The grand mansion, typically enveloped in silence, was now consumed by an abrupt chaos.
Servants and maids, their faces etched with grim determination, scurried about, signaling the urgency of their predicament, while the private soldiers guarding the lord’s estate busily cleaned their weapons.
Even the elderly butler, who would typically chide the frantic maids, was rambling incoherently, seemingly out of his mind, making it difficult to gauge the true extent of the confusion gripping them all.
Yet, amidst this turmoil, two individuals stood apart, feeling isolated.
They were two knights, visitors who had been staying at the mansion briefly and were scheduled to depart that very day.
Goldie, the golden-haired, golden-eyed dragon girl, observed the once-peaceful mansion now in disarray, striving to understand the cause.
If even they, mere guests, could sense the gravity of the situation, it surely meant something significant had occurred, yet Goldie’s inability to grasp the reason only deepened her frustration.
Coincidentally, her captain, the black-haired girl, was also nowhere to be seen, adding an inexplicable layer of unease to the situation.
“What in the world is happening? Where on earth has the captain gone?”
Despite the captain’s nonsensical ramblings over the past week about a sickly beautiful girl and a sweet scent, Goldie couldn’t help but worry that her captain, for better or worse, might have foolishly gotten caught in the chaos and sustained an injury.
More precisely, she feared that if her captain were injured and abruptly teleported to the royal palace, a furious Adelia, taken by surprise, would relentlessly berate her without end.
Observing the situation beside the anxious Goldie, Sion, the knight with narrowed eyes, noticed something slightly peculiar about the servants’ movements.
“Lady Goldie, something about this is strange.”
“Is it strange that Adelia is going to drown me (TL Note: A Korean slang term, ‘damgwojineun ge,’ literally meaning ‘being pickled’ or ‘submerged,’ here used colloquially to imply being severely punished or ‘drowned in trouble.’)?”
“No, that’s an everyday occurrence, so I pay it little mind. More to the point, the direction the maids are moving in is overtly peculiar. It’s as if they’re being drawn into that specific area…”
Sion found it puzzling that a particular group of people was moving exclusively in one direction.
Even in a mansion as vast as this, being an enclosed space, if people entered one area, there should also be people emerging from it.
Yet, in a certain corridor leading to the mansion’s uppermost floor, this was not the case; everyone who entered that way simply vanished, never to be seen again.
“Look, the people who went into that room aren’t coming out. It seems about five or six individuals have gone in and haven’t reappeared.”
“Oh… oh, is that right? No, wait? The one who just went in is coming out over there?”
“Sigh, this dragon with face blindness…”
The knight with narrowed eyes sighed at the dragon’s inability to clearly distinguish between humans.
It was both a limitation and the sole drawback of an arrogant race that saw no need to focus on individual humans.
Although Goldie was comparatively better, having spent nearly several hundred years among humans, it seemed she still struggled to perfectly differentiate individuals she had only known for a mere week.
Sion intercepted one of the maids heading in that direction.
Narrowing his eyes even further and curving his lips into a wider smile, he inquired,
“Might I trouble you with a small question? (Smiling brightly)”
“H-h-heeek! Save me!”
“…Hey, she fainted?”
“…Perhaps we should find someone else?”
The maid, having gazed into his eyes and fallen into severe terror, couldn’t adapt to the sudden shift in circumstances. She screamed, her eyes rolling back, before immediately collapsing beyond her limits into unconsciousness, falling silent.
His passive ability had, without fail, activated even in this urgent situation, meaning they could gather no more information than the fact that acquiring it would take quite some time.
It inevitably took them a considerable amount of time to realize that the black-haired girl had also vanished from the mansion.
This realization only came after at least ten maids had fallen victim.
“Wow, a killer smile!”
“Silence, Dragon.”
He was displeased.
****
On the final day of the festival, the streets were filled with people dressed as the deceased, portraying various forms of the departed.
They depicted people who had died from various causes: some merely covered in blood, others struck by swords or axes, some engulfed in flames, and still others succumbed to illness.
Amidst these spectral figures, two girls stood out, conspicuously out of place.
Compared to their surroundings, they were vibrantly alive, brimming with vitality, yet no one seemed to notice their incongruous appearance, which only intensified the strangeness of the scene.
The long-haired violet-haired maiden strolled through the streets, embracing the black-haired girl who was about a head shorter than herself.
“The vampire costume looks a bit cool, but it seems like it would hurt.”
“It’s just a costume, so it’s fine.”
“Those skewers at that food stall look delicious. Let’s get one.”
“Uh… didn’t you just have a snack earlier? And you just ate a skewer a moment ago…”
“Yuri, you should have one too! If we eat together, the guilt will be halved!”
The black-haired girl, completely oblivious to their own peculiarity, innocently admired the various facets of the festival.
As a reincarnator, her sense of reality regarding the world was somewhat detached, and thus, in her mind, the Festival of the Dead was merely a game event.
Consequently, had she pondered it even briefly, she would have easily realized that they, with no costumes whatsoever, stood out jarringly in the streets; instead, she simply reveled in the festivities.
Conversely, Yuri Sitri, the long-haired violet-haired maiden, was fraught with anxiety, fearing that Lily might notice even a single odd detail.
Lily, still unaware of Yuri’s eyes, also remained ignorant of the fact that the eyes of everyone passing them by were unfocused and hazy.
“Over there, there’s a huge skull! It’s Sans!”
In the direction she pointed, there was a gigantic skull and the count’s exclusive magician manipulating it.
Yuri naturally looked towards it, only to accidentally meet the magician’s gaze.
The magician, having looked into her eyes, momentarily lost his composure and control over his magic, which immediately manifested in the movements of the colossal skull.
“Ah, the magician made a mistake… the skull is moving strangely.”
“Oh, oh, it’s fine. It’ll be fine.”
Though only for a brief moment, the skull swayed precariously, losing its balance in the air, prompting small screams from the crowd, who scattered, causing a minor commotion.
Yuri Sitri was displeased with such a situation.
Her escape from the mansion would undoubtedly be reported immediately by the maids monitoring her, and if such commotions continued to arise merely from fleeting eye contact, it was clear she would be easily discovered.
Nevertheless, watching the small black-haired girl enjoy the festival and have a happy time brought her a joy that surpassed any concern.
Thus, she wished to show her more spectacular sights, feed her more delicious treats, and let her experience more delightful moments.
And she believed that simply watching over Lily from her side would bring her immeasurable happiness.
“Shall we go watch the fireworks over there this time?”
“The festival is slowly coming to an end… the sun is setting…”
Lily felt a pang of regret at the approaching end of a festival she had not experienced in a long time.
As time passed, the crowds on the streets gradually thinned, and the once vibrant city began to sink into darkness and silence, signifying the imminent end of the festival.
Each year, the festival concluded with the return of everyday life.
Citizens, invigorated by the festivities, would return to their routines.
Yuri Sitri felt her heart ache at the sight of Lily’s disappointment.
Wishing to make her happy again, she conceived a small plan.
“What are you talking about? The Festival of the Dead truly begins at night, Lily. Won’t you wait here for just a moment?”
“Huh? Yuri? Where are you going all by yourself?”
“It will only take a moment.”
Yuri Sitri left Lily for a moment and disappeared into a dark alley.
A spectacular fireworks display erupted.
Against that backdrop, she returned.
“Come, come this way.”
The place where she led Lily by the hand was filled with countless people, reveling endlessly in the remaining hours of the festival night.
They danced what appeared to be a ritualistic dance, twirling against the backdrop of the fireworks.
“Wow! There’s still more?”
“If Lily wishes for it…”
The small black-haired girl did not fully grasp the meaning behind Yuri Sitri’s words.
She was, of course, unaware of where the dancing people’s gazes were directed, what they were truly seeing, or their current state.
She remained oblivious to Yuri Sitri’s sinister actions, which were concealed behind what appeared to be a mere continuation of the joyous festival before her eyes.
They danced endlessly, truly endlessly, expending their lives to entertain the girls, much like wooden puppets swayed ceaselessly by a puppeteer.
Amidst the spectacular fireworks, passionate dance, and joyous cheers, Yuri Sitri uttered a crucial statement to Lily.
“Lily, let’s run away together.”
“Yuri? What are you suddenly talking about? What kind of running away?”
“My father will find me soon. He’ll bring his private soldiers here. I need to make a decision before that happens.”
“But Goldie and Sion are waiting at the mansion. The Princess is also waiting in the royal capital. I have to be there.”
Lily did not fully comprehend the predicament Yuri was currently in.
She didn’t even know that if Yuri were caught, she would be executed without any chance of defense.
This ignorance allowed Lily to cruelly reject her.
Yuri Sitri nodded, as if she had somewhat anticipated this response.
Not being a fool, she hadn’t expected Lily to agree immediately, and thus, she had devised a plan to persuade her through a bit of ‘education.’
“In that case, there’s no other choice. It might hurt just a little, but could you bear it for a moment? It’s all for our future, Lily.”
“Yuri?”
Lily felt her vision darken as her consciousness faded.
The last thing she saw was Yuri’s tear-streaked face, apologizing.
