A Button for Repelling Intruders

Nina, who had been blinking her wide round eyes, let her eyebrows droop in a show of sympathy.

"Oh dear. So you're a sickly young master."

He looked healthy enough for an invalid, but since even naturally broad shoulders couldn't be narrowed by illness, she accepted it at face value.

"If you're living here from today on, we'll be seeing each other often, so please feel free to just call me Joel. I'm a year younger than you, Nina, so there's no need for formality."

"Should I, really?"

Nina eagerly accepted his offer, only to realize something was off a beat later.

"Wait, how did you know I'm a year older?"

"Just a guess, though it seems I was right. I'm rather perceptive, you see."

"Oh, I see!"

Ordinarily this would have been grounds for suspicion, but Nina's head was filled to the brim with a meadow of flowers at the joy of having gained a family. Everything felt satisfying and wonderful, and that was all there was to it.

"Is Gugu your pet pigeon, Joel?"

"My pet?"

As Joel peered down at Gugu with a puzzled air, Gugu haughtily stuck out an ankle to display an identification tag.

"……Yes. So it would appear."

"Gu-guru~"

Gugu nuzzled its head against its owner's hand, oozing charm.

Nina pointed at her handkerchief, which dangled from Joel's fingers with a gentle swish, and smiled awkwardly.

"Then, um, could I ask Gugu to bring my handkerchief back to me?"

"Koff! Koff-koff!"

The moment the words left Nina's mouth, Joel pressed the handkerchief to his lips and broke into a violent coughing fit.

"J-Joel? Are you all right?"

As the flustered Nina gripped the railing and leaned out slightly, Joel managed a weary nod.

"Yes…… koff! Koff! The air's turned chilly, so I should head in."

Then, tucking the handkerchief into his breast pocket, he continued in a voice suddenly restored to perfect health.

"The handkerchief's been soiled, so I can't very well return it like this. Would you mind paying us a visit tomorrow? I'd love to have it laundered and returned to you properly, but I'm far too sickly to step outside the house……"

"Ah. Of course."

Feeling too sheepish to hand over a handkerchief she'd used to a man she'd only just met, Nina had resolved to take it back. She gave an embarrassed smile and gestured toward Gugu.

"In that case, I could just return it through Gugu."

"Gu-uu…… Gu-uk……"

At that very moment, Gugu suddenly clutched its forehead with a wing, wobbled, and flopped over in a dead faint.

"Oh my goodness, Gugu!"

"Dear me. It seems Gugu has taken ill. I ought to let it rest for a few days and monitor its recovery, but if you truly need your handkerchief back through Gugu tomorrow, Nina, I shall whip the poor thing into shape and send it regardless."

Joel stroked the fallen pigeon, his voice heavy with sorrow and grim resolve.

Nina waved her hands in horror.

"I'll come by tomorrow! Don't worry—just take good care of Gugu."

"Gu-u…… Guguraguraruru……"

Cradling the groaning pigeon in his arms, Joel smiled faintly.

"You really are kind, Nina. Then I shall see you tomorrow."

And with that, he vanished beyond the balcony like a ghost, without so much as a footstep.

Nina gazed at the spot where Joel had disappeared and decided he seemed like a rather unusual neighbor.

That night.

Between the plush mattress and the cozy bedding, Nina tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

The carriage ride from the Kingdom of Ilite to the Free State of Soltum had taken five days. It was the first time she'd ever ridden in a carriage that long—her whole body was stiff with exhaustion—yet somehow sleep refused to come.

What if I wake up tomorrow and all of this was just a dream?

The flower meadow that had filled her head with pure delight began to wilt little by little as night fell. A vague anxiety kept crossing with her excitement, leaving her unsettled and restless.

Even at the orphanage, she had often dreamed of a family coming to find her. In those dreams, her unseen family always appeared wearing iron masks, and though those strange, cold faces frightened her, she had still been overjoyed simply because they had come for her.

But now she was sleeping in the very house she would share with that family—in her own bedroom, no less. It was so dreamlike that it had turned terrifying instead.

What if she closed her eyes and woke to find herself back in the maids' quarters of the Countess's estate? The thought left her heart churning.

It's just because the house is still unfamiliar, that's all. Once I've settled in and falling asleep in my own bedroom becomes the most natural thing in the world, I won't be afraid of it being a dream anymore.

Nina did her best to soothe herself and steadied her heart.

Just then, a crashing racket echoed from somewhere.

Hm? What is that noise?

Hugging her pillow, eyes wide as a startled rabbit's, Nina cracked open her door and peeked out. There had definitely been some kind of sound, but the corridor was dark and utterly still.

Then, all at once, she remembered what Joel had said that afternoon.

A thief……!

Nina barely swallowed the gasp that tried to escape her lips.

Thanks to Rikita Bones's apparent love of all things extravagant, expensive ornaments lined every corner of the townhouse. The head of the house's funeral had been barely a week past, and with a newcomer moving in on top of that, the whole place was in disarray. And the nearest neighbor was a sickly young master.

This townhouse was a burglar's dream.

Oh no, oh no! What if there really is a thief?

Nina stole out onto the balcony and scanned the grounds below on silent feet.

Not even a patrol is passing by……!

The balcony across the way was dark too—there was no one to call for help.

Are the other family members all right? I hope it's not actually a break-in.

But gnawing on her pillow wouldn't confirm anything.

After hopping in place a few times, Nina finally tucked the pillow under her arm, opened her door, and stepped out into the dark corridor.

All I have to do is make sure everything's fine. It's not so different from being a maid, after all.

Even so, walking alone through a strange house in the dead of night was far creepier than she'd expected. The figures in the paintings on the walls stared with bulging eyes as if lenses were hidden behind them, and the strange wood-grain patterns on the window frames seemed to be concealing listening devices that caught every word. Each time the faint light streaming through the windows swayed across the corridor, it felt like a searchlight from a watchtower was tracking her.

Every time Nina rolled her eyes around, her long lashes fluttered.

This is my home now…… so why am I so on edge? Is it just because I'm thinking a thief might have broken in?

Perhaps it was because the piercing gaze of Rikita Bones, the house's former owner, had been branded into her memory so vividly.

Just as she was tiptoeing down the stairs—

For an instant, she caught the faint sound of something rustling.

Hyaah!

Swallowing a scream, she collapsed to the floor, then poked her head out cautiously between the stair railings.

It sounded like it came from Grandmother's room.

She couldn't be certain anyone had broken in. Maybe the other family members had gone to visit the room out of longing for their grandmother.

Nina crept over and pressed her ear to the door of Grandmother's room.

I don't hear anything. Did I imagine it?

Tilting her head, she carefully pushed the door open.

And there was no one there.

The first thing to meet her eyes was, predictably, a pair of pink pupils glowing like a reddish moon.

"E-excuse me."

Even though it was only a painting, the gaze was so intense that her head bowed of its own accord.

Stepping into the room and glancing around, she spotted something and her eyes went round. The curtains were swaying in the breeze drifting through a window left slightly ajar. The decorative tassel hanging at the curtain's edge kept bumping—tap, tap—against the edge of the desk, and beneath the desk lay a fallen pen and paperweight.

Ah! So that was the noise!

The tension that had locked her shoulders melted away in an instant.

Thank goodness it wasn't a burglar.

Nina bent down to pick up the fallen items.

Thwack!

"Hm?"

She looked up at the small sound from above her head and found a dart embedded in the desk.

Oh my? What's this? Was this here before?

She pulled it out and turned it over, examining it this way and that. The sharp tip was stained, as though something had been smeared on it.

Must be rust! Pointy things like this are dangerous if you get pricked—I should throw it away outside.

Dropping the dart out the window like so much trash, Nina turned to survey the desk again.

Meanwhile, hidden beneath the window, Exi was reeling from a sharp sting of pain.

She saw through the sleeping poison? And she found where I was hiding too? So sleepy—

And with that, Exi passed out cold and dropped into the bushes below.

Once relief had washed over her, drowsiness crept up on Nina in its wake. Besides, the night wind had left her shivering.

I don't know how it got open, but I'd better close it, shouldn't I?

And so she shut the window that had been rattling the curtains, fastening it tight. She didn't forget to draw the curtains carefully either, so no drafts could slip in.

At that very moment, Catharine—who had been rappelling down a rope from the roof and slipping toward the window—slammed into the reinforced glass and nearly died of fright.

How did she see through it?! As expected of Rikita's granddaughter……!

And then Catharine plummeted, straight down onto the unconscious Exi.

Nina, who knew nothing of any of this, was on her way out of Rikita Bones's room when she caught sight of something glinting in a narrow gap in the bookshelf.

Huh? What's this?

She pushed the books aside and looked closely. Hidden there was a button with writing on it.

With all these expensive things in the house, no wonder they even prepared something like this!

It didn't look like there'd been a break-in, but she couldn't be entirely sure of that either.

Well, it never hurts to be careful!

Nina smiled brightly and clicked the button.