HTPTMOTMM Chapter 24

I pressed my index finger to my lips and flashed Sara Rose a playfully charming smile, the kind meant to win someone over.

"Ah, you caught me. Can you keep this just between us, Sara Rose? I thought the mansion maid uniform looked pretty and wanted to try it on once."

"Yes, yes, yes! I see. The maid uniform suits you well too!"

Fortunately, Sara Rose was innocent and kind, so she nodded as if she understood right away.

"But your ribbon here is crooked. Since Sara Rose has a tray in her hands, I'll fix it for you."

"Oh, really? Th-thank you."

After passing Sara Rose, no one else appeared who recognized me. Maybe because I was wearing maid clothes, the other employees I met in the corridor didn't examine me closely.

But when climbing the stairs, another witness appeared who recognized my identity.

"Huh? You're not... Room 7?"

I let my hair down and sighed deeply.

"Wha, what's with that outfit?!"

Raven, the Room 4 caregiver, opened his eyes and mouth wide seeing me.

I clicked my tongue and tilted my head at an angle toward Raven, who was looking me up and down with surprised eyes.

"The first witness got away, but I can't let the second one live!"

"Room 4 mister."

As I stepped up the stairs toward him, Raven startled and stepped backward.

"Wha, what, why are you like this?"

"You've seen something you shouldn't have seen. At times like this, shouldn't you run away quickly, like they taught you at the prospective caregiver training school?"

I deliberately made my voice ominous.

Raven, pushed back by me, was almost pressed against the wall.

"What are you...! What are you trying to do to me again?!"

I'd felt this in the annex too, but Raven's reflexes weren't bad. So after staring at me blankly, he quickly came to his senses and tried to dodge to the side with swift movements.

Thud!

But I was faster, extending my foot between his legs to kick the wall.

With my foot blocking him, Raven suddenly couldn't move and looked at me with shaking eyes.

But seeing my reaction, his thoughts seemed to jump somewhere, and suddenly Raven sucked in a breath. Then a serious voice in a lowered tone flowed from his cautiously opened mouth.

"Don't tell me... with that outfit and all, you're secretly investigating the mansion for some other purpose, aren't you?"

Does this mister like detective stories or something?

"It was strange anyway! From the moment you entered the mansion, a newcomer fearlessly declaring war on other caregivers, and crawling into the annex rumored to have ghosts - that was all suspicious from the start! Plus those body movements that subdued me in an instant weren't ordinary either...!"

If we're going with that, what does this mister who entered the annex rumored to have ghosts to meet a woman become? Plus he wasn't so incredibly strong that I couldn't subdue him alone.

But it was funny how he was misunderstanding on his own, so I just let it be.

"Then... could the rumors circulating among caregivers actually be true? That caregivers produced by Stella aren't ordinary caregivers, but elite agents secretly deployed to control and monitor other caregivers in the mansion..."

Raven stuck to the wall like he had when meeting the ghost in the annex, being wary of me. Even while doing so, he was busy rolling his eyes and glancing at me, as if thinking something in his head - he looked quite pathetic.

"Mister. Is it okay to say such things out loud like this? Don't you know that knowing too much unnecessarily tends to shorten one's lifespan?"

"Ah! I, I don't know anything. What did I just say?"

Room 4 Raven jumped at my threatening whisper. I looked him up and down with narrowed eyes as if measuring him, deliberately making an 'hmm' sound for him to hear.

"You seem to have decent intuition, so do you know what you should do from now on? Both in the annex and today, mister, you've already run into me twice."

"Gasp... Yes! I'll be careful with my body and mouth."

Raven clasped his hands together and watched my mood with a suddenly respectful attitude.

To think he'd actually believe such nonsense - should I say he's unexpectedly innocent or stupid?

This type of character was a first for me, and it was quite refreshing in its own way. Looking at it this way, he seemed fun to tease.

"That's right, mister. Let's live carefully."

I lowered the foot I'd stuck between Raven's shins.

But Raven didn't disappear right away - he followed me as I started climbing the stairs again.

"Um, then was it all planned when you ignored my warning and directly told Room 1 about the annex ghost story...?"

Raven seemed to have heard through the grapevine about what happened between Marianne and me. He continued in a careful tone.

"I heard Room 1 swung her whip after hearing that story... Were you perhaps testing Room 1...? Whew, I thought you were a total lunatic for doing such crazy things without knowing you had deeper intentions... Ah, no! That was my slip of the tongue...! Damn this mouth of mine."

"Ah, come to think of it, mister. About that, it seems we still have something to settle."

Raven brought up that topic first, so I remembered something I'd briefly forgotten.

When I turned my head, Raven startled and stepped backward, apparently knowing his fault.

"Wha, what, why are you doing this again?"

"I'm wondering if you did that on purpose to make me eat water."

"No no no, what do you mean? Why would I do such a thing?!"

"You seemed to have guessed that the annex ghost was connected to the previous Room 1 pair before I did, but then you kept your mouth completely shut about it. What was that about? Of course, given the sensitive nature of the matter, it might have been awkward to tell someone else in detail, but couldn't you have at least given me a hint? Huh?"

I spoke to Raven with a regretful tone.

"Really, people here don't treasure newcomers at all... I'm so disappointed that my hand keeps wanting to go to my back pocket."

When I moved my hand behind me pretending to draw a gun like in the annex, Raven quickly opened his mouth.

"No, no! I wasn't sure either since I hadn't seen the previous Room 1 people directly! I wasn't, you know! I just thought maybe later because that woman I saw in the annex resembled Room 1... That's why I didn't say anything, absolutely no other intention!"

"Anyway, if I had really been an innocent and kind-hearted new caregiver, how much would my heart have been hurt? Don't you think so?"

Of course, it wasn't Raven's fault that I went directly to Marianne, the Room 1 caregiver, and drew aggro. As I said before, it's because I'm a user who enjoys aggressive play.

Plus, if there hadn't been a bug and the game functions were working properly, I think the system would have led me to Marianne anyway. It seemed like Room 1 was the core of the purple room episode.

But it was a bit annoying that Raven hadn't even mentioned such a sensitive issue to me yesterday, knowing there was a possibility I might make mistakes as someone who knew nothing. Of course, that didn't mean I was really angry at this mister.

As expected, Raven was fun to tease, and even now watching his reactions was quite entertaining.

"Oh my...! Isn't that the Room 4 caregiver? What are you doing there with the maid right now?"

It was just then that a loud voice came from behind.

Oops, I shouldn't have reacted, but I unconsciously turned my head following the voice.

Then what entered my view was a sharp-featured beauty with olive green hair and brown eyes. It was Olivia, the Room 5 caregiver.

I'd occasionally encountered other caregivers in the mansion before, but they mostly ignored me and passed by. So this was the first time I'd faced Olivia up close since the welcome party.

She was wearing a very fancy dress today too. Of course, given the medieval Western setting of the game, it wouldn't be strange to wear such clothes, but it was honestly too luxurious for this evening.

The gentle-looking boy with sky blue curls and light green eyes next to Olivia was also wearing fancy clothes that seemed to match her dress code today.

Oh! Those clothes are pretty. I want to match dress codes with our Dian too.

"Huh?! Wait, what...! Don't tell me you're Room 7?!"

I thought she might not recognize my face, but as soon as Olivia's eyes met mine, she made a shocked expression.

"Hello, Room 5 Olivia. Are you going out for an evening walk with Sergio?"

I'm a person from the land of Eastern courtesy, so I greeted Olivia first even though she was sending me sharp looks today too. But instead of returning my greeting, she opened her mouth wide while alternately looking at me and Raven, who was pressed against the wall.

"Oh my, oh my, what's this! What on earth are you two doing there right now? And what's with that outfit...! Ha, I knew Room 4 was crazy about maids, but what kind of role-play are you two enjoying? Moreover, in such an open corridor instead of a room - it's bad for the children's education!"

"No, that's a complete misunderstanding...!"

"Shut up! You're nothing but an unfit excuse for a caregiver!"

Olivia covered Sergio's eyes while looking at us as if we were shameless.

"And Room 4, I really didn't see you that way! When were you talking behind Room 7's back, and now you're stuck together like this - I'm absolutely flabbergasted!"

She crumpled her face like paper, then made a sharp 'Ha!' sound and quickly passed us with the child.

Raven and I watched Olivia's retreating figure in bewilderment.

"Ugh... The misunderstanding is so annoying. She thinks mister and I are having that kind of relationship, right?"

"I'm more annoyed!"

Raven got angry, forgetting his previous cautious attitude.

"But mister, did you talk behind my back with Room 5?"

"Ah..."

But Raven flinched at my additional words, apparently having something that bothered him. I narrowed my eyes and stepped back from Raven.

"But I didn't know Room 4 was crazy about maids."

"No, that's complete nonsense! Room 5 is spouting weird things!"

Raven really shouted as if he was going crazy.

"Kyaaaaaah!"

It was just then that a woman's piercing scream came from not far away. It was a familiar voice I'd heard before.

Raven and I made eye contact once, then headed toward where the scream came from.

"Ack! Get away from me!"

As expected, the owner of the scream was Olivia. But contrary to what I'd expected from hearing such a piercing scream, she appeared perfectly fine.

"Where did you suddenly pop out from, reaching out with dirty hands! You're getting something black on my dress...!"

Thwack! Thwack!

I could see Olivia wildly beating a servant with her cane.

Of course, that servant was Morose. A servant whose entire body had turned black like the former head maid, Jane—like I'd seen before—was deflecting Olivia's cane and reaching for the sky blue-haired boy behind her, Sergio.

"How dare you!"

Olivia struck Morose with strength that made me wonder where such power came from.