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IBP 76
When a tear plopped and rolled down to the floor.
The auditory hallucinations began to ring in my ears once again.
“Anyway, this damn dog will be thrown away soon, right?”
...I covered my ears tightly.
But the nightmare-like voices still flowed into my ears.
“Since when has Chloe’s fickleness been a surprise?”
Until yesterday, I had been nothing but happy.
The wicked hallucinations had returned.
I walked unsteadily to escape these voices.
I passed through the fields where the puppies were visible and headed toward the inner part of my sister's mansion.
‘Even if it’s being slowly erased by the traces of other puppies.’
Still, it was my territory.
Because that was the only place where I could feel safe and rest.
“Little One!”
The maids and servants of my sister's mansion all looked delighted to find me.
The white puppy near them also kept trying to trot along beside me.
“Um, I... just for a moment...”
“Ah, are you going to Lady Chloe? She probably isn't inside.”
“I’m... okay. I’ll handle it.”
I didn't even have the strength to properly respond to the maid who looked at me with concern.
I simply kept my head bowed low.
I walked and walked, until the strength left my legs and I stumbled.
One step, two steps, three steps.
I barely managed to reach the bedroom where my sister stayed.
I clicked open the door to my sister's bedroom.
None of the passing maids stopped me. Since I had entered and exited so frequently in the past, they seemed to assume I had my sister's permission.
Upon entering my sister's bedroom, I crouched down on the floor.
The spot where I used to doze off while waiting for my sister back when I was a puppy.
A hand's breadth above the very bottom of the wall right next to the bed.
I pressed my small hand firmly against it.
Tap, tap, tap.
If I tapped three times, a hidden secret path would appear along with a pitch-black vortex.
This secret path was a place created by my sister's darkness ability.
When my sister wasn't around, I would often enter with my small body to take naps; it was a dead end that looked like a sealed room because one wall was blocked.
‘And, the place where I can rest with the most peace of mind.’
Because I couldn't nap properly due to the sunlight, my sister had specially made this for me...
A lonely, dark place where not a single handful of sunlight entered, and where only darkness remained without a single shadow.
I curled my body up, crouching in the deepest corner.
I gasped for air in small, shallow breaths.
And I huddled myself, folding my body endlessly.
“Anyway, a filthy stray dog is useless.”
Amidst the pain that felt like my head was splitting, I could even hear the hallucinations.
* * *
“Huh? Have you seen the Little One?”
Exactly five minutes later.
Coco’s maid came to Chloe’s annex.
“Ah, the Little One went into Lady Chloe’s bedroom.”
“Ah, I’m always late. I’ll go bring her back.”
Coco was so free-spirited that she didn't care for the presence of a maid.
There were times she even told them not to follow.
Because of this, Duke Ardos had once summoned the maid and cautioned her, saying, ‘Follow Coco secretly. Isn't she wandering around too freely?’
Still, Coco’s movements were always consistent, so she wasn't a demanding mistress.
She mostly just went back and forth to Chloe’s annex.
However.
Coco’s maid opened the bedroom door and froze.
“Little One, excuse m—... Huh?”
She opened the bedroom door, but Coco was gone.
No, there wasn't even a trace of a human presence.
Feeling a sudden chill, she looked around.
“Huh? Where did she go?”
Just then, she saw a maid cleaning near Chloe’s bedroom.
“Did the Little One go into another room? Did you happen to see her?”
The flustered maid jumped and spoke.
“No, after she entered the bedroom, she never came out. I’ve been standing right here cleaning this hallway from the moment the Little One arrived until now.”
“Then...”
The House of Duke Ardos was the safest place in the Empire. Yet, a direct blood descendant had vanished inside the Duke's residence!
It was something no one had ever imagined.
“Wh-where on earth could she have gone...?”
“Shall we look in the other rooms? She might be sleeping there!”
“I think I should report this to my superiors first, so I’ll be right back.”
But above all, there was someone else who was the most panicked.
The one residing in the mouse hole in the corner of the hallway of Chloe’s annex.
It was the Emperor of Mouse, who loved cheese.
‘Th-this is crazy! That newborn puppy! To enter such a terrifying ability space!’
That dark place was a spot created with the darkness ability.
It was a place that animals instinctively avoided, sensing danger!
‘I knew it from the moment she didn't know the fear of a tiger, but... she’s out of her mind!’
However, the mouse couldn't get Coco out himself.
‘I have to find someone who can get her out right now...!’
But humans couldn't understand his words!
In this moment of desperation!
The mouse's tiny brain whirred.
And he remembered the small boy who always strove to stay by Coco's side.
‘...If I deliver the message to a spirit beast, and that spirit beast tells the imprinted one roughly what happened, wouldn't that work?’
But the spirit beast by his side was a tiger.
‘I-I’m scared to death...’
To think a mere mouse would have to go meet a tiger.
For a moment, his footsteps felt incredibly heavy, but...
‘...This one is worth fifty chunks of cheese, Coco.’
* * *
Caligo was talking with the tiger outside the annex where he stayed.
“Once this hunting festival is over, I want to talk to Coco.”
[Wh at]
“You’re asking what about, right?”
He muttered, awkwardly stroking the tiger's head.
“Coco and I are friends. I was wondering if there's anything else I can help her with using my shadow ability.”
That girl, Coco. She just makes me want to keep lingering around her.
Caligo thought this, completely unaware that he himself was acting like a pampered kitten.
It was right then.
A bird with a mouse perched on its shoulder flew into the garden in front of Caligo’s annex.
“...What is that?”
He couldn't help but notice such a peculiar sight.
Soon, the bird landed gracefully on the grass and set the mouse down.
The mouse, trembling violently upon seeing Black Tiger, curled its tail and approached the tiger hesitantly.
Then, the tiger let out a long cry.
Just as the bird hurriedly scooped up the mouse, who had fallen over in surprise, onto its wing.
The tiger brought its face close to Caligo’s hand.
Then, it wrote in small letters on the ground: [CO CO, VE RY DAN GER].
He couldn't tell exactly what the letters were, but...
“What’s wrong? Did something dangerous happen?”
It wasn't precise, but it felt like a warning signal.
As if confirming the situation, the tiger scratched the ground wildly with its front paw.
“...That’s not Coco, is it?”
From the mouse's urgent movements to the tiger's cry.
Caligo had a feeling it was about Coco.
“It must be Coco. Then, let’s go.”
Upon receiving Caligo’s signal, the tiger spirit beast left the mansion with the small bird perched on its head.
It seemed the news that Coco had disappeared had spread.
Ruth and Duke Ardos also seemed to have deployed people, as the Duke's residence was bustling with people moving frantically.
“Is the Little One over there?”
“No, she’s not here.”
“No, where on earth did the Little One go...?”
Running along with the servants searching every nook and cranny, Caligo took a sharp breath in and let it out again.
‘Even if I try to find Coco’s trace with my shadow ability outside the mansion...’
No matter how thoroughly he searched, she wasn't there.
Caligo’s shadow moved diligently here and there.
‘...The place Coco is most likely to go.’
Perhaps, it was the mansion of Chloe, where she had disappeared?
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