The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 31

How much could he have possibly received? If it was enough to buy several villas, it certainly wasn’t a small change.

If he returned the money, could he cancel the request? But what on earth did this crazy servant do with all that cash? He’d need to have the money to pay it back in the first place.

‘Did I even receive that money?!’

Jade, having dropped the sack, clutched at his hair.

He wouldn’t even feel this wronged if the money was actually in his possession. Hadn’t he been found collapsed in a frozen snowfield without so much as a coat?

His body still shook at the thought of nearly dying back then. Even now, he was scraping together items to sell because he had no funds. He was, quite literally, penniless.

Did Jade have a family? Did he send the money to them?

If that were the case, there was at least a glimmer of hope. He might be able to get the money back from them somehow.

The worst-case scenario Jade imagined was that the money had been stolen entirely. If he had encountered bandits on the way to the villa and was stripped of everything, then dumped in the snow without a coat… considering the circumstances, it was the most likely theory.

‘…Dammit.’

Just as that man said, if he didn’t kill Ian, he was going to end up dead himself. However…

‘Kill Ian?’

Could he actually do it? No, it was impossible.

Sure, he had grown quite close to Ian over the past three months, but it wasn’t just because he’d grown fond of the boy.

Jade was an ordinary person from the modern world. He was someone who had never even committed a crime, let alone a murder. The biggest law Jade had ever broken was jaywalking.

No matter how much he managed the villa’s household with extreme survival skills, Jade was still only eighteen. He had simply lived his life diligently; he couldn’t even imagine doing something as horrific as killing someone.

Besides, Ian was still just a child, wasn’t he? At such a young age, he was barely surviving alone in this isolated villa. Just like his younger self, who had endured being abandoned in a single-room apartment.

‘There’s no way I can kill him.’

He just couldn’t. He was the type of person who couldn’t even pass by a stray cat, spending his meager savings to buy it chicken breast.

Even if he held the physical advantage over a child, and even if this world was a place where one could kill someone without being caught, he could not kill Ian.

‘…If I don’t kill him.’

Then Jade’s own life would be at risk. They wouldn’t leave him alone if he took such a massive sum of money and failed the mission. Hadn’t the man who just left said as much?

And it likely wouldn’t end there. He had been thinking too naively. He had been mindlessly focused on nothing but cleaning and cooking.

To begin with, no matter how he looked at it, Jade didn’t seem like a professional assassin. He had some calluses now from doing various chores around the villa, but his hands were soft when he first dropped into this world.

His stamina wasn’t great either. In a world like this, one would need much more physical strength than in the South Korea he came from, yet didn’t he fall seriously ill just from working a little?

If someone was willing to pay a high price to hire a klutz like him, they would surely hire another hitman if Jade failed. They would keep going until the job of killing Ian was done.

‘I have to leave.’

Originally, Jade intended to stay at the villa only until spring. The plan had been delayed by a season, but he intended to plant seedlings in the spring, store enough food, and leave to find his own life by summer at the latest.

Life was every man for himself, and he figured that if Ian was destined to be the final boss of this world, he’d survive somehow. People become villains because they survive all their hardships, don’t they? He still held that belief.

“Sigh.”

His mind was a mess. There was nothing he could do right now. He was glad he’d left Buster in the room while changing his clothes earlier. This wasn’t a conversation for others to overhear.

‘Where is Ian?’

Ian suddenly came to mind. By this time, he should be in the library.

It was a relief the carriage came when it did. If they had seen Ian looking healthy, Malderic’s henchman wouldn’t have left so quietly. He surely would have gone back and plotted something.

In fact, Ian’s condition lately was incomparably better than before. His tangled hair now had a healthy sheen, and his once-grimy cheeks and hands were now fair and clean.

He must have been starving before; despite not being fed much, his thin arms had filled out just from those small meals. He had even grown 10cm taller. Perhaps because he was naturally handsome, he sparkled like a young lord.

But even putting those things aside…

‘He’ll be hurt.’

If Ian found out that the reason Jade came here was to kill him, he would be devastated. He didn’t want that.

Recently, Jade and Ian had grown quite close. Of course, they didn’t share deep conversations or reveal their inner thoughts. But in a villa where they were the only two people, they ate together every day and read books together every night before bed—they couldn’t help but become close.

Jade was currently the only adult by Ian’s side. The thought made his heart ache.

He kept seeing himself in Ian. The young boy who was left all alone after the remaining adults had fled.

“Did the supplies arrive?”

Before he could pull his complicated thoughts together, a soft voice spoke from behind him. Jade jumped and spun around. He hadn’t realized Ian was out; the boy was standing at the villa door. Usually, he never came out until lunchtime.

“Whoa! When did you get out here, sir?!”

“…Just now.”

Ian’s calm gaze moved from Jade to the sacks lying by his feet.

“Are those supplies? I heard a carriage.”

“Ahaha, yes. We didn’t get much, though. But at least I’m less worried now. I think there are potatoes; shall we have stew later?”

Jade babbled on and on as he gathered the sacks into his arms and hurried inside.

He knew his behavior was a bit exaggerated, but meeting Ian’s eyes—which were as still as a deep lake—made it hard to hide his panic.

“I’m going to organize the supplies; do you want to watch? I wonder what else is in here, haha.”

Scratching his head, Jade slung two sacks over each shoulder. He led the way as if inviting Ian to the kitchen.

But even as he walked briskly, he was sweating bullets, terrified that Ian might actually follow. Right now, he didn’t trust himself to hide his flustered state in front of the boy.

“I’ll be in my room.”

Fortunately, once inside, Ian headed for the stairs. As Jade let out a secret sigh of relief, Ian turned back to look at him.

“…By the way, Jade.”

“Yes?”

“Your expression is strange.”

Jade flinched and froze as he met Ian’s eyes.

The one who was truly strange wasn’t Jade, but Ian. Ian showed no expression at all. He simply stared blankly at Jade with those characteristically calm eyes.

“No way. It’s not strange. It’s just because it’s cold. You should go inside quickly too, sir. You’ll catch a cold.”

“……”

When Jade patted the sacks as if it were nothing, Ian went up to the library without another word. Watching the small figure slowly disappear, Jade breathed a sigh of relief.

Ian hadn’t heard the conversation with the man. He had been paying close attention, so he was certain of that much.

∞ ∞ ∞

After going up to the library, Ian walked to the window and climbed onto a chair. Libraries in the North usually didn’t have large windows reaching the floor, to prevent the archive from being damaged by the cold.

Therefore, the small Ian had to climb onto a chair to see outside. Ian pressed his hand against the cold glass and looked down. He saw the carriage descending the snowy path and turning the corner.

“Victor Argen.”

Ian muttered the man’s name. He knew the person in the carriage. He was his uncle’s right-hand man, and Ian had encountered him several times at the main family estate in the capital.

A nobleman from the outskirts, he always stood by his uncle’s side, looking down at Ian with an amused face—even though Ian’s rank was much higher than his.

“……”

A moment ago, hearing the carriage, he had looked down and witnessed Jade and Victor talking.

He had opened the window, but he couldn’t hear the contents of the conversation. Their talk had been quite long, and a small whirlpool of emotion began to swirl within Ian.

Was it betrayal? Disappointment? It was different from such simple emotions. But he knew for certain that he hated that scene.

Actually, there was no reason to be disappointed in Jade. Hadn’t he known from the start that Jade was a servant sent to watch him? He himself had only kept Jade alive because he was necessary for running the villa.

So, there was no reason for emotions rooted in intimacy to be swirling like this. If he hadn’t read him fairy tales every night, if he hadn’t held out mushrooms with frozen hands… if he hadn’t done those things, Ian might not have had to feel this way. So, this was all Jade’s fault.

Yes, come to think of it, everything this servant had done had been suspicious.

Why did he smile so kindly? Why did he reach out his hand? Why? Just why? Every action he took raised questions for Ian. And now, those questions seemed to be getting answered.

“They certainly have a variety of methods.”

It seemed his uncle had changed his tactics. There was no easier way to handle a child than by showing them affection.

He must not grow fond of him. He must not fall for the food he made or his kind enticements.

He had always been alone anyway. There was no comfort a mere servant’s warmth could provide. Even if he hadn’t known before, now that he had seen the scheme with his own eyes, he would not fall for it.

Ian was confident. He wouldn’t fall for the man’s kindness. He could do it.

While Ian was raising his guard against Jade, Jade was making a different resolution.

∞ ∞ ∞

“This won’t do. We’re definitely short on firewood.”