Working at a Haunted Mansion Chapter 22

A maid’s convenience ultimately depended on the head maid’s favor—it was no exaggeration.

Even without causing direct harm, the head maid could subtly manipulate the atmosphere among the maids or endlessly harass someone with harsh reprimands and nitpicking.

‘Head maid Angela isn’t the type to do that, but… still, it doesn’t hurt to earn some points after what I did.’

Along with Lily, a couple of kitchen maids helped gather up food waste and stacked dishes to carry back to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, dimly lit by cheap candlelight, Lily was about to move on to washing dishes when Angela called out to her.

“Take those to the wall guards.”

Angela pointed to six baskets of midnight snacks. Through the cloth covers to keep dust off, the necks of bottles could be seen sticking out.

Lily waited a moment, expecting her to call another maid’s name. With six baskets, surely it meant delivering to every major checkpoint around the wall. Asking one person to do all that was unreasonable.

Just circling the perimeter would take a long time. She couldn’t carry all six baskets at once, so she would have to make several trips.

And alone? In the middle of the night? No matter how much she had annoyed Angela recently, surely she wouldn’t be that cruel…

“What are you standing around for? Go!”

Ah. So she was supposed to go alone.

Lily wanted to cry. This was too much. All she had done was come back a day late, wasn’t it?

Of course, it was wrong of her, and it was her own fault for volunteering noisily to help clean up, catching Angela’s attention… but still.

Faced with a harsher punishment than she expected, Lily felt miserable.

But Angela wasn’t just angry about Lily’s unauthorized absence.

When Lily Dienta had disappeared, Wolfram had criticized Angela for not managing the maids properly.

And now, even after her return, Lily had embarrassed herself in front of noble guests and gone off to chat with her grandmother without permission. Angela’s anger had doubled.

If Lily had known all this, she wouldn’t have hesitated to carry the baskets with her hands, her feet, and even her mouth if necessary.

Unaware of the full story, Lily simply felt wronged as she picked up the baskets in both hands.

The courtyard, once lit beautifully with glass-covered lamps for the banquet guests, was now eerily dark.

Scattered tall braziers, lit sparsely for patrols and guards, were the only sources of light.

She could have carried a lantern in one hand, but that would have meant making six round trips. Better to just grit her teeth and get it over with quickly.

“I’m not scared. The Lord is with me…”

Lily mumbled habitually—then froze.

“The Lord may be with me, but my soul could still get snatched…”

Trembling with fear, she carried out her errand.

Finally, after delivering the last baskets safely, Lily was exhausted—worn out from the tension and the unexpected workout.

At the final checkpoint, she pleaded and managed to borrow a lantern. Clutching it like a lifeline, she started walking back to the servant quarters— when she suddenly caught sight of the outline of the main building in the distance.

‘Should I just check in for a moment?’

She stood in place, hesitating.

Aside from her vacation, she had never gone this long without seeing Aiden. He hated being left alone. Was he coping well?

The surroundings were dark, and she was legally allowed to walk around the castle. Even if patrols had started, it didn’t matter—every window in the main building was broken wide open anyway.

She stood still for a long time, then shook her head.

‘Forget it. If the head maid catches me, I’ll be in real trouble this time.’

Lily gave up the idea and started walking again. Since the nobles had all left, she decided to take the central road.

Short trees lined both sides of the central path, and there was a fountain in the middle. From the fountain, she only needed to head west to reach the servant quarters.

She deliberately ignored the dark shadows under the trees. Muttering to herself nonstop, she tried to ward off the eerie silence of the night.

‘No matter how you look at it, the head maid was too harsh. Even sending just one other person would’ve made it better. I could’ve carried the heavy stuff by myself, seriously. I just want to get back. I’m scared, sleepy, tired, this is a total disast—ugh!’

Lily let out a small, sharp scream—not just in her mind, but aloud.

There was a man sitting on the fountain railing!

He was turned slightly, looking into the water. Thanks to the pouring moonlight, Lily recognized him.

‘T-that’s the Emperor, right? Should I kneel? Right now? Or should I wait until I get a little closer? Did he see me? If he didn’t, maybe I can pretend I didn’t see him and change direction? Even if it means a longer walk, wouldn’t that be better?’

Lily thought furiously without making a sound.

‘No, seriously, why is he sitting there alone? Without even a knight? The ghost is… yep, there it is. Great, everything that shouldn’t be here is here, and everything that should be is missing. What do I do? Seriously, what do I do?’

She quickly searched for an escape route.

Since he hadn’t seen her yet, she could quietly hide behind the garden shrubs. Then she could either circle around back to the dorms, or, if she couldn’t move her legs, she could just wait until the Emperor left.

Even if the shadows under the trees looked like the gaping mouth of a demon, there was no other way but to avoid the Emperor.

Lily turned her head back slightly to check the direction she needed to go. And just as she was about to glance one last time at the Emperor—

Lily froze.

The Emperor was staring straight at her. Worse, he was pointing at her with his finger. It was a summons she couldn’t refuse.

‘Oh, dear Lord Lumion, please protect me…!’

Trembling, she walked toward the fountain. Just like earlier that day, she knelt on one knee before the Emperor and lowered her head.

“Igreet the Sun of the Empire.”

She prayed that her trembling voice would be taken as a sign of awe at meeting the highest majesty—not because she had seen the ghost.

‘It’s really the Emperor’s soul…’

Before lowering her head, she had seen the ghost squinting—it had the exact same face as the Emperor.

The ghost glared at the Emperor, full of rage and resentment. Unlike the Duke’s soul, which shimmered faintly blue, the Emperor’s ghost had a dark, blood-red glow.

[My body…]

The ghost muttered, almost grinding its teeth, but the Emperor didn’t seem bothered at all. Either he had nerves of steel—or he simply couldn’t see or hear the spirit.

Lily desperately hoped the Emperor would leave her alone and walk away. Or, at the very least, that he would let her kneel there until he was done and then move on.

The last thing she wanted was to be ordered to stand and end up facing the ghost directly. She didn’t trust herself to keep a straight face.

Letting it slip that she could see the ghost would, without question, be the absolute worst disaster possible.

At least, according to what the stable master said, the Emperor had forgotten how to speak, so she wouldn’t be expected to play the role of late-night conversation partner…

“Rise.”

The Emperor commanded in a slow, rough voice.

‘Didn’t they say he couldn’t speak? Didn’t they say he forgot? That stable master’s information is worthless!’

Fuming inside, Lily got to her feet, still keeping her head low.

“A maid, are you?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor’s gaze swept her up and down. He stood from the fountain and commanded,

“Lead the way.”

Every word from his mouth was unbearably slow. And who in the Empire used the phrase “lead the way” in everyday conversation?

The thing inside the Emperor’s body clearly hadn’t practiced enough Imperial language. No wonder they stayed silent at the palace.

Lily moved carefully. At this hour, the only place the Emperor would go was the East Wing, where his sleeping quarters were prepared.

At least walking ahead meant she didn’t have to look at the ghost.

As they walked, the Emperor kept speaking to her with clumsy pronunciation.

“You must grieve… for the Duke’s…”

He paused for a long time, then abruptly finished,

“…loss of consciousness.”

Maybe thinking there was no need to watch his words in front of a low-ranked maid, he didn’t seem interested in stopping the conversation.

Of course, who would guess that a low-ranking maid sent out for errands at night was actually allied with the Duke’s inner circle?

Lily answered extremely briefly.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Do you… like him? Your master?”

For a moment, Lily almost turned around to look at him.

‘What is this fake Emperor talking about? And why do I keep getting asked questions like this lately…?’

It was a ridiculous question, enough to make her gasp, but since the Emperor had asked, she had to answer.

‘Think, Lily Dienta. Think carefully.’

If she answered too favorably toward the Duke, she might upset this creature.
But lying and speaking ill of the Duke felt wrong too.

She replied politely,

“He is a master I am grateful for.”

“Grateful?”

“Yes… for providing me with daily bread and a place to sleep.”

Safe, right? No matter how you heard it, it was a neutral, textbook answer.

“Grateful… to the Duke.”

The low growl sent a chill down her spine. She could tell—her answer had been wrong.

‘How petty. Even a simple thank you is too much for him?’

If this fake Emperor really was the cult leader, it made perfect sense that he would hate hearing any praise for Aiden.

Even so, Lily didn’t want to badmouth Aiden. Even if he couldn’t hear it.

She bit her lip.

‘S-so what? It’s not a crime to be grateful to your boss. He’s not going to hold that against me, right? …Right?’

Trembling with fear, Lily hurried on toward the East Wing.