IKMHITM 11

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Chapter 11 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

“Belper Mansion holds mysterious powers accumulated over hundreds of years. The fragile human will is easily twisted and warped.”

Kamien’s fingertips lightly brushed against the old rosary.

“Anything will do, as long as it is not religion. Something that makes Eve truly herself. Grab hold of that one thing and never let it go.”

His hand slowly pulled away. Even though his skin barely touched Eve’s, her flesh burned strangely.

To shake off that sensation, Eve retorted.

“……But the rosary can’t protect me. I can’t just stick to Kamien’s side all day long, either.”

Kamien showed no reaction. He was a man whose expressions of preference were hopelessly vague.

“I cannot offer direct assistance.”

A moment later, his roundabout refusal drove Eve to despair.

“However. I can give you a hint.”

“Try visiting the dressing room.”

Kamien had said so.

That Belper Mansion never treated its master poorly.

Opening the door to the dressing room, Eve finally understood what he meant.

The Mint-colored walls featured golden leaf molding, pink curtains trimmed with delicate lace, and the floor was covered entirely with fluffy white rugs like snow.

Pale grayish-brown wardrobes and mannequins, endlessly lined dress stands, and shoe racks and glove boxes filling one entire wall.

In the center of the room stood a massive golden vanity overflowing with cosmetics and an ivory jewelry cabinet side by side.

Every direction offered a jaw-dropping sight.

“You’ve arrived? Master.”

Because of that, she noticed Kamien’s portrait hanging on the wall a beat too late.

“Isn’t it splendid? It’s my absolute favorite place!”

Now that she heard it, the framed picture hanging in the dressing room felt a little different. While other frames felt like temporary train stations where Kamien wandered back and forth, this place felt…

Like a terminal station?

Eve looked at the year and title written next to the frame.

[The 115th Year of Bethel, ]

Portrait of a Beauty. Could that be Kamien’s true name?

It couldn’t possibly be that easy.

Eve pulled her gaze away from the frame. Staring at it any longer would let the sharp-witted Kamien read her intentions.

“This place is truly amazing.”

“Huhu. Now everything belongs to Master!”

“Why are you making that face? Aren’t you happy?”

“Ah. Of course I am. I’ve never owned anything other than hand-me-downs from my older sister. So I still can’t believe this dressing room is mine.”

Doris was never the type to yield anything nice. Even if her wardrobe was about to burst, she held onto everything somehow.

There was no need to explain what kind of condition those ‘handed-down’ clothes were in, given that Doris gave them away like a favor.

“If I were you, I’d go around touching every single dress with my hands. To see which color matches Master’s skin best.”

It was a good suggestion. It gave her an excuse to stall for time and investigate the dressing room further.

“That’s a brilliant idea! A sparkly champagne-colored dress.”

“This one?”

“Yes. That pale gold makes Master’s skin and hair color stand out.”

Kamien had a higher aesthetic sense than expected. Thanks to that, Eve learned the hard way that orange and yellowish-brown did not suit her at all.

The clothes Doris gave me were mostly those colors.

Eve absentmindedly picked up the dress Kamien had chosen. She thought about holding it up to her face just for politeness’ sake.

However………………

“Where is the mirror?”

“It should be in the next room.”

The next room? Most of the rooms in the mansion were locked.

“There is a mirror in Master’s bedroom, of course. And in the parlor, too!”

The dressing room was on the third floor. Finding a mirror meant she had to go all the way down to the second or first floor.

While clutching a dress as long and trailing as her own height.

“Then later………………”

Eve’s hand paused just as she was about to drop the dress mindlessly.

Doesn’t that strike you as strange?

Why isn’t there a mirror in the dressing room?

Moving around at night in a mansion plagued by ghost stories was dangerous.

That was why Eve decided to target the early dawn just as the sun broke through.

Kamien popped up out of nowhere at all hours, but early morning was the sole exception.

Because a beauty needs her sleep, after all.

Eve crept downstairs relying on the dim twilight. The cold hallway air gave her chills, but since it was daytime hours, nothing was moving.

Kamien was always stationed by the 1st-floor staircase landing. Like a candlestick or side table permanently fitted into the corridor.

“Master, you are awake.”

His demeanor was purely polite, completely devoid of emotion.

“Shall I prepare breakfast?”

He seemed willing to hand over whatever the master desired, yet looked incapable of giving up even a crumb about himself.

“Breakfast isn’t necessary.”

Eve stared at his alluring profile—resembling a rose in full bloom at night—and lowered her head. Whispering into the perfectly shaped curve of his ear, she demanded what she wanted.

“Instead, could you get me a hand mirror? Something small enough to fit in a bag.”

The corners of Kamien’s expressionless lips curved upward slightly.

He had definitely hit the right answer.

A short while later, Eve pushed open the door to the dressing room. Sunlight had not yet reached this far, leaving the interior pitch-black.

Perhaps because of that?

The headless white mannequins had not yet finished their own exclusive ball. Spreading out their gorgeous dress hems, they were moving sluggishly.

She had no courage to plunge into their midst like an uninvited guest.

Should I just turn back………………?

The ‘maid’ she saw yesterday flashed through Eve’s mind. A headless mannequin actually seemed preferable by comparison.

At least there was no sudden risk of her head exploding.

That incident had made her acutely aware of a severe threat to her life.

Kamien had reluctantly pointed her to the dressing room in response to her plea.

That means… there is something inside the dressing room that can protect me.

She hadn’t expected that someone to be Kamien, though.

She had suspected it ever since she gouged out the eyeballs of all the other portraits, but Kamien appeared to be a fairly powerful entity within the mansion.

Subjugating such a being required more than ordinary resolve.

Let’s gather some courage, Evini.

The portrait housing Kamien was not clearly visible from where Eve stood. It didn’t look empty, but it wasn’t moving either.

Clearly, it was still too early for the beauty to wake up.

The mannequins’ movements gradually slowed down. Moving away from the center, they were returning to the edges of the walls.

Thanks to that, a path opened up for Eve. Clutching her heavy bag containing the hand mirror, fountain pen, and the Record of Ghost Stories tightly by the strap, she crossed the dressing room.

The headless mannequins couldn’t tattle. Eve easily reached the front of the portrait.

The woman—who crossed her pale hands delicately and draped a pious veil over her long black hair—was………… closing her eyes.

Now is my chance.

Holding her breath almost entirely, Eve pulled the hand mirror from her bag. Her hands shook so much she nearly dropped the mirror midway through.

Clutching the mirror so tightly her finger joints ached, she reflected the portrait.

At that instant, Kamien in the portrait flashed her eyes wide open and let out a shriek.

Aaaah!!

Her scream wasn’t heard through the ears. It echoed inside her mind, thrashing around as if trying to burst Eve’s brain.

A moment later, the scream subsided, and Kamien limply closed her eyes again.

Did it work?

Only then did Eve let out the breath she had been holding. Lowering the mirror with trembling hands, she suddenly realized something was wrong.

Why.

She had broken a taboo, so why wasn’t the true name appearing?

Eve looked at the portrait once more. Her eyes widened as she recognized the face of the woman in the painting.

That’s… me?

Hair rippling with a red hue, pale and slender-faced. Eve, closing her eyes like a dead person, was captured inside the portrait with a chilling appearance.

Why am I……………

Something stirred inside the hand mirror Eve was holding. Kamien lurked within the cold silver surface, mocking Eve.

With blood-red whites of her eyes, a mouth slit all the way to her ears, and pointy fangs bared, she grinned like a coiled venomous snake.

Thou shalt not reflect a mirror upon a portrait.

Lest the boundary between painting and reality grow thin.

Had she been deceived? By Kamien?

Eve in the portrait opened her eyes. Unlike reality, the eyes of the version inside the painting were entirely black. Even the glaring whites of her eyes were pitch black.

The moment she locked eyes with them, Eve’s consciousness faded away…………

“Hurry!”

A voice urging her forward brought Eve to her senses. She stood in a gloomy field dressed in a tacky outfit with a bundle tucked under her arm.

Where is this? What kind of situation is this?

“Why are you standing there blankly?”

A man turned back from a few paces ahead and hurried her.

“We need to get going before we get caught, Kain!”

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･