The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 46

“Meoooow!”

“What has gotten into you, seriously?”

Jade scooped Buster up and settled him on his shoulder to soothe him. Buster, who had been on the verge of tears from the sheer injustice of it all, calmed down a bit once he was held in those warm arms. Perched on Jade’s shoulder, Buster rubbed his eyes with a front paw. Right then, he felt a sudden, piercing gaze.

“Mya…”

Ian was standing right below him. Because he was draped over the shoulder, Buster locked eyes with Ian, who was standing right behind Jade. The boy’s gaze was even chillier than before.

“Mya, myaaaa.”

The moment he caught Ian’s murderous glint, Buster abandoned Jade’s arms and flew up high. He made a firm mental note to stay far away from Ian for the rest of the day. If he gave the kid an opening, Ian would surely grab him and hurl him into the distance. Actually, today it might not end with just a toss.

Uuuggghhh—

The Wraith of the Blind Servant looked up at Buster. Despite those hollow sockets, his head was tilted upward toward Buster as if he could actually see.

“This is quite a mess.”

Jade scratched his head, feeling conflicted. He couldn’t use his skills because Ian was right there, but more than that, the wraith was weighing on his mind. To put it simply, the man hadn’t been able to leave for all these years, lingering around the villa because he couldn’t forget his dog. He must have been a soft-hearted, kind soul when he was alive.

“He won’t cause any real harm. Let’s go up.”

Ian tugged at Jade’s sleeve, clearly wanting to go back and just read a fairy tale. His annoyance with the current situation was obvious.

But Jade couldn’t move his feet. The way the wraith was focused entirely on Buster felt strangely sorrowful. He was probably seeing glimpses of his dog in Buster, another small animal.

“That wraith… I think he’s looking for a puppy.”

“A puppy?”

Ian asked back, furrows forming in his brow as if he’d just heard the most nonsensical thing ever. He looked at the wraith with a completely indifferent expression.

From the start, Ian had zero interest in things like wraiths. And even less in some trivial backstory attached to one. But apparently, Jade was different.

“That’s probably why he’s looking at Buster like that…”

“The first head of the family likely kept a dog.”

“You know about that too?”

“It’s painted in the portrait with him.”

“Wait, then is that wraith someone who died back during the first head’s time?”

“Most likely. This place was a complete wilderness before this villa was built.”

That was still true today. There was nothing but snowfields surrounding the villa.

Thinking about it, everything made sense only if the blind servant was someone who died during the era of the first head.

There wouldn’t have been a servant here before the villa was built, which meant he was a servant hired after its completion. Since the first head’s notebook already labeled him a wraith, it meant he was already dead back then.

So, did the first head record the fact that his own servant had become a wraith? Talk about a twisted hobby. Knowing the timeline made the wraith seem even more pitiable. He had been wandering through several eras, searching for his dog.

Now that he knew the circumstances, Jade felt uneasy about attacking and erasing him. He figured it would be easier on his conscience to make the wraith move on of his own accord.

The goal was simply to get rid of the blind servant. So, shouldn’t he be able to get the healing potions regardless of the method, as long as the wraith was “dealt with”?

But how could he make him understand that the dog was long dead?

“Where exactly is that portrait?”

Ian led Jade to the very top floor of the villa.

Even Jade, who was in charge of the villa’s maintenance, had only been up here a few times. It was the coldest floor in the building and didn’t really have anything, so he hadn’t visited often.

He had only come up here during the initial deep clean. But he was certain he hadn’t seen any portraits back then.

“There was a portrait here?”

“In this room.”

Ian stopped in front of the room at the very end of the hall. While Jade had poked into most corners of the villa to keep them clean, he couldn’t clean every single room. He had left the rooms that seemed like a lost cause. This room was one of them.

“I don’t think I saw it…”

If his memory served him right, this room was filled with an old piano and piles of broken furniture. It was a room where he had only managed to air it out and dust things off, not having the heart to tackle the clutter.

Ian opened the door without hesitation, walked in, and stood before a cabinet against the wall. He pointed inside.

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

Something was covered with a cloth. It looked like a frame. Jade opened the cabinet, took out the cloth-covered frame, and placed it on top of the piano. As he pulled the cloth down, the portrait revealed itself.

Inside the ornate, gold-leafed frame was the image of a man.

“Whoa…”

Jade let out an unconscious gasp of admiration. The man in the painting, wearing a black formal uniform, looked to be in his early thirties. Silver tassels hung from his shoulders, and the family crest was engraved in the background.

But more than anything, the man’s features grabbed his attention. A sharp jawline, keen eyes, and blue-tinted gray pupils shone coldly even in the painting.

His hair was a blonde shade slightly darker than Ian’s, styled neatly back to give him a robust look. His firmly set lips and expressionless, unsmiling face exuded an air of stoic discipline.

“He was incredibly handsome, wasn’t he?”

“I don’t really see it.”

Ian snapped back frostily. Standing behind Jade with his arms crossed and his head tilted, Ian was looking at the portrait with a face more indifferent than anyone’s.

“You don’t see it? He’s so good-looking…!”

If he were a person in the modern world, he would have definitely been a famous actor. Even though it was just a painting, an untouchable aura radiated from it. The man’s gaze, directed straight ahead, was fierce. There wasn’t a single thread of emotion in those cold eyes that seemed to pierce right through a person.

“……”

While Jade examined the portrait, Ian watched Jade’s face, which was full of wonder. Seeing him praise the portrait so tirelessly made Ian feel strangely grumpy.

“This person… he looks like you, Ian.”

But the words that followed turned Ian’s grumpiness into flustered confusion.

“Wha— what? We don’t look alike at all.”

What was the intention behind saying they looked alike after praising the portrait’s beauty so much? Ian turned away, hiding his reddening cheeks.

“Wow…”

In the meantime, Jade couldn’t stop marveling. Truthfully, the reason he looked at the portrait with such admiration was that the man in the painting reminded him of what a grown-up Ian might look like one day.

The vibe was different, but he really did resemble Ian. If Ian grew up, it felt like he would turn out exactly like this. A beauty radiating coldness, yet possessing innate elegance and strength.

After all, hadn’t the character Ian become famous primarily for being so handsome? If he looked extraordinary even in the game’s illustrations, the real future Ian would be much more beautiful.

“Oh? He really is holding a puppy.”

Jade, who had been too distracted by the man’s looks, finally noticed the puppy in his arms. He’d been so starstruck by the handsome painting that he hadn’t noticed, but just as Ian said, a puppy was indeed painted with him.

“But the puppy he’s holding is black, isn’t it?”

Coincidentally, it was the same color as Buster. A sleek, round little black puppy. He wondered if that was why the wraith liked Buster so much. Thinking about it made the wraith feel even more pitiful.

Perhaps the blind servant had been one of the first head’s attendants and was tasked with looking after this dog. It’s not like a servant would have been allowed to keep their own pet.

Ian, who had been watching Jade look at the puppy painting without any interest, finally spoke up.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“Well, that’s the thing. I can’t exactly find the dog for him. I wanted to tell him the dog is dead, but a portrait doesn’t seem like enough…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like he’s a harmful wraith anyway,” Ian said coldly. It was a reaction that suggested he couldn’t understand Jade at all.

“But then that wraith will just keep wandering the villa forever, missing his dog.”

“Just leave it. It’s none of our business.”

Ian had an indifferent face, as if he truly didn’t understand why Jade was bothering. To him, it was a fact. Whether the wraith wandered for a hundred years or a thousand, it had nothing to do with them.

“But Ian, it is our business.”

Startled by the excessively numbing attitude, Jade searched for a reason. The healing potion was one reason to deal with the wraith, but since he couldn’t mention that, he had to use his head.

“We’re going to keep running into him, and it’s going to bother me every time. Besides, it’s not good for the villa’s environment. It even smells bad.”

Hearing Jade’s words, Ian’s gaze shifted toward the cabinet. He didn’t care about the villa or the environment. It was Jade’s comment about the wraith “bothering” him that grated on his nerves.

The wraith wasn’t even someone Jade knew, and it wasn’t even a person anymore; what was there to be bothered about?

Times like this, he didn’t like Jade’s personality.

He was fundamentally favorable and warm toward others. But his kindness wasn’t directed at one specific person. He shared it fairly with everyone.

However, Ian knew it was because of that very personality that Jade cared for him, too.

If the wraith was such a bother to Jade, then Ian wanted to get rid of it too. Even if it meant resolving its grudge.

“…There are things the first head used.”

“Pardon? You have his belongings kept here?”

“This villa was built by the first head to begin with.”

When the first head built this villa in the middle of nowhere, no one understood his choice. But because it served as a building proving Linwood territory at the edge of the empire, later generations simply left it alone without tearing it down.

Even he wouldn’t have known that his own descendant would end up living in this abandoned villa as if imprisoned.

“Wait, why didn’t I see any of the items used by the head of the house?”

If he was the head, he would have used expensive items. From the perspective of Jade, who had to gather funds for an escape and prepare everything necessary for Ian’s survival, collecting even one more valuable item was urgent.

But he hadn’t found any suitable items. For example, jewelry or high-quality fabrics.

“…You’re tearing them up to use as rags, Jade.”

“What? Those clothes were that?!”

Jade, who was still holding a rag in his hand, jumped in shock. Since he was going to look at the portrait, he’d brought a cloth along to wipe it down if it was dusty.

When he first searched this place, he had found a few outfits, but the clothes in this room were especially old and worn out. So he’d cut them into suitable sizes to make dishcloths and rags.

No wonder. He’d thought that even though they were old, the fabric felt great in his hands—soft and smooth.