In the original, the Countess helped the Guest with his morning routine, but Reid refused all that. He only accepted water and a towel.

As I started to step aside to let him prepare comfortably, Reid asked,

“Ai, what’s today’s request?”

“Today....”

Just then, the system window popped up choices before my eyes. Since Reid wouldn’t actually carry it out, it didn’t matter what I chose. I casually read option one aloud.

“To find and pick the only blooming platinum rose in the garden.”

“Alright, got it.”

Suddenly I wondered.

“Do you think it’s really made of gold?”

“Curious?”

“A little.”

Reid curved his lips into a faint smile.

“Shall I find it for you?”

“......”

When the Guest successfully completes a request, the reward is to serve as a bathing attendant.

‘Should I warm the bathwater tonight?’

Lost in thought and forgetting to answer, Reid touched his neck again and said,

“Now that I’ve given up my limbs, neck, and even eyes, I’m not sure I can handle any more penalties.”

“......True. That’s a problem, too.”

His words made me suddenly feel at ease.

At this point, it can’t be helped, right? More than anything, this might actually be better.

Rather than me piling on guilt and debt alone, it might be better to settle the score with a wholehearted and unpleasant service.

‘Heat the bathwater.’

As I made this resolve, Reid continued.

“So, Ai.”

“Yeah, Reid.”

As if pulled by some force, our faces naturally drew close, and our eyes locked deeply.

“Will you take a nap today?”

“A nap?”

The third rule the Countess and Guest must obey in the mansion came to mind immediately.

[The Countess may take a nap during the afternoon mansion maintenance time.]

[The Guest may freely roam throughout the mansion during the Countess’s afternoon maintenance time.]

The afternoon maintenance time runs from 3 PM to 5 PM.

The protagonist plans to use that time for something.

✠

When the Countess naps, the Guest’s range of movement and activities are unrestricted. It was clear upon a little thought what that time was for.

‘It must be time to advance the escape route.’

By solving quizzes and puzzles scattered like mini-games throughout the mansion, the escape route would be found.

From here on, it’s the protagonist’s responsibility. Believing he would do well, I took out a sleeping pill and swallowed it.

Soon my consciousness slowly sank. I thought I’d fall into a deep sleep, but suddenly I felt as if passing through a membrane and then a new view opened.

[ The Countess has fallen asleep. ‘Sleepwalking Vision’ is now active.]

Through an unstable screen that shimmered like a rippling sleep stage, I caught sight of the silver-haired handsome man.

Reid was leisurely wandering the attic on the third floor. Whenever he wound a music box, moved a chess piece left unattended to a certain spot, or adjusted a crooked deer antler decoration, the door slammed shut. And the game began.

‘Oh, well done.’

Reid immediately grasped the implications of the puzzling problems and arranged the room’s objects cleverly to easily escape the sealed room.

Each time he escaped a room, his hands gained loot. They were half-gloves, matches, hair combs, and so on—seemingly just ordinary sundries.

After going through five attic rooms, he descended the stairs as if he had no more business on the third floor.

Next, he headed to the laundry room on the first floor. There were many baskets of laundry, and Reid casually looked through them before picking one up.

‘What did he find?’

The question was answered at the next location.

He went to the kitchen. Although the oven there was locked to prevent fires outside mealtime, when Reid used the matches he got on the third floor, the fire lit.

Reid used the fire not for cooking but for another purpose. He dumped the laundry from the basket into the flames.

Through the slowly incinerating white sheets, the edge of a sinister object peeked out.

‘Ah, that is...!’

Items made of black leather. Definitely the restraints that had tormented Reid every night.

‘Looks like he reset the penalty for request failure.’

Tonight, Reid’s body and my heart could finally rest easy. I felt quietly relieved.

[ Alert. Signs of suspicious activity detected from the Guest.]

Now? Really?

A message arriving too late. If I weren’t asleep, I’d have crossed my arms skeptically.

[ The Guest is trying to escape. Using the mansion’s power...]

Obvious. They want to interfere.

But then.

[KILL HIM.]

‘......What?’

I was taken aback by the sudden extreme message.

‘Could the R-19 genre’s brutality level be this high?!’

I was surprised but calmed myself. After all, I thought I was the villain of this dungeon, so I didn’t care.

‘Why would I do that?’

Unless I wanted to help him.

Just as I resolved to assist him, the cupboards and drawers Reid was about to open all flung themselves open simultaneously before he could touch them.

Apparently, I could control the mansion’s layout as I wished.

When I rolled a wagon loaded with cookies in front of his astonished eyes, suddenly

[ Detecting signs of the Countess’s sabotage. Switching mansion to automatic management mode.]

And chaos erupted.

✠

It was during a week when Ai and he had been playing fairly well with the mansion’s toys, which were now sadly being burned.

As I ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) watched the cookie-laden wooden wagon slowly roll toward him, the entrance suddenly slammed shut.

‘Is it starting?’

Objects began flying and attacking him. Since it was the kitchen, dangerous items abounded. One knife narrowly grazed his ear and stuck into the wall.

If he could deploy his transcendent domain, it would have been easier, but even without it, Reid was strong enough.

He dodged flying pots and pans with just a nod or caught flying plates like discs with his index and middle fingers, twisting their trajectory.

Using minimal movement, Reid steadily approached the exit. Even when escaping the chaotic kitchen into the corridor, the situation was similar.

This time plaster statues, frames, and candlesticks flew around. It seemed like malevolent spirits were moving from place to place, possessing objects to torment Reid.

Still, it was just a game to Reid, but it was bothersome. He had to get out.

The solution was simple.

Move to the mansion’s only safe zone.

Amid the chaos, Reid walked the corridor as usual. Soon he saw the stairs to the second floor. As he grabbed the railing and stepped forward, he suddenly furrowed his brow and paused.

‘Ah.’

Since coming to the mansion, he had intermittently experienced loss of bodily senses and functions. The left eye was the most frequent.

With one eye’s function blocked, perspective collapsed and spatial sense was penalized. It seemed the mansion knew his weakness and threw objects more fiercely.

But Reid soon relaxed his expression.

He had been through far worse disadvantages before. This was nothing.

Moreover, the mansion’s murderous intent was nothing compared to the world’s cruelty he had long endured.

An silver candlestick flew from the left, where his vision was blind. Its sharp, long tip resembled a holy sword.

Reid planned to dodge by tilting his head just enough. But an unexpected variable intervened. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

With a loud bang and something bursting, the candlestick went off course and fell to the floor. Something was pierced on its sharp metal tip.

‘A doll?’

Why was the fox doll, which should have been on the third floor, here?

Crackling sinister cracking sounds came from above. A massive chandelier decorating the ceiling was aiming for him.

From his position, he could have easily avoided it by taking one step.

But he deliberately pushed himself into the precarious situation.

His steps, which had been like a casual stroll, suddenly became agile. He lowered his stance and dove toward the chandelier’s center of gravity as it was about to fall. Then he quickly grabbed the doll and slid away from the fall point.

Behind him, a spectacular explosion scattered crystal shards that reflected light everywhere. He checked if the doll in his arms was safe.

Reid almost sighed and smiled.

Why was protecting something so familiar even if it was just a doll?

‘It does look alike.’

Adding the minimum rationalization, he got up.

By now, the entire second-floor corridor’s ceiling was on the verge of collapse. Reid calmly walked through a shower of falling and shattering crystal shards.

He finally reached his destination. The mansion’s most splendid and beautiful wooden arched door opened wide as if split apart.

This was the Countess’s bedroom.