🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 9
“The young lady has arrived. She requests to have lunch with you.”
“I’m already eating. Send her away.”
“Yes, understood.”
After the head maid, Mary, stepped out with a satisfied expression, the dining room—where only Chloe remained—fell silent again.
Propping her chin on her hand, she cut into the steak that had long since gone cold.
It was clearly half spoiled.
Though she had lost her sense of taste and smell due to the aftereffects of her mana rampage, even she could tell that much just by looking.
If this had been a year ago, she would have summoned the maids and disciplined them on the spot.
They were worms who would tuck their tails and obey the moment she showed anger.
But it hadn’t been long since Coco’s death anniversary.
‘Everything feels so exhausting and dull.’
She set the knife down.
She was about to simply return to her bedroom and sleep some more.
That was when she noticed a white mouse gnawing at the wall of the dining room.
‘Coco used to love playing with mice.’
With her tiny paws, she would press down on them again and again.
‘There was nothing cuter than that.’
Without realizing it, Chloe found herself staring at the mouse.
Then—
The mouse, clinging flat against the wall, began digging at something with fervor.
In an instant, a small hole appeared.
‘They neglected maintenance. It’s completely worn out.’
She was just thinking that when—
From inside the hole, something rolled out with a soft clatter.
A small orange ball, about the size of her palm.
It looked like an ordinary ball at first glance, but Chloe swallowed hard.
It was Coco’s favorite ball.
As proof, the label bore the words she had personally written: “Coco’s.”
Coco had been greedy, always hiding her toys.
Most of them had long been considered lost.
“Why is this… here…?”
As she looked at the ball, memories resurfaced.
Coco had loved playing with the hard ball that squeaked when pressed with her front paws.
Unusually, the outer surface of the ball had a small crack. If you tucked a treat inside, she would excitedly sniff and nuzzle it.
Lost in reminiscence, Chloe bent down and picked up the ball.
Meanwhile, the mouse slipped back into its hole.
“It smells like Coco.”
Holding the small ball in her hand, she began to wonder if there might be something else.
Come to think of it, Coco had lost quite a lot of toys.
“I thought she buried them in the ground… so the mouse had them.”
This was the mansion she had designed in her childhood.
Back then, she had added several maze-like passages into the design.
Passages she had completely forgotten about as she grew older.
Only Coco—who used to roam the mansion during her “walks”—would have memorized them all.
‘Unless I tear this place apart, I probably won’t find the other toys.’
Still, finding the hard ball was something.
She carefully tucked it into her arms.
Just then, Head Maid Mary knocked.
At Chloe’s permission, she entered with a troubled expression.
“Lady Chloe.”
“What is it?”
“The young lady refuses to leave. She insists she must tell you something…”
From behind her back, Coco peeked her head in.
The head maid clicked her tongue irritably.
“Young lady! You mustn’t enter!”
“—H-hic! I have something to say!”
Seeing Coco bow her head deeply, Chloe let out a sigh.
She didn’t even have the energy to get angry anymore.
“You. Why are you here again?”
“You told me not to come every day… but I saw something really strange…”
Her voice trailed off timidly.
Looking at the crown of the child’s lowered head, Chloe felt something odd stir inside her.
“I-I saw a mouse carrying something really strange, so I came to tell you…”
“…A mouse?”
“Yes! It was super strange. Something soft, like jelly…”
At those words, something clicked.
“…Bone-shaped?”
“Yes! You know it?”
At that moment, hope flickered in her chest.
Coco, the little puppy who knew the mansion’s structure better than even its designer.
Perhaps she had hidden her toys somewhere Chloe herself didn’t know.
‘There are still traces of Coco I didn’t know about…’
After dismissing the maids, Chloe turned her gaze back to the child.
“Tell me. The mouse did what?”
“You see! The mouse was carrying a squishy bone-shaped doll, and then it hid in a really weird place! It was so strange and fascinating, so I came to tell you!”
“…Where is it now?”
“Um, it hid in a super weird place! You know, mice usually come out at night when no one’s around!”
“So?”
As the child rambled on, Chloe’s expression gradually stiffened.
“Actually, I’m really good at catching mice!”
“What are you trying to say?”
“But I can only catch them at night! So… can I sleep here just for one night?”
Chloe stared at the chubby-cheeked child.
Her cheeks were flushed as if she were about to begin a stakeout.
Her face looked thrilled.
The sudden proposal felt utterly out of the blue.
But…
“If I let you stay just tonight, you can find the toy?”
“Yes!”
“…Then you. Catch the mouse.”
“Yes! Please watch me! You can’t fall asleep first, Lady Chloe! That’s the only way we can find the bone-shaped toy!”
“Just tonight. I won’t allow it again.”
“Yes! Wow! I’m so happy!”
Even though Chloe had clearly said just tonight, the moment she gave permission, Coco showed no sign of disappointment and began bustling around the dining room as if it were her own home.
“There’s no sunshine, and the steak smells bad…” she muttered with exaggerated sighs.
“These bad people!” she suddenly accused, pointing dramatically.
A suspicious little child who had appeared out of nowhere and now rampaged through her mansion.
Yet Chloe had no choice but to accept her proposal.
Because she wanted to see that toy Coco had played with, even if only a few times.
She desperately longed for that warmth.
That night, at Chloe Ardos’s seaside mansion—
I slipped into the darkness and quietly padded down toward the basement.
Pretending to follow a mouse. Pretending to crawl.
But I was heading down a path I already knew.
After winding through the secret passage—
A dark door leading to the basement opened.
‘I finally made it in!’
There were countless dust-covered chests stacked high.
Rolling my eyes around, I carefully surveyed the surroundings.
From another room, I could faintly hear the maids chatting.
But I focused only on what I had to find.
Back when I was a puppy, I used to play hide-and-seek with my sister in this mansion.
So I knew everything about this place.
Though it was pitch dark, I could see.
‘I need to find the ledger with an apple drawn on the cover.’
An old ledger stuffed with worn parchment pages, smudged from years of handling.
If I found that, I could drive the maids out.
Using my excellent puppy nose, I began sniffing for anything suspicious.
And finally, I found a clue.
‘That’s it!’
At the edge of a wall stacked with chests, there was a small empty gap.
With my tiny hands, I painstakingly dragged a large chest aside.
Beneath it, I saw a narrow crack—and a book wedged into it.
“Huff… huff…”
It was incredibly difficult, but—
I managed to grab the tiny book wedged into the floorboards.
‘Mission complete! I found it!’
I slipped the thin book into the pocket of my dress.
‘Now I just have to get out!’
Rising onto my tiptoes, I began sneaking away.
And then—
Bang!
With a sharp snapping sound, the door burst open.
Maids with familiar faces—the ones I had seen at my sister’s mansion—appeared.
“There’s noise coming from this room.”
“Looks like a little rat snuck in.”
I pressed myself into the darkness behind a stack of boxes, holding my breath.
Thud. Thud.
Footsteps slowly drew closer.
I barely had time to steady my nerves.
Just as I thought I had successfully hidden—
Crash!
