Chapter 133
Even though she tried to climb carefully to avoid making noise, the stairs were so old that they creaked loudly. Though startled for a moment, she quickly regained her composure and continued climbing one step at a time.
‘Something feels wrong.’
Though difficult to explain, an uneasy premonition kept stabbing at her chest. Just as she was about to tell Ares they should turn back, sensing they shouldn’t get any closer—
“Ares!”
In that instant, she noticed the magic circle drawn beneath Ares’s feet. She immediately grabbed his hand, but the spell had already been activated.
Ares, realizing too late, flinched and then released their joined hands without a moment’s hesitation.
“Ares, wait…!”
Letting go now meant Ares would be forcibly transported alone. She tried to grab hold of him as he attempted to leave by himself, not knowing where the transportation would lead, but the magic circle had already activated and he quickly vanished.
After the blinding light that had obscured her vision subsided, all that remained was herself, standing alone in the dusty corridor.
“…”
Everything had happened so suddenly that she couldn’t properly assess the situation. Kirine bit her lip with a confused expression, looking around before letting out a shallow sigh.
“That idiot…”
While she felt resentful toward Ares for leaving alone after sensing danger, she also felt pathetic for not realizing it sooner.
‘Of course. She knew.’
Without anticipating their return here, there was no way someone would set up such a trap.
‘Then where exactly did they transport him?’
She couldn’t help but sigh at the difficult situation—how was she supposed to find Ares when they hadn’t found even a trace of that woman after searching everywhere she might be?
After leaving the mansion, Kirine began calmly organizing her thoughts.
‘She drew the magic circle in advance, knowing we would come.’
She must have been certain that Ares would step on it first.
‘Then Ares was the target from the beginning…’
She couldn’t understand what that woman planned to do after taking Ares.
‘No, I don’t need to understand that. How could I understand someone who’s lost their mind?’
What mattered was where Ares had been transported to.
But she had no idea where to even begin searching.
Frustrated, Kirine roughly ran her fingers through her hair before suddenly lifting her head and starting to walk quickly.
‘I don’t have time for this.’
She had no choice but to move wherever her feet would take her.
At least until she could think of where Ares might have been taken.
***
At first, he liked being called pretty.
“How can someone be this pretty?”
“Anyone would believe you’re her daughter.”
“You really take after the Duchess.”
“No wonder—even your skin is so fair.”
“Especially those blue eyes, they’re as beautiful as jewels.”
These were all comments about him. Since he was small for a boy and had delicate features, there were many who found it regrettable.
But his mother cherished him without showing any displeasure at such remarks. Only Reilly seemed to disapprove of him being this way.
“You should at least exercise or something. What are you going to do, being this weak?”
Though her tone was scolding, he only realized after that incident that she had said those things out of concern.
“Mother says it’s fine, so why are you like this, sister?”
“No, just look at yourself. What good is being pretty when you can’t do anything else?”
But Ares ignored Reilly’s words and went about playing by himself. That’s how he ended up being kidnapped by that woman.
“You really are pretty.”
Though it was clearly meant as a compliment, for some reason when that woman said it, it made his skin crawl. Maybe it was because of her vacant eyes. Though he tried to avoid her because she seemed dangerous somehow, by the time he came to his senses, he had already been kidnapped.
‘This situation is exactly like that time.’
Ares, who had briefly lost consciousness, let out a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes before looking around. His last memory was stepping on the magic circle in the white mansion before being forcibly transported.
‘I wonder if Kirine is alright?’
Fortunately, it seemed Kirine hadn’t been transported along with him since he had let go of her hand before the spell fully activated.
While that was a relief, his mouth went dry at the thought of being alone in this pitch-black place.
‘Where exactly is this?’
After some time passed, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could faintly make out his surroundings.
‘Seems like I’m trapped in a room.’
Walking slowly toward what appeared to be a door, he found a doorknob. He tried turning it immediately, but as expected, it wouldn’t open.
“Haa…”
There was nothing he could determine. He didn’t know where he was or how much time had passed.
Just as he sighed at the frustrating situation—
“Is… is someone there?”
A thin voice came through from beyond the wall.
Startled, he turned his head as the tearful voice spoke again.
“Is someone there? Right?”
It was the voice of a young girl. Ares, recognizing this immediately, pressed himself close to the wall.
“Yes, there’s someone here.”
After calming himself and responding, the girl let out a sigh of relief.
“I-I see. I was so scared being alone all this time.”
“Are you trapped right now?”
“Yes. When I opened my eyes, I was here.”
“How long have you been trapped?”
“Well… I can’t tell time in here…”
Though stumbling over her words, the girl did her best to answer.
“Please, please help me. I’m so scared and…”
Finally unable to hold back, the girl burst into tears. She begged Ares, saying she felt like she would truly go mad if she stayed any longer.
“Let’s try to stay calm first.”
“I’ve been here so long, I’m scared and exhausted. Please, please save me.”
Ares could clearly hear the sound of her scratching against the wall. Far from calming down, the girl seemed to be falling deeper into confusion, so he asked her something else.
“How did you end up here?”
“That… I can’t remember very well.”
Speaking in a dejected voice, the girl suddenly spoke as if remembering something.
“Ah, I was on my way home. There was this woman who asked me for directions.”
“Nothing else?”
“Nothing much. Just that she said she had a daughter about my age…”
“…”
The moment he heard those words, he knew for certain it was that woman.
It made his skin crawl to realize she was still obsessed with her dead daughter, still searching for substitutes to fill that daughter’s place.
“For now, let’s try to stay calm. I’ll help you.”
“Thank you, thank you.”
Though he was in the same predicament as the girl, calming her down had to come first.
Fortunately, the girl seemed more composed than before, apparently taking comfort just in knowing Ares was there beyond the wall.
‘The problem is how to escape from here.’
While the door looked old at first glance, it seemed to have some kind of magic cast on it, making it too sturdy to break easily.
‘It’s fortunate Kirine didn’t come to a place like this with me.’
That was his only consolation.
