“I’ve brought your meal.”

Since the day I returned from death, the maids had been properly taking care of my meals and the firewood in the fireplace. Among them, Sally paid particular attention to me, and as we spent time together, I realized she wasn’t a bad person at heart.

“It’s raining heavily again today.”

“Indeed.”

It was quite a late dinner. Although the rye bread looked dry, it was accompanied by steaming soup and warm tea, making for an edible meal.

“The meal is quite late today.”

“I’m sorry. We were a bit busy.”

“I wasn’t trying to blame you.”

Sally smiled brightly. Only then did her young age become apparent.

The manor felt especially cold that night, with the rain pouring incessantly, bringing an early darkness.

“So, why were you busy?”

I asked nonchalantly while dipping a piece of bread into the soup. As I started eating, Sally walked over to the fireplace to check on the firewood.

“There was a formal dinner today.”

My hand, about to bring the bread to my mouth, stopped abruptly in mid-air.

“A… dinner?”

“Yes, the Count unexpectedly returned with guests, so all the maids in the manor were called to work.”

My brow furrowed at this unbelievable news.

“The Count has returned? Why so early?”

Sally shrugged and poked inside the fireplace with a poker. The irregular movement scattered embers in all directions within the fireplace.

“I don’t know about that either.”

It had been only ten days since they left the manor. Although Count Pennel’s schedule was always irregular, it was almost unprecedented for him to return to the manor this early.

I hurriedly finished the bread that was barely going down my throat.

“Oh my, why are you eating so quickly?”

“Well, I was hungry.”

After hastily finishing the meal, I made an excuse about being sleepy and immediately sent Sally out.

I pulled the blanket over my head and carefully observed outside the window. Shortly after, when almost all the remaining lights in the main building had gone out, I cautiously stepped out of the room.

As usual, there was no one guarding the place where I stayed. Once I was certain the surroundings were clear, I started running in the opposite direction from where I lived.

The rain painfully struck my face and soaked my entire body, but I didn’t even feel cold.

Gasping for breath, I arrived at the east wing, which exuded a gloomy atmosphere just like the west wing. Creeak, the unmaintained door made an eerie, unpleasant sound, just like in the west wing. This building, too, was devoid of any caretakers.

Drip, drip, rainwater trickled down from my silver hair, darkened by the water.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

I had to shiver as the inside of the east wing felt even colder than outside.

I looked around the first floor, but there was no light except for a faint lamp at the end of the corridor. I carefully made my way to the second floor.

‘There it is!’

And soon I discovered a room where light was seeping out. I slowly walked over and pushed the door open without hesitation. An elongated shadow touched the tips of my feet. Following the shadow, my gaze first caught the papers scattered haphazardly on the floor.

Sky, sea, birds, forest, a garden maze with no way out.

All were depictions of the world drawn by the nameless child of the east wing. As I raised my head completely, the pitch-black night sky came into view. No, it wasn’t the pitch-black night sky, but Ricardo’s black eyes that I could see at my eye level.

He was looking at me, pressed down on the desk by someone’s hand. Following the hand pressing down on Ricardo’s neck, I looked up and could see golden hair shining even in the dark room.

‘Justin Lowy Pennel.’

Our eyes met immediately, and Justin’s brow furrowed completely.

“You, what are you?”

I reflexively bowed my head low and kept my mouth shut. As he stepped away from the desk, Ricardo slumped to the floor. Justin smoothed out his disheveled clothes and ran his hand through his hair.

“Get out of here right now!”

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t afraid of Justin’s shouting, but I stubbornly stood my ground and shook my head vigorously.

He cursed through gritted teeth and walked towards the door with heavy steps.

Whether from the cold or fear, my whole body started trembling. Justin, who had come close, grabbed my collar and lifted me up.

“Have the insects become friendly with each other in the meantime?”

Smiling maliciously, he bent down like a snake and whispered in my ear.

“If you tell anyone what you saw here today, you’ll die.”

“……”

“Though I suppose it doesn’t matter since you can’t speak anyway?”

Justin released me as if throwing me away and went back into the room to pick up the fallen drawings. He sorted out only the drawings of the maze and dropped the rest back on the floor.

Thud, he pushed past me and went out, giggling as he walked away.

“Phew……”

As Justin’s footsteps faded, I let out a long sigh and looked back at the child of the east wing.

Ricardo had already gotten up and was picking up the fallen drawings from the floor. I slowly approached while examining his complexion. One side of his face was flushed red, as if he had been hit hard on the cheek.

“Are you… alright?”

“Slave.”

A chilling voice, cold enough to freeze even the dead again, pierced my ears as I cautiously approached.

“Uh, yes?”

“I never gave you permission to come close.”

“What?”

The boy, who had picked up all the drawings, cast a straight gaze at me. As our eyes met, my heart started pounding painfully.

My feelings for him were always as clear as if carved with a knife, but strangely, when our eyes met, the symptoms worsened.

“By the way, why did you come here?”

Hearing the chilling voice again, I averted my eyes and answered in a whisper. Escaping from his pitch-black pupils, my thoughts barely found their original track.

“The reason I came here is……”

“Whatever the reason… get out.”

The boy, who had briefly given me a chance to speak, turned coldly and walked to the desk.

Rather, it was Ricardo’s back view that strengthened my wavering heart. I couldn’t leave like this. Because now, I had something that needed to be clarified.

“No.”

First of all, I, the witch from the east who couldn’t read or write, needed to learn to read and write.

“From today, I’m going to stay in the east wing.”

And I must stay close to you.

To protect you purely, brightly, and cheerfully, without a single flaw. So.

“If you don’t like it, you leave.”

“……”

“Count Pennel has returned, so I can get permission tomorrow.”

The boy turned around abruptly and glared at me. As our eyes met, my heart pounded as if beating against my chest, and I squeezed my eyes shut to compose myself.

Once Ricardo safely returned to his world, even if he didn’t want it, I would live a life completely unrelated to him.

“I don’t need your permission.”

Perhaps the reason I came back to life was to protect him from terrible abuse.

From that day on, my struggle to protect the boy continued without a single day’s rest.

* * *

The next day, I formally requested a meeting with the Count through the head butler. The Count didn’t summon me to the main building, but instead came to see me directly not long after. I had already prepared a bag to move to the east wing, though I hardly had any belongings.

The Count’s face, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, looked younger than I remembered. Sharp eyes and slightly drooping lips gave him a somewhat gloomy impression.

“From today, I want to stay in the east wing.”

I barely managed to utter these words and gripped the handle of my bag so tightly that my knuckles turned white. While waiting for his answer, my heart was beating so fast it felt like it might burst out of my chest.

Count Pennel exchanged a surprised look with the head butler before silently staring at me for a while. Those inorganic blue eyes didn’t see me.

“Is this… really true?”

The Count asked the head butler while still keeping his gaze on me.

“Well, it’s just starting to circulate, so it’s difficult to say anything definitive yet.”

“Anyway, it’s good that we came back early as you said.”

Does this mean that Count Pennel returned to the manor early because of me? Before I could properly wonder about this, the Count grasped my chin. He turned my face this way and that, examining it closely.

On the day he first came to take me to this manor, not even a hint of denial could be seen from him. But now, his gaze was different from then. Why was he staring at me with eyes filled with curiosity and greed?

“You want to stay in the east wing?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, do that.”

“Pardon?”

My eyes wandered in disbelief at this unexpected answer. But the surprising reactions didn’t end there.

“You can go anywhere within this manor. You can read books freely too.”

“Are, are you serious?”

“Yes, but in return, you must keep a close eye on that child.”

“Keep an eye… on him?”

To my dumb-faced question, Count Pennel smiled like a truly kind father.

“If you see any strange drawings among the ones that child makes, bring them to father.”

“Strange drawings?”

“For instance, something like a maze.”

Only then did I recall the term ‘map of the labyrinth’ from my memory.

The Dermeyer Empire was a country founded by God through Schneider. As if to prove this, oracles come down from the temple announcing the time for a change of emperor.

Since the birth of the Dermeyer Empire, there has never been a time when the name Schneider was not designated as emperor.

The oracle always delivers the map of the labyrinth along with the name of the emperor. However, the current emperor, Wesley Reid Schneider II, was designated as emperor when the oracle came down, but he did not receive the map of the labyrinth.

The meaning of this was clear. The fall of the imperial family, or the death of the emperor.