IBACM Chapter 30

Chapter 030

I glared at Somerset and swung my arm wide to loosen up before giving him a proper lesson.
‘This guy is just as scared of ghosts as Axel is.’
Whenever something strange happens, he runs away without looking back.
‘I’ll use that for my advantage and teach him a harsher lesson than usual.’
After all, monsters are supposed to be terrifying to humans.
If it gets bad enough, it can leave a trauma.
That’s exactly what I planned to give Somerset this time.
‘Looks like Joanna’s gone.’
Once I confirmed she wasn’t there, I casually flicked the switch by the front door.
Click.
The bright hallway was instantly consumed by darkness.
“What—what’s going on?”
Somerset’s startled voice echoed, and I quickly turned the lights back on.
He tried to hide his fear by unnecessarily yelling at the invisible servants.
“Who’s in charge of the lights?!”
He huffed and climbed the stairs, grumbling.
“It’s all that guy’s fault. Ever since he started lurking around, nothing’s been going right!”
He was probably talking about Dedrick.
As expected, he was quick to blame others.

When Somerset entered the hallway, I turned the lights off again.
Whoosh.
The hallway was swallowed by darkness once more.
“Is the light broken? What the hell is going on?!”
His irritated voice bounced off the empty hallway, where there were no servants around to be seen.
I calmly waited in the dark until Somerset tensed up.
When there was no sign of the lights turning back on, his voice, now trembling, echoed through the dark.
“Why… why won’t the lights come back on?”
I switched on a light at a distance, far from where he stood.
Flick.

“Huh? What was that?”
The sudden light startled Somerset, making him stumble backward, eyeing it suspiciously.

As he cautiously observed the light, I grabbed a nearby vase and threw it.
Crash!

“Ahhh!”

I turned off the light again, then turned on one closer to him.
Click.

As I drew nearer, he froze, paralyzed with fear, staring straight ahead.
This time, I started shaking a shelf with some pottery on it.
Clatter, clatter!
“What—what’s going on?!”
Crash!
I shoved the shelf, breaking the pottery, and turned the lights off again.
By now, Somerset was on the verge of tears.
“Turn on the lights! What are you doing? Is no one here?!”
Servants would soon be coming, having heard his screams.
I prepared for the climax.
Lastly, I turned on the light directly above Somerset.
Somerset took a deep breath, his whole body trembling.
“EEEK!”
This time, I shook a framed picture off the wall and made it fall right in front of him.
“M-mom…!”
Terrified, Somerset collapsed to the floor.
“Look at you, calling for Delani in this situation.”
I clicked my tongue and looked around before delivering the final blow.
The servants were rushing to the scene in response to Somerset’s screams.
Okay, perfect timing.
I gave Somerset an eerie smile.
“One last hit.”
Since he hurt Dedrick earlier, it’s his turn now.
I clenched my fist and gave Somerset’s forehead a good smack.
Thud!

“Ugh!”
With a satisfying sound, Somerset fainted on the spot.

But it seemed the fear had overwhelmed him more than the pain because, as he passed out, he lost control of something else too.
Ssshh…

A dark stain spread across his pants.
“Ugh, gross!”

I pinched my nose and turned all the lights back on.
The servants arrived just in time, looking around in confusion.

“What… what is that smell?”
“Isn’t that Somerset over there?”

A maid covered her mouth, staring at Somerset’s unconscious, wet figure.
“D-did the young master… wet himself?”
“Shh! Keep quiet! If this gets out, we’ll be in trouble too!”
“But still… he really did wet himself. Isn’t the young master already—”
“I said, keep quiet!”

They quickly carried Somerset away, trying to avoid further embarrassment.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and proudly declared,
“Another job well done.”

Honestly, maybe I was more talented at playing ghost than being a monster.

As I turned to leave, I locked eyes with Dedrick, who was staring at me with wide eyes.
“Ah!”

Startled, I screamed. He jumped in surprise too, but I quickly blurted out a clumsy excuse.
“I-I was protecting the honor of monsters!”

“What?”
Dedrick looked confused, but once I started talking, I couldn’t stop.

“Uh, you see, monsters need to give humans trauma regularly. It’s…a tradition!”

“…Really?”
“No.”
“…”

For some reason, I couldn’t lie to Dedrick. Maybe because he trusted me so much, I felt guilty for deceiving him.

‘He must’ve been shocked to see me like this for the first time.’
What if he thought I was just a scary, violent monster?

While I was sweating and wracking my brain for a way out, Dedrick glanced over my shoulder.
Behind me, the servants were hauling off Somerset’s limp body.

I instinctively stood on tiptoe, trying to block Dedrick’s view.

Instead, he smirked faintly and leaned in to whisper.
“Let’s go back to the room. It’s dangerous here.”

Thankfully, he didn’t seem mad or scared. His voice, as always, was warm and gentle.

I let out a small sigh of relief and replied cheerfully.
“Okay!”

I followed closely behind him. Watching him limping slightly made my heart ache, but I held back my tears.

We reached the room quickly, and he opened the door, stepping aside to let me in first.

Once I was inside, he locked the door, giving me an awkward smile.
“It’s better to be careful and lock up from now on.”

As if Somerset wouldn’t just break the door down anyway…

Dedrick guided me to the sofa, sitting me down gently.
His blue eyes held a mixture of emotions—hopefulness and worry.

‘Why does he look so anxious?’
Did he think I’d pull the same ghost act on him?

No way. I’d never do that to Dedrick. He wasn’t like Somerset.

“I’ll never do anything like that to you!” I blurted out.

At my sudden confession, his eyes widened in surprise before he let out a small laugh.

“You’re good at observing people, but sometimes you can be surprisingly careless.”

“That’s both my biggest strength and my biggest flaw.”

“No, you don’t have flaws. Even that’s something I like about you.”

This boy… he’s gotten much more open about expressing his feelings.

Honesty suits him—it’s a good change.

“You noticed my anxiety, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not because I’m afraid you’ll hurt me. Even if you stabbed me with a sword, I wouldn’t mind.”

“That’s something you should mind…”

A non-darkened Dedrick was as sweet as they described in a novel.

No matter how kind I’ve been to him, if I betrayed him, he should be furious and seek revenge. But instead, he says he’d be okay with it?

It felt like he needed a little lesson.

“I’d never do that, but if I ever hit you in the back, you’d better hit me back twice as hard. I’ve told you, you should always pay someone back double. That’s the right thing to do.”

He didn’t agree or disagree—he just smiled. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he spoke carefully.

“What makes me anxious is… that you didn’t do that to my brother for my sake, but for someone else.”

“Someone else? Who else would I do it for besides you?”

I tilted my head, confused. There wasn’t anyone I cared about other than Dedrick.

Seeing my genuine confusion, the worry in his bright blue eyes slowly faded.

Then he took my hand in his, blushing slightly.

“Joanna Primrose… It feels like you pity her.”

“Pity is just pity. She has plenty of people to look after her, whether I care or not. Besides, I only care about you.”

I’ve always been single-minded like that.

“Then… you did it for me, right?”

“Well, uh…”

I hesitated.

It was true, but how could I outright say, ‘Yeah, I turned Somerset into a pants-wetting mess for you!’

It felt… a little awkward.

“…Wasn’t it?”

His shoulders slumped, looking disappointed.

Ugh, fine! I sighed and decided to just be honest.

“Yes, it was for you. It’s annoying if he’s the only one who gets away unscathed while you’re hurt like this. I hate it when you’re the only one who has to suffer.”

I spoke quietly, feeling sad as I looked at him, covered in wounds.

Finally, some life returned to his face.

Dedrick gently pinched my cheek, careful not to hurt me, and started fiddling with it.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s… soft.”

“I’m a closet monster, remember?”

“Haha…”

Dedrick let out a small laugh and said,
“So, closet monsters are soft, have horns, and are warm, huh?”

“Exactly!”

I then lightly grabbed his index finger.
“You’re not disappointed, are you? Even if you are, it doesn’t matter. I’m just this kind of monster.”

Dedrick tilted his head in confusion as if he didn’t understand.
“Why would I be disappointed in you?”

“I knocked someone out. I’m not the kind of kind monster you think I am.”

“But you did it all for me.”

I nodded enthusiastically.
Exactly. Everything I do is for Dedrick.
“I’m happy,” he said.

Only then did I relax and smile. As he patted my head, Dedrick softly asked,
“Nervous?”

“A lot! I didn’t want you to see that, but you caught me…”
My heart was pounding like crazy.

“I’m not disappointed in you, and I’m not mad either. So don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“How do you always say such kind things?”

At my heartfelt words, Dedrick burst out laughing.
Now I could get my revenge legally.
Hehe.

I let out a very sinister laugh, making sure Dedrick didn’t notice.