BID Chapter 56

“…Who came to visit, you said?”

With a clatter, I hastily set down the teacup I was holding, causing a loud noise to spill out. I knew I shouldn’t make unnecessary noise, but I had no time for formalities in the face of such unexpected news.

Seeing me like that, Mother’s eyes crinkled. She seemed somehow satisfied.

“The Gardenta family’s Isaac, I mean.”

Following the direction of her fingertips, I saw the window. As if entranced, I approached the window and saw a carriage with the Gardenta family crest on it, standing far away at the main gate.

“He came to see me, he said?”

Today was an ordinary day, a few days after my first debut in high society. Until Isaac Gardenta visited Serpentine.

***

‘How annoying, seriously!’

I walked nervously through the mansion, my expression heavily creased.

“I told him to go back so many times, but he stubbornly insists on staying put until you come out?”

There was no such thing as being a nuisance like this. Why did he even come here in the first place?

I was so irritated that I tried to just ignore him, but Isaac Gardenta was persistent. He really did block the front gate until nightfall.

In the end, I had to face Isaac Gardenta. The Duke would be returning to the mansion soon, and I didn’t want Isaac and the Duke to run into each other then.

‘I can’t even drive him out.’

I wanted to just kick him out if I could. But I couldn’t make an enemy of a perfectly good Earl’s family, and above all, Mother, the lady of this family, didn’t seem to have any intention of turning him away.

“You should have a friend or two your age, too.”

She was rather pleased that I had made a friend.

Of course, the Serpentine family had a lot of confidential information, so I couldn’t let Isaac into the mansion. Isaac must have known that, but the fact that he came anyway meant that he wanted to see my face just once, even if it was outside the door.

‘But to endure until this night?’

At first, I naturally tried to ignore him. Isaac Gardenta, that strange guy. I didn’t like him from the moment I first saw him. I had no intention of ever talking to him at any other banquet, but he was incredibly persistent.

Even though I indirectly told him to go back through the servants several times, he stubbornly stayed put until the Count arrived.

I’m so annoyed I could die. Why is he making such a fuss? As I was walking nervously, wondering why he was doing this, I felt the texture of a thick garment on my shoulders. Looking sideways, I saw that Zachary had quietly placed a shawl over my shoulders without me noticing.

“Thanks.”

As if wondering when he had walked alongside me, Zachary stepped back one step behind me again. As I quietly observed his polite and quiet demeanor, I suddenly remembered what had happened a few days ago.

“Young Master, you finally smell like yourself now.”

The day Zachary had been strange.

Although there was no abnormality in Zachary’s spell formation, I had secretly held some expectations. The fact that he felt pain through the spell, and that he said things different from usual. Could there have been a problem with the spell the Count had engraved, after all?

However, the next day, there was really no change at all in Zachary.

“Young Master, please have your meal.”

In front of me after waking up, there was only the servant Zachary. Like yesterday, he wasn’t showing his face and was wearing a large cloth with a ghost’s eye drawn on it, flipped over his face. He was also perfectly dressed in a servant’s uniform that looked suffocating just by looking at it.

“You yesterday…”

He acted so nonchalantly, exactly the same as usual, that I almost thought last night’s events might have been a dream. I sat there dumbfounded for a while, unable to leave my seat.

If it weren’t for the bowl of cold water I had brought, which was on the small table, I might have really thought it was a dream. That’s how peaceful Zachary was when I faced him after waking up, to the point where I doubted if he was really the same person who had been talking nonsense with a burning fever last night. He was no different from usual. It was just that I was a mess from nursing him until late at night.

We spent the same day afterward as well.

If there was a slight difference, it was that I had finally started communicating with the outside world?

Even though there had been no communication with the outside due to the characteristics of the Serpentine family, the situation was different now that I had made my debut in high society.

By officially revealing myself, I had practically opened up opportunities to communicate with other people. Of course, based on the reactions I felt towards me at the banquet, I naturally thought there would only be a few letters, since not everyone’s response was very good. But…

“Are these all for me?”

At first, I didn’t know how many invitations and letters other people received, so I was taken aback when I saw a mountain of gifts and papers piled up, wondering why so many had come. Of course, I soon realized that it was a misconception. I realized that everyone usually received this much, as there were just as many letters and gifts piled up on Mother’s desk in her room as there were for me.

‘Still, this is too much…’

Do nobles usually live like this, writing replies to each and every one of these many letters?

Recently, my magic study time has completely disappeared. The most I could do was barely bring books related to magic at night.

There were way too many letters. I was busy looking at the invitations and letters I received while drinking tea and writing replies. The invitations and letters seemed to be breeding, always increasing whenever I woke up.

‘The contents are all strange too.’

Most of the letters had greasy and slimy expressions written on them. Some letters were so cringeworthy just by looking at them that I thought they might have mistakenly flowed here after confusing the owner.

However, I was in a position where I had no connections, and in order to expand my human relationships, I had to reply to all those greasy letters, so I was really busy without a moment to breathe.

“No way… Did he come because I didn’t reply?”

Of course, I didn’t reply to Isaac’s letter.

There was no point in reading his letter, right? I didn’t even open it because I was annoyed just looking at the stationery.

‘But where is there a crazy bastard who would come all the way here for that.’

If I had known he would come to the mansion like this, I should have read the contents of the letter at least once.

Creak, I had already reached the mansion door while walking nervously. Zachary opened the mansion door instead of me. I, who was about to go out without thinking, paused for a moment when I saw Zachary. He was obviously trying to follow me, already halfway out.

Rather, under his gaze looking at me as if asking why I wasn’t going, I almost took him with me as if it were natural. But…

“…No.”

Of course, normally it would be fine for Zachary to come out up to this extent. However, the Count would be coming soon, and above all, if this appearance was exposed to Isaac…

“Stay here.”

It’s a situation where an outsider has come. But if Zachary shows himself, the Count won’t leave us alone. No matter how much time has passed and dulled it, Zachary was a being who could cause a collision between the kingdom and the empire.

Zachary, who heard my words, doesn’t move his feet and stands still. He looked down at me quietly.

‘This strange feeling again.’

My body froze. I couldn’t do anything but stare at Zachary in a stiff state.

The heavy air pressed down on me so much that I couldn’t even carelessly breathe out. As I felt more and more pressure on my surroundings, it was difficult to even look at Zachary properly.

Of course, even if I looked at him, there was actually nothing to see. Only the ghost’s eyes drawn in red were facing me. Even though I knew he couldn’t get angry, it felt like Zachary was angry at me.

As soon as I reached out and grasped Zachary’s cold hand and let go, the energy that had been pressing down on me disappeared.

“I’ll be right back. Wait here.”

When I turned around, there was a soft carpet path. The servants seemed to have laid out a carpet in the garden from the time I came out. Some were holding candelabras like street lamps, illuminating the path I was walking on.

It was an eerie sight. Those who flipped over a cloth with the same eye drawn on it and held candelabras with chubby feet.

‘This is why I didn’t want to come out at night.’

I’m pretending to be calm, but I’m scared to death. Isn’t this a scene that would come out in a horror movie?

As I walked on the carpet and looked back again, Zachary was still standing where he had been, looking at me. Amidst the busily moving servants, his lone, towering figure was like a totem pole.

“Open it.”

I arrived at the place where Isaac’s carriage was parked.

Creak, the heavy door opened with a creepy sound. Serpentine becomes even darker at night.

As expected, it was dark now in the late night, with no proper light coming in from anywhere.

“…Huh? You came out.”

‘You came out?’

As soon as I opened the door, I made eye contact with the surprised Gardenta family attendants. They had been trembling in the darkness and began to murmur.

‘You must be having a hard time.’

Serpentine, said to make even a crying child stop crying. That wasn’t a joke. The exterior of Serpentine, from the main gate, looked like all kinds of monsters would pour out.

Headless angels and monsters aiming for the angels’ necks, and the snakes wrapped around those monsters… What kind of crazy bastard sculpted something like that?

“I am Oscar Serpentine.”

“Ah, ah! Ah, hello!”

Perhaps because it was dark, or perhaps because they were terrified, they were all slow to react. As if they had discovered something strange, they stared at me intently, then belatedly bowed down.

Why are they being so excessive? I told them to get up quickly and asked if I could open the carriage door.

“Ah, yes! Of course. I will open it for you. I didn’t know you would come in person, lord Oscar, so inside is still…”

“Please open it.”

If I meet Isaac quickly, won’t these people be able to go home too?

As soon as I open it, I should tell him what the hell he’s doing and tell him to go back quickly. When I spoke firmly, one of the knights who had been staring at me blankly, perhaps frightened, hurriedly opened the carriage door.

‘What is this smell?’

My expression automatically crinkled. Before I could even see the person inside, a sweet smell hit my nose first.