~Chapter 22~
“Hey, Margaret.”
Mary called out to Margaret in a trembling voice.
“Hmm? What’s wrong, Mary?”
“Um… it’s just…”
Mary glanced around nervously, her eyes darting back and forth.
She looked like someone terrified of being overheard.
“Why are you hesitating so much? There’s no one here.”
Margaret laughed lightly and tapped Mary’s shoulder.
But seeing Mary’s pale face and trembling shoulders despite her teasing, Margaret realised something was wrong.
“Mary? Seriously, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”
“I… I mean…”
Even with Margaret’s prompting, Mary couldn’t speak for a while. Finally, she swallowed hard and opened her mouth.
“You know John, the guy who started a few days ago.”
“Yeah, what about him? Is he bothering you?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Mary looked like she was about to cry.
“He’s… kind of weird.”
Sensing the seriousness in Mary’s voice, Margaret glanced around again.
This wasn’t about whether a superior like the head maid or butler was nearby.
If John was close, things could get complicated.
‘Mary’s not the type to gossip about people without reason…’
Finding it strange, Margaret decided to hear her out.
“He was playing the piano alone in an empty hallway…”
“Mm-hm.”
“And he kept muttering to himself… to the air…”
Margaret tilted her head.
This was the Maledictus Duke’s estate, rumoured to be cursed.
Because of its reputation, many people refused to work here.
As a result, quite a few people who had been fired elsewhere for being “strange” ended up here.
‘But that doesn’t sound too weird for this place…’
Still, Margaret let Mary continue.
“And he kept staring at Madam with this creepy smile… muttering things I couldn’t understand.”
“At Madam?”
Everyone working here knew the Maledictus Duke treasured Duchess Rubiana deeply.
Margaret knew no one would dare look at her in such an ominous way.
‘Is it because he’s new? Even so, a servant shouldn’t look at their employer like that.’
She wondered if she should report this to the head maid or butler, then asked Mary,
“Did you hear what he was muttering? Any words you could make out?”
“Most of it was gibberish but…”
Mary thought hard before speaking again.
“There was one thing I heard clearly. He kept whispering… ‘Beautiful.’”
“Mary, are you sure abo—”
“Hello.”
The sudden voice from right behind them froze both Margaret and Mary in place.
“What are you two talking about?”
Eyes opened unnaturally wide.
Those strangely bright blue irises.
Hollow cheeks and a mouth stretched into an eerie smile.
That unnatural face.
That odd posture.
It was John—the very subject of their conversation—looking at them.
“Uh… well…”
“Tell me too. I’m curious!”
He took a step closer to the two trainee maids.
Seeing Mary’s hands trembling around her broom, Margaret quickly pulled her close.
“Ah, we have work to do! We’ll be going now!”
John silently watched the two maids as they grabbed their cleaning supplies and fled faster than light.
Lowering his head, he muttered quietly.
“Even when I pretend to be human… everyone avoids me…”
Even when he was alive, it had been the same.
He had thought that if he tried hard enough, someday he would find love too.
When he finally got engaged to the woman he loved, he thought his faith had been rewarded.
But she had only pretended to love him to steal his money—and ended up marrying a rich man instead.
“Who would ever love someone like me… I’m used to it now…”
But she was different.
The mistress of this mansion—Rubiana!
‘She said my playing was beautiful…’
She hadn’t avoided him.
She had even encouraged him to play as much as he wanted.
‘She… she might really love me!’
Even when they saw each other again after that, she had smiled gently at him.
‘She’s such a good person…’
It hadn’t even been a week since he met her, but John knew.
Rubiana was an angel on the inside as well as the outside.
“The problem is…”
In an instant, John’s face twisted with murderous intent as he glared at the office door.
Inside was Rubiana’s legal husband, the Maledictus Duke.
‘She’s already married to another man.’
The Duke was strong—and terrifying.
Taking Rubiana away from him would not be easy.
‘She must have been forced to marry him. There’s no way someone as kind as her could ever love such a dark man.’
“I… I…”
John tightened his grip on the rope in his hands, his eyes glinting with madness as he shouted,
“I have to save her!”
“Ugh…”
In the end, the consummation night arrived again.
Once more, she was scrubbed until her skin gleamed and sent into Damien’s bedroom.
‘At least I avoided having honey smeared around my eyes this time.’
It seemed that was only done for the first night ritual.
‘But… why is Damien taking so long to come?’
Could it be that this time, he was trying to mentally prepare himself?
She wondered how she should react when he finally entered.
“Sigh. I should brace myself.”
“Brace yourself for what?”
A man’s voice suddenly came from right in front of her, and she snapped her head up.
“…John?”
Standing by the door was John, the servant who had started just a few days ago.
The problem was—she hadn’t heard the door open at all.
“Yes, madam.”
Moreover, he wasn’t wearing the usual servant uniform. Instead, he had on a tattered black overcoat over a white shirt, with a black bow tie at his neck.
The outfit looked just like a ceremonial suit.
“Madam, there’s something I really need to tell you.”
As he stepped closer, a strange smile spread across his face.
“I don’t want to call you madam.”
His words quickened.
“To me, you’re more than just my mistress.”
His bright blue eyes bulged unnaturally, blood vessels standing out.
“I love you—the only person who ever truly looked at me.”
Suddenly, something flashed through her mind.
“Wait… are you that trending ‘New Groom Ghost’?”
John immediately stopped moving.
His mouth, stretched into an eerie grin, returned to its normal shape.
“…You… know me?”
Wow. Insane.
She covered her mouth in shock.
‘I can’t believe I’m meeting the star of the latest urban legend in person!’
And in her contract husband’s bedroom of all places?
‘This is basically a free event!’
‘I didn’t even have to put in any effort to meet him!’
She felt so moved she could almost cry.
She had encountered many curses in this mansion, but most were old. She never thought she’d get to experience a trending urban ghost story firsthand.
And now he had come to her on his own.
“So, how did you get here? Did you come pretending to be human? How did you play the piano before? Can you move around invisible to people’s eyes?”
“Uh, madam, wait a moment…”
“No, I’m just so fascinated. Wait—let me write down our conversation, but ah, there’s no paper here. That outfit—is it the one you wore when you died? Do you just wear it yourself, or does it magically appear out of thin air?”
“M-madam!”
John cut her off.
Sitting on the bed, chattering away, she pouted at the interruption.
“Why, is it hard to answer?”
“No, that’s not it. It’s just…”
He trailed off, then pulled something from behind his back.
“That is…”
A rope.
Gripping it tightly with both hands, he pulled it taut until it almost tore, tilting his head with a chilling smile.
“If you come with me, I’ll tell you everything.”
His eyes, devoid of light, grew unnaturally wide.
The rope stretched towards her, ready to wrap around her neck at any moment.
“Sure, okay.”
His approaching hands froze mid-air.
“…Huh?”
“I said okay.”
She spoke clearly to John, who looked back at her in confusion.
“But… could you give me your hand instead?”
“My… hand?”
She smiled sweetly at him.
“Lovers should walk hand in hand, right?”
With a sickening crack, his tilted head snapped back upright.
His deathly pale skin flushed red.
“L-lovers… holding hands…”
“Come on, then.”
Thud.
The taut rope fell helplessly to the floor.
The groom ghost, trembling all over, reached out his icy blue hand to her.
She gently clasped it.
Ssssssss—
“W-wait, what is this!!”
Her ability activated.
