TMLOH 35

Chapter : 35

Pession reached out his hand.

Arellin, who had been right beside him, shoved him away and then vanished.

A space distorted with a lurch.

A sudden, disorienting sense of wrongness—gone in an instant.

“―Young master!”

Pession, staring blankly at his outstretched, empty hand, turned his head at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Griem.”

“Young master, are you all right?!”

Though he had changed the form of address out of concern for others overhearing, Griem’s tone still remained deeply respectful.

Pession continued to stare dazedly at his hand.

“Young master, what in the world just happened?!”

All around them, other children and their guardians were gathering, checking on each other’s well-being.

“Griem, what happened? Explain it to me.”

“Ah, well, all the video recorders in the guardians’ room suddenly shattered and stopped working, and the magic cast on the mansion briefly malfunctioned. The mage in charge was rambling incoherently, so I don’t know the full details either…”

“A malfunction?”

“Yes, so we came out ourselves to look for the children. Thank goodness nothing happened to you.”

Griem let out a sigh of relief. But Pession didn’t agree.

“Arellin is still inside.”

“What do you mean?”

Mehen, who had quietly approached, asked again, his face pale.

“Ugh…”

A chill touched her cheek, and she opened her eyes.

“Ugh…”

When she came to, Arellin found herself lying alone in a corridor.

Let’s think. She had seen the space twist, pushed Pession away…

“Did I get caught up in it?”

The mansion looked the same as before.

Still ominous and eerie.

“…I’m screwed.”

The mansion was twisted in bizarre, grotesque ways.

Though it was clearly the same place, everything felt different.

When she had been with Pession, she had at least felt somewhat safe. But now…

“One wrong turn here and it feels like I’ll be decapitated.”

She looked around.

Had her location changed too?

“Where the heck am I now?”

It seemed to be night outside; it was so dark she couldn’t see even a step ahead.

The mansion, devoid of any light, exuded a terrifying, ghostly presence.

Many things had changed. The mechanisms were gone, the decorations altered…

Whiiik—

Though no human warmth could be felt, there was movement—rushed, unsettling.

The kind you should absolutely never run into.

“Haa…”

She had learned that when lost, it’s best to stay in one place.

She wanted to stay still, but had a very bad feeling that doing so would get her caught by whatever was lurking—and meet a terrible end.

‘At least the structure’s the same.’

A small mercy, perhaps?

She cautiously moved through the mansion.

Slide—

It came from the direction where she’d been playing tag with Pession.

A strange sound echoed—something about it triggered an overwhelming instinct that screamed: “Don’t go there.” She held her breath and began to slowly back away.

“!”

Between two corridors, she caught a brief glimpse of… something.

So terrifying that she froze, unable to breathe, backing away.

‘What… was that!’

Her brain refused to process what she saw. She didn’t want to know more.

Now it was certain.

She didn’t know how or why, but this mansion was filled with death traps in every direction.

“No way…”

Why was she going through this trial?

Wasn’t this supposed to be Pession’s burden?

With growing suspicion, she began moving again, trying to find a safe spot.

She didn’t know the way, but her self-proclaimed “weakest-character-in-the-story” instincts were doing a good job of warning her where not to go.

If not for that, she might already be dead.

‘Is there even a way out of here?’

She had been wandering for what felt like hours, and despite the physical exhaustion, the mansion’s eerie atmosphere never let up.

Had her life ever felt this hopeless?

Something was definitely going wrong.

It was then—

Step.

Footsteps she should not be hearing.

Her body froze.

‘What… what is that?’

She stood still, holding her breath.

“You.”

Vertical slits for pupils. Glowing golden eyes in the darkness met hers.

“You can see me?”

…She had met a ghost.

“We have to find Arellin!”

Pession had barely returned safely, and before anyone could even breathe a sigh of relief, his stubborn insistence caused new headaches for Griem.

The real ordeal wasn’t just Pession. The true chaos had yet to come.

“Where is the person in charge of the mansion’s wards? And the head of safety?”

All visitors except for Pession and Griem were sent home, and the entire Sharit District was placed on lockdown by House Halbern.

It only took three hours—Mehen took action, and everything changed.

“P-please calm down…”

Both the Mage Tower and the Paraltree family had rushed over, startled by the unexpected incident, but none of them could stop Mehen, who had lost his composure in the most unnervingly calm way possible.

“Did the Mage Tower properly verify the ward’s stability? The 1654 Reyana records show some missing entries in the test reports. If you can’t provide a valid explanation, this will go straight to the Bregemin—the Mage Tower’s High Council.”

“T-there were circumstances we couldn’t avoid…!”

“Lord Mehen, please, have some tea first—”

“While reviewing the Paraltree family’s financials, I found some very interesting inconsistencies. Specifically, projected revenue from the Sharit District doesn’t match several ledgers. I’m sure His Majesty would find this very entertaining.”

“W-why are you targeting me like this?!”

In just a few hours, Mehen had obtained and reviewed decades of Sharit District documents—and now smiled with chilling delight.

The Mage Tower’s branch mage and the Paraltree head looked like they were ready to faint.

“Halbern will not stay silent about this incident. The Mage Tower and Paraltree must give a full account of the current situation.”

“But we didn’t even do anything wrong!”

“We’re doing everything we can right now!”

“I haven’t finished speaking.”

Mehen’s gaze turned cold.

“This is all assuming the young lady returns safely. If something happens to her…”

Gulp.

The sound of someone swallowing echoed loudly.

“You’d best be prepared.”

With a declaration that promised blood, the mage and family head—now with metaphorical flames licking at their heels—snapped at their subordinates in sheer panic.

“Do something, anything!”

“W-we’re doing our best—”

“I don’t care—just fix it! You want to be dragged off by my master and killed?!”

Amid this storm of top-down scolding—

“Uh, uh—!”

Crackle—

A mage who had been examining the mansion’s wards cried out and came running.

“What is it, Zenga?!”

“Sir Ansen, I…!”

“What’s going on?!”

“There’s magical feedback in the mansion’s barrier! It felt really strange so I investigated further—”

“Magical feedback?”