/
I got so overwhelmed with how the room looked that I didn’t see it at first, but the favorability gauge floated over her head for a moment before it disappeared again.
So the countess’ name is Priscilla. But what’s the point in raising the countess’ favorability? She’s already gone bonkers.
“…Did you say your name was Hilda?”
“Y-Yes.”
I was a little surprised to hear the countess’ voice. As I heard her speak normally for the first time, her voice was as soft and sweet as whipped cream. As I watched her set down the empty cup with a gentle gaze on it, I also found her to have a very caring atmosphere.
The lurching urge to vomit from seeing the goat’s head in her arms had yet to recede, but as I saw the warmth in her eyes, I did start to feel some sympathy for her.
The original countess wouldn’t have ended up like this. Since she was a soft and gentle person, her mind was susceptible to collapsing all together like this.
“Go downtown.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s a lot to see in the town. Mister Andrew, the teahouse owner—he said that he brought in some orange-flavored Rooibos tea from a faraway place, but I haven’t checked just yet. I don’t know if the shop is doing well now.”
「 Map, open! You can now go to the village of Ida. 」
「 You can now go outside the manor. 」
At the unexpected development, the white text made me pause. I was blocked from leaving the manor yesterday because it said I couldn’t go out. I didn’t know that the countess was the key for this.
My heart almost stopped because of how terrifying this room was, but if Leticia hadn’t sent me here as a replacement, then I wouldn’t have been able to open the map and I would have just been stuck inside the manor all the time.
In addition to gaining more skills as my EXP rose, I didn’t know that it was important to increase the favorability of the major characters by interacting with them. If I knew it was going to be like this, then I should have picked up some other things and gave them all to Adrian.
Since he’s the main character, wouldn’t there be even better benefits if I raise his favorability?
“Rock a bye, rock a bye… my… baby…”
It was only for a moment that the countess came back to her senses. She bowed her head again and continued humming the lullaby. As if this was a meandering dream, the hazy voice and the red room were both a whole lot creepy when combined together.
Even so, as I recalled the countess’ expression earlier, I now felt pity rather than fear.
It’s weird, too.
Probably because I knew her backstory about being aware that Adrian was a devil.
All the people in this world who didn’t know the truth about Adrian were just pointing their fingers at the countess and calling her crazy. She was someone who finally broke down after shouting the truth to everyone, yet no one believed her.
This woman who was trapped in an empty room as she shouted into the void became empty herself…
“I’ll come back to visit you, Madam.”
“Sleep now, sleep now…”
“I’ll buy more ingredients from the village and bring you more delicious coffee.”
Before leaving through the door with the tray in my hands, I bowed to the countess. She still didn’t look back, but her drooping shoulders looked immensely lonely.
I was already about to close the door silently, but the dreary voice sank lower than before, and I heard a new line of the lullaby through the small gap in the door.
“Rest now, die now, sleep, sleep now… my… Adrian…”
My hand paused on the doorknob.
Without realizing it, my eyes widened as I pulled the door open again, but I could no longer hear the song. Seeing as how the countess’ head was leaning forward, her neck bending over like a drooping branch, it seemed like she had already fallen asleep.
Did I… hear it wrong? I thought I heard Adrian’s name.
I didn’t know where this sudden sense of creepiness was coming from, but I looked around the hallway in fear. I was the only one here in this long corridor, and all I could hear was the sound of empty wind.
It’s weird. I couldn’t breathe. It’s not the same feeling I had when I was in front of Adrian. The breaths I took in were cold, and as I exhaled, my throat stung. The tip of my nose ached as my breaths became rougher.
I reached for the knob again so that I could close the door with my trembling hand. I couldn’t help but look through the gap in the door, and I saw the countess’ thin neck.
She slowly turned her head halfway—and our eyes met.
I slammed the door closed to the point that my nose almost got caught, and at the same time, my heart started racing in my chest.
I started feeling dizzy. There was a ringing sound in my ears that it felt like one of the flies hovering over the goat’s head was buzzing near me.
“The wind—I must have misheard the sound of the wind…”
I left out a long exhale so that I could calm myself down. The countess loves Adrian. As much as she loved him, she was in shock. Despite the tragedy that happened, it would have happened earlier if not for that.
Rushing down to the first floor, I inhaled the cold air. The ringing in my ears subsided a little when I heard the other servants talking as they passed by.
It felt like I’ve just emerged from a murky quagmire.