Chapter 3. The Trap
“Mmm…”
Bella carefully examined the corpse of the cat she had retrieved. There were more than a few strange things about it.
Cat. Death. Blood. Most people would be terrified, thinking some eerie incident had occurred in a haunted mansion. But Bella thought differently.
“Who left this here?”
She muttered ominously, tracing the wounds with her fingertips.
The cat had already died from a wound caused by an arrow to its side. Afterward, a narrow blade had cut it again in a long slash.
Whoever did this had done a sloppy job. What kind of ghost uses a knife? This was definitely the work of a human. No matter how she looked at it, humans were the most cruel and cowardly creatures of all.
Just as Bella was about to lift the body to bury it—
Clatter!
Something bumped into the nightstand in the room, making the flower vase shake. Before Bella could react, it fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.
“…Ah.”
Bella pressed a hand to her forehead, swallowing back a hundred curses.
Maybe the previous owners of this mansion had actually died from these flower vases. Suppressing her rising irritation, Bella pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and walked toward the nightstand.
The broken vase was one thing, but the water she had carefully replaced that morning had completely spilled. Grinding her teeth, she began cleaning up the mess.
“If you pull one more trick, I swear I’ll exorcise you myself, Mr. Ghost.”
In response, a cool breeze brushed her shoulder.
In a room with closed windows, a sudden chill filled the air. Bella wondered if there really was a ghost and decided to light a fire in the fireplace.
She couldn’t be sure whether it was a ghost causing the chill or just her blood running cold from anger. Still, there had to be a reason why objects kept falling for no apparent reason.
“Whether it’s a person or a ghost, why are you all going crazy when I’ve been working so hard to maintain this empty house?”
Grumbling, Bella picked up the cat’s corpse and left the room with a clearly annoyed expression. First, she had to bury this poor cat.
She went out to the backyard, grabbed a shovel from the storage shed, and started digging.
After sweating through digging a deep hole and burying the cat, Bella leaned against a tree post, exhausted.
“I’ll apologize on their behalf. Rest in peace.”
She gently patted the earth that covered the cat and spoke a kind farewell.
Though she wanted to give up on the tiring digging halfway, she endured. If she didn’t bury it properly, wild animals might get into the mansion, so she made sure it was deep.
As a result, her skirt was covered in dirt, and her palms were red and stinging.
“How should I catch the cat killer…?”
Using items inside the mansion to set a trap seemed the best approach.
The problem was, she had no idea where this person might approach from. The mansion was simply too big.
“If I assume I’m the target, I should use myself as bait and set traps nearby.”
With a grunt, Bella stood up. If someone was bold enough to send such a crude threat, they were probably planning to hurt her soon. She needed to be ready right away.
After some thought, she decided to set a trap near the front door—where the cat had been left.
** * * * **
By the time she finished setting the trap and returned to her room, it was past midnight. The perfect time for suspicious people to be on the move.
But Bella, not worried in the slightest, flopped down on her bed with a carefree face.
Her body, having done so much physical labor, felt pleasantly tired. She knew she’d be sore tomorrow, but soreness always went away if you kept moving.
As her eyes drooped and she started to drift off, a loud clang rang out from outside—someone had tripped the trap.
“…!”
Bella jumped up, opened the window, and saw a figure sprawled out on the ground, struggling in a pathetic mess.
Not wasting a second, she grabbed the sword propped up next to her bed and rushed to the front entrance.
“So it’s you. The filthy murderer.”
“P-please spare me!”
The sword, gleaming coldly in the moonlight, stopped right at the man’s throat.
She had tied string at ankle height to trip the intruder, oiled the ground to make them slip, and applied slowly-drying glue to a post for them to grab onto—so now the man reeked of oil and glue, a stench so awful it was unbearable. His hands had even stuck together.
“The cat probably wanted to live too. But you killed it.”
“T-that’s—!”
“So why should I let you, someone who wants to live, stay alive?”
Bella’s voice was deathly low and calm. Her eyes showed not the slightest sign of agitation. No anger, no murderous intent, no excitement—only a grim resolve to end this situation, and a faint glint of alertness proving she was still a living person.
If not for that, the man might’ve thought she was a ghost from this very mansion. Bella’s face was that expressionless as she prepared to strike him down.
Fearing for his life, the man fell flat on the ground and cried out.
“I didn’t kill it!”
“But a human did. Did you think I was too dumb to notice that?”
With a mocking sneer, Bella raised her sword high. The blade flashed in the moonlight.
The man screamed, covering his head with his hands.
“I—I was just following orders! I only placed the dead cat like I was told!”
“Following orders?”
Bella’s sword halted midair. Seizing the moment, the man hurried to explain.
“Y-yes! I’m just a vagabond beggar in this village. Some man gave me money and told me to leave the cat corpse at this mansion.”
“So who was this person?”
Lowering her sword, Bella watched the man closely.
Breathing a sigh of relief, the man confessed everything he knew.
“I don’t know! But he wasn’t from this village. His accent wasn’t from the North either. He gave off the impression of someone refined—maybe a gentry or a noble.”
“So basically, an outsider with some power?”
“Yes, that’s it! I swear, I only did as I was told. Please, spare me…”
After a brief moment of thought, Bella nodded slightly and smiled.
“I’ll let you live.”
“Thank you!”
“But you’ll still have to be humiliated a bit.”
“E-excuse me?”
Ten minutes later, the man was dangling from the front gate, tied to the fence.
“T-this is too much!”
“You said you were grateful I spared you, but now you’re complaining? Not even thinking about the crime you committed.”
Bella tapped a large sign she’d placed in front of him with the tip of her shoe. It read:
ABSOLUTELY NO TRESPASSING! ANYONE WHO ENTERS THIS PRIVATE PROPERTY WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN!
Reading her sign again with a proud smile, Bella looked thoroughly pleased.
“Perfect.”
“When will you let me down?”
“I’ll untie you at dawn. The night air’s not too cold yet, so don’t worry about freezing.”
With that, Bella stepped lightly back into the mansion, unaware of what might come next.
Back in her room, Bella tilted her head.
“Did I leave the curtains open?”
Thinking nothing of it, she went to close them, but the fabric swayed strangely—as if a ghost were dancing.
Bella stared at the movement for a moment, then snorted and yanked them shut.
“No matter how much you mess with me, Mr. Ghost, I’m not giving up this mansion. No one touches my house. Not even you.”
“…”
She spoke sternly into the empty air. To any onlooker, she’d seem like someone in serious need of psychiatric care.
To top it off, she waved her hand through the air in annoyance and flopped onto her bed.
“So just leave quietly, okay? And stop sneaking into a lady’s bedroom.”
“…”
Blinking slowly, Bella forced her heavy eyelids open a few times before chuckling to herself like a lunatic.
“Ugh, I guess I’m lonely too. Talking to myself like this when there’s nothing here…”
She remembered a story from a few years back—about someone stranded on a deserted island who started talking to a volleyball. She never imagined she’d relate.
After working as a maid in a bustling mansion for so long, suddenly being alone in this big place was hard to adjust to.
“If it’s come to this, I hope the ghost is at least handsome…”
Mumbling without realizing what she was saying, Bella let out her final sleepy words.
Soon, only her steady breathing filled the room. Moonlight streamed through the crack in the curtains, illuminating her bed.
“…”
The soft rug next to the bed pressed down slightly—as if someone lay beside her.
“Mmm.”
Smacking her lips, Bella rolled over toward the rug. Her hair fell across her face in her sleep.
Ssshh.
As if nothing had intruded, her hair gently slid back behind her ear.
And yet, Bella remained deeply asleep—blissfully unaware. The night was still and silent.
