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“I am already eating. Send her away.”
“Yes, I understand.”
After the head maid, Mary, left the room with a satisfied expression.
The dining room, where only Chloe remained, fell silent once again.
Resting her chin on her hand, she sliced into a steak that had gone completely cold.
The steak was certainly half-spoiled.
Though she had lost her sense of taste and smell as a side effect of the ability rampage, she could still tell to that extent.
If it had been a year ago, she would have summoned the maids and disciplined them.
They were vermin who would quickly tuck their tails and comply if she showed anger.
But this was a time not long after the anniversary of Coco's death.
‘Everything feels lethargic and tedious.’
She set down the knife she had been using to cut the steak.
She simply intended to go back to her bedroom and sleep more.
Then, she spotted a white mouse gnawing at the wall of the dining room.
‘Coco loved playing with mice with her paws.’
She used to press down on the mice with her tiny paws.
‘Nothing was as cute as that.’
Without realizing it, she found herself staring silently at the mouse.
And then...
The mouse, which had been clinging to the wall, began digging fervently at something.
In an instant, a hole appeared in the wall.
‘It’s worn out because the maintenance wasn't kept up.’
Just as she was having that thought.
A small ball came rolling out of the hole—degururu.
A crimson ball about the size of a palm.
At a glance, it looked like a common ball, but Chloe gasped.
It was the favorite ball Coco used to play with.
As proof, the label bore the words ‘Coco’s,’ written in her own handwriting.
Coco was greedy and always hid her toys.
Most of them had been lost over time.
“Why is this ball... here...?”
Looking at the ball, she recalled the past.
Coco loved playing with a hard ball that made a squeak sound when pressed with her front paws.
Uniquely, the surface of the ball was slightly cracked. If treats were placed in those gaps, she would sniff them excitedly.
Recalling the memories, Chloe leaned over and picked up the ball.
In the meantime, the mouse hid itself in the gap of the mousehole.
“I think I can smell Coco.”
Now that she held the small ball in her hand, she wondered if there were other things to find.
Come to think of it, there were quite a few toys Coco had lost.
“I thought they were buried in the ground, but the mice had them.”
This was the mansion she had designed in her childhood.
At the time, she had included several maze-like passages in the design.
Passages she had forgotten even existed as she grew up.
Only someone like Coco, who used to play walking games inside the mansion, would have memorized them all.
‘Unless I search every nook and cranny, I might not find the other toys.’
Still, finding the hard ball was something.
Just as she was tucklying it preciously into her arms.
The head maid, Mary, knocked on the door. When Chloe told her to enter, Mary spoke with a troubled expression.
“Lady Chloe.”
“What is it?”
“The child refused to leave and held her ground. She insists there is something she must tell you...”
Coco peeked her head out from behind Mary.
The head maid spoke with an annoyed expression.
“Child! I told you it’s problematic to come inside!”
“...H-huh! I have something to say!”
Watching Coco bow her head deeply, Chloe let out a sigh.
She no longer had the energy to get angry.
“You, why are you here again?”
“You told me not to come every day... but I saw something amazing...”
Her voice was slightly timid.
Looking at the crown of the head as she bowed, Chloe felt a strange sensation.
“U-um, I saw a mouse carrying something amazing, so I came to tell you...”
“...A mouse?”
“Yes! It’s something really amazing. Something squishy, like jelly...”
Hearing that, a certain detail clicked.
“...A bone shape?”
“Yes! How did you know?”
In that moment, a flicker of hope stirred in a corner of her heart.
Coco, the little puppy who knew the structure of the mansion better than she, the designer, did.
Therefore, Coco might have hidden toys somewhere that even Chloe didn't know about.
‘Traces of Coco that I didn't know about still remain...’
After dismissing all the maids, Chloe gazed at the child again.
“Tell me. The mouse, what?”
“You see! The mouse was carrying a squishy bone-shaped doll, and then it hid in a strange place! It was so weird and amazing that I came to tell you!”
“...Where is it now?”
“Hmm, it hid in a very strange place! I mean, mice usually appear at night when people aren't around!”
“And?”
As the child continued to ramble, Chloe's expression grew increasingly stiff.
“Actually, I'm really good at catching mice!”
“What is it you're trying to say?”
“But I can only catch them at night! Can I... can I sleep here for just one night?”
Chloe stared intently at the child with chubby cheeks.
Her cheeks were flushed, as if she had just started a stakeout investigation.
An expression that looked heart-pounding.
From the sudden proposal, everything felt too abrupt.
But...
“If I let you stay tonight, you can find the toy?”
“Yesss!”
“...Then, you. Catch that mouse.”
“Yesss! Please watch over me! Lady Chloe, you can't go to sleep first! That's the only way I can find the bone-shaped toy!”
“Only tonight. I won't like it after this.”
“Yes! Wow! This is so great!”
Despite being told it was only for tonight, as soon as Chloe gave her permission, Coco began roaming the dining room as if it were her own home, without a hint of disappointment.
‘There’s no sunlight, and the steak smells spoiled...’ she sighed deeply.
‘You bad people!’ she suddenly shouted, pointing a finger.
A suspicious little girl who suddenly appeared and began rummaging through her mansion.
However, she had no choice but to accept the child's proposal.
Because she wanted to see even those toys that Coco had played with only a few times.
She missed that warmth desperately.
* * *
That night, at Chloe Ardos's Haeguk Mansion.
Hiding my body in the darkness, I trotted down to the basement.
Pretending to follow a mouse, pretending to crawl, I headed toward the path I knew.
After winding through the secret passage I had entered!
The dark door leading to the cellar opened.
‘I'm finally in!’
I saw a huge number of dust-covered crates piled up.
I rolled my eyes, scanning the surroundings.
I could hear the maids chatting softly in another room.
But I focused only on what I had to ‘find’ inside the room.
Back when I was a puppy, I played hide-and-seek diligently with Big Sister in this mansion.
That's why I knew everything about this place.
Though it was a place filled with darkness, I could see.
‘I have to find the ledger with an apple drawn on the cover.’
An old ledger, stained with fingerprints and filled with worn parchment.
If I find just that, I can kick the maids out.
Boasting the superior sense of smell that is a puppy's specialty, I began sniffing for a suspicious scent.
And finally, I found a clue.
‘That's it!’
I saw that the edge of the wall filled with crates was slightly empty.
With my tiny hands, I barely managed to move a large crate.
I saw a small gap beneath the crate and a book wedged in between.
“H-huh.”
It was incredibly hard...!
But I managed to grab the very small book wedged in the gap of the floorboards.
‘Mission accomplished! I found it!’
I tucked the thin book neatly into the pocket of my dress.
‘Now I just have to get out!’
Just as I lifted my heels and began to walk stealthily again.
Thump!
With a rupturing sound like a latch breaking, the door flew open with a bang.
The maids with familiar faces, whom I had seen at Big Sister's mansion, revealed themselves.
“They say there was a sound coming from this room.”
“It seems a little rat has sneaked in.”
Buried in the darkness, I barely managed to hide behind a box and held my breath—gasp.
Thump, thump.
The sound of footsteps gradually drew closer.
But I had no time to hide my tension.
Just when I thought I had barely hidden behind the box.
K-boom!
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