MPBAGS Chapter 71

"Be careful on your way, Dolly."

"Yes. Thank you."

Finally, finally the hellish time had come to an end. Dolly bid farewell with a kindly smiling face and hurriedly left the room. She carefully closed the door and took a deep breath. Once she was out of Evangeline's sight, she could finally breathe freely.

'Damn it, bloody hell.'

Her hands were still trembling even though it wasn't withdrawal symptoms. She should have refused even if it was the Bishop's request.

Not long ago, news had spread through word of mouth that Count Rohanson was looking for a tutor. Word went around that his sickly young lady, who had been facing only her dying days, had miraculously recovered completely and was now seriously preparing to enter society.

Perhaps because she had passed the appropriate age for her debut, Evangeline Rohanson had recently become frequent fodder for gossips' tongues.

Some said her illness was a lie and she had been hiding because of her plain looks. Others claimed Evangeline had actually died and the Count had found a look-alike replacement. There were even eyewitness accounts saying they had briefly seen her at the temple and she had quite an aura, as if an angel had descended.

Since Evangeline had used her illness as an excuse to avoid social interaction, she had no close acquaintances, so rumors only grew wilder by the day.

Dolly had paid no attention to such rumors, but Bishop Jabanya had made her a proposal. As always, it was on a trip to secretly purchase holy water.

"It's a very easy job. If you do it properly, I'll reward you."

The request was to enter as Evangeline's tutor, find out what Evangeline was like and what kind of relationship she had with Gabriel, the knight commander, and report back to him. If she granted this favor, he would provide holy water once every three months.

Dolly was a severe drug addict. She had even gotten divorced when it was discovered.

When her addiction became severe, she would repeatedly drink holy water once every six months to treat her addiction. But both happened to be hobbies that cost gold coins, so she was currently suffering from financial difficulties, and she readily applied for the tutor position where she could get both holy water and money.

She didn't even ask why he had made such a request. Thinking about it now, she should have asked.

Thanks to the application that Bishop Jabanya had skillfully manipulated, Dolly easily passed. The beginning was very easy. How hard could it be to observe one sickly girl?

It was a misjudgment. The Evangeline Rohanson she actually faced was extremely strange and eerie. What, an angel? Sickly? Plain-looking? Among those who had made Evangeline the subject of jokes, who had actually met her face to face?

'She was no ordinary woman.'

Even Bishop Jabanya's assessment after meeting her directly was wrong. That old man must have developed cataracts from his age. Who knows what he was looking at to make such a judgment.

Pale skin so transparent that you could barely see any blood vessels, as if the blood had turned to stone, and two red eyes as if the most expensive rubies had been placed in empty pupils. Evangeline was more like an angel sculpture decorating a temple than a person.

Her vision spun around. Her head was randomly ransacked.

Even though she hadn't taken any drugs, words were constantly being injected into her head. It felt like someone was whispering in her ear. It was itchy as if bugs were burrowing into her ears.

"Prostrate yourself at her feet immediately. Kneel and worship. Praise. Glorify. Revere. Worship. Extol."

Whenever she was with Lady Evangeline, such voices always circled in her head.

The reason Dolly didn't submit to Evangeline was because she was accustomed to similar kinds of voices that she usually heard when withdrawal symptoms were severe.

She normally lived hearing voices like 'Jump from the window,' 'Throw yourself at a running carriage,' so adding one more harmony to that didn't change anything. The words got tangled together and she would hear nonsense like 'Slit your wrists to prove your worship,' but it was still manageable to ignore.

Though she was used to it, it wasn't something she could do for long. She understood why all the other teachers had fled.

Without a clear purpose like Dolly's, it would be difficult to endure. She wondered what kind of mental state the employees working in this mansion had. Were they all taking drugs together while working?

Especially the three maids hovering around Evangeline Rohanson seemed the most insane. Their brains must have been severed or their courage broken.

Kanna, the red-haired maid, seemed to have already been dominated by the voice, and Daisy was wary of Dolly. Among them, the most ordinary and approachable seemed to be someone named Henna.

"Are you leaving now?"

She happened to run into Henna. The gloomy face asked quietly.

No. She had left the room before Dolly, so she should have already gone downstairs, but seeing her on the same floor meant she had been waiting for Dolly.

"You need to stop by the butler, right? Shall we go together?"

Dolly was about to shake her head but remembered the holy water and answered, "Yes." It was a good opportunity to extract information.

While working as a tutor, Dolly had been carefully recording everything she saw and experienced at the Rohanson mansion for Jabanya. Her impressions of Lady Rohanson, her close maids, the mansion's people who were quiet as death. She did this to write detailed letters later when she left the mansion.

However, no reply came back. Did this mean she should continue observing Lady Evangeline at the Rohanson mansion?

It seemed like she wasn't getting a response because the information was too poor. More important information seemed to be needed. If so, he could have at least told her to continue.

If she kept staying like this, she really felt like she might end up licking Evangeline Rohanson's soles.

"Praise her."

"Pardon?"

"You're the only one left, Dolly. The other teachers quit so quickly that the young lady was disappointed."

"Is that so? The young lady is truly kind."

"That's right."

Dolly continued praising Evangeline to please Henna, but Henna showed no particular signs of pleasure. Praising the young lady worked very well with Kanna, but she didn't understand why the sisters were so different.

When they stopped by the butler's office, the butler handed her a hefty bonus. With this, she could have a happy time for a week. Dolly took the money with sincere gratitude.

"And Dolly, are you keeping the confidentiality clause well?"

"Of course. I have no one to talk to anyway."

"Then please continue to keep it well in the future."

At the butler's request, Dolly made a promise she wouldn't keep. She planned to write a letter to Bishop Jabanya as soon as she left the mansion. She had learned quite a bit today.

"I'll be going now."

After greeting the butler and leaving, Dolly tried to leave the mansion saying she would be going. As she was about to cross the door, her clothes were grabbed from behind and she was pulled back. She fell to the floor coughing from being momentarily strangled.

"Cough, hack. Cough. Wh-what... are you... doing!"

The person who had strangled Dolly was none other than Henna. Dolly's fallen vision could see Henna's shoes. Why suddenly? Had they discovered that Dolly was a spy? Was the butler's words just now a warning?

"Let's die and prove our reverence."

Die? So that's it. She was trying to kill her. She would definitely be murdered. The other teachers hadn't quit either - they had been killed. Jabanya, that damned old man, had driven her into danger!

'She's going to kill me...!'

Dolly gasped and crawled toward the door again. But no matter how desperately she crawled, she was caught up in just two steps by Henna.

A shadow fell behind her. She was wrong. She couldn't escape. Henna spoke with pity toward the despairing Dolly.

"Dolly, that's a window."

Dolly raised her head at those words.

"Huh?"

There had definitely been a door, but in that spot there was only a wide-open window. This was the second floor. Even if she fell, she wouldn't have died, but she didn't understand why she had mistaken this height for a door.

Her withdrawal symptoms must have worsened. Dolly needed drugs. Or at least holy water to treat her addiction. Right now! Dolly's hands trembled as she took out the drugs she had been keeping. She had been saving and saving them because she had no money to buy more. She inhaled through her nose.

Whoo- haa-.

Her mind became hazy. The world swirled like mixed paint. Henna's face distorted. It split in two, then broke into ten pieces, then merged back into thirty.

Another lump formed on the spinning palette. A drop of black paint fell. The ink spread rapidly.

"Oops, I made a mistake. I was told to keep her alive for 2 weeks."

Something black and distorted spoke. Thirteen eyes looked at Dolly, and four mouths writhed.

"But in this condition, it seems like I don't need to bother touching her?"

The distorted thing hummed a tune and left. The world was still twisted. Someone helped Dolly up. When she kicked and resisted in fear, the person revealed their name as "Henna." It was a name she had heard somewhere before.

Henna, who had three circles attached to her, gripped Dolly's shoulder painfully tight.

"Lady Dolly, I'll say this again. Please take my words to heart. If you want to live, never go against the young lady. Just obey the young lady. The young lady is kind, so she won't question you about the sins you've committed."

I see. Dolly deeply absorbed Henna's advice. Henna guided Dolly to the door. As she stepped outside, scattered flower petals filled her vision. Though it was the end of spring, the cherry blossoms at the Rohanson estate showed no signs of fading. Evangeline, hanging from a cherry tree branch, swayed in the wind.

"Thank you for your hard work today. Please be careful on your way."

Dolly snapped back to her senses at Henna's farewell. When she wiped her mouth and nose, white powder came off, but she didn't even notice it.

'What was I doing?'

Ah, I came out after receiving money from the butler. The pocket she felt was plump with coins.

"Ahem, ahem. You too, Miss Henna. See you next time."

Dolly bid farewell to the gloomy maid and left the Rohanson estate. When did I get hurt? When she said it hurt, her knee was scraped.

What was I going to do after leaving the estate? Right. I decided to send a letter. That way I could receive holy water.

But there was a big problem. Since Dolly had to follow the rules of the Rohanson estate, she couldn't reveal what happened inside the estate.

What should I do? If I don't write the letter, I won't receive holy water. While pondering, Dolly wrote the letter first. Of course, that letter never reached Bishop Jabanya and would only pile up neatly in Dolly's desk drawer.