Surviving in the Cursed Mansion

Chapter 11: A Beast’s Happiness (2)

The plan Asche proposed was straightforward:

1- Gather all of Maid A’s dresses hanging in the wardrobe and store them in the leather pouch.

2- Stick together, and when the hunting dog appears, hand one of the dresses to the butler.

3- Split up and run in opposite directions.

A simple but effective plan.

I would have agreed without hesitation—if Asche hadn’t tried so hard to convince me to wear one of the dresses.

“Oh, come on, just try it on once. I bet it’d suit you.”

“It would certainly tear apart.”

“You think? Hmm… I didn’t notice before giving you a massage, but your shoulders are a bit broad.”

She flexed her fingers in the air, her long, slender digits moving in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

“I’ll just carry the dress on my shoulder while running instead.”

“A shame, but I suppose that’ll have to do.”

I assisted Asche as she packed the dresses into the leather pouch, her reluctance still evident.

Most of the dresses were heavily adorned with jewels, making them considerably heavy. 

While the gems were individually beautiful, the excessive decorations made the dresses appear gaudy and unrefined.

“Butler, how did Maid A, just a mere maid, own dresses like these?”

“If her diary is to be believed, she was an ordinary maid. Perhaps uncovering that mystery is another part of your task, Asche.”

“This mansion is filled with riddles. I hate it. This wretched old dump of a mansion.”

“…”

I agreed but kept silent.

This wasn’t due to any enforced restriction like when Asche first arrived, but more like a reflex I couldn’t suppress.

Once we finished storing the dresses, Asche, now brimming with confidence, declared:

“Alright, let’s go! Time to find the happiness that beast lost!”

“I’ll follow your lead.”

With the hunting dog’s behavior understood and precautions in place, the situation was markedly different from when Asche first faced death.

As much as I hated to admit it, her resilience shone through.

Despite facing harrowing adversity, she’d returned to her usual self—bouncing back like a taut rubber band or a stone thrown upward, always returning to its starting point.

Hoping that even this wayward existence of mine would eventually find its place, I opened the door to Maid A’s room for her.

***

After leaving Maid A’s room, we scoured numerous other rooms in the mansion.

From the servants’ quarters to the reception room, we searched thoroughly but found nothing of value.

Eventually, Asche, exhausted, began complaining.

“This is so unsettling. Isn’t it weird? There’s not a single person in this mansion, yet it’s spotless. And everything here is absurdly luxurious.”

“You saw the rest beds for the servants in the lounge, didn’t you? They must’ve been as generous as they were wealthy.”

“Generous? You wouldn’t know this, Butler, but the value of the items on the first floor alone could surpass the entire wealth of most marquess households.”

“Are they really that valuable…?”

“Oh, absolutely. Take that sword I tucked into the pouch earlier—it’s engraved with the seal of Hestor, the legendary general of a fallen kingdom.”

The porcelain we passed earlier was once a national treasure, she added, and the landscape painting on the wall was a masterpiece by a renowned artist believed to be lost to history.

Asche enthusiastically showcased her knowledge, delivering a lecture on the mansion’s relics with zeal.

“If it weren’t for these artifacts, I wouldn’t have believed the Arkaden Family even existed. I’d have just thought the mansion was some over-the-top gimmick spewing nonsense.”

“I see…”

At first, I had thought the same.

This was, after all, a game world—a mansion cursed and designed to torment its visitors for the sake of its setting.

But if Asche’s theory was correct, the narrative shifted dramatically.

If the Arkaden Family truly existed, then the truth she must eventually face would undoubtedly be…

The process by which this once-prosperous dynasty was erased from history.

“I don’t know where the hunting dog’s happiness lies, but one thing is clear.”

“Indeed. Uncovering why the Arkaden name was wiped out.”

“And now is the time to take the first step.”

Resolving the hunting dog’s story and uncovering new clues—that became our immediate goal.

Just as we solidified that purpose, faint tremors brushed against my feet, accompanied by the ominous sound of footsteps echoing through the mansion.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

They were drawing closer, accompanied by the nauseating stench of rotting flesh.

“Graah!”

The beast cried out with its mangled voice, a mournful, guttural wail.

Then came the first step, and another, as it caught a faint whiff of its target. Its expression twisted with murderous intent.

The signal to begin was instantaneous.

“GRAAAH!!!”

“Run, Asche!”

“Aaaahhh!”

The moment it roared, we turned and fled.

The hunting dog, driven purely by instinct, tore after us, its claws scraping against the floor as it surged forward with terrifying speed.

“It’s faster than before!”

“It’s likely to be more enraged now.”

At this rate, it would surely catch up. If the hallway were an endless straight path, we’d have no chance of escape.

But this time, our plan had a defined goal.

We reached the intersection near the grand lobby connecting the gallery and the entrance.

As soon as she set foot there, Asche reached into her leather pouch.

“Butler, catch this!”

“Stay safe!”

“Got it!”

After a quick exchange of words, she flung a wine-red dress into the air. I grabbed it by the waist and draped it over my shoulder before sprinting straight ahead.

“Grr… Argh…?”

The hunting dog skidded to a halt, its head jerking between the two diverging paths, clearly disoriented by the sudden strong scent.

Like a dog that had lost sight of its prey, it hesitated, allowing us to widen the gap.

The beast, however, seemed aware of its dwindling window of opportunity. It made its choice.

“Grrraaah!”

Relying on its powerful sense of smell, it turned its full attention to me. While Asche fled into the distance, the hunting dog directed all its focus toward the dress I carried.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

“GRAAAAH!!!”

The four-legged beast’s physical capabilities were astounding.

Even a small dog could easily outpace a trained human, and if not for its blindness, I would’ve been caught long ago.

‘Its precise movements are uncanny. Even with its incredible sense of smell, running without bumping into anything seems unreal.’

Its behavior was extraordinary.

Despite the furious chase, the beast never once brushed against any of the mansion’s elaborate decorations, sticking strictly to open pathways.

It was almost miraculous.

‘I hope Asche finds something useful…’

Asche, with her broad knowledge and quick thinking, was capable of uncovering answers on her own. As long as she stayed safe, I believed she would eventually find what we needed.

I could buy her the time she needed.

Strangely, I wasn’t out of breath at all.

Having never run this much before, I didn’t know my own limits. In fact, I felt I could outrun the hunting dog entirely if I wanted.

But for now, I kept just enough distance to keep it chasing me.

‘This is a convenient body. Could the Arkaden butler have been a knight as well?’

As I speculated about my own identity, I rounded a nearby corner and froze.

What caught my eye was a tiny figure.

A child, so small they could barely reach the hem of my trousers.

“What in the…?!”

I froze in shock.

What I thought was a child revealed itself as a distorted figure, its shape marred by heavy static and noise.

The form emitted a voice, crackling and disjointed, like the static from a broken radio.

“Tha─t… i─s… a fo─ul…”

Its tone was strange, its words cryptic.

I desperately wanted to uncover its identity, to understand what it was. But my body refused to move any further.

Though the moment of paralysis lasted mere seconds, it was more than enough.

CRUNCH!

The grotesque harbinger of death tore through the darkness with its mangled form.

***

The air in the kitchen was cool.

The pantry shelves were stocked with fresh vegetables, and the aged meats emanated a tantalizing aroma.

Asche swallowed a mouthful of saliva before realizing something odd—since arriving at the mansion, she hadn’t eaten a single meal.

Yet, she didn’t feel hungry.

It was undoubtedly another bizarre influence of this cursed mansion.

Still, her appetite hadn’t entirely vanished, so she grabbed a tomato, bit into it with a crisp crunch, and left the kitchen.

“No blue scarf here either… Did I make a mistake?”

If she was wrong, she owed the butler an apology. Her decoy plan would have been nothing but pointless suffering for him.

Worse, it would mean all her accumulated thoughts and deductions would be rendered meaningless—a frustrating setback.

“Sigh. Maybe I’ll go to the lounge and try to organize my thoughts.”

Perhaps there was something hidden near the fireplace.

It wasn’t laziness driving her. She had searched every room she could think of, yet nothing significant had come to light.

Despite this frustration, a glimmer of hope lingered.

The fact that she had wandered this far without encountering any new threats suggested that the first floor’s only danger was the hunting dog.

That alone felt like progress.

“… Huh?”

At least, that’s what she thought.

But the fleeting sense of relief inside her quickly turned heavy and dampened, like water soaking into old cloth.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound reached her ears.

Footsteps.

Footsteps that shouldn’t have been there.

As the source of the noise drew closer, the stench of decaying flesh grew stronger.

“Why… is this happening…?”

Asche stepped backward, her wide, frightened eyes fixed on the hunting dog’s maw.

There, she saw the powdered remains of ground-up jewels… and shreds of wine-red fabric.

The remnants of a destroyed and torn dress hung from its bloodied jaws.

“Butler…?”