IDIBC Chapter 4

Justin Rowe Fennel

“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 for the fireplace. Among them, Sally was particularly attentive to me, and after spending time together, I found she wasn’t such a bad person.

“It’s raining heavily again today.”

“Indeed.”

It was quite late in the evening. Though the rye bread looked dry, there was steaming soup and warm tea alongside it—decent food to eat.

“Dinner is quite late today.”

“I’m sorry. I was a bit busy.”

“I wasn’t trying to blame you.”

Sally smiled bashfully, enough to make her young age truly apparent.

The mansion felt unusually cold that night, as darkness had come early due to the relentless rain.

“But why were you busy?”

I asked casually while tearing bread and dipping it in the soup. As I began eating, Sally walked over to the fireplace to check the logs.

“There was a formal dinner today.”

My hand, which had been about to bring the bread to my mouth, stopped abruptly in midair.

“A formal… dinner?”

“Yes, the Count returned with guests after a long time, so all the mansion’s maids were mobilized.”

My brow furrowed involuntarily at this unbelievable news.

“The Count has returned? Why so soon?”

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

“I don’t know about that either.”

They had left the mansion only ten days ago. Though Count Fennel’s schedule was always irregular, this was almost the first time he had returned to the mansion so early.

I forced myself to quickly swallow the bread that wouldn’t go down.

“Oh my, why are you eating so fast?”

“Well, I was hungry.”

I hurriedly finished all the food and made an excuse about being sleepy, then immediately sent Sally outside.

I pulled the blanket over my head and carefully watched outside the window. A moment later, when almost all the remaining lights in the main building had disappeared, I cautiously stepped outside my room.

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

The raindrops that painfully struck my face soaked my entire body, but I didn’t even think about the cold.

The east wing I reached while gasping for breath had the same gloomy atmosphere as the west wing. Creeeeak—the unmaintained door made the same spine-chilling unpleasant sound as the west wing. This building also had no one taking care of it.

Drip, drip—rainwater flowed down from my silver hair, which had darkened from being wet.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

The inside of the east wing was actually colder than outside, making me shiver uncontrollably.

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

‘There!’

And I soon discovered a room with light seeping out. I walked slowly and pushed the door open without hesitation. A long shadow reached my feet. Following the shadow with my eyes, scattered papers on the floor first caught my attention.

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

All were worlds drawn by the nameless child of the east wing. When I fully raised my head, I saw the black night sky. No, it wasn’t the black night sky—it was Ricardo’s black eyes at my eye level.

The child was looking at me while lying face down on the desk, pressed down by someone’s hand. Following the hand that was pressing down on Ricardo’s neck, I raised my head and could see golden hair shining even in the dark room.

‘Justin Rowe Fennel.’

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 straightened his disheveled clothes and ran his hand through his hair.

“Get out right now!”

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

He spat curses through his teeth and walked toward the door.

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

“I suppose the vermin have become friendly with each other in the meantime?”

He smiled nastily and bent down like a snake to whisper in my ear.

“If you tell anyone what you saw here today, you’re dead.”

“…….”

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

Justin, who had dropped me carelessly, went back into the room and picked up the drawings that had fallen to the floor. He selected only the drawings of mazes from among them and dropped the rest back to the floor.

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

“Phew…….”

When Justin’s footsteps became faint, I let out a long sigh and looked at the east wing child again.

Ricardo had already gotten up and was picking up the drawings that had fallen to the floor. I slowly approached while observing his complexion. One side of his face was red and swollen, as if he had been slapped hard.

“Are you… okay?”

“Slave.”

A chilling voice that could freeze even the frozen dead fell into my ears as I carefully approached.

“Uh, what?”

“I never gave you permission to come close.”

“What?”

The boy who had picked up all the drawings threw a straight gaze at me. When our eyes met, my heart began to beat painfully fast.

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

“But you, why did you come here?”

At the chilling voice that came again, I answered in a whisper while avoiding his eyes. When I escaped from his black pupils, my thoughts barely found their original track.

“I, the reason I came here is…….”

“Whatever the reason… get lost.”

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

Rather, my confused heart became firm at the sight of Ricardo’s back. I couldn’t leave like this. Because right now, I had something clear that I needed to do.

“No.”

First, as a witch from the Eastern Kingdom who couldn’t read or write, I needed to learn to read and write first.

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

And I must stay close to you.

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

“If you don’t like it, you leave.”

“…….”

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

The boy turned around sharply and glared at me. When our eyes met, my heart pounded against my chest, so I closed my eyes tightly and composed 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 protecting him from terrible abuse was the reason I came back to life.

From that day on, my struggles 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 call me to the main building but came to find me personally not long after. Though I had no luggage to speak of, I had already prepared a bag to move to the east wing.

The Count’s face, which I saw after a long time, looked younger than in my memory. His sharp eyes and slightly drooping lips gave him a somewhat melancholy impression.

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

I barely managed to utter this single sentence and gripped the bag handle until my knuckles turned white. While waiting for his answer, my heart pounded as if it would truly burst.

Count Fennel looked surprised and met eyes with the head butler, then just stared at me silently for a while. In those inorganic blue pupils, I didn’t exist.

“Is that really… true?”

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

“Well, it’s content that has just started circulating, so it’s still difficult to say anything definitive.”

“Anyway, it was good that I returned early as you said.”

Did this mean Count Fennel had returned to the mansion early because of me? Before I could properly wonder about this, the Count’s hand caught my chin. He turned my face this way and that, examining it closely.

Even on the first day he came to take me to this mansion, I couldn’t see even a trace of denial from him. But now it was a different look from that time. Why was he staring at me intently with eyes filled with curiosity and greed?

“You want to stay in the east wing?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, do that.”

“Pardon?”

My eyes wandered in confusion at the unbelievable answer. But the unexpected reaction didn’t end there.

“You can wander anywhere within this mansion. You can also read books freely.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but in return, you must watch that child well.”

“Watch… him?”

At my question asked with a foolish face, Count Fennel smiled like a truly kind father.

“If there’s anything strange among the pictures that child draws, bring it to father.”

“Strange pictures?”

“For instance, things like mazes.”

Only then did I recall the words “map of the labyrinth” from my memory.

The Dermeier Empire was a country founded by God through Schneider. As if to prove this, the temple would deliver oracles announcing when the emperor should change.

Since the birth of the Dermeier Empire, there had never been a time when a Schneider wasn’t designated as emperor.

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

What this meant was clear: the fall of the imperial family, or the death of the emperor.