Resetting Lady

Father, help me. Please, God, I didn’t do anything wrong. This can’t be.

After gripping her messy hair, she fled the room as though she were crazed, running down the hallway. Her eyes couldn’t focus on anything—she just ran. A corpse, a dead person, head cut off, someone died on her bed!

“…Aack!”

Isella slipped and fell on the floor. Pain came over and she felt the cold air digging into her body. As she shivered, Isella crouched down while leaning against a wall, groaning.

The night was bleak, the sky without a moon. It was too dark inside the mansion where not even a single light lit the hallway. The initial shock wore off. Fear flooded in.

“Uuh, ah, hah, ung… huu…”

The cold stone wall forced Isella to return to rationality. Was it a dream? A tragedy like that wouldn’t even be seen on the stage of a play. What did she just see? Was it real?

Let’s calm down. Calm down. Let’s think about what happened until now. After arriving here yesterday, she spent time with Lady Hare, then in the middle of it she fell asleep. The next morning, she lost her necklace and got angry at this household’s maid. And now, the maid was on her bed, her neck severed.

Why?

Those last two sentences had no connection to the rest.

“Ugh…”

She didn’t know. Her mind was already blocked. She couldn’t organize her thoughts. The dead maid was the maid Isella got angry with earlier this morning. That dead maid was on Isella’s bed.

Isella couldn’t figure out what happened before that. At the very least the necklace—no, it was an important necklace. She was a victim here. And it’s only been a day since she came to this mansion.

She didn’t know why there was a maid whose head was severed in her room. It was a maid she met for the first time today. She didn’t even know the maid’s name.

This situation wasn’t a theatre play. There was nothing leading up to it, but it was too suspicious to call it a simple accident. But there was nothing she could latch onto.

It was like she was watching a comedic play for some time now, but at the end, a killer suddenly appeared. It couldn’t even be called a tragedy. Street performances could do better than a progression like this.

Why? Why? Why?

Why was the head left in her room? Just why the hell was it done? What’s the connection to her? She had never met any of the people here. She arrived yesterday, lost her necklace and searched the mansion in anger—that’s the end of her connection with them.

The only thing she did to the lowly maid was say harsh words, but then the maid suddenly turned cold and became a chunk of flesh. Who in the world killed her and why the hell were they doing this to Isella?

“Why me…”

A moaning cry burst through her lips.

“It’s not my fault…”

Isella was angry about the fact that she had to suffer from this psychological pain. She was a victim. It was unfair that she had to suffer. She was innocent yet being falsely accused, so she should receive compensation for the damages incurred upon her. The investigator and Lord Hare must find out the truth. She had nothing to do with this.

However, Isella wasn’t naïve enough to believe that everything would go her way without doing anything. Isella Evans was the youngest daughter of a family that deceives, steals, and gets away with it. Even if there was no intervention, she had already seen a lot of absurd facets to society.

She needed to hurry up and tell someone—tell her father. First of all, she would need to confess all the facts she had to her father, then they would discuss what to do next. Her father was someone who believed in her more than she believed in herself.

Isella closed the door. The mansion was dark, damp. There were no lights in the hallway even if it’s the middle of the night. Stumbling along the way, Isella headed to her father’s room.

“…Oh, my. Isella?”

Why.

Of all people.

You.

Now.

* * *

“Your face is as pale as a corpse. Are you feeling ill?”

“L-Lady Hare…”

“What’s going on this late at night? Perhaps…”

Don’t. Not yet. She didn’t know what to say, she hadn’t prepared anything yet. Her mind went blank. At that moment, Isella herself wanted to die. She felt like she was going to die from excessive stress. Carynne lifted the lamp in her hand.

In Isella’s mind, she watched the scene of Carynne finding the head then screaming at her. Carynne was pointing her finger at Isella, saying that she was the killer. Isella gasped.

That couldn’t happen. Even if she was caught. Everyone would know that it wasn’t possible. A weak woman like her didn’t have the strength to do something like that.

“Oh no, you have blood on your face.”

Chills ran down Isella’s spine with the way Carynne said that, as though she truly felt sorry for the other woman. No. It can’t be. Carynne looked at Isella’s skirt. It can’t be. It’s impossible, it shouldn’t be possible.

“…What do you mean, I’m just…”

“Should I really say it with my lips? I know my manners.”

What was she talking about?

Carynne’s pale hand took Isella’s trembling hand, leading Isella smoothly.

“Come to my room.”

“……”

“Come on. I’ll keep your secret.”

Carynne smiled gently as she led Isella into her room.

“The bell next to the bed is directly connected to the maids’ quarters, but you must have been very flustered.”

Carynne embraced Isella, who couldn’t speak properly and only moved stiffly, and held her gently as though she was a mother bird hugging an egg. Isella’s clothes were changed, then she was given tea with brandy mixed in it.

“Really, you don’t have to be sensitive because of our fathers. We’re still at an age where we can have casual exchanges. Right, Isella?”

“L-Lady Hare… It’s, it’s not like that.”

Isella thought for a moment. Would it be better to be honest? She thought that the best route to take was to tell her father, but on her way there, she had already been caught by Carynne. And it was clear that no matter what conclusion there could be, this meeting with Carynne would affect the aftermath.

How much should she say? With what light would Carynne view Isella?

Since the maid that had been with her for a long time was murdered, wouldn’t she unleash her resentment at Isella? And there was also the deal with Lord Hare and her father—it hadn’t been completed yet, and she had no idea how this incident would affect the sensitive relationship between them.

“Did you see something frightening?”

“Y-Yes!”

She saw a corpse. The head was severed. Her room was a sea of blood, the maid’s eyes were open, and her necklace was hanging by her neck.

“It’s such an old mansion that ghosts sometimes come out.”

Carynne laughed. It was quite fun to see Isella quivering as she held her teacup with her eyes wide open.

“There are also many people who’ve suffered from hallucinations. And so they saw many scary things.”

Hallucination.

Isella seemed to have glowed as she heard the word. Right, she must have seen it wrong because she was so tired. It was such an absurd sight. It’s not even a devil’s trick. Sure enough, the maid might have felt vindictive against Isella, so she played something like that on her. And also with how the maid talked to Isella, a guest of the Lord, the maid’s personality wasn’t ordinary.

“Lady Hare. I saw something scary in my room…”

“Goodness.”

Carynne comforted Isella as though she truly felt sorry for her.

“S-Sorry to ask you of this, but can you come with me?”

Her eyebrows slightly downturned into a frown, Carynne raised Isella to her feet.

“Of course, but…”

“……!”

There was so much blood on her skirt.

“It would be better to change your skirt before that.”

Seeing Isella’s mouth open, Carynne added,

“Your menstruation must have started.”

* * *

“I knew it. It’s good that you’re the first.”

Carynne laughed as she watched the unconscious Nancy. Her mouth was gagged with cloth and her body was tied up.

“I have a lot of secrets, but I want you to listen. You looked after me like a mother, right? Nancy, you brushed my hair every morning and told me old stories every night for many years. I knew it. It’s good that you’re the first. Actually I didn’t plan this, but at this moment, I’m glad that you’re the monumental first. I want to confess my secrets to you, but people tend to be like that, right? Even if I want to confess, it’s difficult to say it out loud. There’s no guarantee that the secrets would be kept… That’s why I like you.”

Fufu. While sitting on a chair, she poured tea for herself and enjoyed its fragrance. Isella’s gift was quite high quality.