‘Heaven is helping me.’

Dimitri smirked to himself.

Although Rowaine seemed very fearless, she would tremble with wonder at thunder, lightning, and ghosts. Despite the fact that she seemed robust enough to endure the long journey in the carriage until just a while ago, she became rapidly exhausted after hearing the ghost story.

She got off the carriage with a sullen expression and glared at the mansion, completely unaware of what would happen to her in the future.

The butler of the mansion, who had come out to meet them, politely welcomed the master and mistress.

“Welcome, Master and Madam. Thank you for your trouble in coming.”

However, the butler’s complexion was strangely dark.

Distracted by the rain, Rowaine didn’t notice this and exchanged brief greetings before quickly entering the front door.

Upon entering the mansion, she first introduced Coco and Sasha to the butler and entrusted them to Liddell, her personal maid brought from Blois. Liddell soon disappeared into the kitchen with the two cats comfortably in her arms since they had been whining because they were hungry.

The butler asked when he saw the hungry cats.

“Since both of you must be tired from the journey, shall I prepare a meal first?”

Rowaine glanced at Dimitri.

“I’m fine with skipping the meal. I’m tired and would like to go upstairs to shower and rest. What about you, Dimitri?”

Dimitri spoke to the butler.

“I’ll skip the meal. Prepare the bath.”

“Yes, I’ve already prepared the bath in advance, just in case, so you can use it right away. Since it’s your first time here, would you like me to show you to your room?”

Rowaine nodded.

“Would you do that for me?”

Dimitri followed closely behind Rowaine, who followed the butler without knowing anything. He wore a very pleased expression.

The butler led them up the stairs and stopped in front of a door before he opened his mouth.

“This is your bedroom.”

Rowaine, about to open the door, hesitated.

“Our bedroom?”

She glanced at Dimitri, trying to conceal her bewilderment.

“We are… sharing a bedroom?”

The next moment, she smiled awkwardly at Dimitri, gesturing urgently for him to do something quickly.

“We had separate rooms in Blois.”

The butler, unaware of their situation, spoke as if it were obvious.

“Yes, the entire fourth floor is one suite here. The bathroom and dressing room on the left are for the master, and the ones on the right are for the Madam.”

Rowaine’s forced smile gradually stiffened.

“You heard, right? Shall we go in, Madam?”

Dimitri nonchalantly shrugged and opened the door while Rowaine, looking startled, gritted her teeth and responded.

“Haha… You know I’m not comfortable sharing a room, yet you still…”

She shot him a piercing look and firmly insisted to the butler, explaining the reason as well.

“I don’t mind the guest room, so please guide me to another room. I have a habit of snoring heavily, and I’m concerned it might disturb my husband.”

At this, the butler, who hadn’t had a good complexion from the start, confessed with great dismay.

“I… actually, Madam. The truth is, the guest room isn’t properly prepared at the moment.”

“If it’s a cleaning issue, it’s fine. Just change the bedding.”

“…It’s not about cleaning, Madam.”

“Then, what is it?”

“You may not believe it, but all the beds in the guest rooms are broken.”

“The beds are broken?”

Rowaine furrowed her brow in utter disbelief.

The butler, who had been meticulously managing the mansion for the past few days, trying not to attract any negative attention from the notorious new madam, reported with a pale face.

“The beds in the guest rooms, which were perfectly fine until yesterday, suddenly all broke today. I’ve already informed Vilfrang Jajak, but it seems the message hasn’t been relayed yet.”

Rowaine’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“Who would do such an absurd thing? Have you found the culprit?”

“Well, it doesn’t look like it was done by a person…”

Dimitri, the culprit who attacked Shedim with Hyle, looked the other way and listened to the butler’s words before speaking calmly.

“Oh, looks like it happened again.”

The butler, sweating nervously and glancing at Rowaine for any reaction, looked at Dimitri as if asking what he was talking about.

Dimitri asked the butler with a brazen face.

“Don’t you remember? There have been similar incidents in the past.”

“Yes…?”

“On rainy days. Strange things often happen in this mansion.”

At those words, the butler’s pupils trembled slightly. He looked utterly perplexed, not understanding what Dimitri was talking about. However, Rowaine didn’t see that expression on the butler’s face.

“Ghost! Is it a ghost?”

She covered her mouth with both hands and turned to the butler.

“Um… well… that’s…”

The butler, hearing this for the first time, looked back and forth between Dimitri and Rowaine, unable to speak. Dimitri spoke up seriously instead of the butler.

“The Blois family has incurred a lot of enmity in the past.”

Then, in a very merciful tone, he reassured the butler.

“Let’s discuss this matter separately tomorrow and assure the employees not to worry. It’s nothing serious.”

“Yes… understood.”

“Then, let’s go for now. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

“Yes.”

The butler nodded shakily and disappeared. Rowaine, who was so pale with fear, furrowed her brows when he suddenly sent the butler away.

“Well, about the room…”

Dimitri, happy in his heart, suggested.

“If there are no beds that work, there’s nothing we can do. If that’s the case, Rowaine can use this room.”

“What about Dimitri?”

“I’ll just sleep on the sofa in the study.”

“A-Are you sure it’s all right?”

“Don’t worry, and just go in. They say the ghosts in this mansion don’t harm people.”

Dimitri opened the door. As the butler had said, the couple’s shared bedroom was remarkably spacious, spanning the entire fourth floor.

Rowaine hesitated before finally stepping into the room.

At that moment, lightning flashed, followed by a frightening crack of thunder.

In the next instant, Dimitri was smiling as he comforted Rowaine, who had buried her face in his chest, trembling. With a voice filled with despair, she burst into tears.

“The room is too big, huungg…!”

̊ · : * ✧* : · ̊

“….”

I immersed myself deeply in the bathwater, feeling completely lost as I grappled with this unbelievable reality. In the meanwhile, Agwen was chattering away to herself.

“This is quite unusual. The Madam is letting me help you during the bath.”

‘I couldn’t help it.’

I sighed in frustration.

The shame and awkwardness of exposing myself to others couldn’t be compared to fear. In the mansion where ghosts appeared, on a day when the storm raged and thunder and lightning crashed, I couldn’t muster the courage to bathe alone, so I asked her to accompany me.

As I continued to sigh heavily, Agwen tilted her head and asked worriedly.

“But why do you keep sighing?”

Ajeng asked with concern, noticing my repeated sighs.

“No, nothing.”

I answered weakly and muttered to myself.

‘Sasha, you naughty thing. You cry and follow me around crying, saying you want to be with me, but then you say you want your own room? Isn’t that too much?’

Since I couldn’t bear to be alone, I suggested sharing a room with Sasha, who I thought would like it, but to my surprise, she arrogantly refused.

“I’m all grown up now. I can have my own room!”

It felt like such a betrayal.

‘When she first came to Blois, she sneaked into my bed saying she didn’t want to be alone!’

This was all because of Abaddon.

Before making a deal with the demon, Sasha used to cling and cuddle me, even sneaking into my bed at night and sleeping at my feet. However, after making a deal with Abaddon, she became so proud of becoming an adult cat that she stopped hugging me often and stopped coming to my room at night.

‘The beds are all broken, so how can I sleep in a place where ghosts will come out?’

Coco and Sasha took up guest rooms one by one as if they weren’t afraid of ghosts at all. They could sleep anywhere, even if there wasn’t a bed anyway.

‘If that’s the case, why don’t we sleep together anywhere in this spacious room? Why are they saying they don’t like that?’

Those cats.

I buried my face in my knees, wincing at the sound of thunder outside before I looked back at Agwen, who was washing my back.

“Agwen… Do you want to sleep with me?”

“Yes?”

“No… The room is spacious… and the bed is large too…”

Agwen laughed as if she had heard a funny joke.

“The Duke will be furious.”

I buried my face in my knees again.

‘Yeah, if I kick Dimitri out of the study and sleep with Ajeng, the employees will think it’s really strange…’

Anyway, Agwen didn’t know anything about our contract.

‘Why am I so scared? Can’t I overcome something like ghosts? Yes, let’s take this opportunity to shake off our fears!’

Since I couldn’t sleep with Dimitri.

I finished my bath with determination and stepped out of the bathroom. It seemed that Dimitri was still washing up.

Having dismissed Agwen, I sat on the spacious bed, steeling my resolve.

‘When Dimitri comes out, I’ll have to apologize, but we can’t sleep together after all.’

Dimitri, feeling refreshed after a pleasant bath, towel-dried his wet hair and searched for Rowaine with his eyes. She was on the bed.

“Rowaine.”

“….”

“Why are you covered in blankets like that?”

Rowaine had the blanket pulled over her head, hiding every strand of her hair.

Dimitri, who quickly pulled back the blanket, was surprised.

“Why are you coming out so late?! I’ve been waiting for you…!”

Rowaine, whose face was stained with tears, threw herself into Dimitri with the blanket.

“I guess I’m a helpless coward, hnng.”

 
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