Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 13

In the end, all three of them ended up in the carriage. As the wheels began to turn, Lily cautiously asked Wolfram,

“But how did you know where to find us?”

“I’m more surprised that you thought I wouldn’t. You tried to leave the duchy—did it never occur to you that you’d need to forge your ID or borrow someone else’s?”

It wasn’t said in a mocking tone, which only made it more humiliating.

She felt like she had objectively done something stupid.

She mumbled defensively.

“Of course it occurred to me. But someone like me could never pull that off. And I figured no one would care about someone like me anyway.”

“All personnel working in the duke’s castle are strictly tracked and reported. Naturally, your absence was flagged.”

“Oh…”

Wolfram, staring at her steadily, offered a sincere piece of advice.

“Personally, I suggest you never attempt to run again. You’ll only overextend yourself with skills you don’t have. It would be better for both you and the people around you.”

She agreed, honestly.

Still, it wasn’t as if everything that happened was entirely her fault…

“Of course, the fundamental fault isn’t yours.”

Lily’s eyes widened—he’d read her thoughts.

When Wolfram suddenly bowed his head, her eyes grew even wider.

“I apologize again for what I said that day. I was the one who didn’t understand my place.”

“H-How shocked was His Grace, exactly?”

Lily had never imagined Wolfram Burnett would apologize on his own.

He must have realized the extent of his mistake after facing a disaster he couldn’t handle.

What she really wanted to know was: how bad was that disaster? She wanted to mentally prepare before seeing the Duke of Kashimir again.

“It’s fortunate that no one died.”

Lily swallowed hard.

She had assumed, at worst, his office might’ve been trashed in some dramatic way.

Wolfram continued his apology.

“I know I’ve left a permanent scar on our relationship of trust. But please give me one more chance. I truly want to save His Grace.”

It was a deeply sincere apology.

But the more heartfelt he was, the more drained she felt.

“I was on your side from the beginning. I wanted to help His Grace too. If you hadn’t said what you did, I would’ve introduced my grandma to him myself.”

“I’m sorry.”

Wolfram’s face flushed with shame. He looked like a man fully aware he had ruined everything.

Lily sighed.

She didn’t want to be too cruel to someone who had admitted his mistake and was genuinely apologizing.

And if she could be sure there was no longer a threat to her life, then… yes, she still wanted to help the Duke.

“That’s enough apologizing. For now, let me think about how I’m going to explain this to His Grace.”

As the conversation paused, Julia gently took Lily’s hand.

The warmth of family—just that small gesture brought her surprising comfort.

Only then did she realize how tightly wound she had been this whole time.

Truthfully, when Julia climbed into the carriage, Lily hadn’t been happy with the situation.

Julia had insisted she couldn’t let her granddaughter go alone to a dangerous place—but when real danger struck, she wouldn’t be able to protect herself any more than Lily could.

It would’ve been more reassuring if Julia had stayed in town.

It was better for at least one of them to be definitely safe, rather than both being at risk.

She also didn’t like the idea of Julia getting roped into the translation job.

And yet, right now, just having her grandmother beside her gave her strength.

Lily, now more composed, began to think of how she might soothe Aiden.

 

 

****

 

 

When the carriage passed through the mansion gates and came to a stop at the base of the stairs leading to the main building, Lily still hadn’t come up with anything appropriate to say, despite all her mental preparation.

She glanced up at the manor through the window and her mouth dropped open.

Wolfram let out a quiet sigh.

“It’s gotten even worse.”

“W-What is all this? Was this… was this His Grace? Since yesterday?”

“No. There were signs yesterday, but he calmed down once he heard you were on leave. This started only a few hours ago. To be precise—right when I received word you had been issued a travel permit.”

The mansion was nothing like it had been the day before.

To start with, not a single windowpane remained intact. The frames and shutters were bent, some twisted or torn off entirely. One half of the main door had come off and was lying on the stairs. That alone was enough to paint a picture of the destruction inside.

Wolfram, uncharacteristically, wore a worried expression.

“You may be at risk too. Frankly, I’d prefer to accompany you for your protection, but the moment His Grace sees me, he becomes even more volatile… I’m sorry.”

Lily looked around again.

The courtyard was completely empty, and curtains were drawn over all the other buildings.

The mansion, now resembling a haunted house, combined with the desolate surroundings, created a deeply ominous mood.

It was terrifying enough to drive someone mad—but if she didn’t step up, things would only get worse.

Just as Lily took a deep breath and reached for the carriage door, Julia grabbed her other hand and pulled her back. Her face had gone pale.

“Lily, you didn’t tell me anything about this.”

“Uh… didn’t I mention it?”

“You said he just tossed things around!”

“I’ve never seen him this angry before either.”

Julia shook her head violently.

“No. This… this isn’t right.”

She was even more frightened than her granddaughter.

And truthfully, Lily couldn’t blame her.

Walking into that place on her own two feet didn’t seem like something a sane person would do.

Julia, who had no mental defenses against this kind of thing, was surely far more terrified.

‘But I have to see His Grace. That’s the only way anything will be resolved.’

Lily looked helplessly back and forth between the window and Julia when—

BANG!

A sudden, explosive noise from outside made Lily jump in her seat.

The remaining half of the front door had completely torn free from its hinges and tumbled down the steps.

The horses reared in fright, and the carriage rocked violently.

Lily clung to Julia, and Wolfram wrapped them both in his arms. In doing so, he slammed his bandaged head against the roof of the carriage and let out a pained groan.

The coachman managed to calm the horses only after quite a while, returning them to their original position.

When Lily looked up, she saw the Duke standing in the ruined doorway.

He was staring down at the carriage—his face bleak and hollow. And yet, something in his expression resembled a lost child, unsure of what to do.

The moment she saw that face, Lily stepped out of the carriage without even realizing she had let go of her grandmother’s hand and ran up the stairs.

Julia couldn’t take her eyes off her granddaughter’s back.

At the top step, Lily stood before the empty space and began speaking urgently to it. She clasped her hands, bowed, and made animated gestures. And through it all, not a single strange phenomenon occurred.

Wolfram watched from below with a look of quiet hope returning to his face.

In that short moment—more than all the stories she had heard at the boarding house—Julia truly understood the role and importance of what Lily had taken on.

She asked, just to confirm,

“You don’t intend to let Lily go, do you?”

“That’s correct.”

Wolfram’s answer was blunt.

Julia now understood for certain. No matter what happened, no matter what they said or did—these people were never going to let Lily go.

She still thought of herself as Lily’s guardian. It was her duty to protect her innocent and naive granddaughter from this utterly insane danger.

And since Lily had grown so used to all of this that she’d dropped her guard completely, Julia’s watchful eye was needed more than ever.

But with the Duke and his aide so firmly resolved, Julia knew she had only one option.

“I’d like to discuss the translation work in more detail. And also Lily’s safety.”

She had to help the Duke return to his senses, as soon as possible.

 

 

****

 

 

 

Aiden Kashimir was thinking back over the past two days.

The first day Lily Dienta vanished, he had been fine. Wolfram had informed him she was on leave, after all.

He found it odd that the maid hadn’t told him herself the day before, but assumed she’d simply forgotten.

But by the second day, when she still hadn’t appeared at the main building, Aiden began to sense something was wrong.

He tried to avoid jumping to grim conclusions. Instead, he considered the possibility they’d simply missed each other—so he checked the mansion thoroughly three or four times.

When he still couldn’t find her, he searched every room, then stood in the hallways of each floor, hoping to run into her.

He spent quite a bit of time confirming one thing: Lily Dienta was no longer in the mansion.

Even then, Aiden tried to believe it was a simple misunderstanding.

It never once occurred to him that she had left and that she would never return. He trusted Lily Dienta, completely.

He went back to the side entrance and waited.

At last, the door opened.

But the one who stepped out was not Lily Dienta, it was the head maid.

Aiden stared at the door with a frozen expression for a long moment… then silently followed after her.