The Uninvited Guest Of The Haunted Mansion (45)

Darkness surrounded her.

In a void with no floor, ceiling, or walls, Serenity stood motionless.

No, could one even say she was standing? She had no sensation of her feet touching the ground.

Instead, something slimy and unpleasant seemed to be wrapping Serenity from head to toe.

And what she saw before her was Blake, alone in a room of transparent glass and mirrors, dripping blood.

‘Am I… trapped inside a mirror?’

A sticky sensation.

Disgust crawled up her spine.

‘Of all things, being imprisoned inside a mirror.’

Before she could think further, the silence shattered and a raucous, giggling laughter filled the air.

But this time it wasn’t her ears.

The sound wasn’t pouring through her eardrums; it was burrowing into and ringing inside her head.

“Ugh.”

Tinnitus buzzed; a pain like her skull splitting surged through her.

-Game! Our favorite game!

The reflections in the mirror room scrambled and multiplied, producing hundreds of Serenities.

Even though Serenity’s original body was not in the room, figures imitating her circled Blake and performed a grotesque dance.

“Young lady, young lady? Serenity!”

Confusion creased Blake’s expression.

Late to rally, Serenity barely shook off the sticky things and crawled forward.

She raised her heavy arm and smashed the glass mirror with a bang.

“Your Grace!”

Unfortunately, it seemed Blake couldn’t hear Serenity’s voice.

Serenity pounded on the mirror again and again.

“What are you doing! Let me out!”

-What are you doing! Let me out!

The figures that had been dancing in the room mockingly mirrored her actions all at once.

Some couldn’t contain their laughter and giggled, shoulders trembling.

-Now! From this moment we’ll play a game! You get only three chances: find the real one among us!

Voices imitating Serenity thundered through the mirror room.

-Who among us is the real one? Who is the real Serenity?

-Can Duke Blake Lambert find Serenity Primdellrose, the Count’s daughter?

-The time limit is one minute per chance! Missed chances do not return!

-If they’re all wrong, this girl becomes ours! Even if you don’t guess correctly, she’s ours! You’ll pay the price!

Serenity’s face was drained of color.

“That’s not… that’s not what was promised!”

A figure in the mirror turned and stared at Serenity.

A figure bearing her identical face put on a chilling smile.

-What promise? Did we promise anything?

-Games are fun for us, that’s all; it’s our choice!

-You didn’t prepare for this when you invaded our space? How weak, how soft!

The unpleasant voices mingled and echoed hollowly in Serenity’s head.

It still felt like something bouncing inside her skull.

Meanwhile, the figures surrounding Blake in the room began speaking the same words in hundreds of voices.

-This is a tale from long, long ago. A princess trapped in a mirror world, and a prince who came to save her!

-The prince wanted to save the princess but could not! The foolish prince watched the princess die!

-What about this time? Can the prince save the princess this time?

The shattered figures fused and scattered repeatedly.

Eventually the reflection of Blake vanished entirely, leaving only images of Serenity all around.

But something was strange.

They weren’t simply mimicking Serenity’s appearance as before.

Hundreds of figures each displayed a different version of Serenity.

A strangled Serenity, a Serenity pierced by a sharp spear, a Serenity gasping and bleeding, a Serenity burned to death, a Serenity sinking into deep water, a Serenity’s skin rotting away, a Serenity whose legs melt first….

Unutterably gruesome scenes filled the room.

Some Serenities screamed, others died without even a cry.

“W-what is all this? Ugh…”

Serenity gagged involuntarily at the shocking sight she’d never seen before.

Then the countless Serenities, each dying in their own way, lifted their heads and began to chuckle with grotesque faces.

-Who among these is the real Serenity?

Blake’s gaze faltered.

There was nowhere in the room to look that offered any refuge.

Seeing Serenity’s image covering the walls, ceiling, and floor, he gripped his sword hard with a bloodied arm.

Inside the mirror, watching that sight, Serenity became even more desperate.

‘Could he possibly be shaken?’

From what Serenity had experienced so far, Blake did not seem like someone who would be unsettled by such illusions.

So she was confused.

Blake squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.

Serenity hammered on the mirror once more.

“Your Grace! They’re all fake! There’s no real one there!”

-Stop!!!

“Ugh!”

*The pounding noise inside her skull made Serenity clutch her head and collapse to the *
ground.

At the same time, something wet flowed from her nose and soaked her thin skirt.

It was blood.

A pale hand reached from behind and grabbed Serenity roughly.

A mirror figure with her identical face twisted its eyes downward unnaturally and laughed.

Where its pupils should have been was empty, a black hole.

-Be quiet. If you don’t stay still we’ll eat you all up. We’ll chew you from head to toe.

It giggled and clamped its hand over Serenity’s mouth.

“Mmph, mmph!”

The wet, disgusting sensation made Serenity struggle with all her strength, but it was futile.

The force was too strong for her to resist.

Meanwhile Blake had not taken any action.

Unlike his usual self, he stared vacantly at the dying Serenities around him with a face of confusion, perhaps bewilderment or shock.

No wonder, even to his own eyes, the images of Serenity were eerily identical to her.

Apart from wearing different clothes, there was not the slightest difference from the original.

When Blake tightened his grip on the sword, dark red blood, soaking one of his arms, dripped to the floor.

‘How… there must be some way…’

Is there no way to tell him that none of them are real?

Serenity writhed, trying to shake off the hand that held her tight.

-Ding! One minute has passed!

From the mirror opposite Blake, a Serenity that had been dying while hanging from thorny vines suddenly snapped her head up.

The one that had been writhing and laughing reached out its hand.

Crack!

“Gah.”

Huge thorns plunged into Blake’s shoulder, side, and leg.

Blood spurted like a fountain and Blake staggered.

“Your Grace!”

-Hahaha! Stupid prince!

-You’ve failed again; the prince always fails!

Laughter filled the room.

A ringing in her head made Serenity gag once more.

‘What to do? The blood… there’s too much blood.’

Blake became increasingly battered.

Blood flowed far more profusely than when he had been trapped in the painting.

It wouldn’t be surprising if he collapsed from blood loss at any moment.

Moreover, his right hand had turned dark.

It was hard to tell whether it was from blood or some other bizarre phenomenon consuming him.

Blake clutched his side with his intact arm and began to look around slowly.

His eyes searched calmly for Serenity.

Then the Serenities in the mirror began to writhe in pain and die once more.

-Duke! Please save me!

-Your Grace, it hurts so much. I think I’m going to die.

-I’m suffering, Blake!

-You said you’d protect me.

-Liar, traitor. You abandoned me.

-How could you do this to me? You promised to save me!

-I trusted you!

Serenity’s screams, thick with anguish, poured from all sides.

Amid them, Blake gritted his teeth and gripped his sword.

Then, as if he had reached a decision, he swung his sword.

At last, where his sword aimed was….

Thud!

Not a mirror, but a locked exit.