Chapter 11

RUMBLE CRASH— At the sound like the sky splitting in half, Ian, who had been sleeping deeply, bolted upright. A sharp flash flickered and disappeared, followed shortly by a tremendous noise. Only then did he hear the fierce sound of rain mercilessly pounding the windows.

Perhaps he’d forgotten to draw the curtains—every time the sky flashed, light leaked through the thick curtains, occasionally illuminating the room. Most of the spacious room he’d finally grown accustomed to was shrouded in darkness, looking unfamiliar.

‘To be alone in this vast room.’

At the sudden chill down his spine, Ian squeezed his eyes shut and lay back down. But in that brief moment, sleep had fled, and even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t fall asleep immediately. When he forced himself to try to sleep, the room was filled only with the sound of rain and occasional thunder, then he heard a small sound like something brushing past somewhere.

‘A bug? But for a bug… it doesn’t sound like legs moving…’

Ian frowned and turned over. It was such a small sound that it would be drowned out by thunder, so he tried to ignore it and just sleep. But it bothered him how it would go quiet then come back.

‘I don’t want to open my eyes and meet the gaze of something strange…’

While he pondered with his eyes tightly shut, the rustling sound seemed to stop again. However, as time passed, the sound gradually grew closer. Finally, Ian narrowly opened his eyes and held his breath as he examined the darkness where the sound was coming from.

There, something small and black was crouched on the floor.

“…!”

Goosebumps rose all over his skin. With wide eyes, unable even to scream, Ian gasped with his mouth open. Just before screaming, he barely managed to cover his mouth with both hands and only rolled his eyes around.

While he was flustered by the overwhelming fear, perhaps hearing his irregular breathing, the thing slowly rose. Even fully upright, it was only about child-sized, and when bright lightning flashed, the small, frail figure that had carefully approached had a very familiar shape.

Only belatedly did words come from Ian’s mouth.

“A-Ash? That’s you, right, Ash?”

At his trembling voice, the silhouette holding something slowly nodded. Once it was certain to be Ash, blood returned to his cold hands and feet, and his roughly beating heart calmed somewhat. He couldn’t understand why Ash, who should be sleeping in the next room, was in his room at this hour.

Still, with somewhat more composure, Ian slowly sat up.

“What’s wrong? Why are you awake at this hour? Are you hurt somewhere?”

Perhaps because his tone wasn’t angry or annoyed, Ash approached hesitantly and murmured quietly as if uncertain. That small voice could only be properly heard by listening carefully.

“…The thunder scared me… I’m sorry for coming in without permission… But… can’t I sleep here on the floor?”

At his words while hunching his body and pointing to the floor, Ian sighed and lifted one side of the blanket he was covered with.

“The bed is wide—why would you sleep on the cold floor? Come inside and sleep.”

At those words, Ash ran over and got into the bed. At his careful movements as if trying not to touch, Ian carefully pulled the small body toward him. He could feel the thin, gaunt frame under his hands.

With the rain making it cool, and however long he’d been outside, the child’s body was chilly. At the feeling of cold hands and feet touching his body that had been under the blankets the whole time, he unconsciously shrank back slightly. Then the child stiffened as if he’d done something terribly wrong.

“Oh, no, it’s fine.”

When Ian hurriedly patted the child’s thin back with his hand, he felt the child relax with relief. While briefly rubbing his feet and hands, he felt not only Ash’s body but also something made of cloth touching him. But ignoring that sensation, he pulled the small child closer.

“How long were you out there? If you catch a cold, you’ll end up unable to leave bed for days like I was before.”

Speaking familiarly in a joking tone, Ian stopped talking. He’d moved Ash’s room at the child’s request just the day before yesterday. But before that, though it was what Ash wanted, the thought that it was a dreary, gloomy room for a young child wouldn’t leave his mind, so he’d checked the room in advance—a room he usually never went near.

The room next to Ian’s, which had been used by Ash’s father Arthur Walton, had been thoroughly ventilated under Mrs. Gauner’s direction and all furniture and fabric replaced, so it no longer had the nose-numbing smell it once had. There was only a light dusty smell.

“Is this satisfactory?”

At Clayton’s words from behind—when had he followed in?—Ian was startled but didn’t show it, clearing his throat and nodding.

“It should please the master rather than me. Still, it’s become like a completely new room. Now we just need the master to come…”

“I like it…”

At the voice from the doorway, Ian turned his head. Ash, standing at the door, peeked his face out and looked at Ian and Clayton in the room. Thinking he’d received permission, he carefully entered the room and wandered around looking this way and that like a cat surveying new territory.

“I’m glad you like it. If you need any furniture from your original room, you can bring it over.”

At Ian’s words, pleased by the sight, the child shook his head vigorously. His hair swayed back and forth following his shaking head.

“I’m not a little kid anymore, so I can use what was originally in this room.”

Briefly recalling the memory of how very cute it had been when he spoke in quite an adult tone, Ian looked down at the child in his arms.

‘Wait, but how did he get into this room?’

For a moment, Ian stiffened at the thought that what he was holding might not be Ash, and rolled his anxious eyes around. But clearly, the body under his hands was gradually warming as Ian’s body temperature transferred to it.

“But you said you mustn’t go through the corridors at night?”

When he asked in a trembling voice, the child buried his face in Ian’s chest.

“…You might be angry.”

Even amid his fear, his heart softened at that muffled small voice. Ian whispered while soothingly embracing the child:

“I won’t be angry. I’ve never been angry with you, have I?”

At those words, he felt gaunt arms slowly wrap around his neck. And a voice brushed his ear.

“Actually… there’s a secret passage. Connecting this room and that room…”

It was a whisper small enough for only Ian to hear. Though he’d been using this room all along, this was the first he’d heard of a secret passage, so Ian asked in bewilderment:

“You came in secretly through there?”

The child nodded in his arms.

“Want to see it?”

Hearing the slightly excited voice as if wanting to show him, Ian sighed quietly. From their conversation, he felt certain this was the Ash he knew.

‘If a ghost had transformed into Ash, it would have revealed its identity by now.’

“…Let’s check the details tomorrow.”

If he looked at the secret passage Ash showed him now, he felt like he’d get trapped or fall endlessly like a fairy tale character when the floor disappeared. Though goosebumps rose on his neck where the child held him for no reason, he pretended to be calm in his voice.

At those words, the child nodded in Ian’s arms. Perhaps because the child’s body temperature touching him was gradually rising, his mood improved and his mind settled. The thunder that had seemed to come from right overhead was slowly moving away.

“But what did you do before when there was thunder?”

At his suddenly curious question, Ash was silent for a moment.

“…I just endured it.”

At the quiet words, Ian rubbed his back. Perhaps pleased, the child quietly received that touch. Though his arms weren’t there yet, Ian felt proud that some flesh had filled out on the back where bones had been felt.

“From now on, you can come when you’re scared.”

“…Brother, thank you…”

With a tender voice, the child hugged him tightly. Ian felt as if an empty hole in his chest that he didn’t know existed was being filled by the child’s warm embrace. Along with that came a surge of responsibility. With Ash held tightly in his arms, Ian slowly closed his eyes.

The next day, the sky was bright as if it had never rained. Ian, waking to sunlight coming through the curtains, met eyes with the round eyes of a doll before him. It was the cute pale yellow bear doll he’d seen before.

“Ash?”

He groggily sat up and looked around, but Ash was nowhere to be seen. Ian picked up the doll lying on the bed. The doll had become grimy as if stained with hand marks since he’d last seen it. But it was definitely the doll he’d brought to this manor.

He’d given it to Ash before, but it had been in the study then mysteriously disappeared—just as he was thinking it strange to have the doll right in front of him, he heard something crawling out from under the bed.

Leaning over to look at the floor, he saw a small hand suddenly emerge and push against the floor to pull out a body. Though the disheveled black bob with white cobwebs on it looked different than usual, it was definitely familiar.

“Ash, what are you doing down there?”

“The doll… I left it behind…”

Ash, who had completely emerged from under the bed, stood up and watched Ian’s reaction. He seemed to know his actions weren’t entirely proper. Ian brushed off the child’s hair and chuckled.

“You appeared suddenly last night but were going to leave this morning without even saying good morning?”

When Ian handed him the doll, Ash carefully hugged it. Suddenly curious, Ian got down from the bed and looked where Ash had emerged from. Though dust had accumulated under the bed since it wasn’t cleaned frequently, it looked cleaner than expected.

Still, traces remained of Ash’s crawling movements from last night and this morning. Following those traces led to what looked like a small door slightly open by the wall. That small door, like something from a fairy tale, looked like it would require an adult man to struggle to enter.

Wallpaper was pasted on the door, so when closed it would be perfectly hidden.

“Are there more secret passages like this?”

At those words, Ash quickly nodded.

“Yes, there are several more. Some places that only I know and almost everyone else doesn’t.”

Looking at Ash, who was proudly showing off with unusually bright, sparkling eyes, Ian suddenly remembered what Clayton had said:

‘Since the young master is more accustomed to spending time alone in this manor rather than mingling with people, the manor staff sometimes mistake his presence for a ghost.’

“That’s certainly understandable…”

At his unconscious muttering, the child tilted his head. Ian himself had been briefly terrified by Ash’s actions last night.

Ian thus minimized the fear he’d felt last night. This was similar to his self-deception that he hadn’t been able to complete Secrets of Raven Manor due to 3D motion sickness rather than fear.

Thinking that someday if the child suddenly crawled out from under this bed, he might really faint disgracefully, Ian spoke to Ash in the gentlest voice possible:

“Ash, you can use this passage on really scary nights, but since it’s morning today, let’s go out through that door. Look at this on your head—you’ve got white hair like Clayton.”

Hearing the playful words, Ash suddenly hugged him tightly. Perhaps he’d gotten quite strong, as Ian was pushed back slightly. Looking down at the crown of the child holding him tight, waiting to see if he had something to say, the child whispered quietly with his face buried and then pulled away.

“…I’ll go change clothes.”

After bowing politely like an adult, the child left through the door. Watching this blankly, Ian chuckled, thinking the child had wanted to show gratitude for not being rejected last night.