~Chapter 33~
“Master, what is going on here…?”
Damien gave a firm command to the butler, whose face was filled with concern.
“Rubyana’s presence is gone. Find her immediately.”
“Yes.”
Just five minutes ago, Damien had felt that Rubyana’s presence had disappeared.
Thanks to being together often recently, even when they weren’t in the same place, he had grown accustomed to faintly sensing her energy.
Whenever he felt even a hint of her presence, the headache caused by the curse would noticeably ease, and his mind would clear up.
However, right now, that presence was nowhere to be found.
“She’s not in the study.”
“She hasn’t been to the dining room either.”
“She’s not in the annex, either.”
Hearing the reports from the servants, Damien turned his head.
“Alice, Elliot. What about you two?”
At his call, the twins’ heads popped out from the wall.
“I don’t feel anything either.”
“She’s not in this space, I think.”
Alice, twirling her golden hair, spoke.
“She’s not in this ‘real space’ right now.”
Damien immediately understood Alice’s meaning.
‘She must have been trapped in a space created by the curse.’
It was clear who was behind it.
Right after Rubyana vanished, the curse, which had grown stronger, pointed to only one possibility.
“Master, where are you going?”
“To the doll room.”
“Then we’ll wait—”
“No. I’ll handle it alone.”
“But…”
Elliot, who had been staring at the butler in silence, opened his mouth.
“Foolish Damien, you still need to have these guys wait.”
His gaze was fixed on Damien’s cursed right eye.
“If that curse worsens and runs wild, it’ll be dangerous for her too. Someone has to be here to stop you when you come back.”
“…”
Damien felt it too.
The curse in his right eye was stirring.
He had no choice but to follow Elliot’s judgment.
“Fine.”
He instructed the butler and the head maid, along with the closest servants, on how to handle things in case he lost control and went wild.
They were to attack Damien until he lost consciousness and evacuate the others from the scene.
Without Rubyana around, it was only logical to have them on standby in case of the risk of an outburst.
“Let’s go to the doll room.”
Everyone, including the twins, headed toward the doll room.
Damien calmly inserted the key into the lock and turned it to open the door.
But…
“What is this?”
Beyond the door was only a brick wall.
The room full of dolls had completely disappeared.
“Oh my, what are we going to do…?”
Unlike the flustered servants, Damien remained cooler than ever.
‘They’ve created a barrier and turned their space into one that doesn’t exist in the real world.’
In that case, he just needed to nullify the barrier.
“…The way to break a curse is by using a stronger curse.”
“Huh?”
Bang!
The black curse tendrils extending from Damien’s eyes pierced through the wall.
“Mmm…?”
When I opened my eyes, a soft carpet was brushing against my cheek.
The stifling heat in the room kept my mind hazy, making it hard to fully wake up.
‘Where am I…?’
Struggling to open my eyes, I saw several small shoes.
They all looked like the shoes of children under three years old.
“Are you okay?”
I heard a child’s voice by my ear and, with great effort, I lifted my head.
“Uh…?”
The shoes I thought belonged to children were all, in fact, dolls’ shoes.
A doll in a frog raincoat, a shepherd girl doll with curly red hair, and an elegant articulated doll in a yellow ballroom dress.
There were at least a dozen dolls, all standing and staring at me.
“You guys…”
“It’s us! We’re back!”
The dolls began chattering excitedly.
“It’s so good to see you again!”
“I thought we wouldn’t see you anymore…”
“We knew! We knew!”
They were talking…?
“You’re falling, you’re falling!”
“Stand up! Stand up!”
Around twenty dolls clung to my arms and legs.
They were doing everything they could to help me stand up.
“Oh… Thank you.”
“No, no. It’s only natural for our Queen!”
“Our Queen! Our Queen!”
“Our Queen is beautiful!”
Queen?
Were they talking about me?
“Our Queen, Our Queen, come over here, let’s have a snack.”
A doll about the size of a real 3-year-old took my hand and led me forward.
Hundreds of dolls were clapping and cheering for me and the doll leading me.
I should have felt that something was wrong, but I didn’t think about it at all.
Their warmth and kindness made me feel at ease.
“Our Queen, sit here!”
The doll pointed to a chair with a shiny gold border and a dark velvet seat.
The chair was incredibly extravagant, but it didn’t disrupt the ambiance of the room.
It looked almost like a real throne, and I couldn’t help but be amazed.
“Um… is it really okay for me to sit here?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine!”
At my question, the dolls all nodded in unison.
“Rubyana is our Queen, so it’s fine!”
I didn’t know why, but the dolls that had greeted me so warmly were waiting for me to sit in that chair.
Following their wishes, I sat in the seat they had prepared for me.
“Wow-!”
“The Queen has arrived!”
“The Queen is the best!”
As soon as I sat down, the dolls screamed and cheered.
Some of them hummed songs and paired up to dance together.
“Our Queen, eat this!”
“Our Queen, mine too!”
“Our Queen, this one is for you!”
Then a few dolls came running over, bringing me cookies, sugar cubes, toys, and porcelain figurines.
Their sparkling, eager eyes made me smile absentmindedly as I accepted all of their gifts.
“Thank you so much, I don’t have anything to give in return…”
“It’s fine! All you have to do is be our Queen!”
Just then, one of the dolls, familiar to me, walked out from the dancing crowd.
It was the pink-dress girl doll who had waved at me earlier.
“Rubyana, your cheek is dirty.”
It seemed to have gotten dirty from being pressed against the floor earlier.
When I lifted my hand to wipe my cheek, the pink-dress doll jumped onto my lap.
“Queen, let me wipe it for you.”
The pink-dress doll climbed up to the armrest of the throne, took out a handkerchief no bigger than my fingernail from her pocket, and began to wipe my cheek with all her might until it turned rosy.
“…Thank you so much. It must’ve been hard.”
“It’s not hard. It’s because you’re the Queen.”
The doll, panting, said it wasn’t difficult.
“You wiped mine too.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I gently patted the doll’s head, and she looked up at me.
“Rubyana, I have a request.”
“A request?”
“Yes.”
The doll spread her arms wide.
“The Queen is the Queen of the dolls. The Queen of all the dolls in the world.”
Was she talking about being the Queen of the dolls?
I was puzzled.
Why did they call me the Queen of dolls, a human like me?
“The Queen of all the dolls, who will love us forever.”
The doll folded her arms again and patted her own shoulder while continuing to explain.
“We need a Queen.”
At her words, all the dolls shouted together.
“Queen! Queen!”
The dolls, who had been saying different things just moments ago, now only shouted the word “Queen.”
“We need a Queen who is the same as us.”
“She has to be the same! She has to be the same!”
The dolls, who had been at my feet, had now surrounded my chair.
“Rubyana.”
That’s when memories of just before I collapsed came rushing back.
Damien had said these dolls couldn’t move.
And then—
Crunch.
I felt countless hands grab my arms and legs, making it impossible for me to move.
“Be our Queen.”
The Queen of the dolls.
To become that meant I would have to become a doll myself.
“Queen! Queen!”
I saw dolls holding large scissors the size of their own bodies, and some holding threads as red as blood.
Some dolls, with an unnervingly bright smile, were running toward me with needles in hand, while others had fake eyes with red rubies just like mine.
With my eyes tightly shut, I shouted at them.
“Are you sure this is what you really want?”
