“Miss, have you woken up now?”

The chef who was at my door spoke. Outside where the rain had poured heavily was quiet and dark.

As I lowered my head, the longsword I had gripped earlier was still in my hand. Even in my dream, I hadn’t let go of the longsword; sweat was soaked on my hand.

“I will go to the kitchen now.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

The chef moved away.

I, who had been absentminded for a while, returned the weapons I had taken out to their original places.

When I went out to the hallway, I heard the maids chatting from a distance. The maids were complaining about their hard work as usual. Selfishly, I felt reassured by their voices.

‘That woman must have left altogether?’

Fortunately, it seemed that nothing had happened in the mansion. The problem would be at dawn or tomorrow morning…

She might target the mansion again while everyone was asleep. I think I should keep holding the longsword.

As I was about to retrieve the longsword again, there was a commotion outside.

“We’re here, Lise!”

“Lise! Are you up?”

From the entrance, the voices of my brothers echoed. My family, who I thought would return by lunchtime tomorrow, had come to the mansion early.

“Felicia!”

“What, you’re not asleep.”

Felicia casually took off her hat and spoke. At her one word, my tense shoulders relaxed. It really was the Marsen siblings.

The twin brother and sister looked utterly tired, as if they had slept in the carriage. On the other hand, Felicia and Bernard looked fine in the face but tired in their bodies.

In the hands of the four were boxes wrapped in fancy packaging and large dolls. Grandfather had undoubtedly prepared gifts aplenty since his granddaughters and grandsons were coming.

“You were still awake?”

Isabel, who entered the entrance later than the siblings, found me and asked. When I looked at the time, it was well past eleven in the evening.

The twin brother and sister and I should have gone to bed long ago. Now the curiosity overtook the joy.

“……I couldn’t sleep. But why are you back so early?”

Was there a need to bring the carriage to the mansion at this late hour?

Usually, we spent a night or so at grandfather’s mansion. Grandfather, who saw his grandsons and granddaughters once or twice a year, always wished for this.

“Something came up. You weren’t messing around, Lise?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“……Father said to give this to you.”

Isabel had a servant behind her give me a gift. A box and doll that looked just like the ones in the hands of the other siblings.

I made an effort for my grandfather, who even thought of my gift. That gratefulness had me staring at the gift, and I couldn’t help but smile slightly.

At that moment, I felt Isabel looking at me. I tried to hide my smile, but the door of the mansion opened again.

“Damn, it’s freezing tonight! Why insist on coming back to the mansion this evening.”

Father, who was outside, also entered the mansion.

“Father, you’ve arrived…….”

“Tell your mother to sort this out for me. I’m drunk and have to go to sleep now.”

Without a word of greeting to me, he took off his gloves and hat and threw them before going into his room. He looked like he had drunk quite a bit. As soon as the door slammed shut, a brief silence hovered in the entrance.

Insisted on it? Who? I turned my head to ask Isabel the truth, but the maid was quicker.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I have something to tell you…….”

The maid, who was still in the entrance, glanced at the siblings still there and spoke quietly to Isabel. Her voice was so soft I couldn’t hear, but I realized the maid was talking about what had happened in the mansion today.

A slight wrinkle appeared in Isabel’s brow.
“What should we do? If he came to threaten us…….”

“Enough, don’t worry about it. Seeing that he left without causing any trouble, he must have just come by chance. I need to rest now, so please put the children to bed.”

“Yes, madam.”

Isabel calmly dealt with the remaining situation in the mansion. Not only my brothers but also I, who had just gotten out of bed, had to be led into the room by the maids’ hands.

Felicia and Bernard, who were still awake, suggested we open the box together.

I decided to forget about the woman. There are my brothers, and the mansion has warmed up again. If anything happens, it will be handled by my father, not me. Now, the master of this mansion was my father.

I saw a hand tightly holding a doll, not a knife. There was nothing to be afraid of.

I played with the doll in Felicia’s room for a while and then returned to my room. It was exactly midnight.

‘Huh?’

I heard the sound of rain as I walked down the corridor. Looking out the window, I couldn’t see the ground as the rain was pouring more heavily than before.

“The rain has stopped and started again. Fortunately, if the master had been a little late, he would have been caught in the rain.”

“Beatie, was there anything wrong while I was asleep?”