakishly.

“If it really bothers you, just cover it with something on top.”

“If you do that, you’ll probably be dead before you even find the Mirror Room.”

At the entrance to the east wing’s fifth floor, a gigantic beast called a Kelir guarded the corridor, refusing passage to anyone whose scent it did not remember.

Previously, a maid who was supposed to receive a handover stepped into the corridor without formal procedures and had her head torn off. For a while, the sound of wooden heads tumbling echoed down the fifth-floor corridor.