I heard familiar voices, and when I looked, it was none other than Lettis and Venya.
With thumping footsteps, the two boys jumped up from the stairs. And as soon as I realized they were there, I was puzzled because I didn’t know from which side the sounds came.
We looked at each other in silence. It was embarrassing as we were all in our pajamas, the last time we’ve seen each other like this was about eight years ago. But no matter how embarrassed we were, now isn’t the time to be arguing about it.
“Sasha, did you bring us here?”
Even him? I looked at Lettis in disbelief, whom I thought was the most reliable out of the two siblings.
Venya, who was scratching his silver-gray head, very much looking like a bird’s nest, also looked back at his older brother with an unpleasant expression.
“But I’m just asking?”
“The fact that you even asked, means that there’s a serious problem with your brain.”
“Well, when I woke up, we were all gathered in a room I’d never seen before, of course I’ll think someone’s playing around…”
The fact that we all woke up and saw a strange ceiling above us, gave me a worried feeling. While everyone was busy exchanging bewildered glances, my ears stung and an ominous hunch began to rise.
“Was there a place like this in our house?”
“Brother, are you an idiot? How can you not know such a thing when you’re already grown up?”
“So, do you know?”
We’ve been running around the mansion ever since we were younger, but this place was obviously unfamiliar to all of us.
A large room that seems to be cluttered with furniture.
Chairs with different designs around the short-legged beds, a marble table with lamps on it, a wardrobe with a longer interior, drawers, a dresser, and a thick rug on the floor.
All of it looked out of sync, this place was designed very carelessly.
The sun was trickling over our heads. A large window on the diagonally slanted ceiling gave a close view of the blue sky. It was the only window in the entire room. That was particularly annoying. How is this even…
“Did you guys wake up in the room downstairs?”
“Yeah. When I opened my eyes, I saw him in the same bed as I was in, I freaked out.”
“Yeah. When I opened my eyes, I saw him in the same bed as me, I freaked out.”
“I got more freaked out.”
Ignoring the sibling’s blabbering, I took a step forward and approached the small door on the opposite wall. The wooden door creaked open as I grabbed its rusty iron doorknob.
“…There’s also a bathroom.”
Venya showed a quiet expression of thankfulness as he was already following me.
Is there anyone who doesn’t know what a bathroom is? Well, for these noble children, this bathroom was quite small. However, as a daughter of a nanny, it’s rather suitable for me.
“Was there something like this downstairs too?”
I don’t know when the adults were around, but I used to comfortably talk when it was us alone. It’s been like that since we were very young, and up until now, it remains the same.
“Oh. I thought it was a guest room, turns out it’s just a bathroom.”
I thought so. There was nothing to say, yet the reluctance and the feeling of being caught off guard were growing rapidly.
There was also another door to the left of the rugged drawer. I closed the bathroom door shut and approached the one on the opposite wall.
But then, Lettis shouted.
“Be careful, you don’t know what’s in there.”
Normally everyone would have laughed and asked what the fuss was all about, but no one did. Even Venya, whose joy in life was teasing someone.
I wouldn’t be shocked if a dragon was behind that door.
Of course, there couldn’t have been a dragon. I thought about it later on, but it might have been better if it was a dragon after all.
Anyway, only an ordinary room was beyond that door when Lettis, as the eldest son, stepped up and opened it curiously.
It was a really simple and common room. It must have been quite peculiar to the eyes of the siblings.
“…What is this? Is it a dining room?”
It wasn’t a bedroom or a bathroom, it was a kitchen. A place where we can wash dishes, store food and cook.
It was a place no different from the bathroom or the poorly designed bedroom, in other words, it was a very far-fetched kind of place for aristocrats.
The first one to move was Venya. Venya looked sideways in the kitchen with a gesture of “what’s the big deal?,” then looked back at his sister and me then teetered.
“It’s like an enlarged version of Estelle’s doll house, you two can play here all day long!”
Lettis began to giggle like a fool. But once I glared at him, he immediately stopped and changed the subject with a grim look.
“Alright, let’s stop fooling around.”
“What? Are you kidding me?”
“Sasha, aren’t you conspiring with other servants to screw with us? You just stood there.”
…So you’re saying that the servants hid our lives under a rock for a joke? And why are you involving me?
It was quite fortunate that Estelle, who was just looking around with her arms clasped tightly without saying a word, opened her mouth.
“Sasha, it’s stuffy here.”
“I think so too.”
“I don’t like it here.”
Whatever this place is, I’m no longer curious, so let’s stop-
“I think we’ll have to head downstairs to get out.”
As soon as I finished, Lettis butted in as if he had been waiting.
“There’s no exit door downstairs either.”
TL/N: This is the exact moment when my mental balance would break.
“You didn’t look hard enough.”
“Really, there isn’t one.”
Lettis’ voice, which immediately struck a strong objection, was mixed with some sort of bizarre nervousness. The same was true for Venya, who seemed uncharacteristically anxious. He was trying hard to hide it.
The stairway inside the sunken wall was dark and narrow. None of us spoke a word as we walked down side by side.
Downstairs was about the same structure as upstairs. There was just a little less furniture, very dark with no windows at all, and with a slight difference that there was another room instead of a kitchen.
“What the hell is this?”
“It’s like a study… doesn’t it look familiar too?”
I once saw the study room of the late Duke, as Lettis said. But even though there were bookshelves, this wasn’t a study at all.
It’s more like a large warehouse.
I could barely see the stretch of bookshelves through the thick dust in the air.
It was dark, so I couldn’t exactly see what else was there. The air was murky, there was a stale smell of old paper and furniture rotting.
Maybe there’s another door in there?
“Aaak!”
The old marble floor creaked beneath our trembling feet, the sound made Estelle jump and let out a short scream. Then soon enough, the wind made me scream too.
“Pfffhahahahah!”
The young masters laughed their hearts out. I patted Estelle’s little shoulder as she clinged onto me, and at the same shot a harsh glare towards the two clowns.
“How can you be laughing now?!”
Lettis began to cough awkwardly, but Venya gave a brazen blow.
“I’m laughing because it sounded like you were picking up a pig from it’s ass, so I couldn’t help it!
“That- you!”
My voice roared out loudly in the spacious room. Either way, Venya was still shamelessly joking around.
Ugh, how mean! In the past, I would have started a childish war right away, but now I’m determined to move on because of what I’ve recalled from my previous life.
Well, It’s a bit strange to argue with a 14-year-old child at this mental age.
Anyway, what the hell is this place and what are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be getting ready to leave for Pzeya by now? Were we brought here to reduce the risk of an infection?
It wasn’t necessarily Venya’s fault, I didn’t wantto look closely at the gloomy study or the storage room, so I stepped back and began to look inside the bedroom again. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but there was a large mirror attached to the wall that connects the stairs.
Bewildered and confused-looking children stood in their pajamas in a dark room looking this way. A rather bizarre situation.
I think it created a sense of alienation that such precious children are gathered at this gloomy, murky, and narrow place?
Or was it due to some foresight? Whatever it is, our reflections in the mirror looked like ghosts trapped in an old, abandoned steeple.
Venya, who was looking around, walked up to me. I wondered if she noticed the light of agitation flickering on my face.
“We’re probably here due to the plague. Perhaps like a temporary shelter? I think they sneaked in when we were sleeping because they were afraid we’d be scared.”
TL/N: I know you all are wondering who’s the ML and who’s the guy on the cover. Yes, it’s Venya kekek
I thought he would be arrogant again, but surprisingly he spoke in a reassuring tone. I hesitated for a moment then asked carefully.
“Yesterday… what did your relatives tell you?”
A gloomy shadow blinked in his sky-blue eyes, then the playfulness faded away in an instant.
“Considering the situation in the Capital, they asked us to go to Pzeya for a while. Because of what happened to mother and father, they say that they can’t lose us too.”
Right, I knew it.
Lettis, the heir to the Serpente family, was only fifteen years old. Furthermore, the situation being so serious and all, it was natural to entrust relatives to study abroad, which has been a trend among aristocratic children since last year.
Then again, this place is…
“Did they say anything else?”
“What do you mean? Oh, don’t worry, I made sure we went together because of Estelle. Who else can handle that crybaby?”
It was a grateful act, but that’s not what I was worried about. There was something else…
I don’t know why I thought of it at the moment but, if I remember correctly, the relatives of these siblings…they all died unnatural deaths.