HTPTMOTMM Chapter 16

It was a peaceful and serene time between a young boy with black hair and a woman with red hair. Anyone could see they looked like an affectionate mother and son.

But after what must have been a happy time, the boy died surrounded by red flowers. The location was this very corridor in the annex. He was found dead with a purple ribbon tied under his collar, a gift from the woman. The vision ended with the woman crying sadly at the funeral.

This was a video shown to players to announce the end of an episode. The system was broken and all other functions were ruined, but somehow this kind of video was still alive.

However, the vision I saw now was a bit different from what I had seen while playing the game before. To be precise, the facial details of the two people in the vision had changed.

Geez... I don't know what's what. Is this also a changed setting in the new version?

Where the vision had disappeared, there was no woman in a black veil. The white chrysanthemums in the vase had turned purple. I took one flower and went down the stairs.

"Lynne."

"Oh? Cheswick. Where's Room 4?"

I met Cheswick at the landing between the 3rd and 4th floors.

Oh, he's already climbed up here as soon as the door opened? That's fast speed.

I was impressed, but Cheswick seemed displeased with my question, raising one eyebrow obliquely.

"If you mean Room 4, he ran out of the annex in a hurry as soon as the door opened."

"Really? How disloyal to go alone."

He got scared, really scared. Of course, I did tell him to wait and that the door would open in time, but to leave without even looking back like this.

But what exactly about this annex is so scary? Anyway, all I saw here were bugs and a woman ghost in a black veil, right? Moreover, she's not even scary-looking, and her face is completely hidden by the veil anyway.

"Lynne, aren't you too interested in Room 4?"

Then Cheswick made a low humming sound and said to me,

"You originally asked me to meet you here today."

Perhaps because the annex was dark, Cheswick's figure climbing the stairs felt larger than I thought. Outside the window hung a moon with an unusually reddish aura. Perhaps because of that, Cheswick's purple eyes also looked redder than usual.

He spoke in his characteristically slow voice, pretending to complain.

"I heard this was a haunted annex, so even though I was scared, I came here with patience, but you treat me coldly and only get along well with Room 4."

"To say that Room 4 and I looked like we were getting along well, Cheswick's eyesight must not be very good."

Come to think of it, I remembered I was just holding the gun in my hand, so I quickly stuffed it into my pocket before Cheswick could see it.

"Room 4 wasn't someone I called in the first place. He said he came to meet someone else too."

"Really? Someone else in a place like this?"

"While Cheswick was outside, did anyone else come to the annex?"

"I was alone the whole time."

I knew it. That maid called Room 4 here just to mess with him.

"Oh! I also accomplished our original purpose for coming here today!"

Ah, come to think of it, the important thing right now wasn't Room 4 or the maid sister.

I waved the purple chrysanthemum in my hand in front of Cheswick's eyes with a "Ta-da!"

"If we just take this, Minuel will be completely cured! Cheswick doesn't have to worry anymore either. Isn't that great?"

"Hmm, you say taking that will do it?"

Cheswick showed a lukewarm reaction, just like he had initially done in front of Minuel's room earlier. His eyes gazing intently at the chrysanthemum I was holding were truly mysterious.

If Cheswick were a player, the system window would have explained everything. It would have said that Minuel heard rumors about the purple room in the annex and came out of curiosity, then touched a spiritually possessed object and received a curse from an evil spirit, and so on.

"That's right. If you put this by your bedside and sleep tonight, it'll be okay. So let's go!"

"Ah, yes."

When I grabbed his arm first and pulled, Cheswick reluctantly followed. Then I suddenly recalled the boy and woman I had seen in the vision earlier.

"Oh, Cheswick. Have you ever heard detailed rumors about the ghost that appears in the annex?"

It seemed like the episode content and detailed settings I had known were somewhat different, so I was curious.

"No. I don't know much about it."

"Ah, really? Don't people talk about the annex a lot?"

"They do, but as I said, I'm scared of ghosts so I didn't listen."

"Really? You're not joking?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have come here if Lynne hadn't called me."

Cheswick turned to look at me and grinned. Somehow it was hard to tell if he was serious or joking.

Anyway, it seemed difficult to ask him more about the woman in the black veil and the boy who owned the purple room. Looking at the video earlier, they looked very similar to the current Room 1 people. I wonder if Room 4 knows something?

This time Cheswick grabbed my arm first and pulled.

"Let's go. Minuel will be waiting."

We left the annex, having no more business there.

Deep in the night.

Only labored breathing could be heard in Minuel's room. Even though the moon hung at the top of the sky, the room's owner couldn't sleep due to his burning fever.

Then a visitor came.

"Minuel."

"Ches, Cheswick?"

The door opened, and soon a soft voice penetrated Minuel's eardrums. Minuel turned his head toward the door, breathing heavily.

Cheswick, who had just entered the moonlit room, was walking toward the bed where Minuel lay, holding something in his hand.

"What, why at this hour..."

"Why, you ask. I came to cure your illness."

Cheswick answered matter-of-factly to Minuel's question. However, Minuel's reaction was not favorable.

"I don't know what it is, but you did something with that new caregiver, right? That thing is useless to me..."

"Ah, I know that too, so there's no need to make my mouth hurt by explaining."

Then what on earth was he talking about? Minuel soon looked at what Cheswick was holding and was horrified. He gasped and dropped the wet towel that had been on his forehead as he suddenly sat up.

"What, what is that...! Why are you holding that?"

Cheswick loosely curved the corners of his lips while watching his clearly agitated appearance.

What Cheswick had brought to Minuel's room was a bag.

More precisely, it was Lynne's missing bag.

Cheswick dropped the bag in front of the flustered Minuel.

"I couldn't find where you hid it, so it took some time to look. Anyway, when I watch quietly, you really do useless things well."

"How, how did you..."

"What kind of stupid talk is that, Minuel."

Cheswick let out a hollow laugh. Then he spoke in a bored voice.

"If you really thought you could fool me, that's disappointing."

Minuel swallowed his saliva while looking at the bag belonging to Lynne, the Room 7 caregiver, which he had secretly stolen on her first day at the manor.

Minuel had no big reason for coveting Lynne's bag. He was just hurt in his pride after hearing Lynne say that she had never chosen Minuel even once during her time as a prospective caregiver. So he wanted to bother her a little. He was also curious about the new caregiver who was shrouded in mystery.

However, after impulsively stealing Lynne's bag, Minuel felt suddenly fearful and couldn't even open it, hiding it away carefully. But Cheswick had found it and brought it before Minuel's eyes like this.

Minuel looked at Cheswick nervously with a cautious face full of tension, contrasting with how he usually treated Cheswick carelessly.

Cheswick looked down at the clearly flustered Minuel and tilted his head with calculated interest.

"Come to think of it, I heard that on the first day, you told Lynne you wanted to change caregivers."

Minuel's shoulders jumped up with a start.

"I didn't know you were so dissatisfied with me being your caregiver, Minuel."

"No, no. It's not like that! I just said it once to tease Dian..."

Minuel mumbled excuses. Meanwhile, perhaps because his fever rose again, his cheeks were flushed red. He also seemed to have more difficulty breathing than before.

"Minuel, do you want to be expelled from the manor?"

Cheswick slowly picked up the wet towel that had fallen on the blanket.

"Just doing one cute thing would be troublesome enough, but stealing and lying too."

A low voice tinged with moonlight tapped the night air.

"That's why you're being punished like this."

Cheswick lightly pushed Minuel's shoulder with his finger. Though no force was put into the touch, Minuel collapsed onto the bed as if the strength had left his body.

Lynne seemed to believe that Minuel had become like this because of the evil spirit in the annex, but that was actually a cute misunderstanding.

Minuel was currently being punished for breaking the manor's rules. The manor's rules were very strict and the degree of penalty that came back was capricious, so if you made a mistake, it could become really dangerous.

Cheswick placed the dried towel back on Minuel's forehead. Though he would normally have been irritable, Minuel quietly held his breath and watched Cheswick's mood.

Cheswick muttered to himself as if talking to himself while looking at him.

"Why are you so fearless when you know you could die? Do you think I'll somehow take care of it again?"

Eyes that looked particularly red today glinted coldly in the darkness. Minuel flinched and avoided his gaze.

"Just forgive me this once..."

"I'm already forgiving you too much."

A sharp and cold gaze like measuring something settled on Minuel's face.

Then, after a while, a thin smile slowly spread across Cheswick's lips.

"Alright. I'll forgive you one more time."

A slow hand stroked Minuel's hair.

"I was getting bored and tedious, so I was thinking of just stopping this game, but somehow this time seems like it'll be more interesting."

Minuel felt slightly chilled by the voice murmuring low in his ear. Purple eyes with moonlight shone with a red luster, glowing eerily.

"But next time if you cause trouble without saying anything, you'll really get punished then."

At the seemingly affectionate words, Minuel stiffened and could only nod his head earnestly.

"And this is a gift from Lynne... but since you don't need it anyway, I can take it, right?"

It was phrased as a question, but he wasn't really asking.

Cheswick picked up the purple chrysanthemum that had been placed on the bag and brought the flower close as if smelling its fragrance.

Soon a smile filled with strange satisfaction was drawn on his lips.

It seemed like the tedious manor life would become more enjoyable than before.