When the Marquis and Marquise had been missing for over a hundred days, the king’s representative put out a notice to the whole country.
“The disappearance of lord and lady has made it difficult for the House of Kereiton to fulfill the duties of their office, and all rights and duties of lordship are suspended, and the succession to the title is withheld. Until the time is right, the Kerreiton estate will be managed by the Royal House of the Duchy.”
The couple had twins, but both were too young to hold the title.
Usually, in such cases, one of the relatives would step in as guardian and act as acting head of the family until the heir was old enough.
‘Anyway, it was said that not long after the succession was put on hold, the bodies of the Marquis and Marquise were found at the same time in a hunting forest outside the duchy.’
The funeral was short. Joshua and Selmia, who started getting harassed after the Marquise went missing, were left all alone in the mansion.
The reason for their harassment was simple. The first reason was that the children could not be trusted to pay their overdue salaries.
The second reason was that they were the youngest and weakest, the only ones who could relieve their anxiety about an uncertain future.
Children who were only noble in status, but unable to protect themselves, were made to feel like pawns.
‘It was a vicious way to treat children.’
The servants’ harassment was childish.’
They didn’t feed them, didn’t wash them. Sometimes they bumped into him on purpose, pretending not to see him.
That was all the former body owner remembered.
‘Of course, they haven’t bullied me since I’ve been possessed.’
She’d even secretly bring them things like bread, cheese, and fresh water to their rooms.
As his relationship with the servants grew worse and worse, he took his twin sister and disappeared somewhere in the manor.
The servants started to sneak off, one by one, grabbing their stuff and getting out of the mansion when no one was paying attention.
Only Eugenia guessed that the twins were hiding somewhere in the manor, and she brought food to their room every day as she always did.
‘But that’s not enough to reassure me.’
It was only a week at most, hardly enough time to clear the karma.
In any case, due to the circumstances, she was disappointed with every penny.
So, even though she knew she wouldn’t get it, she stayed in the mansion, even though all her colleagues had left, just in case.
Then, yesterday evening, she met with the knights of the duchy who visited the manor, and was formally dismissed.
‘Your employment is terminated. The mansion will be repossessed soon, so please leave as soon as possible. Oh, by the way, have you seen the Marquis and Marquise’s children, the twins?’
‘What? And Joshua wasn’t there?’
Eugenia scratched her head at the oddity, then turned to the him.
“Ah, Master. Speaking of which, how did you know I was fired?”
Joshua shrugged his shoulders and said in a nonchalant tone.
I snooped.
“Yeah.”
The boy nodded, puffing out his chest, a look of pride on his face.
It was almost as if he was proud of himself.
Eugenia admired herself inwardly, then met Joshua’s gaze, which seemed to be looking for praise, and opened her mouth nervously.
“You did a very good…… job.”
“I know. I’m good at everything, even hiding.”
“Yeah. I’m sure you are.”
That was it. In the distance, she heard the faint tinkle of a bell.
In that moment, a passage from the original story popped into Eugenia’s head.
In the distance, she heard the sound of bells.
Eileen quickened her steps, and soon found herself inside the marquis’s chambers, but there was not a shadow to be seen in the empty space.
Just as she was about to lose heart, the idea of a secret place popped into her head.
Her feet moved of their own accord.
And just like that, when the twelfth bell rang, Eileen was reunited with her twins in their secret place.
Eugenia was silently stunned.
‘How much time has passed already? I can’t believe it.’
Only after the twins had a tearful reunion with Eileen could she remove herself from this tumultuous origin story.
“I have to get the twins to that place!’
She jumped to her feet.
“Eugenia, what’s wrong?”
Joshua’s gaze followed Eugenia’s raised face upward.
“Master, stand up!”
“……What? Why?”
“Come on, I don’t have time to explain myself, just stand up.”
“No, Eugenia, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden!”
The boy demanded, but Eugenia was too tired to answer.
‘Where did the time go? Oh, for God’s sake, the twins need to get to their secret place!’
Eugenia looked at the bed where Selmia was lying.
If she took her up, Joshua would follow on his own, but…….
“We can’t wake her.”
Not only would it slow them down, but it would have a negative impact on the girl’s health later on.
‘Let’s just take Joshua first, even if She only finds one of them’
Having made up her mind, Eugenia turned her head so hard that it snapped and looked at Joshua again.
“Master!”
Joshua stammered at the sound of her loud voice.
“……why, why.”
“Where have you been hiding all this time with Selmia?”
“Why is that……?”
“Come on, answer me, you were in a secret place, weren’t you?”
“How do you know that?”
“That doesn’t matter one bit, just tell me, where the hell is that secret place?”
The boy’s mouth didn’t open.
Joshua looked warily at Eugenia, then back at him, as if making a final gamble.
“What if I tell you?”
“What?”
“If I tell you, will you do what I want? Will you be my protector?”
Eugenia, her head full of the idea of taking the child to a secret place first, nodded dryly and answered.
“Yes, yes, I’ll do that.”
“You promise, you’ll take me to the secret place, and then Sherry and I will reap the rewards?”
“Yes, yes. Okay!”
Because if He saw Eileen, they are going to follow her anyway!
I don’t care what she says!
Eugenia thought very, very lightly.
“So just tell me where the secret place is, please.”
She was now shuffling on her feet.
Meanwhile, the clock tower’s bell was already on its fourth bell.
Finally, Joshua jumped to his feet.
“Okay. You promised to bring us back, so I’ll let you know.”
Eugenia’s light green eyes lit up with joy and relief.
“That was a good idea!”
“Eugenia, do you have to keep your promise, no matter what?”
“I know!”
Only after hearing Eugenia’s assurance once more did Joshua come to her side.
Without being asked, the boy grabbed Eugenia’s hand and pulled her along.
“Let’s go! I’ll show you Sherry and my secret hideout!”
Joshua’s voice was full of excitement.
“Oh, right! Let’s take Sherry with us!”
I was about to let go of Joshua’s hand and lean back into his sister when Eugenia pulled away.
Eugenia grabbed the boy’s hand as he tried to pull away and asked.
“Is the secret place far from here?”
“No, it’s just outside and around the corner!”
“Then we’ll go there first.”
“But then Sherry will be here all alone……?”
When Joshua hesitated, Eugenia spoke quickly to convince him.
“But she’s not feeling well right now, and I don’t think she’ll be any healthier later on if we overexert her by moving her around when she’s so tired…….”
Selmia was born fragile, often had fevers and was often sick.
Joshua nodded heavily, his face grim as he realized that it would be best to let her rest.
“Yeah. It’s close to ……, so we can just go there and back quickly.”
“Yeah, we’re the only ones in the mansion, so why don’t we just run over there?”
“……Yes.”
The argument ended. Finally, the two left the room.
* * *
Ding-. Just as the eighth bell rang.
“Here we go. Sherry and my secret place.”
Eugenia and Joshua arrived at the secret place.
The secret place was close to the twins’ room, by the stairs that crossed over to the west wing.
There was an empty space at the bottom of the stairs leading up, which looked like a closet at first glance.
The west wing was generally old and had been used primarily for storage.
It was unmaintained and worn out, where servants rarely came and went.
“This is why we didn’t find the children.”
It’s common to think that children are afraid of dark and creepy places and seek out bright places.
No, maybe they weren’t looking for them in the first place. It’s easier to steal valuables when there are no children around.
Joshua opened the closet door himself with his tiny hands.
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Translator Note:
This chapter was translated by Gon. Next post will be released on March, 10.
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