CHAPTER~56
About thirty minutes earlier.
Mela, who had arrived at the mansion earlier than Frezen Decart and Evlyen Leella, headed not to Reia but to Artemene’s office.
“Lady Artemene, Miss Mela has arrived. Shall I let her in?”
“Do so.”
Mela had worried about being turned away, but her concern proved unnecessary as the door opened at once.
“You’ve come?”
“Yes! Lady Artemene. Have you been well all this time?”
Mela stepped in energetically, lifting the hem of her dress with one hand and greeting her politely.
“Yes, thanks to you. I’ve even been sleeping well these days. Sit down for now.”
“Yesss. Thank you very much!”
The two went to the sofa and sat facing each other.
Seeing Mela’s plump, short legs dangling in the air, Artemene failed to suppress a smile.
“So, what brings you to me? I thought you would go straight to Reia.”
Artemene asked in a deliberately indifferent tone, hiding the pleasure she felt at being sought out.
“Hehe. Still, I should greet an elder first. And I came to say thank you as well, Lady Artemene. Thank you, for everything.”
“……”
She had long known the child was unusually bright for her age, but she hadn’t expected such respectfulness.
Mela’s actions showed she clearly understood how the other person would receive them.
Even knowing that, Artemene couldn’t dislike her, perhaps because the child’s eyes were so upright and sincere.
“The one you should thank isn’t me. There’s someone else.”
“Huh?”
“And you don’t have to call me Lady Artemene. You may call me great-aunt.”
“R-really…?”
“Of course. You and your mother are my people now. You’re part of me, so it’s only natural.”
“Wow!”
Mela’s face brightened instantly.
Her innocent smile was as warm as sunlight.
“Thank you for becoming Reia’s friend. That child has found her smile again lately. It makes me so happy…”
“If she’s found her smile, then someday she’ll find her voice too. Reia’s voice must sound just like a nightingale, right? Hehe.”
“……Yes. It was very clear.”
In the past, hearing that would have only made her sad, but now it didn’t.
No, she was happy.
The difference from before was the newfound certainty.
The hope that one day she would again hear her granddaughter’s lovely voice calling her ‘Great-aunt!’
How strange it was.
That all this hope had been given to her by two people who were, at first, nothing more than outsiders.
“Ah…! So, the reason I came today is actually because I have a favor I want to ask you, Great-aunt.”
“A favor for me? All right, go on. I’ll listen to anything.”
“Hehe, well…”
Mela was squirming shyly and parting her lips when—
The office door burst open, and an urgent voice rang out.
“L-Lady Artemene! Miss Reia is nowhere to be found!”
“What?”
At that, Mela and Artemene rushed out at once.
Artemene shouted, her face drained pale.
“Something has definitely happened to Reia. Find her immediately. No matter what, you must find her before the banquet begins!”
“Yes!”
The servants in the corridor rushed down the stairs, and Mela followed them to the first floor.
What on earth is going on?
Mela was deeply shaken by the sudden turn of events.
The past few days had been frighteningly peaceful.
Grimora had only subtly shown her displeasure and had never directly interfered when Reia was around.
That was why they had let their guard down.
The first place Mela headed to was Reia’s room.
The bedroom felt completely cold, as if no one had been there for a long time.
Mela checked under the bed.
After confirming there was nothing there, she went straight to the window.
“Hng.”
Standing on tiptoe, she saw the window tightly shut with no sign of having been opened.
So she hadn’t gone outside… or perhaps the window had been closed to avoid suspicion.
Finding no clues in the room, Mela returned to the corridor.
“Miss Reia! Where are you! Miss Reia! Can you hear us?”
“Please, Miss, if you hear us, make any sound at all!”
The voices of the maids searching for Reia echoed loudly through the corridor.
Among them, one crying maid caught Mela’s eye.
She was a maid who had attended Reia together with Rina.
“What do I do, what do I do. Miss Reia…”
“What happened?”
The maid flinched in surprise at Mela’s sudden appearance, then glanced around and continued.
“W-well, actually… I was with Miss Reia. Someone called for me, and when I stepped out for a moment, she disappeared. At first, I thought Miss Mela had arrived, so I didn’t think much of it…”
“……”
“Because Miss Reia kept saying she was waiting. I thought she was with you, Miss Mela…!”
Hearing that, Mela realized Reia must have left the room because she wasn’t on guard.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Mela gave a brief nod and began looking around for any trace.
Then she spotted something lying in a corner of the first-floor corridor.
When she approached and recognized it, her pupils shook.
“This is… my hair ribbon.”
It was the ribbon that had once been taken by the Lazar brothers.
In that instant, Mela had a gut feeling that they might be involved.
Did they lure Reia using my ribbon?
If so, then it was surely Grimora’s doing.
Grimora and the brothers live together in this mansion.
Then there’d be no need to come in from outside.
Which meant there was no need to go outside either.
Mela clenched her teeth.
From what she knew, Grimora had continuously abused the brothers, even physically.
But the servants were unaware of this.
That meant there might be a hidden place.
“The basement?”
Somewhere in this mansion, a concealed location.
Following her intuition, Mela searched for where stairs might be.
Basements were usually underground.
There had to be a passage leading down from the first floor.
Since the ribbon was dropped here, it had to be nearby…
“……”
Mela then found a half-open door.
Inside, wooden floorboards were visible.
Instinctively realizing this was the underground passage, Mela grabbed the handle of a board and pulled hard.
At that moment, a faint jingling sound reached her ears.
Convinced, Mela shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Reia! Are you inside? You’re inside, right! It’s me, Mela—!”
At the same time, something shoved her forward.
Mela lost her balance and fell downward.
Looking up quickly, a familiar figure came into view.
“Puhahaha! What do you think a little kid like you can do! Just stay there quietly until the banquet’s over, why don’t you?”
The child grinning eerily at her was Lazar.
Moments later, the passage door slammed shut with a bang.
Fallen below, Mela shouted in fury.
“Hey! You rotten jerk! Open the door, open it right now!! Morris! You’re there too, right? Please help me. You’re not this kind of kid!”
Then came an unbelievable reply.
“Sorry, but my brother helped too. Morris was the one who lured Reia.”
“What?”
The shock was so great she couldn’t even refute it.
It felt like being struck on the head with a blunt weapon.
Morris… lured her?
That couldn’t be…
No.
I was foolish to think I knew him just from exchanging a few words.
After that, Lazar’s voice was no longer heard.
Only pitch-black darkness surrounded them.
Then, once again, the faint jingling sound echoed.
Mela hurried to find Reia.
As expected, Reia was crying in a corner.
“Reia! Are you okay?”
Instead of answering, Reia reached out with trembling hands and touched Mela.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’ll save you. Let’s get out together. Together…!”
What should I do now?
The only door is locked, and with this small body, I can’t carry Reia back up.
If this continued, she would panic before Reia did.
She had to think.
A way out of here.
She had to endure.
They had to get out of here quickly.
Mela bit her dry lips again and again, thinking hard.
Then, through the darkness of her thoughts, someone’s image flickered.
Evlyen Leella and Frezen Decart.
Their figures.
As soon as she thought of them, her unsteady breathing gradually calmed as if by magic.
Mela closed her eyes gently and exhaled.
“No. We’re getting out of here. We can get out. We will.”
She opened her eyes and firmly grasped Reia’s trembling hand.
“Because we have family.”
* * *
As time passed and night slowly fell, ‘The Night of Decart’ officially began.
The grand ballroom of the main mansion, where the banquet was held, was filled with a lively atmosphere.
“This year’s family banquet is excessively lavish. The people of the territory and the vassal families grow more burdened every year.”
“Shh, quiet…! What if someone hears you? Watch your words!”
Though worried voices arose in one corner, they were quickly hushed, mindful of the elders.
“On behalf of the esteemed elders who have prepared this precious occasion, we ask the elders to enter together with the invited guests.”
Before long, the entrance of honored guests began.
Gentle music formed a single melody that echoed through the hall.
Then the doors of the grand ballroom opened, and someone appeared.
