Areum had been slapped by Solenn, for daring to grab the head maid’s clothes as she had. Solenn turned her body sparingly and took hold of Areum unexpectedly, her stinger raised.

[If you do something as insolent as this again, I will kick you out of this manor.]

Solenn looked at Areum as if she were garbage, then set foot. In the end, Areum had no choice but to follow behind her, without being able to ask a single word. If Solenn had eyes on the back of her head, she would have seen how much Areum was sticking out her tongue at her. Though she did quit immediately, Solenn looked back once.

For that reason, seeing Solenn get chased out of the duke’s 3rd floor bedroom for daring to question him delighted Areum so much that she was able to grin despite all that had happened to her the day before.

Of course, it wasn’t that she wasn’t afraid of the man. How could she not be?

The moment that she laid eyes on the black-haired man as he laid languidly in his bed, her spine straightened. The man’s eyes as he stared at her from the deepest corner of the room, laying slightly askew on his bed, looked to her as if they were recalling the grotesque night before. Areum knew just how scarlet those seemingly dull eyes actually were. Though his black hair slightly covering his ears was clearly the same color as Areum’s, it looked more ominous and vicious. A chill worked its way up her back.

At any rate, the man hadn’t killed Areum. He didn’t even seem to really want to kill her at the moment, either. That was all that mattered to her.

For the time being though, she was crooking her neck to find the missing puzzle piece.

Areum’s lower back had started to ache, and she pounded on it with her fist. She had been rooting around the room for what felt like hours already in search of that damned puzzle piece.

She glanced around the room. She had already investigated every nook and cranny. She had examined every thread of the rug, which looked like she’d sink up to her ankles in, and on the off chance that it had ended up in the fireplace, she sifted through the ashes and even lifted the chess board to see if it was underneath it. When searching through the armoire, she meticulously looked to see if it were behind any of the plates and even checked the windowsills behind the curtains.

There were only two places left to check in the room.

Next to the bed, there was a cluttered pile of books in the spot where the duke would drop them off the bed. Besides the area underneath the bed, this was the last place for Areum to check. She had been pushing it off for last because the duke was still lounging in bed. But she had to search through the pile. She couldn’t forgo the fact that it could be somewhere between books or beneath them.

Thus, Areum took each book one by one from the stack starting from the very top, flipped through them, and stacked them beside her.

Many of the books’ pages were carelessly crumpled or their covers bent, having been thrown from where the duke sat on the bed. As Areum smoothed out every wrinkle, she thought to herself that the books were all over the place in terms of genre. There were books with big pictures like the ones a child would read, but at the same time, there were encyclopedias, novels, historical works, and philosophy texts mixed in as well.

Areum once again realized that she was able to read this world’s written word, just as she had been able to speak without any difficulty. She wasn’t merely at a level able to communicate, but she had reading comprehension as well. It seemed she would likely be able to write if she only put her mind to it. This was all despite the fact that this was the first time she had ever encountered this language. “One of the many mysteries of crossing dimensions,” Areum nodded to herself. Though it was irrational, everything had been irrational and unreasonable since she had crash landed here after the accident.

Areum uncovered the book after going through and stacking 20 other books. There were only two or three books left to sort in the pile.

The puzzle piece was nowhere in sight despite reaching a point where the floor had become visible. She was growing increasingly annoyed when she laid her hands on it.

At a glance, it seemed to be an expensive book. For starters, its binding was gilt and it had gems half the size of her pinky nail finely embedded in it. Yet it strangely had a worn feel to it. Something about it made her feel it had been bound by a novice. Its decoration was poor despite the gold and gems used on the cover. It didn’t seem worth the money it would have cost. The corners were considerably worn down. It wasn’t that thick. There was no title.

Afraid that one of the gems would fall off, Areum didn’t dare to shake it out, but instead, carefully went through it, page by page. A single page didn’t have more than a few lines written on it. The script was sprawling as if not written by a professional. She strained her eyes to read what it said in the dark. Her mom had told her not to read books in the dark. But she was curious as to what it said, so what choice did she have? In any case, the man was busy reading his own book, so what would he care if she read it for just a second? She opened the book to a random page and read, her nose nearly touching the pages.

[The plains have turned into fields of snow with the snow that came overnight. …I saw a group of hunters pass through. It never ceases to amaze me that humans still pass through here. I had my fill for the first time in a quite some time.]

[The only downside to life in the forest is that there is little to eat that I find appetizing. Wild animals tasted wretched. The hunters I see from time to time aren’t quite to my liking. At times like this, I recall the time I spent in the city. Thinking back, though the zealots ran wild, I do recall life being comfortable there.]

[…How long must I live like this? Alone, by myself, solitary.]

[I stopped by the village for a second. My belly is full for the first time in forever. I feel as though there is no need for me to punish myself like this.]

“Ah.”

Areum inadvertently let out an exclamation. That means that this was the vampire’s…

Just then another book fell in the spot that Areum had been working hard to tidy up. Falling while still opened, it hit the ground with a terrible smack. Its fall had visibly caused a wrinkle to form in its leather binding. Tracing the trajectory of the book back to where it had dropped from, she met eyes with the man who was staring down at her.

“Didn’t you say that you would do whatever it is I ask?”

A glimmer of boredom was apparent in his hazy eyes.

“I never asked you to snoop through things that don’t belong to you…”

“Snoop? I’m looking for the puzzle piece.”

Areum swiftly shut the book she was holding and tried to add it to the tower of books stacked like bricks beside her. Instantly, the man stooped over her. He stretched out his long arm and snatched the precious journal out of Areum’s hands.

“It’s been a while.”

He muttered as he stroked the cover. His tone was sentimental. He opened the cover and began to read from the first page. He looked quite focused on the task. Areum took advantage of his engrossment in the journal and quickly went through the remaining few books and stacked them on the tower.

The puzzle piece was yet to be found despite Areum having gone through over twenty books. Did she really have to look under the bed? Areum bent over and lifted the drooping blanket to peer under the bed. She couldn’t see a thing with how dark it was.

“Uhm, master?”

Areum hesitantly called for the man. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Areum proceeded even more cautiously when he seemed to be listening.

“Would it be okay if I opened the curtains? I can’t see a thing under the bed.”

Areum had wanted to draw back the curtains from the get-go. It had already been a bright morning when she had followed after Solenn, so how thick did those curtains have to be to make it so dark in here? At least her eyes had adapted to the dimness, but when she had first entered, she had to strain to see at all. The search for the missing puzzle piece was taking far too long because of it. She couldn’t distinguish things with her eyes, so she had to check everything by hand.

But the man’s response was resolute.

“No.”

“Oh, haha. I just wanted to ask and see. I thought you’d say that.”

Areum smiled while fibbing, and then thought to herself, “Does that mean that I have to crawl under there and sweep the floor with my hands?” She didn’t like the sound of it. Her clothes would get dirty, and it would obviously be awkward. But he told her to find it, so she had no choice.

Areum fought back a sigh and then thrust herself into the dark space beneath the bed. Her last wish was that there at least be no cobwebs or bugs under there.

Fortunately, the gap between the bed and the floor was just big enough for her to fit. She planned to work like a vacuum; she would grope around as she slid under the bed, then take a step to the side and work her way back, still feeling around. Then repeat. She vaguely thought that even if she couldn’t see, if she were able to spread her hands out and not miss a single spot, she would be able to find it.

Though her body did fit in that gap, it wasn’t by very much. She had to lie flat on her stomach and use her knees and elbows to waddle back and forth. She was practically lying down. On top of that, from time to time she had to pull her skirt back down after riding up as she crawled around. It was stressful feeling like she had been blindfolded. It got worse the further she got under the bed, to the point that she felt as though she were floating out in space without stars as when she reached the middle of the bed.

Was there a more efficient way? Areum fought back tears. This was so difficult and awful. At least, there weren’t rats or impediments like planks of wood in her way, but even just crawling around in the dark on the dusty floor was challenging enough. And she had just gotten a spiderweb stuck to her face. Ugh. She secretly hoped that her “master” would say that she could stop now, but he never did.

It was around the second or third time she was making her way back and forth as a human vacuum cleaner. Her hand touched something that felt different than what she had felt so far. Something slender and hard, like wood. Groping at it with her fingers, she felt its rounded curves. As she opened her eyes slightly and stared with all her might, it looked like it could be a puzzle piece. Jolting up in excitement, Areum ended up smacking her head hard against the bottom of the bed.

“Ouch!”

Yelping as if she were in the throes of death itself, Areum dropped the puzzle piece as she wrapped her hands around her head. Now angry, Areum let out a crying moan and woefully groped around for the puzzle piece, finally clenching it. Careful not to repeat her same mistake, Areum slowly and calmly crawled out from under the bed.

Once she had straightened her back out and sat up, her surroundings seemed much brighter. All thanks to the adaptability of humans. Even while griping to herself, Areum made a bright face and raised her hand that held the puzzle piece.

“Master! I found it!”

He couldn’t hate her now. She pictured herself as a Shiba Inu. Areum held the puzzle piece out to him with as cute of a face as she could muster. Mustering cuteness? She wanted to throw up on the inside, but looking cute would be more helpful. In any case, wouldn’t it be better if she were to be liked so long as she was going to live here? If she found someplace safer and with better conditions, she would leave in a heartbeat, but as for now that was all something far-off. She just wanted for him to be sufficiently content, and for it to end there.

The man didn’t have any intention of taking the puzzle piece from Areum and only kept peering down at her. Areum unconsciously straightened her hunched shoulders. It was best not to show him that she was scared. But she had no idea why he was staring at her with such a perplexed look. She worried that she had done something to his dislike, or that maybe she hadn’t been supposed to find the puzzle piece at all.

“Would you like me to go put it in the puzzle?”

Even when she asked, he still gave her no reply. He just kept staring down at her with a bashful look on his face. Areum cautiously lowered her hand. She also averted her gaze and looked downward. In her head, she was cussing him out.

‘Bastard! He’s a mean bastard like none other in the world. Are you seriously not going even take the piece after all I did to find it? Then what did I crawl around on the floor for? What kind of treatment is this for running around searching high and low in every corner of this dickwad’s filthy room?’

Areum was too absorbed in cussing him out to hear what he asked.

“What do you mean by ‘I thought you’d say that’?”

“I’m sorry?”

When she looked up again the man’s face had turned into a scowl.