CH 25

This is a bonus story. 

This world was under a monarchical system, and there was a clear class distinction between nobles and commoners. However, in this fantasy world of dresses, formal parties, knights, and magic, there still existed an event called Halloween. 

The reason for that was because this world was within an Otome video game. 

As far as gameplay goes, the Halloween level was hard to play to completion. 

For starters, there were many, many still frames to get through. It was an event where the Player would go trick-or-treating with whichever Potential Suitor had the most intimacy points with them at that time, but the characters the Player would meet along the way depended on which route was taken through the school. 

For example, if the Player selected the option “Let’s start on the first floor”, the Player would encounter the Crown Prince and the Knight in Training (both in costumes), but the Player couldn’t meet the Mage or Cain. If the player selected “Let’s work our way down from the third floor”, the Player would meet teachers and underclassmen, but the Player couldn’t meet Cain or the Crown Prince. If “Why don’t we start here, on the second floor?” was selected, the Player would run into the Secondborn Prince of the neighboring kingdom and the Mage, but couldn’t meet Cain or the teachers. 

There were always some characters that you wouldn’t be able to meet, and depending on who you were trick-or-treating with, the actions you could take changed, as well. Of course, the dialogue during the event changed depending on these options, too. 

Using the Save and Load commands to make sure you saw every still frame was backbreaking, tedious work. 

Today was Halloween. 

Neither Cain nor Diana had entered school yet, and since neither of them interacted with other children much, their trick-or-treating was confined to the manor. 

Diana was wearing a black dress that she didn’t wear very often and a pointy black hat. She held a stick with a star on the end of it. She was a witch. The stick was, of course, a magical wand. 

When Cain saw her in her costume, he fell to the ground in a fit of agonizing adoration, rolled around on the floor, and in thanks to the gods, started dancing a dance of gratitude. That was when Ilvalino stopped him, saying, “Your clothes will get dirty and wrinkled.”

Cain wore a headband with dog ears on it and had tied a fluffy tail to the back of his belt. He also wore furry slippers and gloves to complete his werewolf costume. 

Ilvalino had rejected the idea of dressing up until the very end, but ultimately, he compromised and draped a sheet over his head to become a ghost.

“Trick or treat!” said Cain. 

“If you don’t give us candy, we’ll play tricks on you!” said Diana. 

Ilvalino remained silent. 

Duke Dismaya Elgrandark had given all the servants in the manor a “candy stipend” for today’s event. Each servant was ordered to use this money to have candy prepared for the children. 

Some used the stipend to buy ingredients to make their own treats, some used the money to buy wrapping paper to wrap their treats to look like ghosts or pumpkins, and some simply bought treats that looked like ones the children would enjoy. 

“Ahh!!! I’ll give you candy! Please don’t play any tricks on me!” screamed a young housemaid, giving them all treats and playing along. 

“Trick or treat!” said Cain. 

“If you don’t give us candy, I’ll put a spell on you!” said Diana. 

Ilvalino remained silent. 

“Young master and Lady Diana – you look so cute. Young Ilu, what are you supposed to be?” asked a servant.

“He says he’s a ghost,” said Diana. 

“Haven’t put much work into your costume, have you?” 

Ilvalino didn’t respond. 

“Grraaahhh!” growled Cain. 

“Trick or treat!” said Diana. 

Ilvalino said nothing. [Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“All right, bring it on! You werewolf! I’ll turn the tables on you and defeat you!” said Arnoldia. 

“What…” said Cain. 

The knights, Arnoldia and Sarasinia, dared to defy the trick-or-treaters.

Cain, thinking he had to do something, charged at Arnoldia, who grabbed him and threw him aside. Before he hit the ground, Sarasinia caught him and stuffed a marshmallow in his mouth. 

“Seize that evil witch!” said Sarasinia. 

“Ahhh!!!” cried Diana, laughing. 

Arnoldia put her arms behind her back as if to arrest her, and then rose her high into the air, and stuck a marshmallow in her mouth. 

Ilvalino was about to apprehended by Sarasinia, too, but he took it seriously, evaded Sarasinia, fled, jumped up onto the top of the doorway, and hissed at him like a cat. He moved with a speed that Cain had never even seen before. 

“I think you should dress up as a cat next year, Young Ilu,” said Arnoldia. 

“Trick or treat!” said Cain. 

“I’ll use my magic to turn you into a frog!” said Diana. 

Ilvalino kept quiet. 

“Well, well, well! Aren’t you just the cutest little witch? I’ll give you some treats, so please hold off on turning me into a frog,” said Mother Elise. 

“Alright!” said Diana. 

“Your costume’s cute, too, Cain,” said Dismaya. 

“Father, please direct your compliments to Diana instead of me,” said Cain. 

“Now, why would you say that?” asked Dismaya. 

Mother Elise and Father Dismaya tussled their children’s hair while showering them with compliments. They gave extravagantly decorated pouches full of treats to all three trick-or-treaters. 

“Ilu-kun – We’ve sent treats to all the children at the orphanage, as well. I suppose they’re probably eating them, right now,” said Mother Elise, gently petting Ilvalino on his head. 

Ilvalino allowed himself to be pet since he had a layer of sheet covering him. He expressed his thanks in a small voice. 

After they had put away their treats, for the time being, the children went to tea time, which had been extended into a Halloween party. 

Chamberlains and housemaids who were close to the family, stewards, and other high-ranking servants were all gathered in the tea room. 

Other servants were gathered in the staff room, which was also stocked full of treats to enjoy. 

Diana held hands with Cain as they entered the tea room. 

Today was the one day where Diana wouldn’t be told, “That’s enough,” and so she was full of excitement. 

On the table were “finger cookies” shaped realistically with knuckles and wrinkles, and topped with almond slices for fingernails. There were “eyeball jellies” made out of condensed milk, blueberry sauce for the irises, and strawberry sauce for the blood vessels. There were “denture biscuits” made with berry cream and marshmallows. Next to them was a cake with cotton candy spider webs and spiders and butterflies made out of icing. Lastly, there were white chocolate treats shaped like skulls, with strawberry jam streaming out of their eye sockets and nostrils. 

The head cook and the baker had outdone themselves. It may have been because they had been given a special allowance for the Halloween party. They had poured a huge amount of effort into the project and had steered their creations in a truly horrifying direction. 

The moment Diana lay her eyes on these hyper-realistic treats, she squealed in terror, and Cain burst out laughing. Ilvalino’s hand shot up to his chest on instinct and tried to grab a weapon that wasn’t there. 

Though he was laughing uproariously, Cain gave Diana a big hug and rubbed her back, and Ilvalino said to him through the sheet, “Hey, do you think the treats sent to the orphanage were the same as these?”

Upon listening to Ilvalino’s question, Cain had stopped laughing for a moment, but when he pictured the kids at the orphanage opening up a package only to see these realistically terrifying treats, he started laughing, all over again. 

He handed Diana over to Mother and had to take a knee while holding his stomach from how hard he was laughing. 

Nobody could tell what Ilvalino’s reaction was through his ghostly sheet.