~Chapter 21~
“You must stay in your room between midnight and six in the morning.”
“There are rumors that high-ranking priests were possessed by that ghost and left the temple.”
“What the ghost does after possessing them… only those priests would know.”
***
After finishing all her duties, Floria walked back to her room.
“Hah.”
She remembered what Priestess Railey had warned her about during lunch and scoffed.
A ghost? A spirit?
She wasn’t scared of that stuff at all.
Sure, her heart had jumped for a second when she first heard it, but she’d accepted it surprisingly calmly.
‘Dying from overwork and then getting reborn into a book just to work overtime again—that’s more scarier.’
She didn’t have the time or energy to worry about ghosts. The reality she was facing was far scarier.
But still…
“……”
Floria, who had been confidently walking down the annex hallway, started glancing around nervously. Her eyes even scanned the air.
The truth was, in her past life, she had to cover her eyes while watching even the cheapest horror movies that everyone else laughed at.
And once, while playing a Level 1 horror game, she fainted the moment the first ghost appeared.
Now, it was midnight.
The hallway was dark and silent, with the curtains fully drawn, and walking alone made her feel small and tense.
She suddenly remembered that her room was just a few steps away and broke into a run.
It was during the exact hours that the ghost was said to appear.
But thankfully, she reached her room without any trouble.
See? There’s no such thing as ghosts.
She felt a bit more at ease.
Even if ghosts were real, what she feared more was death… and money.
‘Please, just let me survive here and save up enough to leave safely.’
She just wanted to stay in this nice room until Rose was grown, then leave in peace.
This room was way too good to abandon out of fear. And when she came back tired, Rose would always come running out to greet her.
Thinking of those small comforts, she unlocked the door.
“Rose, I’m home.”
But Rose, who normally ran to her voice, didn’t come.
The room was so empty—it felt too quiet.
Almost like no one was there.
“…Rose?”
The room was big, but there were no separate doors or walls inside. It was open, so just walking around a bit should’ve been enough to find someone.
“Rose? Rose?”
Maybe she was hiding for fun?
Floria shook off her unease and hurriedly checked every corner of the room.
But Rose was nowhere to be found.
“She wouldn’t be out this late…”
It was already midnight. No matter how late dinner was, she should’ve been back. Actually, she should’ve been asleep by now.
There was a note Floria had left on the bed frame. It had fallen to the floor—clearly someone had touched it.
But there were no signs of forced entry. The room looked exactly the same as when she left that morning.
So she headed out, planning to search everywhere.
Surprisingly—
“Rose!”
Rose was right next door, in the prayer room. The one that was still mysteriously wide open.
“Rose! What are you doing here?!”
Floria immediately raised her voice. But then she hesitated, wondering if she was being too harsh.
She had never scolded Rose before.
Now that she thought about it, it was her fault for not writing on the note that you can’t go in the prayer room.
Still, Rose didn’t react at all. She just stared blankly at something in front of her.
“Rose?”
“…Oh! Sister!”
Only when Floria called again did Rose turn around with a big smile. She was holding her stuffed animal toy.
“I did see the note… but I don’t know how to read yet. I didn’t know what it said. I’m sorry, Sister.”
…Oh. She couldn’t read.
Floria blamed herself again, then paused.
She hadn’t intended to enter the prayer room. At most, she peeked inside earlier.
But now, if someone found Rose here, they might get kicked out of the annex.
She couldn’t lose this room and go back to the tiny one where she and Rose had to sleep huddled together…
With that in mind, she quickly stepped into the prayer room and reached for Rose’s hand.
“Let’s go back. Only high-ranking priests are allowed in here, so we’re not supposed to be here.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
Rose’s cheerful face turned pale as she looked down sadly.
Floria took her other hand—the one without the toy—and started leading her out.
Normally, she’d comfort Rose first, but there was no time for that now. Getting out was the priority.
“I’ll teach you how to read, okay? So don’t feel too bad.”
“Really? That’s awesome! Oh, and this room is huge!”
Like a child, Rose quickly bounced back and started chatting again. Floria let out a quiet sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness. Nothing bad happened.’
Once they were out, Floria turned back to close the prayer room door.
She wasn’t sure if Rose had opened it, or if it had been open since morning.
Either way, she didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea, so she decided to shut it.
‘Wait.’
Something felt off.
The large prayer room. Even though she’d only glanced inside earlier, she could tell something had changed.
What was this empty, hollow feeling?
“…?”
“Sister? What’s wrong?”
Floria’s face turned stiff as she froze, and Rose tilted her head in confusion.
“…The statue is gone.”
It was gone.
The silver-haired statue that used to stand in the center of the prayer room.
“You must stay in your room between midnight and six in the morning.”
“There are rumors that high-ranking priests were bewitched by the ghost and left the temple.”
“What the ghost does after possessing them… only those priests would know.”
Railey’s whispered warnings echoed in Floria’s mind.
And once she started talking, the other priests had all added something, as if they were dying to tell her.
“They say the ghost appears at dawn!”
“That’s why even high-ranking priests avoid the annex prayer room at dawn.”
“….”
Floria’s eyelid twitched.
She rubbed her eyes and muttered that it was probably just a vitamin deficiency.
‘Calm down.’
Ghosts are scary, sure, but scarier things are people hiding under your bed. And scarier than that are death and money problems.
Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the “ghost with long white hair” matched the description of the silver-haired statue exactly.
…Okay, fine. Let’s say the ghost is real.
She saw the statue after 6 a.m., which was the time Railey said it was safe to go outside.
So maybe she had seen the ghost of the annex.
Then all she had to do… was stay inside her room during those hours.
And yes—right now, it was within the ghost’s time.
“Haha, someone must’ve moved the statue.”
Floria muttered to herself awkwardly, forcing a fake laugh into the air.
Rose, not understanding any of it, just looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Floria quickly shut the door to the prayer room.
Bang!
Just in case the ghost or whatever it was is still inside.
Then she grabbed Rose’s hand and ran back to their room.
Thankfully, nothing happened on the way back—or even after they entered the room.
“Whew…”
With Rose still watching her curiously, Floria let out a long sigh.
***
The moment the prayer room door shut, something slowly slipped out from the far back wall.
Just moments ago, it had been perfectly flat—like part of the wall.
It looked like a sticky black shape—maybe a shadow—but it clearly had a human form.
Only the mouth was visible, curved into a grin that showed its teeth.
Then the black shadow melted away from its body.
And a full human figure stepped forward from within the shadow.
Long silver hair reached down to its waist, shimmering even in the darkness.
“Ah, finally.”
A deep, low voice echoed softly through the closed prayer room.
It opened its eyes wide, sensing something unfamiliar.
Then its lips curled into a smile that stretched unnaturally wide.
“Finally found you.”
Its eyes curved like crescent moons, glowing purple, so narrow that the pupils disappeared completely.
