Sephina’s first solo outing ended quickly, and Lin Shu hadn’t worried much about it.
But the second time…
“Little cutie, these are documents submitted by the family recently.”
Sephina placed a pile of papers in front of Lin Shu.
“The demonic script might be a bit difficult for you to read, so just categorize them by color. I’m going out for a bit, but I’ll be back soon,” Sephina said with a smile.
Lin Shu looked at the mountain of documents, estimating it would take most of the day to organize them.
“Is Master going out again?” Lin Shu asked weakly.
‘She’s actually starting to proactively arrange things for me to do while she’s gone… Ugh… Is it because I offered to help her organize last time?’
“Mhm! I have to be out quite a bit lately. Once everything is handled, I’ll come back to spend time with my little cutie.”
Sephina rubbed Lin Shu’s head.
“O-Okay…”
During the third outing, Sephina again used a gentle reason to refuse Lin Shu’s company.
“Master, can’t I go with you this time either?”
“Little cutie, the number of attendees for this meeting is limited. Oh, right, Eve seems to have made some new dolls. Why don’t you stay and take a look?”
Again?
The unease and confusion in Lin Shu’s heart gradually began to take root. She wanted to ask, but Sephina had already pushed open the door and left.
‘Why?’
‘Why is Sephina suddenly leaving me behind? Did I accidentally do something wrong?’
Lin Shu began to look back at the past, trying to find the point where things had changed.
Since returning from the capital, Sephina had been unwilling to take her out. It seemed to have started after they encountered that wolf-kin girl…
But Lin Shu still couldn’t understand the reason.
‘Is it because I took the initiative to act as bait when resisting Sayan last time, leaving Sephina with lingering fears and a refusal to let me face dangerous situations again?’
‘Or is it that… now that she’s the family head, she feels my status makes it inconvenient for me to appear at vampire functions?’
Vague feelings of loss and grievance climbed into Lin Shu’s heart.
She just wanted to be by Sephina’s side to help share the pressure of family affairs. If any emergencies occurred while they were out, they could fight together. One more person meant one more source of strength.
The nightmare horses at the front of the carriage let out a neigh, pulling the carriage into the sky.
Lin Shu stared blankly in the direction Sephina had left. The sky was a pitch-black curtain.
She retracted her gaze and slowly turned around to return to the castle.
*BOOM!!!*
A roar suddenly exploded from the upper levels of the castle.
The massive sound made the castle shake slightly, startling the busy maids.
“What happened?”
One maid looked toward the upper floors, trembling. “…It seems to have come from the top floor.”
“The top floor? Is it Eve?” Lin Shu suddenly remembered that there was a shut-in doll-lover on the fourth floor.
“I’ll go check it out.” Lin Shu took the stairs three at a time.
As soon as she reached the top, Lin Shu saw Eve in the massive fourth-floor workshop.
The girl was slumped on the floor, frowning as she stared at a smoking, half-finished doll in front of her. Eve’s originally fair face was stained with several patches of soot, and her white dress was covered in dust.
Seeing Lin Shu run over in a hurry, Eve looked up. “Lin Shu, what is it?”
“That was a huge noise. What just happened?”
“Eh…?” Eve blinked in confusion.
“Just now, an explosion.” She pointed to the half-finished product next to her. “Did it disturb… you all?”
‘Is an explosion some kind of common occurrence?!’
“It was a massive sound. It scared everyone.”
“Sorry,” Eve’s voice was flat. “Wanted to make… a fire-breathing doll. It exploded.”
Lin Shu looked at the doll, which had been blown apart until only half its body remained, in shock. She said, “It’s good that you’re okay, but where did you even get fire-breathing parts?”
Eve silently pointed toward a corner of the room.
Lin Shu looked back and saw a short girl sitting up from a sofa bed in the corner. Her hair was a messy pile on top of her head from just waking up.
“What the hell was that? It’s too loud!” Daphne squinted her eyes and scratched her back, grumbling in dissatisfaction.
Daphne looked around. “Where’s my Laicai?”
She looked up, only to find that Laicai was hanging from the ceiling with all four paws spread wide. Its fur was standing up like a spinosaurus, and its mouth was twitching slowly.
It was clearly terrified by the explosion.
Daphne clapped her hands toward the ceiling. “Come down, Laicai! You’re an old cat who’s lived for hundreds of years, and you’re afraid of this? Come down and let’s keep playing yesterday’s tissue game.”
Seeing Lin Shu, Laicai let out a meow and leaped down lightly, clinging to Lin Shu’s shoulder.
“Lady Daphne, why are you here?” Lin Shu hugged Laicai.
“I came to observe the workshop you built for the ‘Master Craftsman.’ We talked too late yesterday, so I just slept here,” Daphne said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Though the workshop is big, the living quarters here are way too small.”
Daphne complained, casting her gaze toward a wall at the end of the room. “Speaking of which, why didn’t you knock that wall down to make another bedroom?”
“Sephina specifically emphasized that that room must be kept as it is.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know…”
Mentioning it made Lin Shu feel a spark of curiosity about the room as well.
“Oh? So mysterious?”
Daphne tossed her chin up casually. “By the way, did your master not take you out? You two used to be stuck together like glue no matter where you went.”
Lin Shu lowered her head and didn’t speak.
Eve also remained silent, tinkering with the doll parts in her hands.
Just as she attached a leg to a doll, the doll stood up with a *zip* and ran out the door.
“Wait, don’t run,” Eve called out to it.
But the doll clearly had ideas of its own. It rushed out the door and wobbled down the hallway.
Eve pushed herself off the floor with her hands a couple of times, but without her wheelchair, she couldn’t keep up with the doll’s speed at all.
“I’ll go catch it for you,” Lin Shu said, chasing after it.
After running into the hallway, Lin Shu discovered that the doll had gone straight to the end of the hall and crashed into a door.
That door… happened to be the mysterious room they had just been discussing.
Lin Shu’s heart skipped a beat, and she hurried to follow.
The door was wide open, and the doll had already run inside.
Lin Shu reached the doorway with a complicated mood. ‘Sephina only said the room had to be kept. She didn’t say I couldn’t go inside, right?’
She braced herself and looked in. The room had clearly been sealed for a long time. There was only a single bed and an old wardrobe. A weathered maid’s dress hung on the wardrobe.
‘Huh? Is it a room where a former maid lived?’
The runaway doll had collapsed next to a table in the room. Lin Shu walked cautiously into the room. The tabletop was covered in dust, but a portrait and a faded book were still neatly placed there.
Lin Shu glanced at the portrait and was instantly stunned.
“Is that… Sephina?”
There were two people in the portrait. Because it was so old, the faces were a bit blurred, but one could see purple hair and red eyes, looking very much like Sephina.
And standing beside her was a black-haired maid. The two were leaning very close to each other, both wearing bright smiles.