Chapter 33
“The rules are very simple!”
Excited voice spreads far and wide.
“You’ve all heard the story of the hero who rescues the princess locked in the tower by the time you’re old enough to remember it, and it’s just like that. Only!”
A video recorder illuminated the wall, and there, on the screen, was the entire mansion.
“The difference is that the chaperones here are the princesses, and the children who uncover the secrets of the mansion and come to the rescue of the imprisoned adults are the heroes! Hahaha.”
The adults laughed at the children’s determination to save their parents.
“That must be scary, how brave of them!”
“Look at how cute they are.”
While everyone was mesmerized by their children’s unconventional behavior, Mehen, sitting in the best seat in the waiting room, looked very uncomfortable.
“Hahh.”
The screen showed Arellin eagerly exploring the mansion, but that wasn’t the point.
“When I die, don’t make a grave.”
Such a nonchalant attitude after setting off such a large bomb.
Arellin was the one who even wanted to do this ‘exotic play’.
He was thinking that he should grab Arellin and have an in-depth conversation with her about this, whether it’s a game or something else.
“…?”
A familiar face peeked out from beyond the room Arellin had opened. Mehen, who was looking uncomfortable, narrowed his eyes.
‘What did I see?’
Arellin closed the door quickly, making him doubt he’d seen it right, but Mehen trusted his eyes.
‘Why would he be here…?’
A moment of doubt.
A strange light sparkled from the video recorder that had been illuminating Arellin’s distant form, and it made a strange noise.
“What?”
“What’s going on?”
Just then, not only Arellin’s, but all of the video comms in the room malfunctioned simultaneously.
Crackle!
The video portal shattered.
“-!”
***
The game that she said she didn’t like the awkward atmosphere was actually quite interesting.
‘Is it like an escape room?’
You have to solve various puzzles in the mansion and disable the device to save your trapped parents.
It was a very refreshing play device.
“I’d love to try this in real life.”
She didn’t have any friends, so she hadn’t played anything other than solo escape rooms. Of course, this mansion wasn’t one of those professional escape rooms.
“Aaaaa!”
“I could see where you were hiding.”
The man in the monster mask who had been hiding to scare me turned around with a shrug.
‘I should have looked at least a little surprised.’
To sum up, it felt like a combination of a haunted house and an escape room. The puzzles were very easy, and there were no restrictions on moving around the mansion.
So, she was exploring the mansion in a very light-hearted way.
Bam.
“…?”
“…?”
What are he doing out here?
“Pession?”
Rolling forwards, rolling backwards, back-stepping, it’s Pession.
He was the only one with silver hair and such beauty, but she called out his name just in case.
Then Pession, who had been frozen in place by the unexpected, grinned like a reanimated Galatea.
“Arellin!”
A click.
The door slammed shut.
As if closing it wasn’t enough, she locked it.
Clang.
***
Q. What would you do if you met an unexpected person, in an unexpected place, at an unexpected time?
- Run away.
- Run away.
- To run away.
Once she closed the door and took a deep, calming breath, her head began to spin.
Her heart still hadn’t picked up its pace.
‘Why is Pession here?’
Shouldn’t he be in the palace?
No, that’s not the point right now.
“Huh? Arellin? Excuse me, Arellin?”
Because the problem was that Pession was still on the other side of the door.
Clang-clang-clang.
Bang-bang-bang!
The sound of a locked doorknob turning alternated with the slamming of a closed door.
“Why is this locked?! Arel, if you’re in there, can you open the door?!”
I locked it, will I open it for you?
She’s stunned by Pession’s nonchalant attitude, as it was only a few days ago that we parted like this, not years, months, or even weeks.
“Arellin-!”
BANG!
She jumped.
“Huh?”
She must have been secretly thinking that it would be okay since she locked the door.
The sight of the flimsy door being shaken by Pession’s power made her nervous again.
She has to run.
She can’t even run!
‘I can’t run. I can’t run. I can’t run.’ Pession’s voice rang out in the distance, accompanied by the sound of a door being smashed in.
“Arellin! Where have you gone?!”
You broke that?!
How the hell?!
“Huh? I found it!”
“Ugh!”
A wild chase ensued.
“Arellin? Why are you running away, Arellin?!”
You’re asking me that!
In any other place, she would have been caught quickly, but the chase was prolonged for two reasons.
The first is that this is a mansion built with escape rooms in mind.
The second was that by avoiding the Pessions that normally enter and leave Halbern Manor, she naturally boosted her mansion chase stats.
It didn’t last long, though.
‘This shitty body.’
‘Why did God give me such a rubbish body.’
There was a limit to how fast she could run without jumping. There was a limit to using the mansion’s layout as she knew it.
“Arellin!”
“Don’t chase me!”
When she almost caught up, she hastily duck into a room and slam the door.
‘I didn’t want to come in here because it’s scary.’
A room with a strange altar and statues of monsters, like some kind of puzzle.
The one door, however, was sturdy enough that even a Pession would be hard pressed to break it open.
“Arellin, are you in there?!”
Knock.
“Arellin? Arellin!”
It hadn’t been that long ago that she’d told him never to come back.
Just yesterday.
But what the hell is this guy, how does he have the nerve to look at me and pretend to know me?
It’s beyond the comprehension of her sensitive and delicate modern sensibilities.
Bang.
“Stop!”
She shouted at the thick door, trusting it to hold still, but it was about to break.
“Are you going to break it again? That’s vandalism.”
The doorknob stopped turning.
The dangerous clanking stopped.
She catches her breath with a strange sense of relief.
“It’s really Arellin.”
Pession’s voice comes from the other side of the door.
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at the palace. You’re not really here to play, and you didn’t follow me, did you?”
“Yes.”
She expected him to deny it, but he affirmed it so neatly that she was at a loss for words.
“Arellin, how did you know? Did you notice much?”
“Well, you chased after me as soon as I saw you … like we’d just met, so I just blurted it out.”
She paused.
“But Arellin told me not to come to Halbern Manor…”
She forces herself to rebuild her defenses, which are threatening to crumble again at the excuse.
She didn’t know how the hell he knew she was going out and followed her.
“Go back.”
This was for her, but it was also for him.
“Leave me alone.”
He may not understand now, but there will come a day when he will thank her.
And then.
“No.”
“…what?”
“Why do you want to be alone?”
She forced herself to clear her head of the thoughts that were trying to clutter it and steadied her voice.
“Because I’m comfortable alone.”
“You’re comfortable alone?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“…”
A short hesitation.
As if he hadn’t noticed the conflict within her, Pession spoke uncharacteristically sharply.
“If you truly want to be alone, I’ll just slink away. I will not seek you out again, as you wish. But, Arellin…”
At this moment, she realized how lucky she was that there was a door between them.
Otherwise, the look of utter devastation on her face would have been obvious.
“Do you really want to be alone?”
She grit her teeth at the sharp stabbing sensation in her lungs.
She could feel the search for sincerity and truth on the other side of the door.
There was no malice in it.
Which made it all the more incomprehensible.
“…Why would you do this to me?”
😭😭😭