I'm a Supporting Role in a Horror Game, Don't Kill Me

‘…You were also killed by Luke. Let’s come to our senses.’

It wasn’t until I lifted my hands and pinched both my cheeks with force that I came to my senses from the pain that brought tears to my eyes. I nodded and picked up the spoon. Mr. Blier, who was standing in the corner, made a quick gesture and the servant brought out the soup again. I didn’t even know that the soup in front of me was gone, so I took a sip of the warm pumpkin soup, exclaiming in my heart.

‘…It’s warm.’

The soft, sweet soup with milk was perfect for appeasing an empty stomach. Even though I knew that Luke was still watching me, I ate as leisurely as I could. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel like I was going to be hit, but the warm meal I enjoyed thanks to Mr. Blier’s consideration was nice because it warmed my insides. When I was halfway through my meal, Luna put down her spoon and napkin, said her thanks, and jumped off the chair. Shine politely put down the napkin like a grown-up child, squeezed Luna’s hand, and disappeared.

“We can’t ask the nanny to come back, so it would be better to hire a new nanny.”

Luke spoke to the side of my head. When I didn’t respond and focused on eating again, he spoke again.

“It’s probably because the nanny works long hours. Now that I’m older, it’s time to give it a rest… I don’t like bringing in new people, and I don’t like doing anything new.”

Sometimes they say things at length without being asked. He wasn’t usually quiet, but he certainly wasn’t the type to say unnecessary things. I slowly turned my head towards him who had been trying to look away. Luke was looking at me with his chin up. The moment our eyes met, the expression on his calm and noble face was incomprehensible. As if I was eating safely… He seemed grateful to be here with him.

‘What on earth…?’

As I was looking at him, for some reason, I couldn’t move my hand holding the spoon to my mouth. And regardless of the fact that Luke was looking at me, the food wasn’t enough for my appetite. I barely finished the bowl of pumpkin soup before putting down the spoon. He remained silent until I put down my spoon and wiped my mouth with a napkin, and when it was time for me to get up, he pulled out his chair and asked:

“When you’ve finished eating, please talk to me for a moment.”

‘Yes, that’s what I wanted too.’

I nodded. Honestly, this was the story I wanted to bring up first. There were so many stories I wanted to tell. Honestly, I’m not sure how much Luke and I can talk about… We definitely need to talk about the fact that there is a big guy in the park who is big enough to threaten Luke. And I also remember that the basement route was open. I slowly pulled myself out between the table and the chair Luke was holding.

“Great. Shine and Luna will be waiting for me, so I’ll come back shortly.”

Luke blinked his long, fluffy eyelashes a couple of times and tapped his fingers on the chair he was holding.

“There is nothing to worry about. I ordered Blier to get a new nanny.”

“That’s not why. Luna waited too long for me.”

“All right. Let’s go. Let’s wait in the room.”

“Yes, I got it.”

Even as I headed toward the restaurant door, Luke’s eyes followed me. The way he looked at me as if something would happen to me if I looked away even for a moment was stinging, tickling, and funny at the same time. As soon as I entered the room where she was reading with her children, Luna ran up to me with her arms raised. Her silver hair, which she always wore in a braid or bun when her nanny was around, was cute, but she felt pitiful.

‘Still, the children must have developed a strong bond with their nanny.’

“Teacher!”

I saw Luna holding her sketchbook tightly in her hand and quickly took it from her.

“See you soon! Luna, you worked hard on your homework!”

“Is that so?”

As I sat down on a low chair that wasn’t very high from the floor, Luna came next to me and craned her neck. I looked at Shine before opening my sketchbook. Shine, who was standing awkwardly by the window, also had a sketchbook in his hand.

“Come here.”

When I extended her hand, Shine hesitated but did not extend it and obediently nodded her head.

“Huh.”

‘Anyway, I heard it’s cute.’

With the two children next to me, I opened Luna’s sketchbook first. The drawing in Luna’s sketchbook was the drawing I saw yesterday morning. The jagged lines were a mess, but they came out in clear colors to represent Luke, Shine, and Luna.

“They told me to draw a house. I drew my family.”

Family.

How long has it been since I came here that they have included me in their family?

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, teacher, for drawing with me. I’m even more grateful to you for telling me we’re family.”

“lol.”

Luna smiled brightly, as if she was happy that I was honestly expressing my gratitude.

[Luna’s favorability has increased.

Lv.3(2/297)]

‘I heard Luna really likes to receive compliments.’

While stroking cute Luna’s hair, I looked at her picture with Luna again.

“What about home?”

“Yes?”

“Your homework was to draw a house?”

“…It’s behind us!”

Luna explained enthusiastically with crayons on her hands, but the sketchbook was filled with four huge figures, so the house behind them could not be seen as the subject of the drawing. I left Luna to explain for a while, then gave her back her sketchbook with a small smile.

“Luna, did you do well?”

Luna looked up at me with her eyes sparkling.

“Yes, you did very well.”

“Then let’s play hide and seek!”

“But since I drew something a little different from the assignment, I’ll decide after looking at the next assignment as well.”

“…Even though I did well?”

“Sure.”

“…Yes? Yes… yes? Yes…”

Luna was clearly happy to hear the praise, but seemed very confused because she was unable to achieve her goal. While looking at her sketchbook, hesitating for a while whether to complain to me or not, Luna’s pink lips were so cute that she was sticking out, so I smiled and patted her head. Then I took Shine’s sketchbook and opened it. The first few pages had pictures of other assignments I had been assigned, so I flipped through them and came across a picture of an old mansion.

‘…It’s gloomy.’

As soon as I saw the picture, I clicked her tongue. The two-dimensional drawing of the old mansion, which was honestly drawn without using any perspective, mainly used dark colors such as black, brown, and gray, so it could not be seen as a child’s drawing.

“It’s too dark… Is it because it’s cloudy that it looks like this?”

“Huh. And… Because there is that dark thing too.”

“That dark one?”

I looked at Shine to see what he was talking about, but Shine seemed surprised by what I said and remained silent for a long time before slowly shaking her head.

“…no.”

Since Shine was also held tightly in my arms, I could see that she was stiff and was squeezing and unclenching her hand for a while. I took another look at Shine’s painting, which had no talent for drawing. I thought it was just a drawing of the mansion as I saw it from before, omitting the garden, but when I looked at it again while thinking about the word shadow, it looked a little different.

‘It sure looks like a shadow is wrapping around the house…’

I looked at it up close, and then moved it around, looking at it from a distance, like a person with farsightedness. It looked like huge wings of black shadow spread out from the roof of the mansion and drooped down to the bottom of the mansion.

‘This is the imagination of a child who has heard too many ghost stories.’

The life of a child living in a horror game is so pitiful. I clicked my tongue, held the two children in my arms once again, and gave them another assignment before heading to Luke. Since Shine kept looking at me and it was difficult for Luna to keep wondering about my work with Shine, I deliberately gave them a lot of math problems to solve today. Considering the concentration of the two children, it was so much that even if they returned several hours later, they would not be able to solve it all. As I was leaving the room, a short, stocky looking woman stopped to walk past me. She was an impressive woman with her short-cut hair and her thick arms visible beneath her short sleeves.

‘Wow, you must be really good at holding a child.’

Being a child is quite heavy. I was thinking that without realizing it, but the other person spoke first.

“Oh, about those rumors… You are Arvice, right? This is Delia, the new nanny who arrived today.”

“Ah yes…”

‘…What on earth is that rumor?’

I answered hesitantly without realizing it. I clearly remember the bad rumors about Arbice Green that I heard at the first tea party. The fact that she came from a small and poor middle-sized noble family… So even now, when I hear rumors or anything, I naturally get defensive. But completely different from what I expected, the woman looked at me with her eyes sparkling.

“I heard a lot that you are good with children. And what happened at the tea party.”

“Ah… yes.”

“It is rare to find a tutor who cares for children this much. She felt like Luke was very selective about her.”

I was fully prepared to fight back, but ended up laughing in vain at the compliment that came my way. Now that I think about it, the driver I met when she got on the carriage was a bit exaggerated, so she only complimented me.

‘Of course, no one would openly spread negative rumors in front of me… Arvice Green’s evaluation of her also seems to have improved a little.’

She smiled happily and was about to say hello and pass by when Delia continued.

“I’m glad you came back safely.”

“Thank you.”

“The duke’s lover also went through something like that… You must have been going through a lot of trouble.”

“What…?”

‘The rumor that I am Luke’s lover still persists.

‘It looks like it.’

I sighed heavily.

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