“......You really like this face, don’t you.”

Reid suddenly looked embarrassed as he averted his gaze, then took the couple’s portrait off the wall and held it in his hands.

“Won’t you put it in the pocket dimension storage?”

“I don’t think I can use magic inside this dungeon. The dungeon’s compulsion is pretty strong.”

“Must be faithful to the original work’s details.”

“Maybe so.”

It was like he had lost his power and become weaker, but Reid didn’t show as much displeasure as expected.

If it had been right after starting the 101st cycle, he would have been severely self-loathing, but after conquering the world together bit by bit, his mental state seemed to have improved a lot.

[ The Guest has accepted the request. The deadline is today by 10 PM.]

“Reid, can you get it done by 10 tonight?”

“Honestly, I’m not confident. You picked quite a difficult request.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Can’t be helped. The difficulty of the request is proportional to the affection level.”

“I see.”

Reid laughed deeply with a rough joke.

“This might be just the first request’s level. Honestly, it wouldn’t be strange if I got a request to just die right now.”

“I wouldn’t make that kind of request, though? But really, does the original have requests like that?”

“Well...”

Reid mischievously teased me by not telling me, only piquing my curiosity. Then he enjoyed it.

“It’s funny that there are things in this world you don’t know.”

“Do you like that I know more than you?”

“Honestly, yeah.”

My informational advantage was stolen.

Because the possession benefits weren’t mine but his, it felt a little unfair. I should have studied harder.

‘At least if I had possessed a piece of literature from the demon world I read...!’

[‘The Cynical Balancer of Order’ says the only confinement literature you read in the demon world is 50 Ways to Corrupt a Peerless Handsome Paladin.]

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ snorts, saying that sounds very interesting.]

[‘The Eye Watching the Chaos of All Things’ thinks of the fifty atrocious crimes the original villainess committed against ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the paladin and closes its eyes tightly.]

[‘The Inspector of Forbidden Revelations’ insists sternly that such content doesn’t even pass for an R-19 rating and cannot be approved.]

I changed my mind. I decided to be content with possessing The Secret of Heisenberg Mansion.

We finished admiring all the portraits on one side of the corridor wall. Now it was time to return the way we came and explore the rooms on the opposite wall.

“There are more rooms than on the second floor.”

“They probably divided them small to use as guest rooms or attic rooms.”

The room sizes varied. Reid and I wandered through each room, feeling like we were on a treasure hunt.

“Reid, here are paints and brushes all set up.”

“Good. I needed those.”

We took the art supplies.

“This room stores clockwork parts and tools.”

“We’ll use these when we get a request to fix the clock later.”

We also grabbed the toolbox.

“This must be the potion room.”

“We might need it sometime.”

We took some potions, too.

The next room we entered was a bit unusual.

“Is this the doll room?”

The shelves were crammed with various stuffed animals, almost overflowing. The ceiling was high compared to the very narrow room, so I had to tilt my head back a lot to see the top shelf.

Reid seemed to have found a doll he liked. He picked up a pink fox doll and looked at it closely.

“Looks like it resembles you.”

“Oh, cute.”

I felt I had to return the favor. I took out a silver turtle doll and held it next to Reid’s face.

“This one looks like you, Reid.”

“......Where?”

“Longevity.”

“.......”

I’d noticed before that he didn’t like it when people talked about his age.

“You like fish, and you live in the sea like your eyes.”

“Yeah.”

His answer was soulless. Judging by how he couldn’t recover, he seemed pretty sulky.

“Oh, what’s wrong with this one?”

A large bear doll caught my attention. Unlike the others, which were clean and intact, this one had torn stuffing on its side and one eye was missing. I got the feeling immediately.

“I feel like the Countess will ask to have this fixed, too?”

“You’re right. The guest who was asked to fix it was very jealous. That bear doll was a gift the Countess received from her first love when she was young.”

Reid calmly stroked the bear doll as he told the story.

“The Countess, knowing the guest’s feelings, deliberately made the request to provoke jealousy. The guest got played just as intended and ended up ruining the bear doll even more. And that night, they got punished unusually harshly.”

“What kind of punishment?”

“That is.......”

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ winks.]

“Uh, okay, got it. You don’t have to tell me. I think I have a rough idea.”

“Yeah......”

“Alright, let’s get out now.”

I had just discreetly taken the turtle doll that I really liked.

[ The current location ‘Doll Storage’ is a special area. Events will be triggered by the dungeon’s compulsion.]

“Huh?”

Had I been punished for stealing? Suddenly the door slammed shut.

Reflexively, I pulled Reid toward me, and Reid wrapped his arms around me and pressed us close against the wall.

At that moment, all the shelves collapsed, and the dolls tumbled down in a heap. They were soft stuffed animals, so even if they hit us, it just tickled, but the already cramped room became stuffed full with dolls.

It felt like being trapped inside a claw machine.

The system window appeared calmly.

[ ‘Narrow Sealed Room’

Due to a lock malfunction, the Countess and the Guest are trapped in the attic room. Let’s spend some cozy time while pressed close.

Remaining time: 9 minutes 51 seconds.......]

“So, they’re going to lock us in here for ten minutes.”

“The dungeon is acting weird.”

Reid reached his hand toward the door in a scornful way. I grabbed his hand and pulled it down.

“Don’t hurt yourself for nothing. It’s only ten minutes. Let’s just wait.”

Honestly, there was a little selfishness in my suggestion. But Reid didn’t seem to share that feeling.

“Are you going to be okay, Ai?”

“What’s not okay about it?”

“Well......”

[ You have become corrupted.]

“......Yeah, right. That’s right. Not okay.”

[ Due to demonic corruption, the traits ‘Temptation of the Seven Deadly Sins,’ ‘Praise of Chaos,’ and ‘Sealing of Divine Power’ have been applied.]

As the human rights-infringing debuffs kicked in, my body reacted immediately.

‘Gasp.’

What had been a subtle heartbeat a moment ago turned into a pounding chaos in my chest, stirring up a commotion.

I became conscious of Reid.

I was always aware of him, but now even more so.

Being corrupted and pressed close to Reid was way too stimulating.

‘I’m going crazy!’

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ whistles triumphantly and dances wildly.]

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ encourages you, saying, Since this is an R-19 genre and the stage is set, why are you holding back?]

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ gently urges you to start with a kiss immediately.]

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ suggests that an ambush at this distance will be 100% successful and powerfully grabs your collar.]

[‘The Scales That Judge the Soul’ says to then take advantage of the cozy spot and the soft dolls to......]

Ah, stop it! If you keep doing that, I might really go for it!

The Divine Words blocked the mentally distracting messages, but I was already completely out of my mind.

It was too close. The wall was behind me, Reid in front, and stuffed dolls all around so I couldn’t move. The stuffy sealed room was so quiet that even breathing had to be careful.

But it was all useless effort. No matter how quietly I breathed, my heartbeat couldn’t be hidden.

“.......”

“.......”

About five minutes seemed to have passed.

We stayed still, pressed together, waiting for the time to pass.

At least the height difference was a relief. When I kept my head down, I didn’t have to look at his face.......

“Ai.”

His deep voice slipped into my ear and made me flinch. He must have been leaning his upper body slightly toward me.

“How much time’s left?”

“About four minutes......”

“Okay.”

Just when I thought we’d quietly endure the rest of the time,

“Ai.”

Stop calling me. My heart beats along with yours.

“Why......?”

“I was wondering if you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, really, completely fine.”

Like someone who feels guilty, I raised my voice and pretended to be tough. Then Reid slyly let out a low laugh right by my ear.

There was only one way to avoid unbearable ticklishness. I immediately jerked my head up and looked at him.

“......Ah.”

Our faces were close.

I could see his sea-colored eyes shaking in momentary embarrassment. This kind of look was unmistakably Tesilid Arzent.

He quickly returned to his composed expression, but it was already obvious that he wasn’t at all relaxed.

“.......”

“.......”

We kept exchanging gazes silently for a while. I sensed the next three minutes remaining would be twice as tense as the seven minutes that had passed.

There was a way to quietly endure this.

There was a way to lighten the mood with silly jokes or ordinary conversation.

But I realized there was no need to do that in this genre.

“You know, Reid.”

I had something to say to him.