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The mirror room was unusually sparsely visited, even among the east wing’s fifth floor. Aside from the Countess, there were few who came and went, and Kellir guarding the fifth-floor east wing didn’t help, but more than that…
-An outsider! An intruder!
-It’s an intruder, an intruder! An intruder has come!
-Why come here? Planning to become a toy?
-A new toy?
The figure in the mirror, whose icy pupils had scanned the two of them intently, began to cackle with a ripping laugh. The clamorous sounds coming from all around made Serenity urgently cover her ears.
‘These damned mirrors!’
That was because the Anomalous beings inside this mirror room, called ‘sang’, were among the most vicious entities in the manor. In fact, aside from the Countess, there was no one in the manor who could control them.
‘I wish the Countess’s temperament would be helpful right now.’
She sighed inwardly.
Meanwhile, seeing reflections wearing Serenity’s and Blake’s faces, grinning with mouths torn wide, sent chills from her toes upward. It was exactly what you would call an unpleasant valley.
Blake, equally displeased by the sight, rarely scowled as he slowly scanned them.
He turned his head and mouthed a question.
How do you plan to deal with them?
At that moment, a ‘sang’ that had read Blake’s lip movement shouted sharply.
-Deal with them? Deal with them? Insolent intruders!
-You ignored us!
-This is our space; you are our toys!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sangs in the mirrors, eyes flickering and wide, pounded the glass vigorously. The enormous noise created the illusion that the entire room was shaking.
Serenity cleared her dizzy head and shook it roughly. Then she stepped so close she wouldn’t be reflected and whispered into Blake’s ear.
“These things read lip shapes. There’s no benefit to provoking them. They have nasty temperaments.”
“You know that somehow.”
“Luckily, Duke, I know what you don’t.”
Serenity stepped back slightly, drew a shallow breath, and stared straight ahead.
The sangs of the mirror room were very mischievous. Except for the Countess who controlled them, anyone who entered the room inevitably became their target of torment. Not only Serenity but other Anomalous beings were no exception. That was why the mirror room was shunned even among the servants.
But one fortunate thing was…
“I came to play a wager with you.”
They liked wagers.
Serenity recalled the mansion’s ‘rules’ note.
22. The ‘mirror room’ on the fifth floor of the east wing is a useful room for surveying the manor.* However, the ‘sang’ that inhabit it are mischievous rascals who will surely make visitors who enter without their permission pay the price.*
22-1. If you must enter the mirror room, be careful not to offend the temper of the ‘sang’ as much as possible.* If you, in any way, upset the ‘sang’, they will pull you into the mirror and not release you until they are satisfied. But remember, even inside the mirror you will feel drowsiness and hunger, and death will not spare you. If you were dragged into the mirror with no countermeasures, we express our regret.*
22-2. If there is something to gain in the mirror room, propose a wager to the ‘sang’. Any kind of wager is acceptable. If you win a wager with them, they will willingly give you what you desire. However, if you fail the wager, we also express our regret.
‘They kindly wrote it as a minefield.’
Still, it was a relief that the mirror room was one of the few things written from the start in the mansion’s ‘rules’. Had she entered without even this knowledge, Serenity would probably have had to begin her 11th loop of life.
-A wager?
-They say they’ll wager with us!
-That tiny intruder wants to wager with us!
-What do you think? Shall we accept the wager?
-Accept? It’s been a while since we’ve had an intruder visit!
-What’s the price? What shall we take as payment? We must exact a proper price!
The simultaneous clamor from hundreds of voices made her head ache as if it would split again. Seizing a moment when the noise eased, Serenity quickly spoke.
“If I win the wager, give me your fragments.”
-Part of us?
-Such a thing even the Countess couldn’t get! Parts of us are very precious! They’re treasures!
-Impudent! Insolent!
-But it sounds fun!
The sangs in the mirrors with Serenity’s and Blake’s faces began to mutter. Some shook their heads calling her insolent, but most seemed intoxicated and excited at the word ‘wager’. They raised their hands overhead and clapped with the backs of their hands or forced their eyes down like traditional masks, snickering, familiar faces yet so unfamiliar they felt grotesque.
Blake stood pressed close beside Serenity with his arms crossed, looking at them displeased. Then he leaned in and murmured into her ear.
“Will it be alright? I don’t really trust it.”
“It’s my first time too, so I don’t know for sure, but this method is probably right.”
Because it’s written in the mansion’s ‘rules’ book.
-Collusion! Be quiet!
A sang let out a scream as if its ears were being torn.
Serenity and Blake both clamped their mouths shut at once. Serenity reflexively smiled, while Blake couldn’t hide an annoyed expression.
After apparently reaching a conclusion among themselves, the central sang with Serenity’s face shouted.
-Alright! But if we win the wager, we’ll take your fragments!
-An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth!
…Fragments?
“You mean you’ll take parts of my body?”
-That’s right, yes!
Blake’s gaze landed on Serenity.
“If you lose the wager, the loss will be severe, milady.”
“…Indeed.“
Why hadn’t the mansion’s ‘rules’ book written about things like this? Danger was everywhere in this manor, but still. She couldn’t shake the sensation that she was in a dizzying situation.
“We have to win.”
Serenity said quietly.
“It’s fine, anyway, I prepared the wager to be in my favor…”
-Enough!!!
A piercing scream reverberated through the room, as if their eardrums would burst.
-The event will be chosen by us! Don’t act insolent!
-You proposed the wager, so the choice of events is ours; don’t try any tricks!
-It’s ours!
Hundreds of fragmented sangs shoved their faces out of the mirrors and shouted. Then the walls, ceiling, and floor were filled with blue and yellow eyes. The enormous eyeballs reflected in the mirrors narrowed their pupils and began to glare at the two of them.
‘Does the mansion’s ‘rules’ book say to cater to the moods of such Anomalous beings?’
Serenity’s heart pounded with a sense of danger, yet she was bewildered.
Before she knew it, she stepped behind Blake to shield him and subtly took a step back.
Clack!
A sound of a door locking clicked behind her.
Startled, Serenity jerked and turned. The latch firmly hooked to the doorknob creaked mockingly at her. The cackling laughter wormed into her eardrums again.
-You were trying to run away, weren’t you? Trying to run away?
-You can’t run anymore. Accept the wager!
-If you don’t accept the wager, we’ll take not just fragments but everything of yours!
-We’ll take your entire body!
The sangs in the mirrors began to spin around menacingly at the two of them. The ones with Serenity’s face deliberately whistled and gnawed their teeth, producing eerie sounds.
‘I’ve run into some nasty ones…’
Serenity quietly vowed that if she returned safely from the room she would definitely revise the word ‘rascals’ in the mansion’s ‘rules’ book.
Serenity, glancing over the glistening eyes all around, clenched her fist slightly.
“Duke, do you trust me?”
“I have never not trusted you, unlike with others,” he said calmly.
A composed reply came from Blake.
‘Alright, this time it’s worth the risk even if it fails.’
Thinking that in this horror tale the only thing she developed day by day was guts, Serenity nodded.
“Alright, fine.”
-The intruder has accepted the wager!
-She decided to become our toy!
With hundreds of booming laughs filling the room, several pale arms shot out from the mirrors.
“Ugh!”
They all seized Serenity with full force, no one holding back. In an instant her limbs were bound and she frantically looked at Blake. Before the rarely-flustered man’s hand could reach out, Serenity’s body was helplessly dragged into the mirror.
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