Chapter 94

“Yes, you did well.”

It was admirable that he thought of me, so I decided to pretend I didn’t know he had already eaten them. After roughly brushing off the flour from Lumiyan’s face, I straightened my body and stood up.

“Lumiyan, I will be away for about two days from tomorrow.”

“Are you going on a trip?”

“Yes, in the villa where His Highness is. You have to stay with Marina. Got it?”

“With the little witch sister?”

When Marina, ‘the little witch’, nodded her head with an expressionless face, Lumiyan’s complexion turned dark.

“I want to go too. Please take me too!”

“You are afraid of His Highness.”

“It’s more scary to be with the little witch without you, master!”

For you to better understand, Lumiyan called Marina the little witch and Nanabi the big witch. On the day I was poisoned, both of them beated Lumiyan so much that he became scared of them and started calling them witches.

Of course, the one he was still most afraid of was Sihael.

‘Is Marina that scary?’

Lumiyan clung to my arm and kept whining. I wondered if it was better to be next to me even if I was going to meet Sihael.

“Lumiyan, don’t bother My Lady.”

Marina pulled a dagger from her sleeve and glared at him coldly. Lumiyan quickly shut his mouth and quickly got off my arms.

“See, I told you she was scary.”

“No, Your Highness will be scarier.”

Sihael, being a werewolf, might get annoyed by his presence and bite Lumiyan, who he usually regarded as an eyesore.

Lumiyan, who had no way of knowing that fact, kept begging me to take him too.

“No, I can’t.”

“Ung, hngg, you’re such a meanieee.”

Eventually, Lumiyan, who burst into tears, threw the cookies and left.

‘Haah, it feels like I’m raising a toddler brother.’

It’s all broken. What a pity!

I carefully picked up the broken cookie pieces that had fallen on the floor. I was sure he’d come back because it was his favorite snack.

However Lumiyan never came back.

*  *  *

‘Lumiyan must be really upset.’

No matter how angry he was, I thought he would come to see me off, but I couldn’t see a single strand of his hair.

“My Lady, would you be really okay without me?”

“Yes, Marina, I want you to take a good rest here.”

Marina secretly expressed her wish to take her with me. Marina was the best and comfortable person to be with for me too, but I couldn’t increase the number of people who knew Sihael’s identity for my convenience.

“Marina, you are the one I trust the most. You know that, don’t you?”

I hugged Marina’s sullen figure and patted her on the back.

“…Yes.”

“Please keep an eye on Lumiyan so he doesn’t get into an accident.”

“Yes My Lady, just trust me.”

After bidding farewell to Marina, who quickly regained her strength, I climbed into the carriage with Leonard.

Rumble, rumble.

As I watched the mansion slowly moving away, I felt strangely uneasy.

‘I think Lumiyan is going to get in an accident.’

These ominous forebodings usually came true most of the time. I tried to get rid of my anxiety, but the uneasy feeling didn’t go away even when I arrived at the villa.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s something that bothers me.”

As I was frowning from the beginning until now, Leonard misunderstood my apprehension and gently stroked my hair.

“Relax. The Eempress doesn’t know you are here.”

No, that’s not what I’m worried about.  It’s Lumiyan that’s bothering me.

“Let’s go.”

“Oh, yes.”

I followed Leonard, who led the way with my luggage. As soon as I opened the ugly door and entered, a neat interior unfolded before my eyes.

It could be seen how old the villa was, but thanks to the well-maintained space, it did not give the impression of being worn down at all. The odd thing was that it was too quiet.

There must have been one or two people waiting on Sihael, but I couldn’t see a single mouse, let alone a person.

“It’s like a haunted cabin, right?”

“It’s very quiet here.”

“My Lady, to be honest, I was surprised when you said you were coming here. There’s really nothing here.”

Nanabi was right. There really wasn’t anything here. There were no furnishings, just a few things and furniture.

Also there were no people.

The only people staying in the villa were me, Leonard, Nanabi, the villa manager and chef.

“May I help you?”

“It’s all right.”

So here, I had to take care of everything on my own except for meals. Of course, I had to unpack my luggage by myself as I came in with only a small amount of luggage.

‘I’ve lived a very comfortable life so far.’

It was awkward to unpack by myself as I had gotten used to people doing things for me since these two months. But only my mind found it awkward as my body naturally unpacked the things. After sorting out my clothes, I reached for the last bag and frowned when I found something strange.

‘Why is it open?’

With Marina’s meticulous personality, there was no way she would have put it like this on the carriage. Did it get open in the carriage?

When I looked inside the bag, something wriggled. Startled, I picked up the bag and quickly threw it against the wall.

Bang.

The bag hit the wall and fell to the floor, spilling its contents.

“What the hell… ?”

A doll wriggled out of the bag.

In an instant, I got goosebumps all over my body and Nanabi’s words about this place seeming like a haunted lodge flashed into my mind.

‘People say that ghosts appear here.’

Wasn’t that a joke?! I jumped onto the bed and gripped the pillow tightly.

‘Since it’s a doll, I should be able to kill it easily.’